Home in Tennessee

It's been awhile since I updated my blog. I've been just a teeny bit busy.... like, oh say, MOVING ACROSS THE COUNTRY!

But no excuses.

The move was adventurous to say the least. Here are a few highlights from our move and arrival:

• Snuggles became ill with an upper respiratory infection as we were preparing to fly across the country. His worst day was (of course) the day we traveled. He coughed and wheezed so badly that I called my mom from the Denver Airport in an absolute panic. I was about to call 9-1-1 because Snuggles was really struggling to breathe. It was terrible! He had spiked a high fever on the flight from Boise to Denver, he was vomiting, and coughing/wheezing like an 3-pack-a-day smoker. My mom (who is a pediatric nurse) coached me through making a mask with a styrofoam cup and using my own asthma inhaler to give Snuggles some emergency medicine. The inhaler helped enough to get him through the flight to Nashville. I called ahead to arrange for a borrowed nebulizer (breathing machine) to be waiting for us when we landed in Nashville. I have never been so scared in my life!
• Before Snuggles got sick, I was already dreading traveling with him by myself.  It was way worse than I imagined because he was so sick. Just when I was about to lose my mind, God gave me an angel. Her name was Kay, and she sat in the seat next to me on the plane from Denver to Nashville. She was the embodiment of the sweet loving Grandmother. She took Snuggles and me under her wing, and cared for both of us on the flight from Denver to Nashville. I am so grateful for her because I was an absolute wreck at that point. God knew I needed help. I will never forget Kay.
• Guitarman and my parents drove across the country with the 26-foot Penske moving truck (pulling a car trailer loaded with the Corolla) and our X-Terra SUV pulling a U-Haul trailer with more of our stuff. They made it to St. Joseph, Missouri when the Penske truck broke down. Because God is a miracle worker, they were less than 2 miles from a Penske Diesel Repair Facility. Penske paid a crew to move all our stuff from the broken down truck to a new one.  Because this delayed the move an entire day, Guitarman drove the X-Terra to Nashville while my parents remained in Missouri with the Penske truck. This way Guitarman could meet Snuggles and me when we arrived in Nashville, and so we could be together on Snuggles' first b-day.
• We arrived at our house in Hermitage on Thursday evening to discover the church had not only stocked our refrigerator and pantry, they had a birthday cake waiting for Snuggles as well as all the fixin's for his 1st b-day party, including a wrapped gift, streamers, candles and 1st b-day plates and napkins. It was so awesome for the church to do that for us! 
• My parents arrived Friday with the Penske truck. Shortly after that, a bunch of men from church (including several of the pastors) arrived to help us unload the truck. It was almost 80 degrees outside, so in between hauling boxes, we handed out a lot of water bottles. We are so thankful for everyone who helped us pack and unload!
• I half-jokingly called my sister Michelle in Indiana and told her she should drive down to Nashville after work on Friday. She not only took me up on it, but at the spur of the moment, my sister Danae joined her for the drive down. So we got to spend the weekend (and celebrate Snuggles' 1st b-day) with Danae and Michelle! That really meant a lot to me.
• Snuggles was too sick on his birthday to be interested in celebrating, so we waited until Saturday when he was feeling better. We had a little family celebration, and gave him his miniature cake. It was his first time ever having anything sweet like that. He spit it out! Then he proceeded to "play" with the cake and made a mess. He didn't like the cake, but he sure had fun making a mess of it.
• Sunday evening, Snuggles started acting like he didn't feel well again. By Monday morning my Mom told us she suspected he had an ear infection.  We didn't have a doctor in Tennessee yet, so we took Snuggles to the ER at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.  They were absolutely wonderful!  In no time at all, we were on our way home with an antibiotic to treat Snuggles' double ear infection and a new prescription for Albuterol to help his breathing while he recovered from the upper respiratory infection. It took several days for Snuggles to fully recover.  He was a sick little boy.
• On our way back home from Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, I received an e-mail from the property management company we hired to manage our house in Idaho. They already had a tenant for our house!  This was a major answer to prayer!

There have been so many notable things about our move to Nashville.  The Nampa College Church Family gave us a wonderful farewell where we were blessed with lots of heartfelt gratitude, including a generous love offering to help us with the move.  It was so difficult to say "goodbye" to them, especially the kids.

I could tell all kinds of stories about the hospitality and welcome we've received from Trevecca Community Church of the Nazarene (TCC) since we moved here.  Our new church family not only stocked our fridge and pantry, they have brought us meals, given us restaurant gift cards, and even gave us a gift card to Kroger for groceries. We've already been invited over to so many peoples' homes that we may not need to buy groceries for a month.  We are so thankful.

I will close with one more exciting thing.  Our welcome gift from the TCC kids was a one-year membership to the Nashville Zoo.  We can't wait to use it!

I promise to post a 1-year-old update on Snuggles soon.  Stay tuned!