We Made It!

I'm happy to report that the Lord blessed our journey and we arrived in Grand Rapids safe and sound last week Friday afternoon at around 4:00. The trip was long but uneventful. The kids traveled great, both the van and truck ran well, we had great travel condidtions, and I didn't hit anything. Oh, and as an added bonus all of our stuff made it with nary (sp?) at scratch.

When we arrived my brother, Mark, his father-in-law, Kevin, Jessica's parents, and a seminary student came to help us unload and clean. Kelli, Mark's wife, also has a bunch of groceries for us when we arrived which was so wonderful. On Saturday, Mark and Kelli came to help us again and she brought even more food. It's going to be fun living closer to them.

We are finding Grand Rapids a wonderful place to live so far. It's quite convenient to have Target, Wal-Mart, Meijer, and just about everything else all available in town. The neighbors have been very friendly. We've received some muffins, a garden zuchinni, and even a post for my broken yard fence since we've arrived here. I've even had my first visit with a Jehovah's Witness already!! =)

The kids are making fast friends with the neighbor kids as well. In fact, as I type this, they are playing at the park down the street with a few of them. Lots of girls again (just like our Sioux Center neighborhood) but we're hoping Zachary finds some friends soon too. I've got some pictures already, which I'll have to post later.

We visited Plymouth Heights CRC on Sunday and found that very welcoming as well. They are very community/neighborhood focused which is cool. It's less than a mile from our house and it seems to be a very friendly. Their current pastor is on a sabbatical right now and won't be back until the fall. So we'll see where we end up, but that was a good start. There are lots of choices here!

The house is working out well. We've got the kids' rooms set up as well as the kitchen and the living room. The office is still a mess and we are just starting to put a few things up on the walls. The basement and the garage are next on the list too. When we are arrived the house was not very clean, so we had to spend a fair amount of time wiping down cupboards and bathrooms which we were disappionted about. But now we know that is passes the Jessica inspection too, which is (in my opinion) the gold standard.

It's been hot here this week, so we had to invest in several fans since the house doesn't have air, but they are doing a good job of keeping us cool.

All in all, we are off to a very good start here. Thanks for the well-wishes, prayers, help and support along this journey. Continue to keep them coming and I'll do my best to keep you all posted.