Counting our Blessings

So it's official...

We're moving back to Birmingham!

God is SO good, and has just poured blessing after blessing after blessing on us within the past month. I really need to write down all that has transpired, down to the smallest details, so that we can read about this years from now and remember how He has made His presence known throughout this time in our lives. I won't bore you with the details, but it is something I would like to record in a personal journal for our family. But, in summary, this is what has transpired since the week of Christmas-

First blessing: We SOLD our house. In this economy, in the saturated Atlanta market, we SOLD our house AND got exactly what we asked for it. Amazing.

Second blessing: We both have incredible jobs, and already have those lined up for Birmingham. Again, AMAZING.

Third blessing: We were afraid the 2011 Freeze of the Southeast would prevent us from moving out on our strategically planned move-out date. We did have to postpone for one day, but we still made it out by Friday, which was our bottom line goal.

Fourth blessing: We have incredible families in both Kentucky and Birmingham that sacrificed a lot of time, a lot of miles, and a lot of manual labor to help us pack up our house and get the heck out of dodge, and move our stuff into a storage unit temporarily. Wow. What a labor of love. Moving is not the most fun thing ever by any stretch of the imagination, but we had lots of people that didn't hesitate to volunteer their time to help us.

Fifth blessing: Although we don't have an official "new home" yet, we have Hunter's precious parents, who are graciously letting us stay with them until we make a decision on a new home in Birmingham.

I could go on and on and on, but those are the main points. We are beyond thrilled with what God has in store for us this year, and we are just so excited to get back to Birmingham. This has been a long term plan of ours, but didn't expect it to transpire as quickly as it has. We are just in awe right now!

With that being said, this past weekend was slightly hectic. Totally worth it, but to say I'm "on top of my game" today would be a bold face lie. Ha! My mind is in a million different places right now, and you could probably guess that if you just took a peek into one of our cars today or even my purse. I'm pretty sure that if I could play the "purse game" (you know, that shower game where you are given a list of random items, and you get so many points per item that you actually have in your purse?), I would totally win right now. Without a doubt. We started out 100% organized. But that all seems to go out the window the closer you get to the actual move. At one point this weekend I had at least one of each of the following in my purse:

1- a padlock

2- multiple cell phone chargers

3- Sage's puppy prozac (very important, especially right now)

4- a box of protein bars

5- a GPS

6- a TV remote

7- a lock box for the house door (or whatever those things are called that you leave on your door when your house is on the market)

8- about 8 billion receipts from Budget truck rental, U Haul, Home Depot, etc

9- an umbrella

10- a coffee cup

11- recipe cards? (I have no idea...)

12- and a package of string cheese.

We started out with this gigantic truck (or in Hunter's words, "it's an 18 wheeler!"). How we filled this up is beyond me, but we did.

It was about 4 o'clock Friday afternoon when we realized that we were going to need another truck. That was fun. But not nearly as fun as having to pay Roto Rooter several hundred dollars to fix a leaky faucet the day we move out. But I digress. So off to U Haul we went to rent this:

Note: Crazy Sage. Not sure what she is doing.

 

Over this past weekend we managed to make two trips to Birmingham and back to Atlanta from Friday through Sunday. Fun stuff. Friday night we stopped to get some desperately needed caffeine at a convenience store, and we come back outside and this is what we see:

 

Creeper, who has made herself comfortable in the driver's side seat. While we were unloading the trailer yesterday afternoon, we also found her laying in the back of the jeep- on top of a fan- just waiting for us to take her back home to Atlanta. She was bound and determined to not get left, but poor Sagey is in fact still in Birmingham this week while we are in Atlanta finishing up our jobs. We didn't think the extended stay place would be thrilled with a special needs yellow lab taking over the property.

So, that about sums up our life up until today. We are beyond exhausted, and we barely know where our clothes are at this point, but we are oh-so-very-thankful. It is definitely bittersweet- that was the first home that Hunter purchased, it was the first house we lived in as newly weds, and we have lots and lots and lots of fun and sweet memories within the walls of that home. But we also know that it is clearly part of a bigger plan for us to be in Birmingham now, and we are so excited for the super fun and sweet memories that are yet to be.

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

- Romans 8:28