Divine Simplicity Focus on the things that matter…sweep aside the things that don't.

The beloved Scottish theologian Oswald Chambers wrote frequently about how God orchestrates our circumstances in order to help us grow closer to him.  Days five, six and seven of this move were solid proof Chambers was right.

To recap day five (moving day), things began normally, but around 8am, an hour before the movers were expected,  my son-in-law received a call from the moving company telling him the moving truck had been delayed in route and would not come until the next morning.  The remainder of the beautiful, sunny day was spent in a flurry, rearranging hotel reservations along our route to Sioux Falls, rescheduling the house closing on the departure end and basically dealing with a load of frustrations.

Day six would  be  the new move day.  Torrential rains in the morning and a grim weather forecast didn’t do much to lift out spirits.  Miraculously, God provided intermittent breaks in the rain which allowed the moving crew to load without getting the boxes and furniture wet.  A squad of eight movers arrived around 7:30am, but no moving van.

Finally, around 9:30 the long haul van arrived.  Unfortunately, it couldn’t make the sharp turn onto the small side street where our daughter and son-in-law’s house was, so it was necessary to load into a shuttle truck and make multiple runs to the large semi-trailer which was parked about a quarter of a mile away in a ball field parking lot.  Using the shuttle method of loading meant it required twice as much time to load.

As the movers cleared room by room, son-in-law Nate and I cleaned-up behind them.  By the time the long haul van was full, we were finished cleaning the house. Unfortunately, there was still a lot of furniture and boxes sitting on the driveway that wouldn’t fit.  The packing crew had to inventory all of these items and take them back to their warehouse.  They will come to Sioux Falls on a second load later this week.

Nate and I finally drove away from his former house a little after 9pm.  What a day.   Fortunately, we had already dispatched my daughter Jenne and my wife Linda with two vans, the grand kids, dog and cat around 1pm.  They spent the night in a hotel a couple of hours west of Cleveland off of I-80.  After a nice, very late prime rib dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, Nate and I crashed at the home of some  very gracious friends, Amy and Burt.  God bless them!

On day seven (Saturday), everyone departed their particular locations in the early morning.   Traveling without the kids and pets, Nate and I were able to link-up with the ladies near Gary Indiana and the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  The ladies and kids had a chance for a short visit to the park to play on the dunes.  Nate and I linked-up just in time to watch everyone else eat lunch at Quaker Shake and Lube.  We had already eaten sandwiches along the way.

After lunch, we all headed for Sioux Falls together at last.   It was a beautiful, sunny day and the big sky was spectacular. It was fantastic crossing the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa.  I’ll have to get use to the flat landscapes of the prairie. Everyone was tired last evening, especially Nate and I who drove about 800 miles in separate cars in one day.  Ugh!   That’s not to say that the ladies weren’t exhausted as well. They had all of the kids and pets to manage in their two vans.

Today, day eight, we are packing up to depart our hotel in Urbandale, IA, a suburb of Des Moines.  Sioux Falls or bust!  We have a little over 200 miles to go. God has blessed up with a safe journey thus far.  I pray for his continued grace as we begin the final leg of our journey.  Please keep us in your prayers.