Saga

In case you have been wondering where we have been lately. Moving to DC. That's where. We are here now and everything has FINALLY started to look up, but in case you are wondering how the move went . . . well, to be honest . . . not good. There have been many moments where I have thought, "Are we just not supposed to be here or what?!" BUT, feel free to read this timeline of our move to DC and laugh at our expense. We do. Enjoy.

3 Months Ago (May): Our AC in our Dodge Caravan went out.

I took it right in.

Over 2 Months Later OR 4 Days before the big move to DC (July 17th): We traded the Caravan in for a different van, which made our monthly payment higher . . . because the PART never came and I was not about to travel for two days in 100 degree weather with three kids under 4.

1 Day before the big move: Went to pick up the moving truck and I was told my license had been expired for 8 months!! UM, EXCUSE ME? Seriously? I got it at the same time Joseph got his and his didn't expire until 2012. I think the DMV made a mistake. I had to renew it before we left so as not to get arrested, so to the DMV I went to wait for 1 1/2 hours because right after I got there, ALL the computers went out.

12 hours before the big move: Began packing the Penske Truck. Quickly realized the truck we got was wayyyyy too small. We had to give away many many things, including our loveseat, our play kitchen, our bikes, our trampoline, our changing table, and several other things that I can't remember now.

30 minutes before the big move: I lost my keys.

15 minutes after the big move time: I found my keys.

2nd day of travel after a stop for a day in Columbus with my sister (July 23rd): Dad lost the truck keys at McDonalds during our lunch stop. He found them after about 30 minutes. Phew.

2nd day of travel continued: Alex and Rebekah came down with bad nasty colds.

Unload the truck day (July 24th): Hottest day of the year in DC!! 110, plus sickening humidity.

We got to the apartment which we leased sight unseen except for deceiving pictures. The townhome was up on a steep hill with no direct access to the parking lot, making it not easy AT ALL to load things into, or to haul 3 small children in and out of when I run errands. Oh yeah, and I did I mention the place was dirty, dusty, and the owners had taken the blinds from the kids rooms? Anyway, after making many men in my family and in our new ward sweat like I've never seen before, we got it all in the town home. Some things broken and damaged, but in just the same.

Unload the Truck Day (Later in the day): My sister, Mom, and Dad, came down from Glen Burnie to help me unpack the neccesaties, and we needed to run to a grocery store to get milk for our breakfast the next morning. Since the internet guy was 5 HOURS late getting our internet set up that day (he showed up at 9:30 pm), we had to ask our neighbors. Unfortunately none of them spoke good english (most none at all), so we just tried to make due with what we thought they might have said, and went for it. My Dad got lost on his way back, but thanks to my trusty GPS in my van, he made it home. :)

