Steps to getting ready for the movers
- Pray.
- Schedule packers and truck pick up.
- Pray.
- Schedule house inspection.
- Pray some more.
- Have packers over to count how many boxes they need. Try to remember everything that you put in storage so they can plan on that too. Call to tell them the things you forgot.
- Pray.
- Find something to do with your dog and kids in the middle of the summer heat while inspectors are inspecting.
- Pray harder.
- Try not to hyperventilate over the results.
- Pray.
- Check out the water meter to see if what they said is true.
- Pray that there is not a plumbing leak in the foundation of your house.
- Schedule repairs.
- Pray things will go OK.
- Call realtor when her plumbers don’t show up.
- Pray for patience because she is at the beach.
- Ask realtor repeatedly when she is going schedule the appraiser so you can get your stuff out of storage.
- Pray again.
- Ask all your friends and relatives what colors you should choose for your new house.
- Pray.
- Try not to be frustrated with your limited number of choices.
- Pray for wisdom and peace.
- Then pick what your husband wanted to begin with and ignore all your friends and family.
- Breathe.
Judi’s friend, Sarah, went with us to Huntsville to pick out colors and take Josh to orientation.
We went to see “Aliens in the Attic” This photo was taken at Rosie’s Cantina.
- Call the storage facility and find out that you’re a couple of days too late to tell them you’ll be out before the end of the month and that you’ll still have to pay for it even though you’ll be out.
- Pray for grace.
- Drive your oldest to Huntsville for college orientation. Pick your colors while you’re there.
- Pray you’ll be content with the choices you made.
- Decide what is the absolutely last day that you can wait for the appraisal before you have to start taking apart your house.
- Pray that God will give you wisdom about what to do while you’re waiting for the appraiser.
- Find out that your four kids are going to be sharing two queen sized beds in the apartment.
- Pray for favor.
- Ask temporary housing for twin beds for the kids.
- Praise God for answered prayers.
- Take apart your closet. Decide what you will need for the rest of Summer, Fall and the beginning of Winter.. just incase it takes that long to build your house.
- Thank God that the appraiser is finally coming tomorrow.
- Cram everything that you decided you didn’t need into the coat closet.
- Pray for grace to make the house sparkle for the appraiser.
- Let appraiser in. Try not to say too much so that God gets the glory.
- Try to believe God that your house will appraise high enough.
- Borrow a friend’s truck to unpack the storage facility that same day.
- Pray that your kids will survive the move.
- Tell your kids they have to pack only the essentials.
- Pray.
- Explain what the word essentials means.
- Pray that they will eventually realize that we really are moving and that they have to start packing.
- Take the kids to a church outing that they are dying to go to.
- Trust God that everything will be ready for the packers when they get there.
- Let your husband drag on an inter-tube at 45 mph.
- Pray that you’ll eventually be able to sit again.
- Try not to laugh when he falls off the jet ski.
- Pray that you aren’t forgetting to pack something important.
- Go through boxes from storage and find school books.
- Pray that you won’t be sore from all the lifting forever.
Packing day finally came. It normally only takes our packers one day to pack then one day to load the truck. Our packers were on Montgomery time though and took three whole days. On the 3rd day I realized that the shipping bolts for the washing machine were missing. I had left them on top of the washing machine so they wouldn’t get lost (at the time it sounded like a good idea). Two different people had worked on packing the laundry room which was located right off the kitchen. The bolts could have been packed in any of the kitchen boxes.
The head packer told me that one time she was on a job where the packing bolts were packed somewhere in the garage and that they spent a whole day unpacking the garage and still didn’t find them.
We called to see if the person installing the bolts had any extra. He said It would take 3 weeks to get in a new set of bolts. I had less than one day.
Early that morning before the packers arrived, James realized that he had forgotten to save out his check book. The two of us prayed and he found it in the first box he opened.
About the time I was ready to start looking, Mike came home for lunch. I explained to him in front of the head packer what was up and asked him to pray with me for God to show us which box it was in so we could find it easily the way James had found his check book. We prayed. Mike walked around looking at boxes. He found a box in the music room marked “wash room”. He thought wash room meant bathroom. I remembered that the day before that our main packer was calling our laundry room the “wash room” and said, “That’s the box!” We opened it and found the bolts.
Our head packer was so impressed that we found them in the first box that she told all her helpers the story. Glory!
Truck loading day went pretty well. There was a little confusion at the beginning of the day but we were able to get it worked out and the crew chief told me not to worry that all he does everyday is pray and move. He watched part of a Joseph Prince message with us on his break and was a joy to be around. We were super blessed to have Christians helping us get everything moved out of the house into a government warehouse.
The next day we picked up the U-hall trailer and were able to fit everything in and get it safely to Huntsville in time to eat good Mexican food for James’ Birthday dinner at Rosie’s Cantina.
Happy 19th!
