Showing posts with label move. Show all posts
Showing posts with label move. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
From Kentucky to North Carolina
On Dec 30 Nathan, I, and the children left the farm in Kentucky to drive to our new home in North Carolina. We had the possibility of staying with family friends part of the way through but we realized that we wouldn't get to their home until 9 pm. If we stayed on the road we would be all the way home by 11 pm. Detouring to their home would give us a four hour drive on the 31st. I was eager to get to our new house and start settling in, Nathan was too.
We said goodbye to Mama Lily, her crew, Shagga Bear, Abby, and lots of extended family. I do believe I saw a few tears. I was teary too. I knew it would be quite a while before we got to see them all again.
We headed south through Nashville and just an hour into our 12 hour drive we saw this. And this.
We sat in traffic for about 30 minutes or so. While we were sitting there we got to take a great shot of the home of the Tennesse Titans where we attended the Call in 2007. Kodak moment.
The day proved mostly uneventful. There was no throwing up or explosive diapers, just miles that didn't seem to slide by fast enough.
Nathan and I each took turns driving. (yes, I did share the wheel.) We stopped for a late lunch around 2. About 8:30- 9:00pm we were on the east side of Raleigh, about an hour and a half from home. We were thinking about getting some dinner to go. The highway is four lanes on each side there and the speed limit is 70 mph in NC. People were flying past us at probably 80 mph. Nathan was driving in the second to the left lane when we heard this horrible but unmistakable flopping bumping noise. Nathan looked puzzled as I said, "It's a flat tire, babe....PULL OVER!"
To his credit he did pull over, to the left. There we were stopped on the side of the road smack up against a concrete barrier with hour lanes of very high speed traffic on either side of us in the black of night. We get out to check out the tire. Bad doesn't even begin to say how much it was destroyed. Nathan and I were standing there trying to figure out what to do. We don't have AAA. We don't have roadside assistance. We know absolutely no one near there. And we have speeding traffic that shakes the van back and forth.
Nathan stuck his head under the van to see where the tire was and I had a brilliant inspiration to look in the owners manual about how get the spare tire out. And I thought, "Duh! Why don't I call 911. The State Patrol ought to help." So I called 911 and got the State troopers office. I explained the situation and they said not to do anything until they got there.
One trooper arrived in about 10 minutes. He got behind us and eased into traffic. We couldn't even go five mph. Once each lane was clear enough he eased over to give us a clear path to get into the next lane. We made it to the right hand side and were able to pull off far enought to give us space to work. We unloaded the back of the van,
got the spare out and the helpful trooper changed the tire.
After the spare was on and everything loaded Nathan wanted to pump it up a bit with a bike pump we had in the van. The trooper said we shouldn't. We were in sight of the next exit and could stop there at a gas station and fill it up, and oh, by the way, we should tighten the bolts too because he couldn't get them very tight.
We eased into traffic and immediately knew we had a problem. It wobbled, shook, and bumped horribly. We drove very slowly to the gas station and when Nathan got out to put the air in the tire we saw this.
There was no way the van was going anywhere until we got a new tire. By now it was after 10 pm. Nathan was able to call a coworker who lived close to Raleigh to come and pick up me and the kids. We figured he would only be able to take three of the kids plus me so we decided AJ would stay with Nathan in the van. Surprisingly, he was excited about it. In fact, JM was up set that he wasn't going to get to stay too.
The coworker arrived a while later. We discovered that he only had two seat belts in the back seat so it was just Little Peanut and Grasshopper that got to come home. By 1:30 the kids and I were in our new house all cuddled in our bed. It felt wonderful to be home.
Nathan, JM, and AJ slept in the van. In the morning they were able to walk up the street about 30o ft to a tire store, Thank God, and get a new tire for the flat one and a new tire on the spare. The guys at the store put the new tire on and Nathan and the kids made it home for lunch.
We're here!
More to come.
We said goodbye to Mama Lily, her crew, Shagga Bear, Abby, and lots of extended family. I do believe I saw a few tears. I was teary too. I knew it would be quite a while before we got to see them all again.
We headed south through Nashville and just an hour into our 12 hour drive we saw this. And this.
We sat in traffic for about 30 minutes or so. While we were sitting there we got to take a great shot of the home of the Tennesse Titans where we attended the Call in 2007. Kodak moment.
The day proved mostly uneventful. There was no throwing up or explosive diapers, just miles that didn't seem to slide by fast enough.
Nathan and I each took turns driving. (yes, I did share the wheel.) We stopped for a late lunch around 2. About 8:30- 9:00pm we were on the east side of Raleigh, about an hour and a half from home. We were thinking about getting some dinner to go. The highway is four lanes on each side there and the speed limit is 70 mph in NC. People were flying past us at probably 80 mph. Nathan was driving in the second to the left lane when we heard this horrible but unmistakable flopping bumping noise. Nathan looked puzzled as I said, "It's a flat tire, babe....PULL OVER!"
To his credit he did pull over, to the left. There we were stopped on the side of the road smack up against a concrete barrier with hour lanes of very high speed traffic on either side of us in the black of night. We get out to check out the tire. Bad doesn't even begin to say how much it was destroyed. Nathan and I were standing there trying to figure out what to do. We don't have AAA. We don't have roadside assistance. We know absolutely no one near there. And we have speeding traffic that shakes the van back and forth.
Nathan stuck his head under the van to see where the tire was and I had a brilliant inspiration to look in the owners manual about how get the spare tire out. And I thought, "Duh! Why don't I call 911. The State Patrol ought to help." So I called 911 and got the State troopers office. I explained the situation and they said not to do anything until they got there.
