Oh, the Changes a Month Can Bring

I have not had a minute to breathe until this weekend, and even this weekend the breaths have been shallow and hurried, but at least bringing some oxygen to my nearly asphyxiated self! After my last post, absolute craziness ensued. Each day, I packed one room so that I could accomplish the task of packing up 4000 sq. ft of house, disassembing all my furniture and wrapping it carefully in bubble/plastic wrap in a three week period. That didn't include all of the little things I had to do including getting physicals and innoculations for six of the seven kids, registering the car, changing the oil, shutting off utilities, and going to Tennessee to find a house.
(See why I'm out of breath? It really was like a marathon. I have done some remarkably hard things in my life, but this probably took the cake. I am lucky to be blessed with ADD and have a hard time sitting still anyway. It finally comes in handy at times like this :).

We had a miracle finding our house. Brian and I had been praying for a couple weeks that we could find the perfect location for our not so little family. He had this feeling that he needed to keep checking the internet each day. On the day I flew to Nashville, he checked Craig's List twenty minutes before my flight landed and found our house. I was scheduled to meet with a renting agent to look at several houses at 3 pm. I got off my flight, rented my car and was heading to my appointment with her, when Brian called. He had stayed up all night to call me. He said, "I found our house, you have to go there right now." I told him I couldn't do that, but I'd call on it. He made me get off the phone and call that second. When I did so, the lady who answered started to laugh. She asked, "Are you related to CPT Simons? He's called three times from Afghanistan on this house already." I set up an appointment to see the house the following day. None of the houses I looked out felt right. I drove up to the house Brian had been so excited about and I fell in love with the neighborhood. However, we were told that the schools for that area were drug and gang infested and had terrible teachers. I was so worried, I didn't know what to do. The next day, I went to see the house. It took me two minutes and I knew it was meant to be our house. I asked the landlord/manager about the schools and she answered, "Oh, those are bad schools, but they just built brand new ones around the corner for these kids and they're excellent." It was amazing. Miracles were falling left and right for us.

I really didn't get much help with the packing until the last few days when my little sister, Tiffany, just showed up and said what can I do? She cooked and cleaned for us and she helped me lift all the heavy things I couldn't get by myself. It was wonderful. Her husband came and helped me wrap the leather sofas. My friend Julie came and helped me clean the entire house. She kept coming back and was there for me the whole time. Tiff helped me paint and made me laugh at crucial moments! One of my good friends, Mitch, came and worked for five exhausting hours loading the moving van. I couldn't believe how much he and I got done. He was one buff dude and what I am lacking in strength, I make up for in determination and ridiculous amounts of stamina. The Young Men's in my ward came and helped me finish the last little bit. By the time I was done with everything, I couldn't move. Each step of the way, I really thought that I wouldn't be able to go on or to make it any farther, so I would pray, "God, just a little more please." Sure enough, I would get a small burst of strength to do the next thing required of me and someone would show up to offer some help. I am truly thankful for the tender mercies of the Lord, even if it's in the midst of something you wish he would just take away. He can't always solve our problems, but he definitely gets us through them!

In Sacrament meeting before we left, Gwynyth stood at the pulpit to bear her testimony. It was so cute. She said, "I know that when we are afraid we can go to Heavenly Father and he will help us through. I am afraid about my mom driving the van and pulling our green car behind it, but I know God will keep us safe." Okay, so I guess my driving speaks for itself. My green car has a huge dent in the side from hitting the mailbox. I'm not so good with stationary objects! My mother was also concerned with me pulling the green car on a dolly across the entire continental U.S., so she in her charitable state, offered to drive it with me. She was such a trooper. It's not easy driving anywhere with seven kids, let alone 1800 miles. It was two 12 hour days and one 5 hour day. The kids were amazing. It was hard, don't get me wrong, but all things considering, they were fabulous. But, this is not a new experience for them. I figured out that in my married life this is the 6th time I have driven east/west across the U.S., and I have done countless trips to Texas and once from Alaska to San Diego to El Paso. I've been everywhere. . . and dragged the kids with me. The most exciting moment of the trip came when we saw the arch in St. Louis, but other than that it was pretty dull. Nebraska doesn't make one giddy by any means.

