Moving Week

What a week it has been! After spending a few quiet days at the Detrich's house in San Diego, we made it to Irvine on Monday where we stayed at the Fisher's house. Thanks to all the folks who offered us such pleasant hospitality over the last few months!! It has been a treat to get to know our friends and family better and we truly know the love of the Lord better because of you!

On Tuesday we saw the house after the cleaning service had been through- which definitely made a dramatic difference (four college guys lived here previously). The kids enjoyed playing with John & Margie at the Fishers- as well as their dog Cooper- as least after we could convince Peter that the dog was not going to eat him.

Wednesday was a whirlwind day as it turned into a photoshoot so we could get some family pictures for Sovereign Grace Ministries website. (We don't have any family photos that include Peter- who is almost 3!). After haircuts (thanks Joey!) and shopping trips for clean shirts, we drove to Laguna Beach to meet Antonio our photographer. The kids did great as we chose this to be a proper time for bribes (ice cream for smiles and no tears). You'll be seeing some of those photos soon.

Then Thursday was the big move day!! I took the kids on a Target run for water and cleaning supplies then headed to the house. Some of the ladies from the church joined me in the morning to clean the kitchen cabinets. Yeah for 409! We successfully removed some of the black sticky stuff off the doors and put shelf paper in the cabinets. Eric and some guys from church pulled all the trash out of the back yard then removed the blinds and extra cable wire from inside the house (looks like the place must have been wired up for 4 different satellite dishes so there was cable all over!)

The packrats (storage containers) were delivered in the afternoon and our moving help arrived at 7pm. Talk about a crowd!! Probably 50 people were here to unload- the whole Irvine church plus a few diehards who drove up from San Diego! Thanks guys!! The packrats were emptied to their proper rooms by 8:15p so folks offered to unpack my kitchen, set up beds, reassemble our picnic table etc. By 9:30 we gathered to pray in the living room and thank God for his wonderful grace! What kind generous friends He has given us! What provision of housing and stuff! How good He is!

On Friday we continued unpacking. The kids enjoyed finding their toys- but probably had more fun playing in the empty packing boxes. Their highlight was the promised trip to the community pool on our street in the afternoon. It's a fairly small pool for our neighborhood- just perfect and quiet enough for me to manage them. Henry is just beginning to swim on his own and Peter is getting more adventurous so I expect we'll be there often. Only problem we ran into was when I wrapped Peter up in a towel and he tripped and landed thud on his face so we ran home with a serious bloody nose and lip (glad we did the photos already!).

On Saturday we walked (and scootered) to Deerfield community park for a church picnic before the evening service. After good food, fellowship and playing hard, we went to church where Steve Shank preached and officially installed Eric as the senior pastor of the Sovereign Grace Church of Orange County. We really are a church!! How exciting to see all the work everyone has put into this church for the last 2 1/2 years! How humbling for our family to be called to join what God has been doing in Orange County! What joy to see Eric placed in this role and to consider all that God has done to prepare him! We are excited for this new season and trusting God to provide all that Eric and I need (which will be a lot!). Here's an inaugural photo of the church!

And today we are heading to Pasadena to spend some time with Steve Shank and the pastors from the Pasadena church who began the OC church extension. Monday we look forward to a bit of rest (and some unpacking of course). You can pray for us this coming week as Eric prepares to preach next Sat and I get the house together enough to host the church for hospitality after the service. What a week it has been (and now I realize I forgot to mention the trips to urgent care for Natalie's weird fever & rash earlier this week- she's better now)! Here she is falling asleep after moving day.