In Portland!

The house shrank as I backed the van toward it!

All our stuff in the van

We have had a really busy week.  Last Saturday, some good friends showed up to help us with final packing at our old house in Pullman.  By the time the day was up, almost everything was in boxes.  On Sunday we rested a bit and said some more goodbye's.  On Monday, Karen's brother drove me to Spokane to pick up the van. Then Karen's other brother, my uncle and my mom helped us load the van (thanks, everybody!).  

The really big van. At first it looked like we would never fill it up, but somehow we managed. It was nice not to have to pack it very carefully, because we had plenty of space.  With all the help, we were done loading by early afternoon.  Our friend Ruth came over to help with cleaning and we had an empty, clean house by 5 pm.  

Empty!

Goodbye Pullman!

Karen and I decided to start the trip to Portland and make it to a friend's house in the Tri-Cities in order to break up the journey.  First we stopped in to say hi/bye to Gracie at Grandma's house.

On the road in the truck: Mt. Hood and the Columbia River

We arrived in the Tri-Cities about 9:30pm. Thanks, Michael and Lettie for letting us crash at your place! Tuesday we were off by 7 am. Grandparents and Gracie set off from Pullman in another vehicle about the same time.  The race was on: we had a 140 mile head start but we were driving the slow moving van. The drive was beautiful and pretty stress free. We arrived about around noon, an hour ahead of the rest of the crew, had some lunch and got our apartment keys.  The unpacking of the van started around 2.  
When we signed up for it, it seemed like a good idea to get an apartment on the third floor.  After about 20 trips up the stairs with boxes, that seemed like less of a good idea.  Plus, it was over 90F outside.  All of us were dripping with sweat, chugging water and Gatorade. Karen's mom took care of Gracie and we just soldiered on, up and down, up and down. We finally called off work for the evening and went to eat.  Here is the tired crew:

Heroes!

Wednesday was mop up of the last few remaining items, and unpacking. The crew left Wednesday evening.  A massive thanks goes out to my parents, Karen's mom and Karen's brothers for their help.  We could not have done it without all of you.  
We are now on our own in Portland. We have been unpacking, exploring the neighborhood, making address changes, working on resumes--all the myriad of details that surround moving.  

Gracie in her new apartment

Please know that your prayers for our move were answered; it really could not have gone any better. Your prayers are much appreciated. 
The next step for us is to get jobs. For Karen, this involves applying for a waitress job (she's already gotten her Oregon food handling permit!)  For me, this involves finishing my CFI (certified flight instructor) and then getting a job as a CFI. 

Moving This Week

The time has come. The boxes are packed (well most of them). We will be loading the moving truck Monday morning and driving it to Portland on Tuesday. The past few days have been busy ones; full of decisions on what to pack, how to pack it, what to keep and what not keep. We have been busy trying to get rid of excess stuff for the past six months but still I'm amazed at how much we have. This is the stack of boxes in the front room that is ready for loading on Monday:

The other thing we have been doing a lot of in the past few days is saying goodbye. Almost every day this past week has included a visit with a good friend who we will be seeing less frequently. Then there were the group goodbyes at work and at church. Today we had our last visit to my parents' farm, where Gracie had to say goodbye to her beloved "ba-ba's":

A big thanks to all of those who have helped us get ready to move and who helped us pack. We couldn't have done it without you. I will post an update on the move as soon as I can after we get settled in Portland. We also appreciate all the warm wishes we have received and the prayers we know you are sending up for us.