Saying Goodbye

I hate saying goodbye :( its definitely not fun at all! As excited as Kenny and I are about our move to Florida, and all the new things and people that will bring, we will still miss the people we have gotten to know and the memories of living where we are now.

Kenny and I dated and got married here, we were in our first ministry together here, and met a lot of wonderful people that will forever hold a place in our hearts. That is all very hard to leave behind, but moving has been and will continue to be a growing experience for us both.

Someone jokingly said to Kenny and I that packing up all of your worldly possessions and moving will either make or break a marriage, I’m beginning to agree with that statement! Its almost comical how differently Kenny and I have approached moving and I think we have both agreed that if we ever move again we are hiring someone to come in, pack everything up and move it all for us! (Don’t worry our marriage isn’t on the rocks and we won’t be needing counseling after this ordeal, I’m just not doing it again!)

All joking aside, I did want to thank each one of you who have prayed for us and with us over the decisions that lead up to this move, those who helped us pack and offered helpful advice with coffee breaks, those who are coming to load the truck and those who just wished they could be here to throw popcorn during the communication break down spots :) We have been so blessed to have each one of you in our lives and I don’t know how I could have done it without you.

This will be my last post until we get to Florida so I’ll {try} to take pictures and give you all the details, along with a tour of the new house, when we get there. Until then, I’m Florida bound, let the “flor-idiot” jokes begin!

~Bex

Bella

I realized that I have never put any pictures of our sweet, fur baby on here… I’m an awful mother! She really enjoyed the camera.

 

Me and Bella

~Bex

Packing

I decided to take a break and show you some of our packing progress. To be very honest, at the moment, I feel like I’m doing all this packing but I’m not even making a dent in all of our stuff :/ what’s worse is I also feel like I’m in a non-stop mess! But don’t worry I know I’m making progress and things will look a lot better around here after the “Donate” pile has been hauled off and the “Sell” pile is going down. Any ways here are some pictures if your interested… and some helpful (at least I thought they were) moving tips I’ve gotten all over the place!

The “Donate/Sell” Pile – it pretty much takes up the whole room!

- My Packing Station -

  Former “Man Cave” now my stash for already packed boxes.

 

Now here are the Tips:

• Use small boxes to pack books. This may sound like an inconvenience to pack several small boxes with books but them being small will save your back later as you load and unload your truck! FYI we went to our local grocery store and asked for milk boxes and they gave them to us for free! Can’t beat that deal. – This back saver came from Pastor Mike Haley, being a Pastor he has moved a lot of books through several different moves so I think he would know how to best do that.
• Wrap/Pack glasses, dishes, and breakables in plastic grocery bags. They are way cleaner than newspaper and allow for a tiny bit of jiggle room in your boxes so things are less likely to break (of course you still want to pack things tightly) and for the best reason, they are free at the grocery store just start saving them as you purchase things and ask your friends to do the same. – This one comes from my Grandma who has moved many, many times and has experienced little to no loss of her numerous dishes!
• Pack dresser drawers (any drawers for that matter) and cabinets as full as you can. No sense in wasting that empty space, fill it with things you are taking with you any way. – I think this one came from my Mom who moved around a lot as a child/teen/young adult.
• Place pictures and other flat items in-between blankets, sheets and pillows to keep them protected. Just be careful when your un-wrapping! – this one came from my friend, Sabrina, who has also moved several times with her former Marine hubby.
• Use the “Color Coding” system. Pick a color for each room of your new house, (i.e. Yellow – Kitchen, Blue –  Garage, etc.) then label your boxes accordingly – I got this hint online somewhere but I can’t remember where so I could give them credit for an awesome idea
• On my colored pieces of paper I’ve also been labeling what is in each box so when we get there it will be easier to find what is needed instead of having to unpack every box right away. – This one is from Mom (she’s a super woman when it comes to packing things!)

Well that is the end of my borrowed brilliance! Any other tips I should know or could add to my list?

~Bex

Some More Pinterest Projects

With preparing to move I’ve been using some of my Pinterest pins off of my board Around the Home – Cleaning board. Here are a few that I’ve done.

