We're Here!

So it's been a while since my last post, but things have been a bit crazy the last week. I am taking a break from unpacking so I can catch everyone back in Alabama up on what we have been up to! (I haven't taken many breaks since we have gotten here, so this is nice). Let's begin with last week:
Thursday-Friday--we got our "big yellow truck" (as Sk called it) and loaded it up with family and friends. We had to go pick up the truck then load up some things that were going to our parent's houses take those over to Trussville then when the truck got back, we were able to start loading up. In the midst of all of the loading, I had to take SK to the pediatrician since she had been complaining of her "neck" hurting and she had been acting kind of puny the last couple of days, so I knew it had to be an ear infection, which the doctor confirmed and put her on meds for. So I missed part of the loading, but Michael had lots of help getting the truck filled and then what didn't fit found themselves new homes :) We hung out with friends and family till bedtime and prayed together and with many tears, said our goodbyes. Michael and I set up our neighbors air mattress to sleep on and SK slept on a pallet beside us in our empty house. Sk didn't sleep so well, so that meant Mommy didn't either (I don't think daddy got too much either). Since I never really fell asleep, I decided at 3:30 a.m. that we should go ahead and get ready to head out. We headed out around 4:15 a.m. and 10 hours later arrived at our new house here in St. Louis. The drive was good, SK slept for the first few hours, then we made a stop for gas and stretching. The next stop was for lunch at a rest stop, then SK fell asleep for another hour or so. Then we hit snow, so we took it kind of slow, but made our way fairly uneventful. It helped that the grandmama's had sent activities for SK including games, movies, and the best was the little M&M's (can we say sugar rush?). After getting here, I met our landlord to sign papers and all and Michael had to drop off our trailer at the truck rental place. The gas company was here when I got here and discovered immediately that there was a crack in the water heater, meaning, we would have no hot water (we also had no hot water when we moved into our rental in bham). Our landlord was finally able later in the day to find a plumber to come and look at it, but we still had to wait to Monday, since they ended up having to order a whole new water heater. We did get to use the shower downstairs, in the other unit (we are in a duplex upstairs and someone else lives downstairs), so that is better than nothing. So after discovering about no hot water, we turned our focus to unloading the truck and cars. I wish I had taken a picture of us unloading, since halfway through it started really snowing pretty good. That was fun and cold..and really cold....We did get everything in, thanks to the help of some other seminary students. We got to hang out after getting everything off the truck and eat some pizza and have some hot chocolate (Thanks for coming over and making it Rebecca!) It was nice to get to hang out and chat for a bit. Our place was jam packed with furniture and boxes everywhere, but we were able to have our beds set up sleep in them that night. SK did wonderfully throughout the unloading of the box (as good as a 2 year old can at least) and slept wonderfully that night.

Sat.--- We got up and took the truck back to the rental place and headed to the grocery store. We decided to check out Schnuck's, which is literally walking distance from our house. It was a nice store (reminds me of Whole Foods back at home) and I was even able to find a couple coupons in the store to use! I will have to figure out couponing here once we get things in order, but I am going to greatly miss the deals at Publix... After getting back from the grocery store, we got to work unloading boxes. We worked till dinnertime and then ate some soup and called it a night.

Sunday--We got up and decided to check out a church here in town that we had heard of. We have had lots of moments of missing everyone back in Alabama and our minds were on our CPC family lots this day. SK was standing in the kitchen at one point and started singing "Our God is a great big God" and I stood in the hallway watching her do the motions and sobbed. What a blessing our church family was to my baby girl these last couple of years. I long to find a church here that will love her the same and teach her and point her to Christ (I know we will, it will just take time). After church, we ate some leftovers at home and got back to work unpacking. We got to take a break for dinner and enjoy a nice dinner at Macaroni Grill thanks to a giftcard given to us by some dear friends.

Monday--So far today we have gone to get our Occupancy permit (Something new to us) and went to the bank to get things set up with a local bank. The plumbers are here working on getting us some hot water and I can't wait for a long hot shower after they get it all fixed for us. Michael will head to the school this afternoon during SK's nap to take care of some things then we plan to relax tonight and watch the game.

So there ya go. A quick recap of our life the last few days. Things have been crazy and emotions have been high at times, but we are excited to be here and can't wait to see how the Lord will use this stage in our lives to grow us. It might be painful at times and hard, but God is good and will be our strength (I know I will need it). We have been able to skype some with family back home and that has been nice. I know it is getting to be a long post, but I just wanted to recap everything that we have been up to.

We are expecting snow later today (2-5 inches) and more on Friday I think. We are starting to adjust to having to bundle up with layers as we go out, but man it is cold up here. I don't think we will get above freezing all week and the low on Wednesday is 6 degrees. 6 DEGREES!! I like warm weather, so this is not fun for me, but it will be fun to sit on our couch and watch the snow fall from our big window in the front.

Well, that's all I got for now, got to get back to work, but we love and miss all of our Alabama family and friends :) Enjoy your snow/ice back home, I love seeing the pictures on facebook and will take some of our later! I am gonna upload pictures to facebook, so check out there for the pictures!