Pictures Tell It Best

boxes yet to be unpacked

The number of boxes to be unpacked is steadily decreasing. Nearly every day I tell myself that a particular number of them will be dealt with, but often those goals are not reached because one thing leads to another that leads to something else. You know how it is.

bowling with the grandkids

We also have a delightful diversion with this move that we've never had with our previous relocations -- grandchildren! 

This past week we got to take a two-day break from unpacking to take an overnight trip to retrieve my car from the kids' storage shed. 

Shortly after our arrival Blondie took us all bowling. Beloved and I don't bowl anymore due to ramifications with our joint replacements, but we are great cheerleaders for those who do toss that ball down the alley (and yes, some of the kids did "toss" it!). We had a great time in spite of the fact that Gray Beard had to work and could not be with us.

"You stay away from my food, ya hear?"

This was our first time to meet another one of our grand puppies, a Shar-Pei-Basset mix. He is sweet and loves attention -- except when he's eating (as is true with most dogs). 

Interstate in Florida

The next day we headed back home, Beloved driving his car and me in mine. I had somewhat dreaded this part of our moving adventure, having to drive for 5 hours by myself. You see, when we travel, Beloved prefers to do all of the driving. We've just always done it that way, so for me to drive all that way was a real departure from the norm.

However, the day was blessed and I really mean that. We plugged my iPhone into the speakers of my car so I could listen to iTunes. I have a play list composed of nothing but praise music. For 5 solid hours I listened and often sung along to the most wonderful music praising the Lord. Some of it was instrumental and some with vocals. It was glorious! I am calling it my "mountaintop experience at sea level." 

Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of His people. He lives in the atmosphere of praise. This is so true! I felt it as my car sped along the highway. The time flew by. I felt refreshed and not weary when we got back to our house!

both of our cars at the new house - on trash day

Since our moving company is based in Denver, once our household goods and furniture were delivered, they left for the Mile High city and it was up to us to dispose of our boxes and packing materials. 

3 wardrobe boxes and many more await pick-up

Thankfully (and I truly mean that) one of the realtors involved with us asked for our boxes for a family member planning a move. We were more than happy to break our boxes down and neatly fold as much of the packing paper as possible to pass on to the next person!

more furniture delivered

But let me tell you, that sight of boxes on our front porch was not the most interesting thing our neighbors got to see this week. The huge (and I'm not exaggerating) truck with our 6 sets of bunk beds arrived this week. I confess to feeling a deep thrill and a bit of a tremble within as it pulled up in front of our house and the neighbor's (due to its size). 

12 twin mattresses

For those who may be new readers of my blog, some explanation is needed here. We moved to the Land of Flip Flops because our 11 grandchildren live here. But we did not move to the cities where they live, which means we need to make provision for sleep-overs when they visit us. Before leaving Colorado, we made one more purchase at our favorite furniture store and arranged to have the bunk beds delivered to our new home here in Florida.

the boys' dorm

Our new home has large bedrooms, so 3 sets of bunk beds were assembled in the boys' dorm room . . . . .

the girls' dorm

. . . and 3 sets of bunk beds were assembled in the girls' dorm room! Yes, this all makes me a little quivery in the knees, but we want our guests to be comfortable and to have happy memories of visits to Grammy and Grandad's house! (now to purchase bedding)

a gift bag was given to us at the Visitor's Center as we entered the building

We have not been able to attend church services for several weeks due to our travel schedule. Today we began the search for our new church home, starting with the largest Southern Baptist Church in the city (the 3rd largest SBC in the USA), which is some 25 minutes from our house.

the view from our seats in the balcony

It was thrilling to be in a worship service again, and especially in such a dramatic setting.

"Sir, we would see Jesus." (the inscription below the pulpit)

Everything was well thought out and nothing was left undone. It is fascinating to see the physical differences between churches within the "Bible belt" and those that are not (as in Colorado). We rode an escalator to get to the balcony and the choir was made up of about 130 men and women. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. 

palms line the downtown streets

As we left the parking garage (one of several owned by this historic congregation), I marveled once again at all the palm trees to be seen everywhere. But yet another amazing sight awaited us as we made our way out of downtown.

Main Street Bridge (I think)

We had not driven but just a couple of blocks before traffic came to a complete halt and stayed that way for quite some time with no easily recognizable reason.  Eventually we realized that the bridge  we were going to take over the St. Johns River is a draw bridge. Traffic was stopped to raise up the bridge for boat passage. We could not see all of that from our perspective, but I took this picture a few minutes later as we drove across it. 

I love the bridges all over Jacksonville! There are so many of them and they are so big! Most of the waterways we crossed over in the dry west were little more than dry creek beds. This is a huge change for us.

lunch today

We stopped for lunch on our way home, where I enjoyed the sweet tea for which this blog is named. I am loving this adventure. Thank you for coming along with me!

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