STUFF

STUFF:
It was everywhere!!! My dad certainly had it all in check when he noted all the JUNK we had gathered up and instead of complaining about it, just commented, "Wow. You guys are really blessed, aren't you?"

Uh.... yeah. We are blessed. Our whole front porch was covered with STUFF and the house was still busting at the seams with more! We had a moving sale and that helped considerably. But, when we looked around after it was over, we couldn't believe how much more there was to find a home!
















This was the last view that I saw of the house on Black Cherry Lane before we pulled out of the drive way. The Penske truck was full, from the front to the back and from the top to the bottom. My brother, Mike, took a few days off and brought his dump Sterling and a trailer, too. My other sister, Cathy, and my dad and his friend, Deane, came up and helped box stuff up. We definitely appreciate their help with getting all of our STUFF in tow to bring down to the land of giant mosquitoes.


I just love catching my family in the act of working. This is my brother. I thought it funny that we had so many board games that he had to use a handtruck to get them to the truck! Hmmmmm..... STUFF? Yeah, we got some.
















I am pretty sad about one thing: my piano. It's sitting in storage right now. I love playing it and am really missing playing with Exitup at church. Plus, the kids, especially KT, like to sit and piddle with it. Hopefully it won't be long and we can get it back out. My piano is not considered "STUFF". It is a must-have.
Well, after "having been there, done that", I have come to the conclusion that there is a fine art to the tedious chore of moving. The last time we moved, I don't remember having so much STUFF. However, we were moving from a singlewide into a 3800 square foot house. Now we are in a house 1/3 the size of that house and I guess we had somehow just accumulated a bunch of needless paraphernalia. We are considering a "little move" (is that even possible) from this house to one on White Lake with more space. I know that I would enjoy it once we got there, but the thoughts of picking up all our junk one more time (albeit it's not near as much as what we've handled moving from the mountains) just makes me sigh.....



I must admit, looking at some of these photos this morning has made me a little homesick. These are pics from our house in the mountains on Black Cherry Lane. We shared many wonderful times there with both family and friends. But, since my mother went Home in 2005, a realization has come over me: the memories are not in the physical things that cause you to remember, they are in your heart. So, I have begun taking pictures like a mad woman (as if I didn't before!) and I'm trying not to keep a bunch of STUFF that I know I'll never use. Anyway, I'm glad I took a few photos before we began taking everything apart to put in a box. Yes, I would like to have the space associated with our mountain home down here..... Yes, I do miss it.



However, I have already noticed a change in our family atmosphere after only 2 weeks. We are already drawing closer together. I guess that comes from not having too much space to spread out in. And yeah, it's a good thing.......

















The boys had quite a nice room. Both enjoy Spiderman a lot, and Joseph took all the cool Spiderman wallies off the wall before we left. I thought he would take them with him, but he decided to give them to his cousin, Chase (one of his big buddies in the mountains).




Needless to say, most of their toys have either been sold, given away, or boxed up. There is just not enough room in this little house for lots of STUFF.

Although our house was not directly ON Glade Valley Road, this is the main road that you use to get to our old house. Katie snapped this picture just as we were pulling out with the moving van. Yeah, there were a few tears and a whole lot of silence in the van as we left that day two weeks ago, but it has already proven to be what we know we are supposed to do. God has already shown Himself faithful in our new life here and I wouldn't change our decision if I could. ETown is a neat place to live and I can't wait to see how He plans on using us here.

In the meantime, we are learning to live without so much STUFF. And actually, I'm making it just fine. As a matter of fact, I kind of like it.......

To be continued.......

NOTHING TO DO WITH MOVING, BUT ENCOURAGING NONETHELESS.....

I wonder what God has in store for this little guy?!?!?!?!

SAYING GOODBYE (...AND GOOD MORNING!)

JACKIE AND EMILY

Truly BEST Friends Forever

This is the perfect picture to illustrate what these 2 girls feel for each other.....

The love each other so much it is unbelievable.

They talk everyday on the phone, and play together just like little girls used to do.

It's actually a beautiful thing and our move has really upset the both of them.

KATIE AND ASHLEY

Also best friends and sisters to the best friends above.

These 2 girls are only 6 days apart in age and enjoy many of the same things.

OLIVIA AND BENJAMIN

Yep, you guessed it...

Another set of best friends, and yes... sister and brother to the 2 sets above!

Get these two together and you have a serious mess on your hands!

JACKSON AND JAZ

Emily and Jackie insist that these two are married, but I have my very serious doubts.

Jackie gave Emily this kitten the last time they were together. Jackson thought the cat quite the "meow".....

HANNAH (or "Hannie") AND BENJAMIN

Benjamin's surrogate big sister. Don't they look alike?

Benjamin thinks the world of Hannie and I suppose he would actually go to live with her family if we would let him.

HANNIE, BENJAMIN, RACHEL, AND JOE

These guys made great friends during our homeschool basketball season last year.

JESSICA, KATIE, AND CASSIDY

These girls played basketball together last year.

This picture was taken after their last time being able to shoot a few hoops together. We totally plan on trying to make it to one of their games this next year.

Goodbye, to the mountains of Alleghany County, NC

(well, OK...... you guys know me. Bye only for a little while).

This cross is on the land just adjacent to where our house in the mountains was.

And........

GOOD MORNING!!!!

Well, maybe not really. I won't tell you what my sister called me after I woke her up with the shutter clicking on this photo!!!

This was taken after a long day of packing in the mountains, trying to get everything crammed in a box to ship down to the flatland. She was exhausted and I was mischievious... (evil grin!).

