Dust and Snow
April 11, 2007
Do you ever sit down and let out a big exhale only to realize that a month or more has simply disappeared? It has been quite some time since I last posted and in reflecting over that time I am amazed at all that has transpired.
Just the other night I flopped down in the living room and watched a show called "Planet Earth" on the Discovery HD channel. It is a great show that has amazing footage of our planet. In one of the shots of this particular episode, was a scene somewhere on the African plains where there was a huge migration. There were thousands upon thousands of animals moving across the dry dusty land and about the only thing you could see was a huge dust cloud as they were heading for water.
That is how we have felt the past couple months. So much motion and action with dust everywhere (enough to almost choke us at times) as we headed for our new home. Well, finally after several weeks the dust has started to subside and we are beginning to be able to breath again.
On March 4th we were treated to a very nice going away party from Falls Road Baptist Church. We were so blessed as many people showed up to say goodbye to us. It was an emotional time for as we have so many friends in Rocky Mount who demonstrated such care for us over the eight years we lived with them. (Click on Photo Album above, then click on the "Going Away" party album to see photos).
Mom and Dad Davis came from New York to help pack and looking back there is no way we could have gotten it done without them. (I say we and us as if I did much, but most of the work was done by my hard working wife.)
Moving day came in Rocky Mount and we rented the largest self-move truck we could get from Penske trucks. Monty, Chris, and John came to our house to help us load the piano and a couple of other big items. Most everything else was out at the Positive Action property in storage where we had been taking boxes to store there for over a month. We hired a guy along with his crew to load the truck to maximize the amount of stuff packed and to minimize the stress. They packed the truck so tight that we almost got all of our stuff into in—which was amazing given the amount of things we have acquired over the years.
The next morning we walked around the house and cried. Said goodbye to our neighbors and cried. Jumped in the truck and began the two day trip to Rockford...and cried.
The trip went very smoothly with me driving the Penske truck and pulling the Jetta behind, while Tricia drove the Suburban with our trailer behind. We took it easy but arrived in Rockford on Wenesday night, March 21st.
We woke up on Thursday morning with a great sense of excitement as we were closing on our new home. Of course, we had been looking forward to this day for some time and everything went off without a hitch...except...the cramps in our hands from signing all those papers.
Originally we were supposed to close on Friday, but just as we were pulling out from Rocky Mount I received a phone call from our realtor who said that they wanted to close on Thursday. That was good news and I gladly said yes. But after I hung up I realized that Bob (our new pastor) had lined up a number of the church members to come on Friday to help us unload. So, I called him and he said he would make an announcement the next night at church and get as many people as he could to help. I wasn't overly optimistic given the short notice, but would take any help I could get.
That Thursday night, after closing, we backed the truck up to the house and geared up for a skeleton crew to come help.
To our amazement, people just kept coming and coming. We had right around 35 people show up with cars lined up clear down the street. Everybody pitched in to unload the truck, women helped unpack boxes in the kitchen, men put together beds, and hooked up appliances. During this time, Bob asked me what else we wanted done, which took me by surprise since we were already overwhelmed by the servant spirit demonstrated by the church. Well, we were planning on replacing carpet so we mentioned that we'd like to get the old carpet up, and within a few minutes people were pulling out carpet and pad, while others were pulling out the staples that held it down.
I couldn't help but think of what all of our neighbors thought seeing all of this. What a demonstration of the Christian distinction at work in our little community. One could not help but see the love shown to us if they drove by.
For the next several days the church provided meals, took care of the children at different times, wired a portion of our basement so we could use our electric dryer (instead of gas), and generally overwhelmed us with kindness.
We have since had new carpet laid and done some repainting. This is a 40 year old house that is absolutely wonderful, but is going to require a little TLC to get it back into shape. We have learned that it's impossible to be quiet in the morning as every other step greets us with a squeak in the floor.
Our new church is in the midst of some change as well since one week after we arrived we were loading up the church and moving to our new facility. We have moved from an old rural town hall to a brand new business condominium. Easter Sunday was our first service there and we had a wonderful time celebrating our Savior's resurrection.
During the service, a photographer from the Rockford Register was snapping off pictures as they did a story on the church. Somehow I managed to avoid getting into the paper for many years, but there I was with Tricia and Grace plastered on newsprint. I have since apologized to Bob for me getting in there because I know he was hoping this would generate a little positive publicity.
You can read the story by going here (If you click on "Easter Celebration" in the tan box that says "Related Content" you can see more photos (please withhold your comments about the second photo).
After the morning service we went to the Berryman's home for a wonderful time with Pat, his wife Lacey, Bob and Jennie and their families. We enjoyed dinner and an easter egg hunt in their yard.
This is a long post. Phew.
We woke up to snow this morning! Oh NO! What have we done?
