The Great Adventure 2013: The Final Leg of the Trip

Lovely readers, I hope you forgive me for going silent the last week, It has been completely overwhelming since Saturday. Hope this post isn't too long and fills you in on the adventure so far.

Saturday morning, we woke up in Memphis,TN and headed out to sight see before hitting the road. Conner begged to go to Sun Studios. Many of you may not know but Conner has been a Johnny Cash fan since he was five years old. He has longed to see the Sun studios for all of those years. We found it quite easily and decided to take the tour. Definitely well worth the twelve dollars,it is one of the places you walk into and feel the history around you. They take you into the actual studio and let you walk around, it is in original  condition. Truly amazing to stand where Elvis sang for Sam Phillips, where Johnny Cash got his start and where Jerry Lee played the piano. Conner was giddy and grinning ear to ear.

Sun Studios, Memphis,TN

Conner and Marty sitting in the recording studio at Sun Records

the front office of Sun Studios

After Sun Records we headed off to Graceland. I missed the ducks at the Peabody because we took the tour and so we decided to just see those another time. Graceland is quite the tourist trap and in my opinion over priced. We just went to the gift shop to find the tackiest souvenir we could find and found a place to eat  bbq while we were there. The food was great and we found our tacky souvenir easily. We walked across the street to take a picture in front of the wall before hopping in the car to get on the rode.

We hit the rode to Nashville. Along the way one of my blog readers and friend Rebecca stopped us and gave us the most wonderful gift bag of ''welcome to Tennessee" goodies. It was so thoughtful and kind of her, it was amazing to my family. 

Thanks Rebecca for the lovely welcome!

We hopped in the car and headed to the Grand Old Opry to meet up with my cousins and their families. They drove down from their home in TN to see us and welcome us to the state. My kids loved seeing their cousins Anthony, Geoff, Peyton and Parker once again. It was our first time meeting baby Parker who is adorable. We visited for a little bit before getting in the truck to head to our final destination of Knoxville. 

Conner and his cousin Anthony

We plowed along through middle TN in the dark, trying to make it to our new home to park the moving truck. Thankfully it wasn't a long drive and we made it by 11:30 pm. We didn't know our new home is well off the beaten path on a tiny gravel road. The moving truck didn't fit so well on said road especially with low hanging power lines and trees. Needless to say,the pitch black,tiny road, trees and power lines made for a disaster and 26 feet of moving truck and 10 feet of car trailer ended up stuck in the mud in the farmer's field across from the house. We had to leave it there overnight and headed to a hotel to sleep.

We woke up the next morning,called Penske to come rescue our family once again, met up with our friend Lee and toured our new home. We got the moving truck into the driveway with the help of Lee's dad ( our new landlord) and Lee. Liviu Sr, the crazy Romanian helped us unpack the moving truck in less than one hour! It was a whirlwind of activity but well worth it. We were ready to be rid of the moving truck and the hassles of moving. 

Good news, our little goldfish survived the long car ride in an ice cream container and earned themselves a new 5 gallon tank out of the ordeal. I must thank Shannon and Margaret for helping me move the fish across the country with their information.

the fishes moving container

Happy fish in their new home

It was so nice to sleep in our new home on Sunday night and start settling in on Monday morning. We went out to dinner on Sunday night with our friend Lee and met his wife Flavia for the first time along with his daughter Nora. So nice to finally meet them in person.

Monday afternoon, my dear tweep Anita stopped by with BBQ from her mother in law Jane.  I loved meeting Anita for the first time. It was so wonderful to not have to cook dinner and eat amazing TN BBQ! I am so grateful to them for the lovely welcome to TN! Jane is an amazing cook and I cannot wait to meet her.  This is truly an amazing family who have all been helpful in our move especially Anita's Dad Jeff. He kept us updated with weather and instructions along the way.

My mom was here to help me unpack and get organized until Wednesday afternoon. She helped me unpack boxes and find homes for everything. We didn't get completely unpacked but have made huge headway in a short time.

On Thursday morning, I started my new job at Fig and Company . Lee and I met when we were twelve years old, going to Jr high, high school and college together. It is truly surreal seeing him everyday once again, he hasn't changed that much over the years. I am truly enjoying getting to know his lovely wife Flavia as she trains me in store. We found out on the first day we are kindred spirits and very much alike in many ways. I am enjoying working with them and learning the ropes while giving them fresh perspective. They have built an amazing business in a short time.

We are starting to get settled. We are all loving the area, the dogs are happy in their new home, the kids are looking for ways to get involved and Marty is helping hold down the fort while I am working. We all are so glad we made the jump and took a leap of faith. We've been greatly blessed so far!

