Welcome to Montgomery County!

We are happy to announce that we have arrived safely in Crawfordsville and are working on getting settled! Sorry for the delay in getting up a blog post - we had to wait until our Internet was set up. Unpacking has been challenging at times, but I am thankful we have had almost two full weeks to work on getting the house (mostly) set up and to try to figure out what our new "normal" will look like before our internship responsibilities begin.

"How did the move go?"
"All's well that ends well," as the saying goes. We had a 6-vehicle caravan (yes, you read that right!) helping us move down here on June 16:
     I (Ronae) drove our van,
     Chris drove the moving truck - accompanied by his brother Josh,
     Jack (my stepdad) drove our car,
     Ronica (my mom) drove her van - also bringing my foster sisters Faith and Chrystal,
     Rachel (my sister) drove her car, and
     Anna (Chris' sister) drove her mom's car along with her mom.

Our caravan: On the road

About an hour away from our destination, we noticed white smoke trailing from the moving truck. We ALL pulled over while Jack looked at the truck. We tried to start up again, but still the truck was smoking... So we found an empty lot to pull into while the guys looked more closely at the truck and made a call to U-Haul. Realizing that this would be more than a simple pit stop, we decided that four of the vehicles should continue on in order to get Josiah and Charis to our new house and out of their carseats while Jack and Chris stayed behind to wait for a mechanic (the nearest mechanic was 90 minutes away).

Transmission troubles....

In the meantime, the rest of us arrived at our new house - our planned arrival time of 3:00 having turned into an actual arrival time of 6:00. Many of the people from the church who had come to help us unload were still here waiting for us with friendly smiles and hot pizza - both of which were a welcome sight after a long and stressful day of packing and traveling! One couple lent us air mattresses, blankets, and pillows since we weren't sure if the truck would be there that night and most of our bedding was packed inside of it. Denise, Josh, and Anna began their long drive home while the rest of us waited to see whether or not the truck would make it.

Our new house: Front view

Back view

One fried transmission and one flat tire later, Chris and Jack arrived with the moving truck shortly before 10:00 - just in time to unload and put together the crib and bassinet so the kids could sleep in their normal beds. The next day (Tuesday), more men from the church came to help us unload. Jack went home that evening, but my mom and sisters stayed until Thursday afternoon to help us start unpacking.
I feel like I can't say it enough, but we truly couldn't have done it without the help of so many of our friends and family!!!! We have so appreciated those who babysat while we packed, helped us pack and load the truck, clean our house before leaving, drive down to Crawfordsville, unload, unpack, and begin setting up the house. THANK YOU to you all!!!!!

Living Room

Getting Settled
We are slowly but surely getting settled into our new house. We have never moved with kids before, so I don't think we fully understood what we were getting ourselves into! As I said before, it has been a challenge getting things unpacked around the house since my family left and we don't have any "extra" people around to distract our very busy toddler, but we're figuring it out. :)

Kitchen

 

Nursery - Josiah's crib & changing table

Nursery - Charis' crib & changing table

Bathroom

Chris' project - building 2 of these shelves to hold all our totes

We have been blessed by multiple people from Liberty Chapel who have invited us to their homes or out to eat for dinner or have sent us home with food so that we have one less thing to worry about as we have worked on setting up the house. We are so thankful for such a loving and welcoming church family who has embraced us so warmly even when they hardly know us!

Welcome to Darlington!

...Now the REAL work begins!
Allen and Diane, our mentors, have been out of town for the past two weeks - the first week on a missions trip and the second week on vacation for their anniversary. They arrived back home last night, and Chris met Allen this morning (along with other men from the church) for a men's breakfast. Now that they're back in town, we will begin meeting with them and figuring out what our training and responsibilities will look like. We have enjoyed these last two weeks of rest, but are excited for this new chapter to begin!

Monthly Newsletter
We were able to send out our first monthly newsletter (for June) shortly before moving. If you did not receive it but would like to receive our newletters, please let us know and we will gladly add you to our list. We hope to send one out at the beginning of each new month, so we will be sending out our July letter in the next week or so.

Prayer Requests
- Ronae has been dealing with an itchy mystery rash that is slowly spreading for two weeks now. Treatment is complicated because she is allergic to topical cortisone and was told she could not be given a shot since she is nursing. She is currently taking a low-dose oral prescription that is supposed to be safe with breastfeeding, but hasn't yet seen improvement in the rash. Please pray for relief and healing!
- Our family has gone through so many changes in the past few weeks - a new baby, moving to a new house, going to a new church, and a big change in employment. We are thankful to know there are some things that will never change (Hebrews 13:8), but we would appreciate your prayers as we adjust. Pray that we (and our children) would deal well with all of the changes and the stress that change can bring.