Goings On

It's been one week since we've arrived in Iowa, and I've finally found a spare moment to sit at the computer to write about it.  The days leading up to our departure were a whirlwind of cleaning and giving away lots of of our stuff.  The night that we dropped our old computer and TV off at the homeless shelter, Leah said, "The rich young man in the Bible has stuff-i-tis.  He wants to keep all of his stuff...  Sometimes I have stuff-i-tis, too.  I love all of my stuff!  I want to keep it all!"  I responded by promising her that we didn't need to keep all of our stuff and that Heavenly Father would always provide the things that we need most if we are willing to show him that we love Him more than we love our stuff.  After years of feeling like we have done our best to "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" it was humbling to see how many people needed the couch, lamps, tables, electronics and other items of "stuff" that we were sure had made it to the end of their lives.

We did a lot of cleaning, sorting, and packing, but we also visited with friends and enjoyed a few of our Indiana favorites one more time.

After a long day of packing and loading the truck on Friday, followed by a long evening of cleaning made so much easier by many friends, we spent the night in a hotel.  Saturday was a long day by our own design- we spent the morning at Bucaneer Bay then drove to the home of some dear friends in Illinois.  We stayed there longer than we probably should have then stuffed ourselves back into the car and headed to Iowa.  1:00 church made for a delightfully lazy Sunday morning.  The Easter bunny found us in our hotel room and we had fun telling the true Easter story before heading to church.  Our ward was very kind and receptive- the kids were swept right into Primary and Jason and I enjoyed sitting together for both Sunday School and the third hour meeting.  A kind family invited us to their home for dinner and we got to know two families from the ward- and their 10 kids!- over a delicious homemade dinner.  

Too early Monday morning Jason was picked up by a coworker and headed north for his first day on the job, leaving me to dress and feed the kids, check out of the hotel, check into our new apartment (which we signed for sight unseen- thankfully it is perfectly fine), and welcome our movers into our new place- all by 8 AM.  It was a tender mercy that the particular moving company that moved us had a driver who both packed up our home in Indiana and unloaded the truck after driving it over here.  He knew all of our stuff and what was supposed to go into the apartment and what would be stashed away into the on-site storage.  They made huge mess in the apartment and then drove off smiling and waving, leaving me behind to sort through the piles and piles of boxes with my three little helpers.

The first two days were a fun combination of unpacking, eating out and getting set up in life here (utilities, registering Leah for school, and such), but by the third day I started feeling a bit crazy.  We've been so busy every day, and thanks to a 6:45 departure time for Jason and a 7:55 AM start time for school, we've got to become early risers whether we like it or not.  So we're trying to have as much fun as we can while figuring out our new place- in our apartment, in our state, in our ward and in the school and community.

The kids are having fun torturing our new neighbors with all of their jumps, bumps, and shouts.  They seem to be doing just fine with the overall lack of stuff around to keep them busy, and just as predicted, I am perfectly happy to have less junk around to have to clean up.  There's still plenty of imagination to go around.

Adam was so proud to help Daddy put together the new bunkbeds

and all of the kids spend most of their days climbing up and down and up and down the ladder.

Leah's new classmates and teacher seem delightful.  She is the 15th advanced reader in her classroom, and I'm hoping she will be a bit more challenged (in a good way) than she was before.  She has a love-hate relationship with school but overall seems happy and invigorated when she comes home.  Of course, in the grumpy moments she asks, "Why do I have to do more school?  I already know how to do school!"  She has made lots of friends already and is thrilled that there is a girl in her class that looks just like Cousin Sarah!

Our ward seems friendly- we went to a camp fundraiser last night and got to meet lots of the families in the ward.  Where our last ward was very young kids heavy, this ward seems to have lots more older kids and youth- baby-sitters!  We had a bit of a post-graduate school shock when the bidding for desserts started at $10 and increased by fives- we lost out on our first two choices (each sold for nearly $50) but ended up paying a ridiculous amount of money for a cake decorated like a campfire.  Welcome to post-graduate student life, I suppose.  It was still a very fun night, and we're excited to get more involved in the ward.