Thanks for all of the encouragement, messages, gifts and support. I am deeply touched by the support our family has received from everyone during this move. It was as if you carried us along the way on a wave of goodwill. We hope to be able to share that support and give it back someday.

"When Are You Moving?"

This is something we hear almost everyday. We usually hear it most on Sunday's at church along with " Oh, we thought you just moved and didn't say goodbye" because I've been busy working lately. Like I would ever do that. The answer is "We hope by January, but we aren't sure" the hold out is Marty needs a job for us to move. He is actively searching and looking for a job in his career field while I pack the house up. Our house is full of boxes and I try to pack something up every week. A new pastor at our church moved from Colorado into our neighborhood and his wife generously gave me all of their boxes. That is another funny story in itself, a blog for next week. Yesterday we got a bit of good news that might allow for a plan B for the move. We are praying this might pan out and work towards our goal of getting to Tennessee by January. We are praying about it and trusting God's leading for us. Once again, we are in the waiting room. Waiting for change but still in life here which is winding down. It's been so clear our time here is over yet we don't want to leave the people here. People here don't want us to leave. One thing I do ask is can we stop with the negative comments or trying to talk us out of moving? It makes things harder and is truly upsetting. I would support any of you moving even if I didn't like it. I have done this with many friends before and would appreciate the same support. We have to go and try this, we have to live with no regrets and we would regret never trying. We may fail and want to come back. Life is too short to not try. We still have a lot of people to see and spend time with before we go.I am trying to do that while working nearly full time. I went back to work at my husband's request to help fund our move. It has been very helpful for me to work but everyone hates it. Of course, I will still be working in Knoxville and the future. Part of this move is for me to build my career and I will share more about that later. I hope this clears up some of the questions. As soon as we know something, you know that I will share it. We just really don't know much right now except that we are indeed moving.

The Best Laid Plans.....

Before I even married Marty, he told me that his plans were to not live in California forever. In 2010 while waiting for transplant, he decided he wanted to move to Peachtree City,GA. We had friends there and loved the area. We planned to move as soon as he was well enough and free from Stanford.

We had a list of plans to accomplish before that move could happen. We traveled to see the area, see friends and family last fall. We loved it and couldn't wait to move. After our trip several things happened and we pushed back our move date until this coming fall. Mainly because Marty loves me so much and I had plans with friends!

After my trip to Hershey it was time to buckle down and start looking for jobs. I got home from Hershey and Marty dropped a bomb on me. He had been researching Tennessee and really thought it was a better fit for us. More value for our money in home buying, more rural areas to buy in and I have family in the state. I was floored, not very happy and kind of ticked. What about all that planning? Where were we supposed to look?    What about our friends in Georgia looking forward to us coming?

He asked me to pray about it, make a list of pro's and con's and talk to people I knew in Tennessee. So I did that and still was uneasy.  During this same time, some doors in the blogging social media world have been opening for me and it seems like a career is coming out of this. I've known this for quite some time but not quite been sure of how to make it work.

Last Tuesday morning, I was getting ready for work and prayed while I was in the shower. My two prayers were "God if social media is the  job for me? show me" and " If Tennessee is your will, open doors there and show us where to go"

I got out of the shower and immediately got a phone call regarding a blog I set up. This was on top of the work I am already doing for a friend. It is so clear I am already doing this job, I just need a way to get paid for it.

I got off work a bit early and noticed a message on my phone. It was from my high school best friend Lee aka Liviu to some of you. He lives in Knoxville,TN and wanted to talk to me about something. I called him and what happened next floored me.

He and his wife Flavia have opened a beautiful furniture store Fig and Company in Knoxville. It is taking off and doing really well. They are really needing help with their blogging and social media. When Lee saw my message he couldn't believe it! He and his wife had been praying for help in this area for the last month. They only opened the store ten weeks ago. No wonder for the sudden change.

I am very excited for this opportunity. Very excited to be able to go work with such dear friend's and especially excited because I believe in their vision for the store. I was blown away to hear these two answers to prayer in ONE day. 

Of course, my heart was anxious to break this news to all of our Georgia friends and our family in Tennessee. At least we will be closer than before and still living within driving distance. 

It's scary making this huge change. Now it is all very real and time to make it happen. We would love your prayers and good thoughts. We've been encouraged by the response we have received so far from family and friends.

We still have some things that need to happen. Our original November/December move date is still in tact. We are praying for a job for Marty, housing and the funds to make it all happen. We know that God will provide all those things if this is meant to be. We are excited for this new, grand adventure in life and can't wait to see what the future holds. We know who holds it, that's for sure!

Isaiah 55:8 "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

Now be sure to go follow them on all these pages and see where I am headed.
Fig and Company website www.figandcompany.com
Fig and Company Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fig-and-Company/424483324270270
Fig and Company Twitter https://twitter.com/figandcompany