Finally Calming Down a Bit

We are starting our third week in our new location, Tennessee. Things have settled down quite a bit. The month before we pulled out was kind of a blur. It started out with getting a phone call that Ter's job would be ending as of March 25th...Oh no, here we go again thinking back to 2003 and that not memorable time.
Ter's boss told him he could search for a new position within the company. That lead to his being hired for a new position in Tennessee, in fact Nashville. We would be near the "kids" and foster grandkids.Of course we were ecstatic about not having to go on unemployment but there was alot of work to do and the company would have preferred us down there in two weeks!!! Our moving plans suddenly got moved up by a year or more! The speed changed from regular to "let's make the jump into hyperspace", as they would say in Star Wars. We did manage to talk the company into a couple of extra weeks before starting down in the Nashville office but it was still no where near enough time to get the farm sold, house packed and everything else. We worked ourselves into a frenzy trying to get things done.
Thank God for friends who helped us. One dear friend has offered to move us down here at near to no cost. He happens to be a professional mover so we got lots of packing tips. We discovered how much stuff we had accumulated over seventeen years of living in the same house. Things were packed, donated, given away and we pretty much filled a dumpster. There was still plenty to accomplish when we had to pull out. A couple of nights before pulling leaving, a dear family from church pulled in and helped with packing for a couple of hours. Some more left with them and more things were put into boxes. We are so thankful for these friends, we can't express it enough. One of these friends came and helped in spite of waiting to have major back surgery and not being able to lift anything. She did what she could, bless her so large, giving heart.
One last bit of excitement when we went to pull out....Ter hit the key to start the TrailBlazer and it was dead! Absolutely nothing happened. Oh Great!!!! It was quickly diagnosed as a dead battery. Our dear neighbors gave Ter a ride to Costco for a new source of power for the car and we were finally on our way. Really the trip down was pretty uneventful, and thankfully so. As always we had to pull over at a Cracker Barrel for at least one meal. A tradition we keep up when we have been coming down here. I don't know how much we will do it now we are becoming residents. We arrived at the "kids" where we'll be for a little while until we find our own house.
It definitely has been a little adjustment to living with eight people in one house, especially four small children. We are learning and things have calmed down in our lives. We've been out looking at the outside of houses and have decided on a couple we are going to look at the inside to see if they are to our liking. It is different here in the south. We went to a fish restaurant last week and they actually had alligator on the menu. Neither of us was brave enough to order it, though. Give me a little time on that one, sports fans. I'm told alligator tastes like chicken but has a chewier texture.
Things were a whirlwind but God definitely blessed. Our plans were moved up in timeframe considerably, but I believe things will work out. God does promise to bless us and things work to His Good. He is in control.