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The Drive.

My ever so gracious parents packed up and took the two day journey up north with us!  Having the help on the drive was tremendous - my mom and I took the boys in our car, and Husby and my dad took the other.  Mom was an amazing distraction to the kidlings, and made the 18 hours in the car nothing short of a cool breeze!

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My husband's parents moved to another state the day after we moved.  We met them early in the morning at the donut shop the day that we left for a farewell breakfast with them and Husby's grandparents.  It was good to see everyone before we left.

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The day we left was also our 9 year anniversary!  What a way to start off Year 10 - the biggest adventure yet!

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We drove 10 hours that day and stopped in Indianapolis for some sleep.  It was almost midnight and Dad bought my little family a suite so that we could put the kids in another room and not wake them up.  When we walked into the room the "suite" was a basic hotel room with a giant whirpool tub in the middle of it.  One King sized bed for the four of us and one giant tub.  We laughed, and called down for a rollaway bed for the kids so that we could get those tired babies in bed!  They were so exhausted we laid them in the bed until the rollaway came and we laid down beside them.

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And the next thing we knew it was morning and we had all slept together in one bed.  Haha!  We were all so exhausted I don't think any of us moved a muscle, but my Dad ended up getting a discount on that room!

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We had breakfast at a local joint called Blueberry Hill and it was the most amazing breakfast of life.  Then we drove through the entire state of Ohio and finally hit Pennsylvania.

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Once we hit PA, we saw the most beautiful rainbow and we literally drove right under it.  Such a sweet reminder of God's promises in our lives and in the lives of those who know Him.  It was perfect.

We trekked on as quickly as we could straight to Erie.  We didn't want to roll in late, so we pushed through it and arrived around 6pm.  I've never been to Erie before coming here to live, so everything was going to be a complete surprise for me - from the look of the town to the look of our home.  We found something online and blindly rented it, hoping and praying for something nice and in a good part of town.

We couldn't get the key to our townhouse until the next day, so Dad and Husby booked a hotel room here in town.  When we hit town and took the road to our house, my jaw dropped.  It was the most beautiful road covered in the most thick and gorgeous trees ... it reminded me of Victoria, B.C.  Quaint and beautiful and so, so lush with greenery!

I started to get nervous.  We were almost to the house.

From the pictures I could see online, the "backyard" to the townhouses consisted of a tiny little concrete slab.  Coming from such a big and pretty backyard in Oklahoma, this was such a huge concern for me with my boys!  If they can't play outside, they are going to go stir crazy.  I had already scouted out nearby parks because I feared the worst.  I also started researching sand boxes, because I wanted them to have something to do on that little slab!

We continued down the windy road and finally pulled into our house.  There are 12 townhouses in our addition and wouldn't you know ... ours is positioned in the very back corner and is the ONLY one with ANY TYPE OF YARD.  And it's gorgeous!!!  There are trees everywhere, a creek running through below, and even a slope that the boys can sled down in the winter.  I am telling you, every single other house has a concrete slab and that is it.  Some even back up to a busy ROAD (oh my, another huge fear I had!), and ours has a yard!  A YARD!

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(The side of our yard)

I was screaming when I saw it.  The boys were running through it as fast as they could, and Husby, my parents and me started snapping pictures of everything.  We were ALL blown AWAY!  I am telling you, God cares about the teeniest, tiniest details.  Oh, my heart was overjoyed!

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(The slope!)

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(Mom and the boys checking out the creek!)

We finished up checking out the house and then headed for supper and a good nights rest before unloading the moving truck the next day.  When we got to the hotel the lady told my Dad that they had run out of King rooms and that we would be upgraded to the Presidential Suite.

Um.  Okay.

They gave us the room because of the kids, and I am not even kidding you, it was THREE hotel rooms!!!!  It was the biggest thing I had ever seen in my life and the kids were running through that place like they were in a castle!  We died laughing because of the room we had the night before compared to this one.  It was almost the size of our new townhouse!  Haha!  Oh, what fun!  It had a giant whirlpool tub too, two bathrooms, two King sized beds, one Full sized bed, a full kitchen, and 3 TV's.  It was nuts.  NUTS!  The boys had a blast and we ran around eating Dunkin' Donuts and living the good life.

Oh, this trip was one that I will remember always.  We laughed so hard we cried, and we cried so hard we laughed.  My parents stayed for a week to help us unpack and settle and we explored and had some awesome adventures of our own.

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Stay tuned for more!



I am a modern day homemaker with a passion for family, cooking, celebrating, decorating, travel, and memory making! The Lord has blessed me with the desires of my heart in my husband and our two sons. We recently built our dream home and cultivating a loving and happy haven for my family is where I find so much joy.

Comments

  1. How exciting! My grandparents lived in Victoria, so I know what you mean about the lush trees and greenery :)

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  2. That is so nice that your parents helped you move - what a blessing! And I'm so happy the townhouse and community are working out so far. I can't wait for your new adventures!

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  3. Wishing you the best of everything in this exciting new adventure!
    Happy Anniversary too!

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  4. I can't wait to hear more about your life in Erie! I'm living vicariously through you!

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  5. Blessed Beyond Measure! The love of your parents is amazing. Such a huge move and adjustment, but just think of the memories! Many prayers for you new adventure!

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  6. Whitney!!! I didn't know that you stopped in Indianapolis for the night!!! We live about 20 minutes north of there!!! I wish I had known you were coming through!!! We would have met you for breakfast ;)
    I hope you're settling in well!

    Kelly

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  7. I had goosebumps when I read about the rainbow. God is so good!!

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