the move...

530am my alarm goes off, all but my overnight bag is loaded up. The house is significantly empty, to the point where I wonder if my former roommates will notice. I walk through the house to see I've left anything important behind. Cleaning countertops and throwing some trash out I make my way onto The Little Giant. (the uhaul and mini) After a quick stop at Starbucks for a muffin and coffee, I was on my way to pick Tina up (my co-pilot). By 745a, we were on our way. By 830a, I wanted another coffee to keep me from yawning.

As we headed into of the city, I was not used to driving the Little Giant. I was nervous for the first 100 miles, and even more so when going through the Grapevine, thinking, that is going to take us FOREVER to get to Portland. In trying to calculate the time of arrival, I had us getting into Portland sometime around dinner time the next day. After miles of static radio, country stations, climate changes and cow smells, we finally arrived in Redding, much earlier then expecting. (The thought of continueing crossed my mind, but I didnt want to drive through the next stretch of the trip in the dark) It had been years since I'd been up there and I was really looking forward to seeing snow capped mountains and the next leg of the trip in daylight.

Day 2 started off great, especially after finding out that my Little Giant and the Mini were not vandalized. (Someone told me things disappear up there). The scenery was breathtaking...we were on the road just as the sun was coming up over the mountains. For the next 2 hours Tina turned into the Papparazzi and snapped picture after, picture of the things all around us. She was particularly excited about a Northern California town called Weed, CA. Everytime we'd see a highway sign, she'd snap a picture. Once we got into the Oregon border I was then thinking, we'd get in before sundown and maybe get a chance to unload a few things. When we rolled into town it was such a nice day. I was now realizing that this is my new home town and couldnt help by get excited about everything I saw. But the apartment wasnt ready therefore unable to unload the stuff. We hit up a pizza place down the street from the apartment where we decided to visit the wonderful world of Target.

I was starting to stress out about how I was going to do all that I needed to do, unload, return the uhaul, move in, buy bed, and take Tina to the airpor- in a timely manner. We would come up with a game plan, but it seemed that everytime I'd plan something, things would always work themselves out better then expected. My biggest concern was getting my 2 biggest items up 3 flights of stairs. Tina, as rough and tough as she is, wouldnt be able to help (I really thought about just strapping the 3oolbs TV onto her back at one point). Jason, a coworker, was fortunate enough to be available to help out (only because his battery died and wasnt able to make his morning appointments. Thanks Jason). I double parked the uhaul, Tina unloaded, Jason and I make several trips to the 3rd floor. By 12p we had had breakfast, unloaded uhaul, returned uhaul, starbucks, bought a mattress, hit up home depot, and now back to apt to unpack boxes. As we were were working, it started to snow outside. Admirering every flake, we were even more thankful it started to snow when it did. But Tina still had to make her flight. Not knowing how much time it would take to get to the airport, traffic to PDX was like 5p on a friday before a holiday on the 405. About half way from stop and go traffic, I asked her if she was nervous about missing her flight..."yup!". I told her that God hasnt let us down yet. I was trying to enstill confidence in her to trust that it would all work out. Although she had missed her connecting flight in Seattle, she got on a direct flight back home. And arrived sooner then expected.

The trip went better then I could have planned it. I was thankful to have had Tina along with me to help and keep me company. It was such a blessing to have shaired this experience with someone. I wish all of you could have been there as well.

Thank you all for the prays and encouraging words over the last few days. I was blessed to have made it here safe and sound. All my worries and concern were put to rest. About half way on the trip, I was flipping through the radio stations (as we would do about every 30 min). I came across this one sermon by Charles Swindall. He was describing someone with an A personality (sounded like he was describing me the last few weeks). What stood out the most was how he was describing how we stress out about things in our lives and how God always works things out. I know we all believe that but sometimes we cant see the light behind our own shadow. Not only did things work out, but they worked out better then I could have ever planned.

Happy New Year