Our crazy last week in IL...moving

Looking back I can see miracles throughout this entire move...

It was a miracle that our home sold in 3 weeks. Our realtor was amazed. Of her 20 homes on the market, ours was the only one having any action. The realty office was pretty much dead. We had someone in the background wanting to buy our home sight unseen (although they saw it on the Internet). They wanted to know ASAP if the sale with the first buyers falls through.

Our relocation company (Cartus) was next to impossible to work with. The contract sat on someones desk for 1 week before they signed it (or floated to various desks because people were out of the office). They were actually not going to have the contract signed until Dec 26 because the attorney was busy. Our realtor called and said that was unacceptable. They had the contract signed in less than 1 hour. I hope we can leave feedback.

The packers came Dec 27 and 28. They did an extra long day on the 28th so they wouldn't have to come back on a Saturday. The moving truck driver decided to do the loading in 1 day rather than 2 days. We thought that would be great! We were scheduled for loading on Mon, Dec 31 and Wed Jan 2. We planned on loading on Dec 31. Purchased tickets for Jan 1 for the gang. Monday came. No truck. John called the driver. They decided to do the loading on Jan 2. We had to change our tickets. I couldn't leave the home without signing all of the paper work for the moving truck and then not clean it too! Argh. We lived in the house packed with boxes. No pots and pans. Frozen dinners got old. Frozen breakfasts did too. John headed to CO on Monday, Dec 31 hoping to miss the weather. He still hit some snow, but arrived safely. We spent New Years Eve with Keith and Debra (and David)...we pooped out early.

The moving truck came on Jan 2. The driver realized how much stuff we had and called for 2 extra guys. About noon one of the guys asked me if I was going to follow the driver (his name was John) to CO. I said no. I said that the van was scheduled to go on the moving truck. John's face was shocked. It wasn't in his paper work. So, a tow truck was ordered to come and pick up the van. About 2:00 p.m. the driver realized that he wouldn't have room in the truck for all of our stuff (53 foot truck; 18 wheeler). He told me that another truck would be by in the morning. I told him that wasn't going to work because we were closing on the house at 9:00 a.m. and had to be out. Another truck showed up at 6:00 to load up the garage and the back yard items. It was the size of a very large U-haul.

It was cold that day. 2 degrees in the morning. It warmed up to 20! (That doesn't include wind chill!) They took the doors off of our home. I turned off the heat. It got down to 39 IN the house. I took pictures of the temperature gauges. It snowed on Tuesday. I was trying to keep the snow off the driveway and sidewalk. We still had snow all over. If they had come on Monday (39 degrees), there wouldn't have been the snow!!!I finally had the place clean by 8:30 p.m. What a long day. The kids hung out in the house too. They were glad to be done too.

Thursday was closing day. It was nice that we did not need to show up; Cartus, the relocation company, "owned" the house. They "bought the house from us"; we got the equity out of the house from them the day before closing. All issues now belonged to Cartus....yah right. We slept in until 8:45. 8:15 the buyers had their final walk through. 9:30 John calls. We are heading out to get breakfast; the kids are starving. The buyers want the Christmas lights off the roof. Remember...there is 3 inches of snow on the roof...icey too!!!! They are of a different religion and didn't want the lights. Argh. I understand not wanting the lights due to their religious beliefs, but I don't think they took safety into consideration for their request. We would have taken the lights down before the closing on our home if it was safe…we put the lights up because we didn’t think we would sell so quickly!!! We put breakfast on hold. On the way to the house to remove the lights John calls again. I need to sign a fax for the closing to be completed. I've got to be 2 places at once! Argh again!!!

I head over to the house and get my favorite next-door neighbor Ms. Marie to help me. I borrow her ladder since ours is on the way to CO. She holds the ladder. I yank the main level lights off of the gutters. She climbs the ladder too to help in some areas. Some break off and we use wire cutters to trim the frayed ends. I borrow her broom. I "break in" with our garage code and go to the top floor and removed the window screens. I sweep the snow below me and lean out and hang on for dear life and yank again. The lights are frozen to the gutter. Somehow they manage to come off; a couple break so I had to use wire cutters again. The moving truck for the new owners is in front of the house. They watch Marie and me.

Kids are starving. Need to sign the fax. John calls again. The fax at the hotel isn't working. This is what I knew: Closing today (Jan 3) at 9:00 a.m. at Caldwell Banker and I know the name of the realtor that is working with the buyers. I was heading back to the hotel (25 minutes away from the house) and thought I would try to find a Caldwell Banker office. That is super easy! Do you know how many Caldwell Banker realty offices there are!!!?!!! Tons!!! I decide to stop when I saw a sign. I told the kids to hang on. I go into the office and ask if they know @#(%^& #&(&(%*#@& (name of the realtor that is working with the buyers). No. They told me that there are hundreds of Caldwell Banker Realtors and many different offices in our city alone. I told them that I need to sign some papers so that the buyers could take possession of the house. The receptionist at the desk told me that a closing was going on down the hall. I decide to take a peek. It was the closing on our home!!! What are the chances?!?! Talk about miracles.

I find out where John needs to send the fax. The fax is sent. I sign it. They are able to close. If they weren't able to get the final paper work signed (by me), their moving truck that was sitting in front of the house watching me and Marie remove the lights would be sent back to the main hub, unloaded and put into storage for a day. The next day the truck would need to be loaded up again and then delivered. The buyers didn't want to pay for that. No comment.

The kids FINALLY get to eat breakfast at 11:30. We then head to see and say goodbye to Bama and Papa.So....I'm glad it is all over. I am amazed at how the Lord's hand was VERY evident in our lives the past couple of months.


What my family had to say on our family website:

Mike- Jan 4, 2008

WOW, you guys are amazing!!!!! Count your many blessings name them one by one...


Cara - Jan 5, 2008

That is quite the day. Seems that packing and moving is enough in my book, but having to go through all this is crazy. You were sure watched over.

Mom - Jan 5, 2008

OH MY! Thank you Miss Marie! We put your names in the temple again...on Thurs. Keep us posted on the house in Colorado.


Brooke - Jan 5, 2008

I would have a lot of no comments!
Glad you made it through it all without any injuries!

Shannon - Jan 5, 2008

INSANE! After reading that....I don't think we'll be moving....maybe forever!...unless Kelly comes and packs us up! tee hee hee