On our way to Iowa

Our journey from North Dakota to Iowa is a long one.  We began our move last weekend and won't complete it until the middle of July.  There have been some sad moments along the way as we have had to say goodbye to those dear to us.  But we trust God is with us on this journey.  I have posted some picture highlights from the past week.

Troy has long wanted to go biking with Timothy along the river.  So on Timothy's last afternoon in GF the boys went on an outing together.  They had a great time.  Timothy loved coasting down some small hills.

Saturday was the kids' last night in our home.  Troy had a wedding to do so he was gone.  So the kids and I had a last dinner of Taco Bell together.

After dinner we spent a beautiful night playing outside with water.  We also made a few trips around the block in the wagon.  We have loved our walks around the block over the years.

Timothy had a very hard time saying goodbye to his neighbor friend, Miranda.  He sobbed all through stories that night and kept asking why we had to move.  He was very much against the idea that night.  But by morning he was ready to head to church and eventually Grandma Judy's house.

On Sunday, we had our last Sunday at church.  Troy gave his last sermon and then there was a lunch and farewell program for us.  The program was touching at moments as various people shared thank yous for Troy's ministry (and mine as well--morning for moms).  There were some very humorous moments too.

Monday the moving truck showed up and stayed all day!  We were amazed that it took so long to load all our stuff, but I guess it takes a long time to inventory it all.  I was very sad to leave our empty house and drive away.  It has been a good home.

Our next stop was Grandma Judy's house.  She watched the kids while Troy and I packed up the house and while Troy and I went to the closing.  That was a blessing that they could be having fun while we worked!

One afternoon the kids did a bit of water play an ended up washing cars.  I am not sure the cars ended up any cleaner, but the kids loved it!

It was sad to drive away from Judy's house.  Living so close has been a blessing for these 5 years.  We will all miss our visits to PR and the kids will miss their special Grandma time.  We will have to get our guest bedroom done soon so we can have visitors!

Face painting

Last year we were on a very long quest to get Timothy's face painted.  Yesterday I wondered if that might be the case again after we missed out at the library party.  But today we scored!  I saw an add in the paper for a concert and face painting tonight.  I prepped Timothy with the idea that there might be long lines again and it might not happen.  Happily the lines were very short and even Teresa went for the decoration.  And I even let them try to sleep with their designs on.  We'll see how that goes!

Timothy's snake

Teresa's fish

This was a great ending to a fun day.  It started with breakfast at Dakota Harvest (aka the bread store).  Then we used free passes to go to the new health club for family swim time.  After lunch Grandma Judy stopped in for a bit to pick up some furniture.  We went to a playground in the afternoon and ended the day with face painting.  Great memories made as we begin to count down our last days in GF.

Selling and buying

I briefly mentioned in a previous post about 5 offers on our house. I got a bit ahead of myself, as I had not yet mentioned we are moving. So, yes, we are moving...to Iowa in June. We did have 5 offers on our house in three days. Our house is sold. Yeah!

The next step was to find a house to buy. Troy and I went to Iowa in a whirlwind weekend with the task of finding a house. I almost bailed on the trip when Teresa threw up the morning that we were supposed to leave. Timothy had a quick stomach bug earlier in the week. But we all seemed fine until it hit Teresa. The plan was to leave the kids with my parents. I had flashbacks of a year ago when my parents visited right in the middle of a stomach bug at our house. And yes, they both got it. I was so afraid that would happen again, but Troy and my mom talked me through our fears and we went ahead with the trip.

So to the cities we went, and thankfully Teresa seemed to pull through the sickness and was on the road to recovery even that night. She got tired of me asking how her tummy was feeling.

The next day Troy and I drove to Iowa early in the morning to make a meeting with his colleagues. And by noon we were beginning the house hunting. I was discouraged to hear that our two favorites had sold a few days earlier. We saw some nice houses, but the story was really in the yards. To say that it is hilly in Dubuque is an understatement. A majority of the homes had yards that were hills that would not be good for two kids to play on. After looking at several homes, we did find one that stood out. While we liked the house, we had to think through what kind of neighborhood we wanted. Did we want to be right in the center of town like in GF? Did we want an established neighborhood? We ended up with more questions than answers.

After prayer and much conversation and a good deal of stress we decided to put an offer on a house. (Well the news of of another second showing was a bit of a spark to get us moving too!) And with that offer we felt peace. While dining at Mario's (pretty close to a Maria's--every town should have a Maria restaurant!) we got the call that our offer was accepted. There was a lot to take in during the weekend. I will have to write more later on our impressions of the city. We are just thankful that we found a house and we look forward to making it our home soon.

The view of our neighbornood from the roof. (Troy was up there during the inspection.)

 Our new house!