The Hayes Herald: The Big Move

We were originally set to move on Saturday, July 7th. But that date passed and we still hadn't closed on our house! We had to wait FOREVER just for a measly verification of employment. Talk about frustrating! Not getting to move on the 7th complicated things because we would be in Cincinnati the following weekend. My mom gave the suggestion that we move on the evening of Friday the 13th. Both of our families would be available to help us, and there would be some people from church who would be home from work.

At last, we FINALLY closed on our house on Wednesday the 11th. We worked what seemed like non-stop getting every last item packed and every last mark on the walls scrubbed off. I had boxes stacked in every free space I could find, to where I thought they were going to overtake us.

My parents and sister and brother-in-law, David's parents and brother, the missionaries, and a couple of other friends from our last ward came to help us pack up our moving van. When the van was packed, we fed everybody pizza, those from our past ward went home, and we headed up to Westfield. I had been in contact with the Elder's Quorum President there, and he sent out an email to all the brethren asking for help with our unpacking. We didn't know if anyone was going to come help, but not more than a second after we arrived at our house, ward members came in the throngs ready to give some great service. It was incredible! They just kept on comin'! And they moved FAST! It was actually overwhelming because they of course wanted to know where they should put things, and I had to quickly make decisions at the rate of their movement. Before we knew it (about 15 minutes after we got there), the van was unpacked and our workers were headed out the door. We are so, so grateful for the kindness that was shown to us, especially for those men and boys who gave up some of their precious Friday night.

Eli loved having Grandpa Hayes take him for a ride on the dolly! : )

Thankfully our families stayed and helped us get things situated. I don't know what we would have done without all their help! My mom was my true lifesaver. She came up three different days, helping me continue to unpack, hang all our pictures, and make our house a "home." She literally saved me from a complete and total breakdown from the huge amount of work there was to be done.

I'm sad to say our first night in our new house was a total disaster. Our house was vacant for three months before we moved in. And apparently vacant houses are for you-know-whats what honey is to Winnie-the-Pooh. Needless to say, we had a BIG problem. For anyone who doesn't know, I have a severe phobia of you-know-whats (can't even type the name). Seeing several around the house as we were moving in shook me up, but the frosting on the cake was what we saw in our sinks. You know, the place where you bend over to wash your face? Yeah, those things were mammoths. You can bet your bottom that I barely slept a wink that night and kept the light on (a great beginning for our Cincinnati trip the next day).

It was a very difficult time for me. Before the mammoths in the sink incident that night, I remember sitting on the couch, bawling. I felt so completely overwhelmed, exhausted, and lost. I was sitting in my house but didn't feel at all like I was "home."

We've now lived here for three weeks and things are better. My family (including two sisters from out-of-state) will be visited our house Friday morning, so that helped give me the shove that I needed to get the last bit of unpacking done and get everything sparkly clean.

Our new ward is packed full of young families, and I look forward to hopefully joining a playgroup. Eli loves his new Nursery class (it's HUGE!), and we enjoy the gorgeous ride to church that in a couple years will take us right past the temple!

Eli's transitioned super well to his new house. He LOVES all of the extra play space!

Here's some pictures of our house since we've moved in and done most of the decorating. There's still more we'd like to do, but we'll have to keep our eyes peeled for things we're looking for.

Foyer

Kitchen. You can't tell, but the walls are yellow. I originally didn't want to eat in the kitchen, but it definitely beats having a messy toddler eating over carpet! And the space is plenty big enough for eating comfortably and me still having plenty of kitchen workspace.

Living Room. It has vaulted ceilings and is nice and spacious.

My mom just bought the toy shelf as a house-warming gift. Best gift ever! It keeps the toys sooo much more organized! (Sorry no curtains, they weren't hung up yet).