
July 31 was a sad day for us. Our lease was up, and we said goodbye to 8445 2N. We have a lot of memories from our Atherton apartment. Will and I lived there for three of our four years of marriage, we began friendships that we hope will last a lifetime, we learned a lot about trusting the Lord and watched in amazement as he answered our prayers time after time in ways we couldn't have imagined possible. It is the place to which we brought Caitlyn home from the hospital, where we spent many sleep-deprived days and nights learning how to take care of her, and where we watched her grow and develop for the first 10 months of her life. Our Atherton apartment will always hold a special place in our hearts.
It is also the place we apparently managed to accumulate quite a large amount of stuff, so packing and moving was a lot of work. Thankfully we had some generous friends and family who gave up their time and energy to help with the entire process.
Packing...
Caitlyn was a big help. Well, mostly she just looked cute while Will and I packed.

She loved being in a box so that was a great distraction when she started to fuss.


Our neighbors and good friends, the Jensens, moved out a week before us while we were in Huntsville for an interview. When we returned, we found this incredibly creative note taped to the front of our refrigerator. As I have mentioned before, we will really miss them!
Loading the truck...
Here is the empty truck. Twenty-four feet long: there's no way we'll fill that thing up, right?

The boxes from the basement...only the beginning.

Our amazing helpers...
We owe a huge thank-you to Jim Conrady, Chad and Annaliese, David and BeCa, Ben and Anna (and Ella), and Billy and Marsha. You were all very gracious to give up your entire day to help us out. We can't thank you enough!
Billy and Marsha not only helped carry boxes and furniture, but they also provided an invaluable service to us by entertaining Caitlyn. AND...they provided lunch for everyone. AND...they drove our Civic all the way to Alabama for us. They are amazing!

Here are the guys at the end of a long day. Try not to be distracted by their bulging biceps and check out that truck...we used every inch of it. And it wouldn't have fit except for David's amazing "puzzle piece" abilities.

The ice cream truck...
No summer day in Atherton is complete without the sound of the ice cream truck. Unfortunately, I think the music of this one will be etched in my head forever ("Hellooo"). He came through right before we drove away for the last time, so I had to snap a picture.
Dinner at Wendy's...
We had one last dinner at Wendy's to say "goodbye for now" to the Halls and Fisks. McKenzie and Carter were both so sweet as they entertained Caitlyn.


We could have stood in the parking lot forever, putting off saying farewell. We will miss y'all so much, but we're looking forward to hanging out again in the future.
On the road...
We spent the night at the Porters' new house and were refreshed for the drive the next morning. We had a tearful goodbye with the Porters and Townsleys before taking off.
Will drove the truck all the way to Memphis and then to Alabama with no air conditioning, and then he worked very persistently with Budget to get a discount for that inconvenience...what a trooper.
More details to follow regarding the end of this story...Where do we end up and where is Will called to work?