Christmas: The move

Christmas has been as expected; lovely and family filled.

But I should back up to the move. As I write this we are driving through Seattle in a big giant truck (Paul’s Dad’s truck) and Paul and Joel are whistling along to the radio.

Merry Christmas!

There is so much to tell you! We have fully moved into the new house and are now in the process of settling in. There is so much to do, but oh we did so much. We're now out in Surrey with family until Christmas morning (we came evening of the 23rd) and then we'll head into Vancouver for Christmas Day with my family - hang out at the Maxwell's and then dinner at the Mitchell's with the whole crew. On the 26th at 6am we head down to Oregon. So I have much to tell you about my move and our Christmas but it will have to wait - Christmas relaxation, Rum & Eggnog and family are calling. 

Exhausted

I am exhausted.
Last night was my work Christmas party (photos to come), then today I worked until 1:30 and then came home to join Paul who was with the movers unloading our furniture into the new house. After the movers left we headed back to our old house to keep packing boxes of random crap. Now all the crap is boxed up and ready to be moved tomorrow...but man it was a long evening. We finally stopped at 8:30 and headed over to Pho Hong for dinner. After that we came back to our new house, unloaded the car, made the bed, borrowed wifi from my phone and now here I am. Sooo ready for bed.

And in fact that's where I'll go now.

Oh wait....I may be exhausted and heading to bed but we're in! We now officially live here and that's awesome.

It continues

Wednesday night was the last evening I was going to spend in our house (with furniture). Tonight we will be out at my work dinner and the next day the furniture gets moved. So I needed to make sure all the things that were in furniture were moved – basically the furniture needed to be emptied so it could be moved. Friday night I will pack anything not packed yet that is in cupboards and shelving that won’t be moving. Since our Fridge and Freezer are also moving with us, I had to empty those as well. We did the big switch over to our new house. That fridge is now stuffed full and our fridge and freezer are now both very empty. Minus a turkey that Paul forgot to take to the new house.

So we packed up food – frozen food, cold food and food from the pantry and carted it all over to the new house. It makes it feel more like home, even though the house is still empty aside from the student room. 

Tis the Season

In the midst of the upcoming move there is a lot to celebrate. Not only is it LESS THAN A WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS, but also Monday was my Mom's birthday. Monday night we celebrated at the Maxwell's. We had dinner with our immediate family and then afterwards the Wiebe's came by to have dessert. It was a wonderful evening; it felt like old times with the family. And it was great to get to spend time with Austie and Connor, as well as have LeAnna there with Walter. 

Austie and I

Silence + Support

From: LIY

Thoughts on this weekend

My first thoughts as I sit to write center around the tragic shooting on Friday. I have chosen not to watch the news; it is too devastating. I have read some of the details online, to be informed, to know how to pray, but aside from that I can't engage my mind with this tragedy. It is horrific. I am thankful for writers who can capture something real or hopeful out of this time. 

1. Newtown as I know it - Steadymom
2. What tragedy does - Top of the page
3. And yet I write - Royal Daughter Designs
4. Silence + Support - Living in Yellow

Also I struggle with my own humanity. In the midst of tragedy, life goes on. This is especially true with tragedy so far from us. In the midst of a joyous move I am tired and weary today. After a mis-communication with Paul, some of my expectations have been dashed and I struggle with that. Each day I am in relationship with people - for good and for bad. Sometimes that's the best news in the world, and sometimes it is exhausting and painful. Relationships are wonderful and hard. I get to enjoy wonderful, deep, real friendships. I have also been hurt, deeply. I struggle with the tension of engaging in relationship knowing the outcome could go either way, every time. I read this blog post this week and it helped - it spoke of "grace upon grace". It reminded me of Christ's work on the cross, and the grace and love and relationship He extends to me, even though He knows I'll disappoint. I am thankful for grace, undeserved grace. 

In my sinfulness, in my flesh, in my frailness, I am thankful for a God who is bigger than all of that. 

I am so excited about our move...though tiredness wants to steal the excitement. I mean, my week feels a bit overwhelming –

Monday: Work, then family  dinner for my mom’s birthday – I’m making Spaghetti Squash, ham and dessert, Jenna is making the rest.

Tuesday: Work, then LG Christmas party – I’m making appies, appies and more appies.

Wednesday: Work, then I’m packing our kitchen and pantry entirely.

