we're in!

We’re hardly what you would call settled, but we are finally in the new house! We still have a lot of things to collect from the mountain—some pieces from the climate-controlled storage unit, the regular storage unit, and the cabin, but we have most of the basics (and then some) here. Yippee!! We will be back down to the mountain today to pick up another load of stuff, and then leave the rest for next week. Time to take a break from all this schlepping and enjoy our new home!

For loading yesterday we had the help of my seminarian and another student, who were absolute lifesavers, and a friend of Junior’s who came up from Chattanooga for a few hours. We had hoped to have the help of another friend as well, but he wasn’t able to make it, and the end we were left to our own devices to unload once we got to Lebanon (that had not been the plan!). That was a daunting prospect! It had poured rain all morning, and the blessing in that disguise is that one of our new neighbors, who was supposed to be at spring football training, got rained out and stopped by the house to offer to give us a hand unloading. We had unloaded all of two things from the truck when he showed up, so needless to say we were absolutely delighted to see him! Another friend came by an hour later, and then Debi (of house-warming basket-fame) came when she got off from work and helped us finish up.

We went to return the truck and then met Debi, her beau, and her daughter for pizza, then they all came back to the house to help get stuff shifted up into the attic crawl-space. Afterward we played with furniture arrangements in the living room (much as we love it, there are challenges with the space) and finally settled on something we can live with, thanks to Sammy, Debi’s daughter and problem-solving genius. After they left I reflected on how wonderful it is to be in a community with friends with whom you can go grab a pizza, who will help with the heavy lifting (literally), and then be part of solving furniture problems!

Well, back to the grind, and back on the road! Time for a last cup of coffee and then on with the day. Hope it’s a good one for y’all!