One trooper arrived in about 10 minutes. He got behind us and eased into traffic. We couldn't even go five mph. Once each lane was clear enough he eased over to give us a clear path to get into the next lane. We made it to the right hand side and were able to pull off far enought to give us space to work. We unloaded the back of the van,
got the spare out and the helpful trooper changed the tire.
After the spare was on and everything loaded Nathan wanted to pump it up a bit with a bike pump we had in the van. The trooper said we shouldn't. We were in sight of the next exit and could stop there at a gas station and fill it up, and oh, by the way, we should tighten the bolts too because he couldn't get them very tight.
We eased into traffic and immediately knew we had a problem. It wobbled, shook, and bumped horribly. We drove very slowly to the gas station and when Nathan got out to put the air in the tire we saw this.
There was no way the van was going anywhere until we got a new tire. By now it was after 10 pm. Nathan was able to call a coworker who lived close to Raleigh to come and pick up me and the kids. We figured he would only be able to take three of the kids plus me so we decided AJ would stay with Nathan in the van. Surprisingly, he was excited about it. In fact, JM was up set that he wasn't going to get to stay too.
The coworker arrived a while later. We discovered that he only had two seat belts in the back seat so it was just Little Peanut and Grasshopper that got to come home. By 1:30 the kids and I were in our new house all cuddled in our bed. It felt wonderful to be home.
Nathan, JM, and AJ slept in the van. In the morning they were able to walk up the street about 30o ft to a tire store, Thank God, and get a new tire for the flat one and a new tire on the spare. The guys at the store put the new tire on and Nathan and the kids made it home for lunch.
We're here!
More to come.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Sad Morning
Last Monday morning I woke up in my king size bed with a very sad realization. It would be the last morning that I would ever wake up in my bed in that house. Our bedroom was painted a beautiful ocean blue with white molding. We have a white satiny comforter with ocean blue sheets. I loved our room. The curtains were sheer white and hung by ribbons from curtain rods that Nathan made me from a picture in a book. On the ceiling above our bed was a couple hundred really tiny glow in the dark stars. At night Nathan and I would lay in bed and look at the stars. Kind of silly for an adult but we really liked them. It was always fun when the kids would be in bed and notice them. "Mommy look at the stars!!"
My favorite part was the neighbor's tree. There was a huge buckeye tree on the other side of our neighbor's house. The way the branches had grown was what made it special. When you laid in bed and looked out the window there were branches hanging down just in sight. In the summer the leaves would blow in the breeze and it was so relaxing. I always meant to take a picture but I never got around to doing it. 
That Monday was very sad for me. That was the day the move became really real to me. My house, our first home that we owned and made ours, was reduced to boxes. If it hadn't been so frigid I might have spent more time taking pictures. Here instead are the few I took.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Saddle Up Your Horses!
Several months ago Nathan got a call from a recruiter in NC asking him if he was interested in a job in NC. At that time it had only been a few weeks since Daniel died. Nathan said we really couldn't leave Ohio because it was a bad time for our family. In October Nathan got another call from a different recruiter about a different job in NC. Nathan decided he would get more information and this recruiter set up a phone interview. The phone interview took place on a Friday at lunch.
We've had so many doors slam shut over the last couple of years that Nathan prayed that we would get some kind of answer that afternoon, either way. We weren't really expecting any news until the following week. But that afternoon Nathan got a call asking if he could come down for an interview just four days later on Tuesday. Turns out it was election day. Nathan went and voted early and late Monday night got on a plane to NC.
Nathan was a huge hit! Which isn't surprising! They loved him but wanted to make sure that I was on board with a move. Once I talked to Nathan's recruiter and assured them that I was excited about the move too they started his background check. The state of Ohio apparently drags their feet to get background checks done. But the official offer came through last Tuesday morning. Nathan signed it and sent it back and Wednesday he resigned from Epic. YEA!!!!
Nathan's new job is in the small town of Tarboro NC doing work very similar to what he's doing now. This company makes circuit boards for Honda. We're going to be living in the town of Rocky Mount. Nathan and I are flying down this coming week to look at several places to live. Nathan will be starting work on Dec. 2 in NC. The kids and I will be packing up and will be here in Norwalk through Christmas. We'll be joining Nathan after Christmas.
We're really excited about our new adventure. We're also going to miss our family and friends here in Ohio.
*updated- Nathan and I are flying down tonight to look at several places to live and do some paperwork for his new job. Pictures later this week when we get back.
We've had so many doors slam shut over the last couple of years that Nathan prayed that we would get some kind of answer that afternoon, either way. We weren't really expecting any news until the following week. But that afternoon Nathan got a call asking if he could come down for an interview just four days later on Tuesday. Turns out it was election day. Nathan went and voted early and late Monday night got on a plane to NC.
Nathan was a huge hit! Which isn't surprising! They loved him but wanted to make sure that I was on board with a move. Once I talked to Nathan's recruiter and assured them that I was excited about the move too they started his background check. The state of Ohio apparently drags their feet to get background checks done. But the official offer came through last Tuesday morning. Nathan signed it and sent it back and Wednesday he resigned from Epic. YEA!!!!
Nathan's new job is in the small town of Tarboro NC doing work very similar to what he's doing now. This company makes circuit boards for Honda. We're going to be living in the town of Rocky Mount. Nathan and I are flying down this coming week to look at several places to live. Nathan will be starting work on Dec. 2 in NC. The kids and I will be packing up and will be here in Norwalk through Christmas. We'll be joining Nathan after Christmas.
We're really excited about our new adventure. We're also going to miss our family and friends here in Ohio.
*updated- Nathan and I are flying down tonight to look at several places to live and do some paperwork for his new job. Pictures later this week when we get back.
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