The Move

Hello, dear blog readers. I have to admit this morning that I am, in the words of one of our midwives, "Singin' the Blues!" (Picture someone with a Southern accent saying that and you'll know what I mean.)

So yesterday, our belongings arrived. Let me just preface all of the following paragraphs by saying this: someone once said something to the effect of our hearts being idol factories all of the time. (I believe it was John Calvin, but our books are in boxes or missing, so don't hold me to that.) It's SO easy to get attached to earthly belongings. It's easy to forget how fleeting life is, and that the things that ultimately matter are not material. I am constantly reminded that earthly things can be replaced and are not the "stuff" of life.

That said: our stuff took three and a half weeks to get here. When it arrived in pieces and with water damage, I was--to put it mildly--a wee bit dismayed. Our boxes came off of the truck sideways, upside-down, and in various positions in order to keep the holey and crushed objects from falling off of the dolly. The piano needs to have parts (i.e. a pedal) replaced and we are going to have it inspected for structural sound board damage given the state of things. The dining table (solid wood) has a broken leaf, which is built into the table. China cabinet: significant water damage. Couch: water damage (both in looks AND smells). Bookshelf: cracked in half in the back of the shelf--not even to be removed from the truck by driver. Mattress: ripped and dirty, but at least not wet as far as I can tell so far. So much for those expensive protective cartons we paid them to use. Two dining chairs: broken rungs. Crib: couldn't be assembled, but that was probably more user-error on the part of the driver than anything else. Desk: busted supports around legs. Microwave cart: missing structural parts and completely unstable. Missing altogether: infant swing. This I AM really going to miss for the time being. I am hoping they hid it in a box somewhere and that we just haven't found it yet. We haven't opened a single box (we just wanted to get out of the house after they came yesterday), so we will be getting started soon to see how the boxed belongings fared.

This does not include everything else that has chips and scratches.

For those of you asking if there is anything you can do to help, all I can say is: thanks for listening and praying for us. This move (at least for the immediate moment) will be good for us in SO many ways, but right now feels like a complete and total fiasco. Keep praying for us! The movers will need to do something to make it right, and fortunately, the company we contracted has a very good customer service rep who has been calling me almost every day for the last couple of weeks just to keep us updated. She gave me an online claims website yesterday to get the ball rolling.

 This is the state of most of our boxes. We did the packing ourselves this time. We also did  it last time, and the ONLY casualty was a broken vase that I hadn't wrapped very well.

The irony: something that says "fragile" all over it ends up coming out of the truck sideways; the moving guy had to turn it right-side-up. Apparently it too had been under some heavier boxes.

Anyway, dear blog readers, the sun is shining, it's not too beastly hot yet, and today WILL be a better day. Can't wait to find the bread machine and make some good home comfort foods.

Happy Saturday to you all, dear blog readers!