Our sweet neighbor directly across from us, Miss Tin, the one who always brought out treats and snacks for the kids, babysat a little girl, Olivia. At first we thought she was her granddaughter, and because Miss Tin didn't speak much English we went uncorrected for a long time. Turns out that she's just the daughter of a family friend. I'm getting sidetracked here, anyway, when Miss Tin would babysit Olivia the girls would always invite her out to play and share their bikes and scooters with her.
When Olivia's parents found out we were moving they bought cupcakes and juice boxes and just showed up at our front door with them. We were actually heading to our drive by (because of Covid) going away party at the church so we told them thank you and that we'd be back in a couple of hours. So we went to the church and had a blast there and then came home and chatted and ate cupcakes with the neighbors. Miss Tin, true to form brought out large bags full of treats and snacks for the road trip. I honestly can't remember the last time that I felt so loved as I did that afternoon. It's what I imagine it would be like to sit in on your own funeral- but not sad.
This photo is in here because I was the first of the ten kids to sleep in this crib and Timothy was the last of ten kids to sleep in it. It was actually still in really good shape until our kids got to it. Eliza chewed little divots into the wood. I'm pretty sure that Timothy added on the whittled effect of the crib. We weren't planning to take it with us anyway, but then our last week in Seattle one of the sides popped off and we knew that the crib was dead. RIP Cole and Roueche crib, you had a good long run.
The Rices had us over for dinner. Since we were trying to follow Covid rules we had dinner in their garage with the door open for ventilation and put masks on when we weren't eating. Having us over so that we could have a home cooked meal when our stuff was already packed was just another installment in the Rices kindness to our family. They included us as soon as we moved in and always had another fun treasure of a hike or beach to share. They are some of the kindest people anywhere and I would not be sad if 15 years from now one of our girls married one of the Rice boys.
The day that we loaded up the truck was total mayhem. It started out pouring rain. Like, not Seattle rain, but a real downpour. All day I prayed that the rain would stop long enough for us to load the truck so that the wet boxes wouldn't collapse under the weight of stacked box towers, or that all of our stuff would mold during the week long drive to Texas. It did stop and was totally dry by the time we had to load. It felt like a mini-miracle, an "I love you." from Heavenly Father.
The truck was supposed to be delivered between 12 and 4 pm. At 2pm the movers showed up to move the heaviest stuff down the two flights of stairs. We had hoped that they could load it directly onto the moving truck, but they had to just leave it in the garage. At 3:30 we started calling the moving company, but were just told that the truck was on it's way. At 4 the missionaries and ward members showed up to help load the truck. They moved everything from the top two floors down to the garage and bottom floor. Still no truck. More calls. Long story short- the truck showed up around 7pm. The kind ward members and missionaries came back and we loaded the truck. Eliza and Clara even helped carry boxes. Our neighbors watched the kids out in the court and ate pizza along with us and the movers that Bro. Nelson Sr. had bought since at 91 he couldn't help with the actual loading, although he did carry a few boxes out anyway. Three hours later the truck was loaded, we were exhausted, and once again felt very loved because of all the people who were willing to show up, repeatedly, to help us.
Our last day was just as crazy as the day before. We cleaned all day, with the help of the Ocanas, and got the last of the stuff boxed up. We had Ivar's for dinner. Then while I went to the airport to pick up Scott and my dad Collin left C, L, and T with Cathy and Brianna while he took Eliza to an urgent care place for an infection on her leg. Our last night was in sleeping bags and our house once again felt spacious as the kids ran around through the empty rooms.
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