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Can it truly only be Wednesday? We've had a long week already! But, God is good and has taken such good care of us.
Olivia and I had just the right amount of time on Monday to get the kids' bedrooms packed while Steven and Angela were at MDO. After picking them and Doug up, we came home and sat down for a bit before really kicking in gear. I put the kids to bed, and then we hit the last-minute boxing and the loading full-force. My friend Amanda, our pastor, and a fellow Sunday school class member showed up early in the evening to help, and we got the loading and cleaning done sometime after 11:00. Thank you so much Amanda, Bro. Matt, and Tim G for all of your amazing help! We'd still be loading if it weren't for you! :-) Thank you Tim V, Beth, and Angie for letting us borrow your spouses for the night!
Monday morning everyone was up and dressed by 6:45! I have a video of the attitude in the house, but I'll post that later, along with a couple of other pictures.
We had breakfast, ran an errand or two, came back to load mattresses and a few other last-minute things, and got on the road by about 10:30. The trip went so well. We made good time, and the kids were fabulous! Steven immediately fell asleep, and slept solid for three hours! We were going to stop a little before 1:00 to eat lunch, but the girls fell asleep and Steven was still out, so we held out. They all woke up hungry right as we were driving into a town with a McDonald's (a blessing since there weren't many dining options available on the trip!). After that we only had about 45 minutes left on the road! God is good. He also knew that the late lunch would be helpful because our evening would be unpredictable!
We arrived in Monticello and came straight to the house. We walked in and knew we wouldn't be staying the night! It truly was filthy - I can't imagine living in a house that filthy. I do have to be honest - when we saw it the first time, we thought, "Hey! This is perfect!" When we first saw it yesterday, I thought, "Oh, what have we gotten ourselves into!" We cleaned out the van enough for Doug to be able to ride with us, went to leave our cold and frozen food at the church, ran a few errands, and then came back to get to work. Church members began showing up as they got off work, and they dug in full force! They scrubbed walls, floors, windows, cabinets, bathrooms, kitchen, and anything else that could be scrubbed! They found things that needed quick repairs and took care of them. They unloaded the truck and the trailer. What a blessing!
The kids were at the end of their tolerance by about 7:00, so I took them to pick up some supper and head to the hotel for baths and bedtime. They went to bed so well and we had a pretty restful night. Doug stayed until the cleaning was done and the truck was unloaded, and then he had someone bring him home. We got up this morning and headed back to the house to dig in. We've made some progress. Steven's room is mostly done, and we're seeing signs of the rest of the house coming together. We'll get there!
We did see a few fleas this morning, but we haven't seen many and haven't seen them this afternoon. So, hopefully they're gone! The girls are covered from head to toe with numerous bites from being out in the yard yesterday, so pray they clear up quickly!