North to Alaska

Packing our belongings, fixing up the house, and moving to Alaska is by far the biggest project I've ever undertaken. Every day demanded energy I didn't want to give. At the beginning of the summer, I realized it'd be busier than most with General Assembly and the last of Jon's classes, but I wasn't prepared to pack up my present life and move it north.

Saturday morning, Jon and I awoke early and began preparations for our realtor to arrive and take pictures. Next we retrieved the U-Haul and began loading boxes. We had several friends from Central show up to help. We were thankful for their motivation and muscles. In the afternoon, yet more friends arrived and helped finish the job.

Jon and I soon realized we were in over our heads as our 4pm deadline came and went. We planned to drive to Salina that night and spend time with my aunt, uncle, and cousin before leaving the state. We didn't finish packing, projects, and cleaning until 11:30pm. Jason, Chris, and Kim stuck around until those late hours to insure we were ready to go. Our biggest thanks goes to them. And thank you to everyone who showed up earlier in the day to help with the main packing effort.

After five hours of sleep, Jon and I finally departed Kansas City by 6am on Sunday morning. We arrived in Denver without incident and are enjoying some down time as we spend Monday with friends and family.

Tuesday morning will be here all too soon and we'll be back on the road for our longest leg of the journey--to Nampa, Idaho. It takes 12 hours in a car; I don't want to think about how long it'll take with a U-Haul. We have yet to calculate how many MPG the truck gets. We're told it's eight, but we'll see how it copes in the mountains.

When picking up the truck, the U-Haul guy told us they gave us the newest one in the lot. We were hoping for the best circumstances, but hadn't voiced it to anyone. God continues to reveal himself throughout this move. Even though there have been hard times, we have been reassured through several instances that we are in God's will.