So much to say!

My last post was about our last day in Birmingham (sad)! I spent the day with Kate at the Rick and Bubba show and then came home to supervise packing (big fun)! Kate had taken the day off of work and so she spent a lot of the afternoon with the kids and I...playing at the park, getting ice cream cones at Chick fil a and finally grabbing a quick dinner of carryout pizza on paper plates! Saturday Josh, Grandmother and I spent the WHOLE day cleaning up! It's amazing how much dirt we live on top of and don't even notice. I mean, I'm not a neat freak or anything but I don't live in squalor either (at least I didn't think I did! Ha!). Kate and Jason were awesome and volunteered to play with the girls at their house pretty much all afternoon so we could really get some work done. They really are AWESOME! One (or two) of the things I will miss most about Birmingham! :) After cleaning and cleaning and cleaning (you know how it goes....there's always more to do), we finally picked up the kiddos and headed to Gadsden for the night. We were able to have a quick visit with Becca and Walker and Laynee and then we fell into bed (literally! I think Annie T. was asleep before Becca even left....she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer)!
It was going to take about 5 days before our stuff would be delivered so we decided to use the days in between to get in one last visit. We spent Saturday night with granmother and hung around for one more lunch with Aunt Jane and Uncle B and then headed to Chattanooga to spend a little time with my parents and Daniel. We had lots of fun....making sure to get in one last turn (for a little while at least) on the cardboard hill (a favorite) and one last spin on the carousel. So glad we got to visit for a few days before hitting the road for Virginia.
We decided we would go up on Tuesday so we would be there when our stuff arrived on Wednesday morning. The Normans (some of our new favorite people) offered to let us spend the night with them on Tuesday and we jumped on it! (We stayed with them the last time we came to visit and they were the most gracious hosts!) We decided we weren't going to rush but just take our time and stop when we wanted or needed to.
This was our first (and most fun stop).....

YUM!

Josh and the girls "milked" this cow in the lobby of the visitor center! It simulated real milking so the girls thought it was really cool to "fill the bucket with milk"!

Hairnets all around!
We toured the milk plant...no photos allowed past this point!

Even Jack had to wear a hairnet! Hilarious! He was so good though....didn't even try to pull it off.

Enjoying a "ride" and some super cow ice cream before heading back to the car!
So glad we made this detour! :)

After stopping at Mayfield, we crawled back into the car for the long haul. We made a couple of other stops but nothing exciting....just necessary ones. The kids did great...lots of movie watching and minimal complaining! My kind of ride! Everyone arrived in one piece (no heads had to be knocked off! ha) around 10:15 Virginia time! We got the kids to bed and ran one quick errand (to pick up keys) and then crawled in the bed ourselves! The next day would be BUSY!!
Busy, doesn't even begin to describe the next morning. Josh got up early to meet the movers (and some helpers from church) at the house. I stayed behind at the Normans and waited for my babysitters to arrive. Yes, I said babysitters....several church members volunteered to stay with the kids ALL DAY so that I could be at the house to help! Not only were there people watching my kiddos but there were people at our house ALL DAY LONG helping. Helping unpack boxes, put together bed and other furniture, bringing meals. It was amazing.

This is what the living room looked like when I got there on Wednesday morning.

And THIS is what it looked like when we went to bed. I mean, we had some workers! The whole downstairs (including the kitchen and all of my fine china and crystal) were totally unpacked before bed on Wednesday night! Seriously, I could hardly believe it. We are so thankful for all of the help (and there was lots of it)!!

Another thing our church members did was landscape our yard. The ferns hanging from the porch and all of the mulch and plants along the walk way are new! I had no idea how much this would make a house feel like a home! We cannot get over the how generous and willing to help our new church family has been! We are really excited to finally be here and see what God has in store for our family, church and community! I think it's going to be BIG!