The Blessing of Friends!

I'm officially moved out of my house in Fergus, and now back in with Mom and Dad -at least temporarily!

The move on Saturday could not have gone any better. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life! There were 17 people (at least) who showed up just to help in whatever way they could, plus others who came by to say good-bye. I really can hardly express my gratitude! There were people just in the truck getting that packed, making decisions on what went where. There were others doing all sorts of carrying, whether it was boxes or furniture. There was a LOT of carrying to be done! Others spent the day helping with cleaning, and still others helped with a variety of anything else that needed to be done. As last week progressed, each day I seemed to lose a little bit of brain function, so that by Saturday I felt like my brain had turned to mush! It was such a blessing to have these terrific people around who were willing to just step in and do what needed to be done! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

Here's what my house looked like all day. It was SUCH a great idea to leave the truck at the front door after getting my piano in place, as that meant less steps in carrying stuff!


I hesitate a little with showing pictures, because there were lots of other people there who didn't get in a picture. Taking pictures wasn't the priority of the day!

Here are Julie and Jane helping with all the stuff that went into the pickup truck to be taken to my parents house.


Kevin, Lee, and Wally were pretty much in the truck all day, getting it packed just right. They did an amazing job!


Laura was a great go-to-girl, and is pictured here with the plants that I just couldn't bear to get rid of. It was pretty hard to get rid of the rest, but at least I could give them to good homes!


Dad and Jared were great go-to-guys, helping out wherever was needed.


Janet and Candis were part of the cleaning team, and I need to give a huge THANK YOU to all of that team! It was SUCH a blessing to know that I was leaving the house in the best possible condition for the new owners.


Candis was kind enough to bring lunch for everyone, so near the end of packing up the truck, we took a much-needed break. Thanks, Candis, from all of us, for providing such a good lunch!


When all was said and done, Christine returned so my parents could meet her new son. I love this picture, because the two of us have a picture that was taken in almost the same spot, from when we were just becoming friends six years ago. As I saw this new picture, I was thinking about how at the time of the first picture, we had no idea that we'd end up living together for three years and that six years down the road we'd be moving me out of my house -and that she would be married, with a son, just moving back to Fergus Falls. Wow, how the time flies by! Christine was an incredible blessing to me this past week, showing up almost every day to help pack boxes or do whatever needed to be done. Thank you, again and again!


My parents and I left my house at 2:30pm and headed for the Twin Cities, after I had some time to just go from room to room, thinking of countless memories and crying a little (well, a lot!). I REALLY will miss my life in Fergus! I'll miss my home, my job, my church, and my friends. In fact, as I was driving down the road, I called my friend, Aimee, so she could remind me why I was excited about the Cities, because all I could think of was how sad I was to leave!

On Sunday, I had another great group of friends who showed up to help unload the truck. This also went way better than expected, with people loading stuff from the truck, onto some wheeled carts, and right into the storage room. I think I counted 10 of us, so you can imagine that this went pretty fast as well. It was a pretty hot day out, so they still worked hard! Unfortunately, I didn't get a single picture from this part of the move (sorry, Candis!), but I did snap one picture from when I opened the truck door and realized just how packed in everything was! This picture shows that the last few feet were all the odds-and-ends, but the first big portion of the truck were all boxes or square stuff that the guys fit in nice and tight! U-Haul had given me a bigger truck than I ordered, so another great thing about the day was that I never had the worry of "will everything fit okay?". There was plenty of extra room!


Thanks to each of you who helped, and thanks also to those of you who were praying for me as I wrapped up life in Fergus!

Moving!

I know I haven't posted pictures of Montana yet, and I still plan to. It really was an amazing vacation! I got a new laptop and it was gone for a little while getting my files from my desktop, and now it's been taking me a while to figure things out -it has Windows Vista. But my real excuse has been because I've been so busy packing!

I just sealed off box #48, and have a few others in progress. I still have lots to go! I decided that since I've asked people for help on Saturday, it wouldn't be a good idea to have done a great job blogging all week but a poor job packing...

Speaking of moving, I'm going to throw out a request for help from my Minneapolis friends. I'll be unloading my truck on Sunday afternoon, starting at 1:30pm. It seems easier to me than Saturday's work, because it will just be unloading from the truck into storage, and it won't need to be packed in tight. The more people can come, the less we each will need to carry!

The storage unit is the U-Haul place on Hiway 13 in Burnsville, just one intersection west/south of 35W. You'll see it on the NE corner of Hiway 13 and Cty Rd 5. I'd love any and all help I can get, so thanks for considering coming!

