Weekly Update, and I'm Back!!!

Weekly Update


Exercise: Moving lots of boxes. Up and down stairs. It counts.


Weight Loss: 177.4 - that's 5.8 pounds down from four weeks ago when I weighed 183.2.

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

Victories/Struggles:

• Didn't track my food during the week of packing/moving
• Didn't do any intentional exercise during that time either
• I moved A LOT of boxes and furniture
• In fact, I was so sore the first morning after our move day; my whole body ached!
• I am back to tracking
• I signed up for a local gym membership
• I weighed and lost!

What a crazy week it has been since we've last talked.

My husband and I packed up all our belongings, ate Taco Bell (Fresco for me!) in the car (as there was no where to sit in the apartment), and moved two hours away from our first married home with the help of our parents.

Move day was pretty incredible. So many things surprised us. Nothing really went according to plan. Typical, right? Both sets of parents helped us without any tension or awkwardness. I don't have to explain to you how it could be awkward when one set of parents is sending away their daughter to live with the other set... All well intentioned, well meaning, yet sometimes it can be difficult in these situations. And it went incredibly well. I'm so thankful. We honestly could not have done it without their help.

Funny story: movers. The people we hired to move our crap from the apartment to the truck. Then the other two guys that were hired to move our crap from the truck to the storage unit, and the rest into our new apartment. The first pair were pretty inexperienced. Very slow, one was constantly on his cell phone when not bossing the other guy around, and my mother-in-law had to explain to them how best to load the truck. And since the U-Haul place had the wrong truck for us, we had three feet less in length to get stuff packed in to. Which is why Kevin had to go rent a tiny trailer, and buy a hitch, to fit the rest of our stuff. 

Let me say, as an aside, in the middle of my funny (more ironic than "ha ha"), we had THREE SUV's, ONE 14-FOOT UHAUL TRUCK, ONE SMALL TRAILER, and we still needed to fill my parent's van with the remanding belongings. That's after we threw away TONS AND TONS of garbage, took two loads to Goodwill, and had a giveaway pile for Kevin's cousin who is starting college in the fall. SERIOUSLY??!! That's way too much crap for two people. Now that we are more or less settled in, we have even more garbage, Goodwill stuff, and more for storage. Next time we move, even more will go. We are only keeping the stuff that we would need for another apartment or house (this apartment had quite a bit of stuff from his folks already). 

Anyway, the second set of movers were incredible. They pulled up to the storage unit, jumped out, and immediately started running. Dollies from the truck, long rope, Mountain Dew, and they were off. Mike arranged our storage unit like a game of Tetris: everything has a place, it is all fairly accessible, and we fit WAY more in there than we thought possible. They unloaded the U-Haul and trailer in about an hour. It took about five hours for the youngsters to load it all up. That's part of it, I'm sure. The second guys have been doing this for about 20 years, I'd say - and they know how to work together. 

One of our first guys, also Mike, was in his second week on the job. He showed up 30 minutes late, but had a great attitude the whole time. Very polite. But pretty slow. Right at the end of the process, after we paid them for the two extra hours it took to load everything, Mike started telling us a bit of his story as he was thanking us and apologizing again for being late and making mistakes with loading the truck. He said that he and his wife were separated, and would have gotten a divorce, but he gave his life to the Lord recently and was working things out with his wife. My mom told him that we were all Christians there, and he said he could tell because we weren't fighting or cursing. Interesting, right? In the middle of a crazy, busy, hectic day, a young man tells us journey with and without God and with no provocation. Somehow, we, the crazy young marrieds with their crazier parents, bore witness to the character of Christ by honoring Him with our words and actions under stress and pressure. We had no idea anyone was watching us. We were stressed and distracted. Praise God for blessings among chaos.

Mike and Dell, the second set, told us they were pretty sure they could have fit everything in the truck so we wouldn't have had to spend another $100 in gas and rental for the trailer. Hmm. Let's just hope that's not true.

Did I mention that moving costs a lot of money? Really. I mean. It cost way more than we thought. And WAY MORE than I thought. Kevin has done this several times, so he had a better idea of what we would be shelling out. Ouch. That's all I gotta say. Well, I'll also say that we are trusting God to provide.

We, well, I, am trying not to freak out about money right now. It's tight. Very tight. Enter some phrase about shoestrings that means we don't eat out or buy anything but groceries. And I could look for a job right now, but Kevin and I were really feeling led to take some time of rest after we moved. He has the bar to study for, I want to get settled, and we just want some time to chill, to relax.

The wife of one of Kevin's friends worked at a drive-thru coffee kiosk, about 25 minutes from our apartment, until recently. She knew I would be looking for work, and have done coffee for many years, and passed along this information to her former bosses - a Christian family. I was told to give them a call. So I did. You know what? They will most likely have a place for me - but probably not until July sometime, maybe August. What?! So.... this would be a job I've done before... a job I really enjoy... part-time... close to home... and I wouldn't have to start for at least month??? Wow. Waiting for God's timing is so difficult, so nebulous, but He keeps His promises. This job may not pan out for one reason or another, but I feel good about our decision to wait a while. 

So, since Tuesdays and Thursdays are my laundry days, the washer and dryer are humming away. Kevin is studying. Puppy is napping. Our apartment is basically done except for a few small details (decorations mostly). And I'm back to blogging. Blessings among the chaos. I'm a blessed lady. 

Tomorrow I'll give you some sneak peaks of the place (final pics will have to wait until all the details are done - I'm a bit OCD...). So stay tuned!

So tell me: What blessings are you finding among chaos?