Ruby Slippers: The Move- Part II

After all of the mayhem of packing, cleaning, and loading on Wednesday night, the kids and I got up early Thursday morning to make the 10 hour drive to Amarillo. Theo's mom, Lisa, would also be caravaning with us to help out. We shifted a few things around in the light of the morning as the loading had gone well after dark the night before. I even discovered the corner piece of our sectional had been left sitting in the backyard. We also had a delivery of several large storage tubs arrive from one of the Page bishops. A woman had broken down several months ago and had left her car and lots of stuff behind. Since she was now in Lubbock, we were a good option to get a good portion of the stuff to her. Once locked and loaded, we took off into the great unknown.

The trip was relatively uneventful for us. We actually left the trailer and uhaul behind in Page as our drivers would be coming later that day from Durango. My nephew, Ty, and John's cousin, Hank, a couple of fun-loving, young, strong 20-somethings would be doing the dirty work of driving all of our junk to our new home.

Lisa, the kids, and I drove into Amarillo as the sun was setting and got settled in our hotel for the evening. To my chagrin, there were signs posted all over the hotel doors proclaiming their pet policy. It was not in Ruby's favor. All day long, Ruby hadn't even wanted to get out of the car when we stopped for breaks. She has some abandonment issues, I am guessing from her puppy days being left behind on the reservation. The boys thought it was very exciting sneaking Ruby in the back door and into our room. I felt so shady.

The next day, we had a lazy morning since our house was closing in the afternoon. Theo had a test in the morning in Lubbock, and he planned to meet us for a final walk-through as soon as he could get up to Amarillo. The kids were so anxious for their dad to arrive. They kept asking me when he was going to get there. It was all they could do to relax and play. Everything went according to plan. Theo arrived. We met the realtor. We did the walk though. We had the closing. The house was ours. Cool.

Meanwhile, our driving pair along with my sister, Michelle, and her boys, Gabe and Seth were making their way from Durango to Amarillo. We had told our bishop that we could use help at 5pm and as I said, things seemed to be going according to plan. Then I got a text from Michelle. They were about an hour away, and the trailer had blown a tire, generally not a huge deal, but the spare was inside the trailer under all of our stuff! We all said our own little prayers and I fired off a message to our bishop pushing the help back to 7pm.

Apparently our prayers were heard. They found the tire quickly and easily, and were back on their way. Everyone arrived safe and sound, and the unloading was ready to begin. We were so pleasantly surprised by the huge turnout we had from our new Amarillo ward. I had heard in calling ahead that our ward was small and they were excited to have us move in, but this was above and beyond. It was awesome! Helpers galore.

Since we were done pretty late in the evening, we just set up a few beds and cleared areas for a good night rest. The next day was spent trying to organize and sort. All of our helpers were great! Later on Saturday, we discovered another prayer that had been answered. I guess John's truck had some kind of mechanical issue, and there were parts that had literally melted in the engine! Yikes! When John talked to Michelle, he felt as though we were very fortunate there hadn't been a fire! Crazy! They ended up getting the truck into a dealership, and made plans to rent a car to get home. Oy!

Sunday morning, Theo's mom made a very early departure to get home, and the rest of us went to our new ward together. I think Ty enjoyed it more than anyone since this is where he had served the first part of his mission. Michelle and her gang cleared out after sacrament meeting, and we were left in the aftermath of the unload. Now comes the work of putting our new house together. We are home!