 

 

 

 

Cleaning Your Dishwasher

I know, why would you clean your dishwasher? Well read the post and you’ll find out why. My dishwasher didn’t look too dirty until after I cleaned it and now it is sparkly white! And this method gets rid of any musty/mildew-y smells that may be present when you move into a new place. Definitely worth a try!

 

 

 

 

 

Cleaning Your Glass-top Stove

I actually used this method on our stainless steel stove at work and it didn’t quite get everything off but I also didn’t have a lot of time to spend on it. I’m planning on trying this on our regular stove around the burners where things get cooked on and look kind of yucky after a while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making "Orange Vinegar"

I use vinegar or baking soda for almost all of my cleaning and I’ve gotten used to the smell. – FYI if you’ve never used vinegar for cleaning that smell goes away after it air dries. – But if your not convinced this is a good easy recipe to change the scent. If your just really sensitive to the vinegar odor your probably still going to smell the vinegar a little but for the most part its just orange-y. Also, I did not notice any difference in the effectiveness of its cleaning, the only thing that changes is the scent.

 

 

 

 

Cleaning Your Washing Machine

Again, the question, why? Same answer, read the post! For this one my water was not flowing right, soap scum or something was plugging it up or something so I gave this a try. You would not believe how nasty looking the water was while it was soaking the first time, I was amazed! The benefits of cleaning your washer, for me, was fresher smelling laundry and my water flows better. :)

We’re Moving!

Yes, you read the title right, Kenny and I are moving South… waaaaayyy down south… Near Miami, Florida to be exact! Kenny has taken an Assistant Pastor’s position at Bible Baptist Church in Pembroke Pines, FL and we are super excited to start a new work/ministry in the deep south and continue Our Life in the REAL Big City!

The Lord has blessed us SOOOO over abundantly more than we could ever ask or think while we were in the process of making this decision! We had some pretty specific prayer requests (besides the usual doctrine, standards, etc.) we wanted answered about where the Lord would have us go, like:

• The Pastor/Pastor’s Wife. When your going to be working closely with someone, like Kenny and I would be in the ministry, we wanted to have almost a family-like relationship. For me, especially, being so far away from my own family this was super important to have a couple who would not just be a boss but a friend. This was answered the moment we met with Pastor and Mrs. Brown, we fell easily into conversation and I felt they really cared about us as a couple and not just what we could do for them and their ministry.
• Travel expenses to visit the church. In case you haven’t noticed, traveling right now can be very expensive whether you drive or fly. Obviously, that was answered, we were able to fly down after Christmas and spend New Years in Florida with our new church family.
• Finding housing for $1000. a month or less. Under this prayer request I had some even more specific qualifications: I wanted a yard – it didn’t have to be big or fancy but something for Bella (our dog) to run around in. Also, I wanted to NOT have a neighbor right behind our home – there’s nothing more nerve racking to me than to be completely and totally surrounded by other houses. And lastly, a washer and dryer in the home. After Pastor Brown announced that Kenny had accepted the position at the church a couple came up to him and told him that they had a town house that they would rent to us for $1000. a month. We went to look at it the day before we left and it had everything I had been praying for: a small yard, the back yard has a lake behind it so no neighbors and a washer and dryer in the garage (the garage is something Kenny had been wanting). Also, if that wasn’t perfect enough, the couple were going to paint the inside and change the flooring before renting it out so they let us choose our colors for the wall and preference on flooring type! I can’t wait to see the finished product when we get back down there.
• The feeling of “Home.” I don’t know if you’ve ever felt out of place but let me tell you it is not fun. I have shed many tears over not feeling at “home.” I can’t even explain to you what home feels like but when you find it, its the most wonderful, fulfilling feeling there ever could be. Kenny and I were sitting in the Sunday Morning Service after having taught Sunday School and done the music for the Service when I leaned over to Kenny and asked him if he was home. His smile, when he asked me if I was, gave me my answer. I’m tearing up right now just thinking about how wonderful that moment was to know in my mind and heart that Bible Baptist Church is where God wanted us.

A lot of people have asked us how we are going to deal with living in Florida, the cultural differences, the language barrier we are bound to face at some point and just being so far away from our families. My answer is: when you’ve got specific answers to prayer like we have had, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is where God is leading you, all of those things don’t really matter in comparison!

So let the “Flor-idiot” jokes begin because this little family is headed South!