Work update:
Still no job. I now tell people I'm unemployed and homeless! I love the laughs I get for that! Today my recruiter told me that jobs in the Cities are just opening up for August, but so far they're in specialty areas that I'm not qualified for. I'm real hopeful that it will happen soon since this seems to be the right timing. The Lord is sure helping me learn lessons in patience and trusting Him! The amazing thing is that it's not something I've been stressed about since He's had His hand in the whole process so far. He's been faithful and He'll continue to be faithful. It's also nice to know that my parents will let me live with them until my company gets an apartment for me, and that I was able to cash in enough vacation days from Lake Region to still get a salary for the next month or so. Thanks, Lord, for providing!

I'm Home!

Hi everyone! I'm home again after being gone for almost two weeks. What a trip! We finally arrived at my house around 11pm tonight, after a long day of driving. All my pictures are still on my mom's computer, but I can hardly wait to post some more, so I'll be sure to do that soon.

I thought I'd just give the quick update that I'm back. I move in two weeks (July 21st) so the next two weeks will be busy with six more shifts at Lake Region and LOTS of packing! If anyone is just itching to pack a box or two, give me a call!

Regarding my move, I'm going to be putting all my stuff in storage in Minneapolis and then just using what I need for three months at a time at the apartment that my company provides. Like I said, I'll be moving on July 21st, and I really would appreciate any help on that day. I've promised my dad that he and I won't have to load the truck alone! Here's an excerpt from an email I sent out before I left for Montana: "I'd love to have people show up at 9:00am. The piano mover will be there to load the piano into the truck, and the rest of us can start bringing everything else onto the lawn to get it loaded up. Then we'll just load stuff until it's done!

A few specific things I'm hoping for is someone with great packing skills to stay in the truck and pack it tight, and for a few of the ladies to help with the last minute cleaning as each room is emptied out. In fact, I sold my vacuum cleaner at my garage sale so if anyone is able to bring theirs with, that would be great! Candis Berge has agreed to help provide lunch, and I'm hoping that someone from church might be able to borrow the big orange water coolers from church so we can keep everyone hydrated!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your help! It sure is getting hard thinking about leaving Fergus and the incredible support system around here! You have been a blessing
to me!"

Thanks to a lot of you who have responded already to my plea for help!

Montana!!!!

As many of you know, I LOVE MONTANA!!!! I have had the blessing of being here for the last week and a half, and have been LOVING it! It really is one of the best states, with wide open plains and prairies to incredible mountains, valleys, and rivers. My parents and I have been camping at Flathead Lake, which is 28 miles long, and just south of Glacier National Park. Glacier is called the Crown of the Continent, and I've heard it's majesty compared to Norway, but never having been to Norway, you'll have to take someone else's word on that. All I know is, IT'S INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL!!!!

We left Fergus after my work shift on Sunday, the 24th of June. We camped that night in Bismarck, ND and I don't have a single picture from that experience...

We left early the next morning and finished driving across ND (running into the Foldens at a gas station in the middle of nowhere!). We then drove across eastern MT, stopped in Billings to see my mom's aunts (The Girls), and went on to stay in Butte, MT that night. It was so wonderful when we could finally see the mountains rising above the plains!



The next morning, we slept in a little, and then made our way to Flathead Lake. This has been a favorite of mine, so it was so fun to finally see the lake come into view!



After getting the camper all settled that night, we were blessed to have my cousins, Kristen and Heather Hagen, join us from Idaho, with their parents arriving a little later. It was so great to see them! I was able to spend less than 24 hours at their house last summer on my drive home from Seattle, but otherwise it had been since 2003. We were so thrilled that they were able to vacation with us, and had really been looking forward to our time together. Here's a picture from when they arrived, and we ended up with quite a few pictures of the three of us over the next few days!



I'm a little overwhelmed with the hundreds of pictures we have from our other days together (between mine, my mom's, Kristen's, and Heather's!) so once I figure out how I'll post a few of those, you'll get to see our amazing views!!

Inspiration Point Bible Camp

Finally, an update! I've been in Montana for over a week and have had so much fun there was no time to blog. As you can guess, that means there are a LOT of pictures to catch up on! I figured I'll start with IPBC, since that had been my most recent post, and then I'll just fill you in on each day.

Well, as you'd expect, I had a GREAT time at camp! The nursing job was steady but completely manageable, as nothing major came up. Thanks for praying! The junior high kids attending needed help with everything from just delivering their medications, to helping with bug bites, stomach aches, headaches, bumps and bruises, and one case of poison ivy.

It's such a beautiful spot so there are lots of great pictures, but it was especially fun to just be a part of what God is doing there in so many lives. He is reaching lots of people!


A great campfire.



I have a fascination with benches, and the views from them, and this is one of the best ever!



A beautiful sunset to end the day.



Thanks, Greg and Janet and the rest of the staff, for including me for those three days! I'm so glad I was able to be there!