Update and Thank You

After a full weekend, we are all back in Wisconsin. It struck me as I was driving home that I don't know the next time I will be out of state! After a year of leaving the state every Sunday, and after the last two+ weeks of crossing the Illinois-Wisconsin border more times than I can quickly add up, it seems strange to not know the next time we'll make that familiar drive.

I know we have to go back at least one more time, to sign closing papers and bring our camping trailer up here. It seems as if everything is proceeding smoothly with our buyers; we're supposed to find out this week of their financing was approved.

On the new home front, Papa Rooster's basement office was finished this weekend! The carpet came Saturday afternoon, the trim was finished Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon he started moving bookshelves in to his spacious new digs. Unpacking and arranging books took until Monday afternoon, but he finished just before we had to leave for dinner.

Yes, our whole family was invited over for dinner by a homeschooling family with 8 children whose oldest daughter and son attended Church of the Resurrection, our "mother" church, while they were at Wheaton College. A meal for 18 isn't an easy feat to manage, but they pulled it off with style and smiles all around! It was wonderful to get to know them all, and our teenagers were delighted to meet some other Christian teens--the first they've met since we've moved here.

We have so many to thank for their help in the last few weeks:

--the friend who helped pack up my whole kitchen, and came back later to clean out the fridge
--the friend who watched my younger kids for two days while I did makeup for Oliver and spent a day up north here, closing on the new house, picking out carpet, and unloading a 15-passenger van-load of stuff
--the moms who did makeup without me, the moms and dad who adopted my kids between performances on Friday, and the moms who drove my kids to and from performances
--the friends who helped us load up the U-Haul (and finish last-minute packing)
--the volunteers from the Men's Ministry at Rez--that we didn't even know before--who helped us load up the U-Haul
--the friend who drafted those men and who organized the packing of that U-Haul so that not a single cubic foot of space was wasted
--the friends from Light of Christ who unloaded that U-Haul--especially the three brawny sons who barely know us but whose muscles hastened that process immensely
--the friend who came over who spent hours with me at the old house, cleaning bathrooms and vacuuming
--the new friend who spent a whole day helping me unpack, with a baby on her back
--our friend who served as general contractor, making sure Papa Rooster's office got done right, who installed our microwave, and who made countless trips to our new house before we got here, letting hardwood floor and carpet and carpenter guys in
--the man with a lawnmowing business who volunteered to cut the grass at the old house until the closing
--this family who, barely knowing us, offered to bring us a meal while we were unpacking...and ended up hosting us and blessing every member of our family with friendship as well as nourishment.

Thank you, one and all. We can't tell you how much your service and support means! When I try to imagine what the last few weeks might have been like without all the assistance we've received...I just about faint. This has been exhausting enough as it is--but having others come alongside is like a double service: It's a psychological lift as well as a physical sharing of the burden. It's a spiritual blessing as well as a practical one! And we feel so, so blessed.

Thank you, friends--new and old.