The Move

September was an intense blur of days and weeks, that only now we are starting to feel that maybe, just maybe, we are beginning to rise above the chaos.  One month ago today, we received the keys to our new home.  Moving for anyone is a BIG stress—no doubt about it.  But despite the stress from long days, sleepless nights, document chasing, transitioning into a new school and community along with starting up the ministry season, with a home in process of being a peaceful refuge, God’s grace and strength carried us through, as He always does.

Here are some things I learned regarding our move (in no particular order):

• It really is worth it to pay professional movers.  Honestly, there is just no way around that hefty expense.  It’s not like we could have called up our church friends to come over with their trucks and trailers, because no one has those.  Those cute little European cars are all we got folks!  In addition, the movers had to use a lift to get our furniture over the balcony and out of the house, since nothing big can go down the spiral staircase.  The moving team of 7 guys arrived at 7:30AM and had two-and-half floors of furniture disassembled (beds, wardrobes, kitchen, desk, bookshelves etc.) and loaded into the moving trucks in 2 hours.  Just in time for a mid-morning coffee break before driving over to the new house to unload and reassemble everything before a lunch break.

Our morning job was pretty easy as we just watched, kept overly enthusiastic kids out of the way and gave orders as to where things went.  They had to return for a 2^nd trip to the house, but concluded their day’s work by 3:45PM.  And then we were left with a mound of boxes and the overwhelming burden of unpacking them all.

Did I also mentioned that they totally refigured my “old” kitchen to fit in the taverna?  They had to go out and buy material for a new countertop, but did all the carpentry work for that in under an hour and we are super happy with the final outcome.

•  Muscle toning is a huge benefit in moving.  When you carry boxes from the garage to the upper level of the house you have to climb 32 stairs.  That first week I can’t tell you the number of times I went up and down those stairs with boxes in hand.  But I definitely have some muscle growth because of it!

•       Sometimes you realize that you just can’t do it all.  After painting Samuel’s and Emma’s rooms and Jonathan’s office we realized that we physically could not handle the rest of the house painting.  I have bad wrists and Jonathan gets trigger fingers and tendinitis flare ups from work like that.  So we decided for the sake of our bodies and conserving our energies that we needed to bring in a professional for the main floor painting.  As it turns out we would have had to regardless since two of the rooms had a weird painted texture on them that needed to be sanded down before painting.  Three days of intense labor from a professional team using an electric wall sander saved us from physical injury and potential marital stress if attempted on our own.  So again, money well spent.  That job was concluded the end of last week.

• An orderly house brings restful sleep.   I learned that I do not rest well at all when my house is in disarray.  The first couple of weeks I was so extremely exhausted by the end of each day, but my mind would not let my body sleep as the thoughts of where to put things and making a check list for the following day plagued my thoughts. I’m the kind of person who can’t go to bed unless all the dishes are washed, so leaving rooms with half open boxes and clutter everywhere drove me nuts. I’m sure that is my own personal quirk, but I guess I didn’t realize how strong it was before.
• Being close to town brings independence.  Immediately we felt how much closer we are to everything.  The hourly ringing of the bell towers can be heard from our home, the supermarket, the kids’ school and of course the ice cream store all are within walking distance.  Already I feel more independent (even though I don’t drive).  As long as I am up for a 10-15 minute walk I can do all that is necessary without requiring my husband to chauffeur me around.  Love it!
• Green does the soul good.  I am absolutely thrilled about the yard we have.  I am just aching to get my hands working in the garden.  But in the mean time I have taken pleasure in the change of pace from working inside the house to trimming the hedges and mowing the lawn.  We are enjoying the final blooms of the summer from the many and varied plant flora in the yard.  Flowers just make me happy.  And the kids are so excited they can climb two trees out front.  It’s the little things.

• Moving with elementary aged children is SO much easier than with toddlers.  The last move we made the kids were 4, 2 and 1.  Craziness! It was great to have the kids pitch in and unpack their own boxes and get their rooms set up.  They were enthusiastic about it for sure, and were only slightly perplexed why the rest of the house was not so easily mastered.  Luca basically got to the boxes with toys that had been packed for most of the summer and found play much more his thing for the first week.

The house is still a work in progress but each week things are finding their place and final decorating touches are being made.  I might have an hour here and an hour there throughout the week as ministry obligations, assisting kids with homework and just doing the normal things to keep up house and meet family needs come as priority.  Hey, if anyone wants to come be my interior designer and decorate our walls, come on over!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement to us during this whole process!  It's done and we are thrilled to start making memories here at Casa Salga.