July 25th (day after move in): Me, Mom, and Dad came down with terrible head colds. I went to church any way with my 3 kids. Wow. What an introduction to the ward as I carried Kaitlyn and Rebekah crying out of sacrament. :) That afternoon while I was at my sister's house, we had a huge storm with 60 mph winds that caused trees to fall down everywhere, several of which fell ON the power center for Silver Spring. I didn't know about it and got my kids all ready for bed at my sister's house, so they would fall asleep on the way home, put them in the car and began to drive back to our apartment. I checked my phone messages on the way and there was one from my new EQP saying the power in most of Silver Spring was out. I took a chance and went home anyway, since the kids were already sleeping and I had nothing to stay at my sister's house with. We got home after being stuck in traffic (this seems to be the story of our future life here in the east), and sure enough. NO POWER ANYWHERE. So, since all of my kids were asleep, I picked up Kaitlyn in one arm, Rebekah in the other arm, and got Alex on my back, and walked hunched over so as to keep Alex secure on my back up the steep hill to my town home. Alex woke up and started crying because it was hurting his arms to hold on, but he didn't have shoes on so he didn't want to walk. By the time we got inside our house it was dark, so I set he and Rebekah down in the apartment, both of them started balling and saying "We need light. Turn on the lights!" I quickly hunted down a flashlight (good thing I pack in an organized way, so I knew which box it was in) and took them all upstairs to the PIPING HOT bedrooms (it was 105 that day) and layed Kaitlyn down who started screaming (she doesn't handle heat well), layed Rebekah down who promptly fell back asleep (tender mercy). I then left the girls in their room (Kaitlyn still crying) and got Alex settled downstairs on the couch because his room was too hot to sleep in. I also found some candles and our matches and lit those for Alex while I went upstairs and got Kaitlyn and rocked her to sleep while both of us were sweating all over each other. I got her laid down to bed at about 10:30 pm. Alex finally fell asleep at 11 pm. Then, I finally fell asleep at around 1 am on some couch back cushions I put on the floor by Alex. I was too worried about the girls dying of heatstroke up in their room to sleep. After sleeping fitully on a couple of back couch cushions for 2 hours or so, I finally went upstairs to sleep on my bed. I think I fell back asleep right away, but then at 3:30 am, the house alarm went off. My phone was dead by now by the way, with no way to charge it. I do not have a car charger. So, then I spent 45 minutes searching the house with a huge maglight flashlight (to hit someone with) and a candle (to see with). No one was there, so I prayed again (for the 10th time) and went to sleep. The workers trying to restore power must have tripped the security system or something. All the kids woke up at 6 am, and we started our day. My phone was really dead by then, but somehow I managed to save enough battery to call my parents who were staying at my sister's house and ask them to come get the kids so they could be in a cooler place. Especially since they were all sick and miserable in the heat. The problem is that my sister has a daycare in her house with 7 kids, so add my three and there are 10 kids. But, they were willing, so that I could try to get something done and so my kids wouldn't be miserable. I have angels in my family. Oh yeah, so anyway, my phone died died died nothing left in the middle of my call with dad, so I had no idea when they were coming or if they heard me say to bring ice for my food in the fridge, since ALL the ice here was sold out. Being that I had no phone, no internet, no phone numbers for people in my ward, except my EQP, but my phone was dead, so I couldn't get to his number, and none of my neighbors speak English so I couldn't ask them. Um, I thought we moved to DC, not Mexico or Korea!! Not that I don't like these people. They are very nice actually, it would just be nice if we could understand one another. Anyway, so, my parents got here at about 11 am and took the kids. They did not hear the part about getting ice there, so they took all my stuff in an empty cooler back to Kim's house and got ice by her house. I needed to run errands, but had no way of doing so, because I knew where nothing was and had no way of finding out, since I still had no power and no english speaking neighbors. So, I decided to unpack. By 3 pm, I was about to faint from the heat upstairs where I was unpacking, and I realized I needed to leave to miss traffic on the beltway. So, I scrambled and threw some stuff into my suitcase for us to stay at my sisters and grabbed everything else from my fridge to take, and ran to my sister's car which my parents had left for me to drive back. I got on the freeway by about 15 minutes to 4 pm. There was already traffic on the 495, but the 95, the 101, and the 97 were clear. I finally got off the exit from 97 onto Quarterfield Road (about 5 minutes from my sister's house) and I got rear-ended!! Seriously?! My face smacked the stearing wheel, but not much damage was done to the car and the pain in my face went away after awhile.

27th of July, I woke up, got ready, went out to my car to run errands and lo and behold . . . someone egged my van. It was so stuck on the van from the heat that it took the guy at the car wash like 10 minutes on one spot. Thanks Jerk who threw the eggs. Thanks.

Wednesday, July 28th and nothing bad happened today. I ran errands with all three of my kids, which I realized isn't really possible here because at the Target, they don't even allow you to take your cart to your car, so if I want to buy more than one bad worth of stuff to take home (which I always do there since it is where I go for huge boxes of diapers) then I can't because I have to carry my baby, my stuff, etc. Also, the only time I can drive anywhere without it taking an hour is between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm. Every other time there will be traffic either on the way or on the way back. Also, if I want to eat at a fast food restaurant, I must learn Spanish.

Thursday, July 29th: Joseph gets home today!!!! Things were going well. Power went out again at 3 pm and was out until about 9:30 pm.

Now, today is the 31st of July. Joseph has been home for two days (a very very happy reunion). We are done unpacking except for hanging pictures and running some errands. Such a good feeling. I thought I wouldn't live to see this day. Now, after we fly to Utah for a reunion and a wedding, maybe someday I will catch up enough to post some pics, but for now . . . Tchau!