there's no place like home

Jessie and I are moving this weekend. I say "are" because we're not quite finished yet. We starting on Friday by coming to our new neighborhood to sign the lease and get our keys. We then went to pick up a Uhaul truck so we could haul all of our furniture in one trip. I drove the truck. It took us about 2.5 hours to load up the truck. We had help the last 15 minutes or so when Paul, Swafford and DanMan showed up. When we got to our new place, it took less than an hour to unload everything. It really goes a lot faster when you have help! We are so thankful for those guys :)

After we unloaded the furniture and took the truck back, we went to eat at Tossed with Diane and Javen. We then headed back to our old place to load up our cars with everything that was left. It's amazing how much stuff we have between the two of us. Where did it all come from? We brought one load over and once we unloaded everything we decided to call it quits for the night.

This morning we woke up to bright, sunny rooms!! Ah, the joy of windows (our previous place was a basement apartment = no windows). We arranged the living room then headed back to our cave to pack and load once again. Before we loaded our cars, we went to lunch with the Davis family at MAFIAoZA's in Nashville. After lunch we went to Las Paletas. It's a Popsicle place. If you're ever in Nashville, you have to go.

Then we were back to packing and hauling. We took another load to our new apartment. Halfway through unloading, Jessie said, "I wouldn't mind if it started to rain a bit." It was about 75 degrees and we were working hard. A nice rain would've cooled us off a bit. About two minutes later, it starting raining. BIG raindrops. Then it started hailing. The sky was really cool- it was a mix of clear blue sky, white puffy clouds, dark rainclouds, and dark sky off in the distance. Jess and I jumped in the back of my Pilot when the hail started and just watched it fall. A few minutes later, it stopped raining and hailing and the sun came back out, kinda. The sky was still crazy looking. Jessie said something about the possiblity of a tornado. I kinda brushed that thought aside. Once we finished unloading we made our way back to our old apt once again to get another load. I turned on the radio only to hear that we were under a tornado warning! The sirens were going off and the lady on the radio was telling everyone to get inside. So we arrived back at our old apartment to find the Davis family in the basement. They were having a little picnic in what was my bedroom (the safest room in the house when it comes to tornados).

The storm finally blew over so Jess and I got back to packing. At this point, we had gotten everything out of the bedrooms and were working on the kitchen. It was probably around 6pm or so and we were slowing down. I cleared out all the drawers and cabinets and packed as much as I could into what boxes we had left. Jessie started loading things into her car. Once she packed her car, she headed back to our new place. I followed not long after. I arrived home to find Jessie asleep on the couch. The day had taken its toll on her. Let's just say we are both worn out. Moving is tiring, especially in the middle of a tornado. I didn't think it would literally take all weekend to move. There's not much left back at our old place. Hopefully we'll hammer it out in a couple of hours tomorrow after church. Then the dreaded unpacking will commence.

new apartment

WINDOWS!

old neighborhood

Jessie's room

my room

more photos to come...