We moved into the house right away and the next day our ABF truck was delivered. The kids and I started unloading by ourselves. I was covered head to toe in scratches and bruises from trying to do it by myself at first, but I am so glad I did. Justin, my little brother, flew in from Jacksonville to help me unload the truck the next day. It was a huge blessing. I really can't see how I could have done it without him. Two guys from my ward showed up to help for a couple hours, which was great, but Justin and I did the majority of it. Then Justin helped me put furniture together and arrange the rooms. I had the house unpacked, decorated, organized, and boxes at the recycling facility in 7 days flat, and that was taking Sunday off. I hate that this is a talent I've developed because it means I have done it WAY too much.

The neighborhood is wonderful with lots of children running everywhere. One of the things I love the most is that there are children of every race in the neighborhood and they all play together like it's no big thing. Don't we wish all the world was like that? It wasn't like that in Georgia, and Utah is a little ethnically challenged, but here it is absolutely perfect. Because we are a mixed family, everyone feels comfortable here. We are the neighborhood hang out. The other night I had 14 children at my dinner table to eat nachos. It was crazy noisy, but wonderful. We have also made some really cool friends from our ward and we enjoy spending time with them.

Our house is perfect, with a huge yard (which now has a trampoline up that I put together by myself, although I think Brian might have to tighten some of the screws when he gets home). I also bought a lawn mower and assembled it and went to mow our gargantuan lawn and it broke with in two minutes. So I had to go return it and start over again. But, I got the entire half acre mowed in 90 percent humidity! I love mowing the lawn. It's great exercise, you can't hear the kids screaming, and if they come near you, you just yell out, 'don't come over here, you'll get your foot chopped off.'

The kids love school, although they are having some emotional problems with the adjustment of leaving family and embarking on the unknown. . . especially the younger three. Schools are much harder out here and the kids started late so they are struggling a little. Oakley and Chloe go to middle school and have major homework every night and are required to study for tests and take extensive notes in class. They really are stepping up to the plate, though, and I am really proud of them. Florence is struggling and I am trying to move her back into first grade, but of course there is ridiculous bureaucracy involved.

Sophia is still Sophia. She cried for a half an hour not wanting to go to school yesterday and walked off the bus to walk home instead of going to school. I took her to school anyway. When she got home she was destroying things. I sent her to her room and she tried to climb out the window--on the second story--and a neighbor pulled over and rang the doorbell to let me know. In the middle of the night, we had a terrible lightening and thunder storm that kept all of us up. Sophia couldn't sleep so she got in bed with me. Twice during the night she rolled off the bed. When she came to me this morning, she had a hugely swollen, purple eye with a cut across the eye lid. Apparently, she fell face first into the open nightstand drawer. It turned out to be a blessing because she was so excited to show it off, she ran to the bus stop to get to school.

The city is full of pawn shops and tatoo parlors like every military town. And shopping at walmart reminds you of the importance of good dental care and a little exercise. But, it is better than Fairbanks, El Paso, San Angelo (by far) and Hinesville. Everything becomes relative, I guess. There are corn fields that stretch as far as you can see. It's green with lots of rolling hills. People are pretty amusing here and life is a little different than Utah for sure. I am going to add my favorite sites in the next blog entry.

My first day of church was eventful when in the 5th Sunday combined meeting they did missionary work skits. One was "Napoleon Dynamite shares the gospel." Not really, but that was pretty much how it came out, "Read the Book of Mormon, gosh!" It went on and on and the bishop didn't know how to stop it, so he just let them keep going. Justin and I got a good giggle out of it though.

So, to sum it all up, life is SO good for us. I am happier than I have been in well over a year. I found out I am strong afterall and I am so over my pity party I've thrown for the last year. So what? I've got seven kids. So what? I'm raising them alone for a year and a half. No big deal! Or something like that. But I am thankful for all I have learned in this past year and I feel stronger than I have in a long time. My life is absolutely wonderful.