Our Move

Two Months ago we packed up our home in Pennsylvania to make the move to begin our next new adventure in Columbia, South Carolina.  The weeks leading up to the move were quite stressful!!  The picture above shows one of the ways we kept Micah entertained while packing.  That tin not only holds cookie cutters, it also doubles as a drum and a coffee table!  We would not have made it without the generous help of friends and family.  Micah says thanks to his friend Madelyn for giving him her exersaucer.  It provided hours of entertainment while Mommy packed boxes.  We want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Uncle Dan for his much needed packing help that last long night of packing before the movers came, and thank you to Aunt Julie, Jude and Kate for giving up that time with Dan.  A BIG THANK YOU also goes out to Poppop & Grandma for their long hours of help packing and cleaning our apartment and to Poppy & Nana for taking care of Micah while we were packing and cleaning and for hosting us in their home while we waited for our things to arrive in Columbia.

We arrived in Columbia July 8th and have hit the ground running.  It took us about a week and a half to clean and unpack.  During that time we had company in our house - Jeremiah & Kari Pitts and their daughter Miah.  Jeremiah & Kari were house parents last year, and were staying in the student side of our house while transitioning to their new home in Georgia.  Miah is only a few weeks younger than Micah and they became fast friends.  Miah even taught Micah how to squeal!!  Thanks Kari, Jeremiah & Miah for the warm welcome, for keeping an eye on Micah while we unpacked, and the time chatting and sharing your experiences as house parents!  You have to come back and visit us sometime - you owe us a game of Ticket to Ride!

We had a wonderful week of rest in Illinois with Andrew's family (more on that later) and then it was back to Columbia to try to finish getting settled in before orientation and the students arrived.  Since then, our days have been jam packed with activity, but things are starting to settle down and approach "normal," now that school has been in session for a few weeks.  We will try to get the blog updated to the present over the next week.  

We covet your prayers this weekend as we attend a spiritual retreat as a family, and Micah will get his first taste of camping, provided that it isn't raining!  Please also pray for our safety and the safety of all the resident students as hurricane Hannah approaches South Carolina.  Originally it looked like we were going to be in the direct path of the storm, but now it appears that Hannah has moved east, and we may only get a strong breeze and a few showers.  Stay tuned for more updates!