The crazy ones...clap along if you feel happiness is the truth!

What a whirlwind! Let's rewind. So, the kids got out of school on 2/13 at 3:45 and we loaded up and headed out for the VERY long (26 hour) drive to Arizona to 1) find a house and 2) visit our new places of employment. We (hubby) drove ALL NIGHT and ALL the next day. He is amazing. There were a lot of spontaneous moments of windows rolled down and singing "Happy" to keep us grownups awake (the littles were allowed to sleep as much as possible).

We finally arrived - and then promptly crashed. Then the house hunting began (the next morning). We had already selected a home online, with the help of our outstanding realtor (they handle leases in AZ, too). She had gone to visit 4 homes for us before we even stepped foot on Arizona soil and narrowed it down to two based on our must haves and wants. But we looked at all 4 anyway, finishing at our top choice (which we'd already filed an app on). It was a home run, so we slept well - but knowing we hadn't yet been approved. But that would happen tomorrow. It was just a matter of time.

Tomorrow at 4 pm came. No approval. No decline, either. Just NOTHING. Birds chirping. If we didn't have an address by the time we left for Kansas on Sunday, our movers wouldn't come and start loading! AACK! So we called our realtor in panic and she said we had 4 more we could look at - but they weren't exactly what we wanted. While they were all great, they were too big, too expensive, or the utilities were too high (or all 3). We were getting discouraged. "There's one more" she said. "But it's only 3 bedrooms." We'd asked for 4, since we KNOW we'll have lots of visitors - and I'm tired of working out in the front room and fighting for the TV! :)

We walked in and fell in LOVE. We looked at a front room. Then a "bonus room." A HUGE kitchen, dining room, ANOTHER living room, and a master bedroom the size of our first apartment. Then two more bedrooms. Two bathrooms. Hold up. That's FOUR bedrooms! We just can't call the bonus room a bedroom because there's no closet. Who cares?! Visitors don't need a closet! SIGN US UP!!!! It even had a green yard for our puppy!! And one level is cheaper to cool! We filed the paperwork and an hour later at Starbucks, we were approved. Our address...4435. Hubby's new Starbucks store? 5344. WHOA.

We flew home on Sunday 2/16 (my 35th birthday, also the last two digits of our address) and then raced back to our flooded house to finish packing. The movers called, running AHEAD of schedule. "Can we come at 9 tomorrow?" Sure, why the heck not? I still have at least 3 days of packing to do. 10 hours from now is fine. So they came, we finished (I still have no idea HOW), and we cleaned. The next day, we headed out for the long drive again. This time with the DOG, too! We took it over two days, stopping in New Mexico to rest (VERY good idea). We drove in at night, in the pitch black, from Flagstaff's scary mountains. But we made it. The next morning, the keys were ours! We met our home owner/landlord in person, and she is AMAZING. She and our realtor have been our first two friends here. How often does THAT happen?!

Then, the crazy began (yeah, it wasn't yet crazy, right?!). We visited the kids' new school - SCORE! I mean, instantly. Bam, loved it. We enrolled. I got my office keys. We bought new furniture. The movers came and unloaded. All the while (as in this whole crazy story), I'm still going to school FULL TIME! (Yeah, I'm nuts.)

Today, as I sit in my "back room" facing the mountain, the sun setting against the beautiful purple skies, the kids have just completed their first day of school. Hubby is enjoying work. We have a new bank, a new physical therapist, a new pharmacy, a new State Farm agent, a map of the neighbors' names, a garage full of boxes to unpack, a stocked fridge, a grad school final to finish, and full hearts. Everyone who hears the story calls us crazy. Being crazy has never felt better!

To God be the Glory. Trust and Obey. A Mighty Fortress is Our God. Just a couple of songs that I've been singing in my head these last few weeks. Can you imagine what this story would have been like without Him at the helm? My heart (and my sore body and brain) rests in Him. 

And yes, THAT makes me HAPPY!