Random tidbits from our first five days in D.C.

-The movers came less then 24 hours after we arrived on Friday afternoon. We got a call at 7am on Saturday that they were waiting at the front gate. And they preceded to unload that whole van of stuff in about five hours time....despite the bone chilling wind and the random mini snow storm that ensued. They were troopers. And the girls loved watching them unload all their goodies from upstairs.

I think they were secretly happy to have our furniture back so that they didn't have to eat on rubbermade totes for a table again. (I say that just builds character).

 (our first night in D.C. at our new house)

In the eleven years we've been doing this we've never had our stuff so fast. Kinda unheard of in this field. Such a huge blessing from the Lord to be able to receive our stuff so quickly, figuring we'll be here such a short amount of time.

-Also, less than 24 hours after arriving, I got to see one of my most favorite people, Holly. Girl showed up at my door with food and ready to put her mammoth strength to work, heaving heavy boxes around and helping to unload our kitchen. That's what great friends are for.

-It was also on Saturday we realized that Marvelly's birthday was not on Friday, when we celebrated it. Her birthday, the 25th, was actually on Saturday. I'm just gonna blame moving to a new time zone on the fact that we got our days confused. Thankfully, she has absolutely no idea when her birthday is anyways, so technically we coulda celebrated it on Easter and she woulda been none the wiser. Still though, there was a twinge of guilt that we couldn't even get right our own kids birth date. But, at the end of that day, she was still four....so no harm no foul!

 -We have nearly unpacked and set up everything we will need for the next five months. I even have a wreath hanging on my door already.....thank.you.very.much. I can't stand to see boxes piled and clutter laying around so I pretty much work non-stop until the house feels put together.

-We bought a GPS and have named her Norma. And after wanting to crush her to smithereens the first few times using her...I decided I kinda like having her around. She's useful. Once I figured out her language she wasn't so bad.

-I successfully made it to Holly's house and back last night. By.myself. Without getting lost. Or having a panic attack. That is a huge accomplishment. Especially since upon arriving I ruled out ever driving here solo....getting behind the wheel alone and navigating to Holly's thirty minutes away in the middle of rush hour....made me pretty much the coolest person I know. Just sayin'. I totally rocked last night. :~)
 
-We have already been to our new church.
-Liza brought us dinner last night. (it's great already having built in friends!)
-Thanks to Holly I got connected with another homeschooling mom down the street from us who already hooked me up with what I need to "enroll" Sydaleigh in homeschooling while living in D.C. Another blessing. I don't homeschool, so I had no idea where to look to figure out the laws for this area. Which was a pressing issue because I kept having anxiety about the attendance police showing up at my door and hauling me off to jail for failure to properly educate my children. So, whew! Glad that box is checked!
-We have walked the Potomoc which is literally a five minute walk from our front door. Crazy beautiful view. There is about a two mile path that runs along side it so we strolled it a couple days ago and took in the sweeping views of all the major monuments and then sat and watched the airplanes  land and take off.

We also took our first opportunity to walk the Potomac to spread Chief's ashes out to river. We took him with us one last time, and then said our final goodbye. It didn't bother the girls at all that they were scooping up his remains....it was nothing more than dirt to them. : )

 -We have about a dozen playgrounds within about five minutes from our house. And we've already gotten acquainted with many of them.

-This is a pretty small base so everything is about a five minute walk from our house. I walked to the BX two nights ago, and it was splendid. I love to walk. And having everything at our walking fingertips...is again....a blessing. A lovely extra from the Lord. He's so good to give us special things that we enjoy so much.

-Our house tilts to the left (in this picture my hand has it tilting to the right-whoops.)......not sure how the builders didn't catch that ten years ago when they made these. But....the house, or maybe it's just the floors...very very noticeably, tilts, to the left. We're just chalking it up to character. It's a conversation piece that all our furniture slants :~) It is also three stories tall and overall is actually smaller (living space wise) than our home in Nebraska.

But what it lacks for in living space it makes up for in storage space. We have pretty much our own personal storage shed downstairs. And since most of our house is staying in boxes while we live here, it works out quite well. We do have a nice deck off the living room....and Anna has even come out of her cave to enjoy it.

It's different living here. Some things we really like. Some things we really don't. It doesn't feel like home yet, and I don't really think it will. Not in five months time. But it's a great transitional home. And that's good enough for now. God has blessed up exponentially in our short time here so far...and we are grateful. Very very grateful.