Moving

It's done. What has been planned for, anticipated, and run through my mind for almost six months is done. We've moved our belongings from our 2-bedroom, 1-bath home in Algiers to a 3-bedroom, 2-bath home in Little Rock. Our house in NOLA is still on the market and we're in conversations with two different friends who have family members who are potential buyers or potential renters. We've lowered the listing price to under 100K with the intent of reaching a new pool of lookers.

With all of that still heavy on our minds and keeping us on our knees, we're delighted to settle in here for our 10-month residency stay. Two of the other resident families with children live in our same apartment complex and we've already connected with them nearly every day since we arrived on Monday. It's beautiful to immediately have friends to call to hang out with and who are going through similar circumstances as us.

The boxes are unpacked. Pictures are yet to be hung, but moving into just a bit bigger place than what we've had was priceless. This place fits our family very well and the extra 150 square feet that our new apartment possesses has been put to good use. Doug described it well when he said that it just feels less cluttered than our house. Those couple extra feet in every room are making a big difference to us. As much as I loved the big kitchen and living room we had, I really dig being able to cook and see what's going on in the living room because of the open floor plan.

Two of the biggest living space perks have been a master bath for me and Doug and a playroom for the boys w/all their toys in one spot. We had dreamed of adding these two spaces to our house in NOLA knowing that we could be more comfortable for a longer period of time if we had, so it's fun to live the reality of that. A couple other perks are a dishwasher and garbage disposal which far surpass the downside of less storage space in the kitchen. More counter space here and a bigger frig makes me happy. I'm missing my front-loading washer and dryer that we left in storage in NOLA since we didn't have gas connections here, but I love that we have been given (yes!) a washer and dryer that will suit us for our time here.

The boys are adjusting to not having a yard. This summer they had really enjoyed the freedom of coming in and out as they'd like and especially going to the next door neighbors' home to ask their friends to play. I find them playing on the front porch/stairs and asking to hang out on the patio some. With a silly grin, Sam asked the other day, "Can I go over to Gavin and Gage's house?" He knew full well that we didn't live next door to them but it was great to hear him ask knowing that it's okay to be sad about that. The huge perk is the daily walk we can take to get the mail near the front office as well as the POOL!! We've been swimming twice so far with our friends. It will take them no time to be comfortable again in the water since we'll have easy access to it. I'm hoping they'll be comfortable swimmers by the time we leave.

Overwhelmingly, Doug and I share a strong confidence that our family is exactly where we are to be right now. Of course, we miss New Orleans, family and especially the friends that have recently moved there, but we are so certain that all those people need to be without us for a short amount of time to tighten relationships with each other and that we indeed need to be here. Knowing that we are returning to the city we love in just 10 months causes us to jump in with both feet here in Little Rock. I can't wait for church tomorrow morning.