And here we are...

This is the view out of our dirty bedroom windows this morning as I type.
We have arrived.

I had to dig through a box this morning to find a clean coffee cup. I am assuming that Chris put my chicken cup in the (exceedingly loud) dishwasher. So now I sip out of a John Deere mug. Tolerable.

What a crazy trip this has been. And will be.
I want to document all the things that have happened, all the ways that this transition in life came in a big package with 'GO' written on the side. All things work together for good in a way that is abundantly more than we can ask or think...

But to make a long story short... we managed to move out and clean our old house before the supposed closing date (thanks in large part to the sellers of our new place letting us move our junk here early). Then the closing got bumped one day, then another. In the midst of it, I lost my debit card and broke my brother's french press (the only coffee maker at his house- where we were staying), so it felt like things were spinning out of control.

Wednesday, we closed... Ended up with a whole lot more money in the bank than we anticipated, which is exciting, because we really don't want to live in this trailer any longer than is necessary. As much as I think it is funny to tell people we live in a trailer, the 20 yr. old particle-board, ant-infested kitchen leaves a lot to be desired. And I really don't want to hear the crazy hose-end sprayer that is mounted waist-high in the master bath screaming 'EEEEEEeeee' all through the 'shower' for long. And let's not mention the left-over, toxic moth ball odor mixed with hints of mildew and something else not very pleasant. (Hopefully a good floor-to-ceiling scrub down can eliminate some of that).

Other than that... we are excited. Frogs croak like crazy in the ponds at night. The neighbor's miniature cows and donkey wander by our 'backyard' fence for visits throughout the day. I have yet to see the massive wild turkey that lives around here somewhere, but Chris startled it one day when he pulled up. I have an idea of where to start a garden and where to put some compost piles. There are a few trees that look good for swings, in the event we don't build a new playset soon for the kids...

Speaking of kids, they have been troopers. In spite of me telling Finley about a dozen times yesterday, "I'm sorry, I don't know where that is." She hasn't gotten too bent out of shape, and likes to watch for the horses. Joe told Gramma on the phone yesterday, "We moved into our new house!!!" and proceeding to nearly yell all the exciting facts about it to her. They have taken to riding their bikes on the gravel driveway fairly easily, and if it weren't for the mosquitoes, I probably would have kept them outside all day yesterday.

Speaking of mosquitoes.... we need to buy a mosquito trap. They tend to be a bit pricey, but I think it would be worth it. We looked into buying some ducks yesterday, but the guy recommended that we clean up the area around the pond and perhaps put some lighting for the area at night to keep away potential predators.

So I suppose I need to get moving. There is a pile of kitchen boxes waiting to be unpacked or moved, things to be cleaned and painted, and I still don't know where the bulk of my clothes are...