When you think about Joy filled events moving is not at the top of the list.
If it is, we should talk, because you're clearly doing something that I am not!
Just like finding a home, moving day was full of unexpected frustrations. Here I am sitting on my couch blissfully unaware of what the day would bring.
And here Jboz and I are just a few hours later.
Needless to say, things did not go smoothly as we had planned. There was not much Joy going on, just a whole lot of Twanda waiting to be unleashed. It was a long, hot, long, sweaty, hot, long day.
Because I am crazy, I had to teach two piano lessons that evening. With no shower, having moved in 95 degree heat. My students didn't care, and when they both came to their lessons and I shut the door to my brand new beautiful studio, the one room that was completely ready I felt like I could breathe again. During both of their lessons I tuned out the outside world and just focused on my students and the music we were creating. I turned out to be so thankful that I had kept those lessons that night. They were able to take my focus off my frustration and annoyance, and despite being worried the piano would not arrive at my new house in time for the first lesson, it turned out being the best part of the day. So I'm choosing to focus on that and the joy those two students brought to me. I don't think many people would say that their jobs would bring them joy after a long hard day like moving day, but it truely did!
Sunday morning I missed church because I was waiting on the tiling guy to come and work on my shower, that evening we were having our first night of worship at my churches campus in my town. I wasn't going to go since I hadn't been able to shower and felt funky, but at the last minute i decided to straighten my hair and spray on lots of perfume :) It was SUCH a blessing! I had the BEST time worshipping God, singing, trying to get my groove on (this white girl can't dance) and talking and laughing with my friends afterwards. We literally shut the church down and it was a wonderful evening.
Monday morning after another handyman visit my shower was finally finished and for the first time in 4 days i showered in my own home. GLORIOUS!!!!!
Not to be left out, my aching hips and I took a trip to the chiropractor. It was delightful! And suddenly I was able to walk without limping and looking like my age is close to Methuselah. (Which FYI, is totally in the dictionary and just came up on auto correct. We all know there was no way I could spell that correctly!!)
Looking back I can be thankful for the good things that happened.
Like...
Em, Madi, and Jboz being so giving of their time and energy to help me move.
Jboz letting me shower at her house on Saturday. I stayed in for so long my fingers were pruney!
My Parents, oh my parents. Both of them worked their bottoms off, lost blood, and gained pain and injuries just to help. I really can't find any words adequate to explain how much they did and how grateful I am to them!
Being much more physically stronger this time around, I was a BEAST, especially unloading the Uhaul. Being in better shape and actually having some muscles, not to mention the weight I have lost in the past year definitely made a huge impact!
I am thankful that we mostly survived the heat.
Right after we finished unloading the Uhaul, after being outside waiting for an hour in the hot sun, and then killing ourselves to unload as quickly as possible, the high temperatures and lack of water got to me and I had a dizzy spell. Thankfully I was able to go inside (although the AC wasn't on) and by the Grace of God we had unloaded a fan as one of the last items. 5 minutes of laying on the floor with the fan on my face and I recovered.
(My Mom told me later that we almost killed her unloading the Uhaul. We probably should have taken a break at some point but we were on a roll!)
After the unloading we took a break and ate lunch and then poor Jboz felt the after effects of the heat. Thankfully she managed not to toss her cookies, and I decided it was a great time to drive back to the new place with our vehicles and their blessed and wonderful air conditioning. It did the trick and she was back to normal!
So very thankful that those two instances were it for our heat issues and that some cool air and water were all we needed!
Despite it being stressful, looking back now I can see that God did provide in so many ways for us. My challenge to myself is next time I am in a stressful situation and feel overwhelmed and to my breaking point, to not think about what is making me feel that way but to actively look for the gifts God has given me in those circumstances. I wish I had done that during moving and the days after, my attitude would have been so much more pleasant! ;)
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