1st post from Norman!!

Ok, we made it!! Thought that since it has been almost a week since we got here that I really need to put up an update.
The week of the move was a wild one. Monday my friend Margret came over to help me clean the apartment and stuff. It was nice to see her one more time before the move and visit. She was super helpful. I don't think my oven was ever so clean. Tuesday morning the movers came and helped me box up the kitchen and stuff. They were really nice and helpful. It was a father and his son. They were really great and made me feel much better about having someone load us up. I went that evening to pick up my dad so that he could drive the truck for us. Wednesday after dropping off the kids at school, my dad and i went to get the truck. We had a little bit of a mix up. My confirmation said a 24' truck, but they had emailed the guys that we needed a 15' truck. We had to call the headquarters and that put us about an hour behind. I got a call while the people were figuring things out from the moving guys wondering where we were. Because it was Lowes' error, luckily we didn't have to pay for the guys wait. I did, however, buy them lunch so that they wouldn't have to leave for that.
They got us loaded in great time. They started around 11am and were signed for and gone by 3:15. I picked up the kids and then got pizza, as we were having a pizza/movie night with Brett, Amy and Abram as a final good-bye. It was fun. We watched Meet the Robinsons and played and visited and cried. It was a good way to leave them.
Thursday morning arrived and I had to go and finish paper work at the budget company, so Amy watched the kids and they played for a while. Needless to say, Lowes didn't have the paperwork, but it gave Amy the chance to write the most important letter I needed in regards to this move. I had been needing to hear words of encouragement that would get me through this, and the majority of the things I was hearing were either voices telling me how to do and what to do, and all that, or avoiding the topic all together. Amy wrote just what I needed to hear to be able to pull away that day. I gave her a hug and we both began to sob and so I just left. I was crying so hard by the time I reached the car that I wasn't sure I could do it.
Then I read her letter. It made me cry more, but I knew she was right. She gave me the strength with her words to put the car in reverse and go.
Amazing how God works!!
The trip in general was good. My dad took turns letting the kids ride in the truck. i think they helped him stay awake . When he had Nathan in the moving truck, they looked for trains and train tracks. When he had Hannah in the truck, they looked for horses. We got to Norman about 8pm. We ate supper and came back to the duplex to sleep.
8am, right on task, the movers from here arrived and unloaded everything in record time. They were out of here by 10am. That left us to get things unboxed and put away, which we are still doing. Mom arrived shortly after, hauling home baked goodies and such. It was so nice of her to bring us a freezer full of food to eat.
We took the truck back and then worked at the house to get more unloaded. The phone man came by and in visiting with him, he invited us to his church. He is a small group leader there, so that was neat. WE went there Sunday morning. It was called journey church. You can look it up online. They broadcast online at journeychurch.tv. It was really loud and big, but really awesome the way that they really wanted God to be the center of everything. You could see why it was 3000+ members. I guess it started as a group of 36 people who wanted to change the city of Norman.
Anyways, it was cool. Oh, which speaking of cool, I totally skipped Saturday. WE took our boxes by the Norman recycling area. Wow, they recycle everything and it is so easy. I am really excited about that!! After doing that, we all went to Double Daves pizza for supper and played with Grandma and Papa at the arcade. They also had lazer tag. Nathan says that is next on the list of things to do. It was really nice having mom and dad here to help us. Chris took them out to his new favorite restaurant as a thank you. They went home Sunday afternoon, after letting us drag them around diffrent stores. Oh, which also reminds me, I think maybe it was Sunday afternoon before they left, but we went to find the norman train station which has amtrak. There was this really neat walking path where you learned all about the city of Norman. it was really awesome! Nathan and I smiled and said we found a new train walking place. WE used to go walking and bike riding in St. Joe down by the river and the train tracks. Now we can do kind of the same, only there won't be a river.
Lets see, Monday we slept in and then attempted to do driver's licenses and stuff. Chris had no problem, however, me. I was ineligible for a license. apparently when I got my speeding ticket 5 years ago in Nebraska, I didn't sign the back of my ticket, so when I paid the ticket, they couldn't process it. When they tried to mail it to me at NCC, we were already gone, so NCC sent it back to the court. I had a Oklahoma license then since we were students, so Oklahoma suspended my license, even though I had gone on to get a Missouri one. Chris laughed about how Oklahoma must know that I don't want to really be here so it was out to get me.
I have to sign a slip pleading guilty to the ticket so that Nebraska can process it. Then I have to pay $50 for Oklahoma to re-instate my eligilbility for a license. What a mess! Chris is his humor, bought me a Oklahoma t-shirt to help change my luck!
Tuesday we got a call from Clay and Jenn. they wanted to meet us for lunch. We were planning on being out all day getting groceries and stuff anyways, so we met them in the city. It was so awesome to see them again!!! They were on their way to have Jenn sign a contract for a children's book she is getting published next summer called, "A match made in heaven". Seeing them and visiting them was another reminder to me that God is watching over me and he knows what I need. I need them here. Anyways, we talked with them and then when they had to go to the publishers, we went on with our Aldis, Lowes, Walmart run. Got home about 8; just in time to do jammies and go to bed.
Today our plan was to actually get more boxes unpacked and stuff. Chris had an eye appointment since his glasses broke. The kids rooms are coming together and we are planning on working on them some more tomorrow. We got 2 really sweet phone calls also. One from Chris' grandma and one from our friend Amber, from St. Joe. Both of them just wondering how we were doing and stuff. It was really great! We worked hard and so we went to Clay and Jenns church's fall festival. It was a fun time. We don't celebrate Halloween, so we never even mentioned to the kids why we were going and they didn't mind. we thought it would be a great opportunity to meet more people and spend more time with Clay and Jenn. The kids had a blast. They had a really cool hay ride out to where you could roast hot dogs and marshmellows. In the end, Clay send home 3 bags of candy with the kids. Jenn and I are planning on having a play date Saturday as Clay will be at a youth thing and Chris heads back to work.
it was great to see Clay and Chris reconnect too. chris really needs someone to just hang out with. someone who knows all about him and is willing to just be real with him. Who better than Clay? They grew up together. They were laughing with Clay's mom, who was there tonight, about how one time they stayed up all night trying to beat some nintendo game and they had each drunk a 6 pack of jolt. Crazy!!
Well, that brings me to now. Tomorrow we are going to try to get the garage clean enough to park both cars in there and repair the back yard fence so our cat can stop driving us nuts with wanting outside. WE are also going to get the process of school transfer going. Kids apparently need a shot before enrolling on Monday. Thank you for the time change!! I will be waking them up only 30 minutes earlier than their regular time. That will help with the adjustment. Friday we are planning on finishing up whatever we need before Chris goes back to work and our schedule changes and we go to normal life.
When I find my camera cord, i will down load picts of the duplex and our house. We have DSL, so I can actually do that and it won't take 30 years!!!
Well, until next time, we are trusting in His care! I know more everyday that God will walk with me. As they song goes, "my savior loves, my savior lives, my savior's always here for me" I am trusting in that phrase as we go into this next chapter of life!!
Hope that you are resting in His care too!! All our love!