So, after saying a temporary goodbye to some folks (how can it really be goodbye when you have unlimited long distance and the internet?!?!?!?!?), we loaded up our junk (photos of that endeavor tomorrow) and headed towards the coast. This is certainly an adventure, and I'll fill you in more on the details tomorrow.

WHERE DO I START?

Maybe with a WELCOME???? Well, Ok:

I figure I might as well pick up where we left off and maybe in a week I'll have you all caught up with all of our adventures of moving.

My sister, Shannon, went back to ETown with us to help us finalize our housing. We finally decided on starting out with the little house in town. While Barry and I were taking care of logistics, Shan took the kids to the waterpark (yeah, pretty cool to have a waterpark in your backyard!!!). They all seemed to have a blast!

Shannon kept Benjamin for us as well. He enjoyed the submarine, with water squirting everywhere and Tia Shannon hollering, "We're sinking!!! Help!!!".

There were LOTS of these water-dumping buckets all over the place. They are a perfect way for cooling off quick!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The water park is not huge, but it is certainly fun. There is one BIG slide that the kids kept riding over and over.

Shannon enjoyed the park as much as anyone else. I think she may even be a misplaced mermaid.
Obviously, the lazy river was a big hit for Jackie.

I will post more later on in the day as time presents itself. It's time now for breakfast as the kids are milling around asking for "something to eat". Then we have school work in the new school room. Check back in afterwhile.....
If you have more time than you know what to do with, check out http://www.cmcphersonphotography.blogspot.com/ .

You can see some awesome photography, plus some neat pictures of the Galyean kids and a good newpaper article on the Joybell Ringers (click on the link). We left just as this was published in one of the local papers, so I hope that someone has saved a copy for me! Also, if you watch the slideshow of music camp, you can see some more cool photos of the Galyean kids (there is a link for that one, too).

BOXES, BACKS, FINGERS, AND SAND

BOXES

There are boxes absolutely all over our house! Actually, I have run out of boxes and now I am just stacking everything in piles. And it's not even in a corner..... everything is in the middle of the floor, on the tables, and even in the middle of the bed. Packing a 3,800 square foot house in 5 days with my husband working and 4 children running around (1 of them pulling out everything I put in a box!) is somewhat interesting.

BACKS

Needless to say, I woke up with a sore back this morning after moving a gazillion boxes and also after the following story:

FINGERS

Barry and I are both nursing sore ring fingers this morning after having them MASHED (quite literally!) in between a wardrobe, some stairs, and a door. We have a beautiful wardrobe that we've been using for the kids' closet. The thing took three sturdy, grown men to get up the steps and four to get it down. However, my father-in-law figured that he and I could do it alone. HAAAAAAA! We had a rug that we used down the steps (after we finally wiggled it out of the room amongst all the boxes) and we slid it down. However, when the two of us got to the bottom, it got wedged between the door, the outside, and the steps----along with my finger. All I could say was, "Poppy... finger.... poppy.....finger" (Poppy is what my children call their grandpa Galyean). We finally got it out, but my ring left two beautiful indentations in the door. I was just glad that my finger wasn't mush when I pulled it out. So, I say all of that to say that when Barry got home, he found a huge wardrobe in the doorway and we thought, "Well, Barry's here.... we can get it out, now." HA! After pushing, pulling, and discovering that Poppy and I are not the best moving hands in the county, Barry got his finger (same one, different hand) stuck the exact same way as I did, only his was worse. So, this morning, we look a little decrepit, I'm sure.

SAND

And last but not to be looked over: We are digging sand out of our boys' ears this morning. Before we left yesterday (we are in E-town this morning for more house prep), both boys were playing in the makeshift sandbox on our deck. I heard Jackie blessing them out (that's a southern phrase if you are confused.....) and so I went to check it out. She had that finger out just giving them "what for" (another southern term). When I looked at them, they were COVERED with sand! They were stuffing sand INTO their ears!!! Yes, you did read that correctly: stuffing sand into their E-A-R-S!!!!! Yes, into the holes! And also, they were making face sand angels in the sand (that requires slapping your whole face directly into the sand--just be careful not to breathe in while assuming the position!). I was not a happy mother during all this sand-picking (just ask either one of the boys!).

So, now here we are..... I'll post some pictures later on this weekend if I get a chance. My sister, Shannon, is with us while we are here. While we are doing the "fun" stuff, she is going to do the tedious work of taking them to the lake or the water park.... Might want to remember her on that one!

MIA

Last night we said goodbye to a very special member of the Galyean Gang: Mia.

Mia was our 1 1/2 year old Saint Bernard puppy. We got her when her sister, Maya, got run over on the road outside of our development. They looked exactly like twins, only Mia had a few nose freckles and Maya didn't.

Mia got out on the very same road last night and was also hit by a car. So, now not only are we working to hold it together emotionally with a move, but also with the death of a pet.

This is Mia with our Beagle, Diamond. They were big buddies and loved to roam the woods in search of deer and rabbits. If one started howing with the coyotes, then the other one would start in. Usually Jack-jack, our Bassett Hound, would begin the howl-fest with this deep, pitiful howl that everyone in the county could hear. Then, Mia would join in.

I took this photo only last week when we were blackberry picking while the older kids were away at camp. BOY! I'm glad I did.......

Jackie and Joseph have been torn up about Mia's passing today, but the photos are helping. It was Jackie's aspirations to have St. Bernard pups with Mia next summer. I think that we will just enjoy the hounds we have and not think of another St. Bernard for quite some time.

Benjamin has a HUGE St. Bernard stuffed animal on his bed that he affectionately calls, "Mina", so I suppose that she will be the only Bernard in the Galyean House for a while.

So long, Mia, I'll miss you.