Thursday: Work, then Brookfield Christmas Party

Friday: Work (Paul moves our furniture), come home to new house! Head to old house to pack all remaining things that are out and to start the cleaning process.

Saturday: Head to old house, clean. Friends help move from 11-1, party with drinks and food from 1-2. Organize in new house for rest of day. 
Sunday: work around house, run coffee at church, host at church...then head to Surrey to stay with David & Carol. *and so begins, vacation*

But despite the upcoming crazy, starting early has paid off. We are farther ahead than expected!

Shelves are mostly empty, except for what is needed for cooking.

Books are cleared away.

And in most rooms the shelves are wiped down clean.

This weekend we got the keys to the house.

We were ecstatic! We arrived with Timmies (always a good start to the day), signed the papers, gathered the keys, handed over 6 months of post dated cheques for rent and voila, the house was ours. And boy, we felt so much joy pulling into the garage for the first time. We are now officially grownups. It was awesome. 

First order of business was to go collect a  moving van from U-Haul to rent for 5 hours so we could pick up furniture - we picked up 3 pieces of free furniture (one wardrobe, 2 couches) and 2 pieces of paid furniture ($100 for two tall wardrobes), as well as all the furniture from our student room at home and brought it all to the new house. We set up a student room in the small brown room. We'd originally planned to paint but then realized the room actually felt quite cozy, so we thought we would try to make it work without paint. 

Here it is: before and after.

I still need to find something to hang above the bed, and I need a short mirror for above the dresser. The one we had broke as Paul brought it in. For above the bed I'm thinking some sort of framed button art, but I'm not positive yet. It's a big plain though, and I feel like it needs something. I love it though, aside from that. It's warm and it's so cozy in person. 

I now submit for you, the picture that will make Irene Chibota jealous. We have both moved this month and we were bonding over the UGLY master bedroom ensuites that we both had. Both had toilets with crazy colors  We both liked having a bathroom there but did not like how it looked. Saturday when we arrived and did our inspection we discovered that they changed the flooring, put in a new toilet and painted the cupboards. It's so much better. 

My sister Jenna and her kids came over for the afternoon on Saturday, and Katie (Paul's sister) ended up coming along as well! It was great. They boys ran around like crazy while Jenna, Katie and I chatted. Paul was out with Joel (Katie's boyfriend) picking up the free furniture. It was nice to get to hang out in our space!

Then we headed home to get ready for our friend Nate's birthday party. Nate and Leah are awesome and they throw the best parties. For real. The best. And after a week of packing, a day of moving, and an upcoming week of moving more, going to a fun, easy party was a great choice. 

This is me and the lovely Leah

And here I am with my new friend Lindsay. See I told you she was real!

Though we both seem confused on where to look at the camera

It was a great party. I got to talk to lots of friends, new and old. The food was awesome, as per usual. Everyone loves a Lim party. That's the sort of reputation I want as a hostess.

Sunday morning we slept in until 10 (we needed it!) then I made Peppermint Bark for church, and headed off to pick up my cousin LeAnna and her sweet baby Walter, as well as Auntie Sandy, to show them our new house. We walked around and chatted and it was so great to get to share it with them. 

Then I headed off on errands, I needed to buy the bedding for the student room (the white bedding in the photo above) and get some other things from Ikea. I grabbed a hot dog as I left the store and stopped at Oakridge to make keys for our new house. Picked up Paul and headed to church! Phew. 

Church felt like a party. It was our church's Christmas Celebration. We had a short service at church and then were heading to the Mitchell's for dinner and a garage dance. The service was awesome. The worship was fun; the kids were wonderful in their play. Jonathan, Sam and some youth did a hilarious parody song, "Court me now" explaining biblical courtship, followed by 4 ladies singing a beautiful rendition of "Holy Night". It was a perfect service. 

And I so wish that the top picture of the parody song was a video, because you are missing out by not getting to watch it. 

Then we headed over to the Mitchell's for dinner and dancing. The house was warm and cozy and bursting with Christmas. It was full of great people and great conversation. The garage was bursting with lights, music and dancing. It was a great celebration. 

At 9 we left to stop by superstore and pick up some groceries, then I headed home to bake Spaghetti Squash for the next night's dinner, while Paul headed out to watch LOTR with friends, late at night. It was his "I'm done with school for 2 weeks" celebration. I'm happy he got to do that and I'm happy that I did not have to go spend hours watching a movie when I was sleepy. Win-win.