"have fun on your adventure"

We're here! I won't say that we're settled, but I will say that we have a mattress on the floor and a functional kitchen. And a semi-functional living room, bathroom and office. But we're here!

It was an ordeal to get ourselves and our stuff down here. U-haul disasters and packing obstacles and temporary homelessness caused a few headaches But alas, we arrived Thursday night, to a house that we signed a lease on 36 hours prior - having not even seen it. Of course, the AC was broken and the thermostat was registering 96 degrees, so we spent the night in a hotel until they could fix it. Seriously, you wouldn't believe the luck we've had this week. Horrendous. But the house is beautiful and better than we ever could have hoped for. I'll post pictures when it doesn't look like a storage unit. As taxing as the process has been, I had my "I can't believe we live here" moment when we were driving around on Friday. It's so breathtakingly southern. If all the stress leads to those moments, I can't complain too much.

I will say that leaving NC was a lot harder than I thought. My parents helped us pack on Tuesday and Wednesday, prolonging the inevitable goodbye. When the time came for me to hug them one last time, I felt like a five-year-old leaving for her first day of school. I stood in the front yard and cried as they drove away. I cried the next morning while I finished cleaning. I cried when I crossed the border into SC, as if Pedro and his fun themepark only represented the fact that I don't even live in same Carolina as the rest of my family. But if there's one thing I'm learning, it's that there is something beautiful in the story that God is writing for me. Even the story that tears me away from family and friends and familiarity, leading us to the uncertainty that makes my stomach turn. (Mir, I promise I'll finish reading that book as soon as I unpack it!) I can only assume that He wrote this part to give me something precious, so I'll take it.

When I was hugging my dad one last time, he told me to have fun on my adventure. Thanks, Dad, for raising me to go on and enjoy adventures. And for giving me to a man who will take care of me while we're on them together.

Here we go...