We re-packed our house in two weeks, put our house up for lease, and started packing the moving truck on Monday, July 11th. We had some wonderful help that day (Matt and Austin) and Erich and Kendra were truly lifesavers (helping us pack, feeding us dinner, and letting us stay with them Monday night).
As the afternoon rolled around, we realized not all of our things were going to fit in the truck. We had to rent another smaller truck and asked our awesome friend, Garrett, to fly out to Dallas to help us drive to Albuquerque. My friend, Donna, (who was going to help me drive with Bailey) and Garrett both flew in Monday night to help us drive the next day.
Monday was an overwhelming experience of just how great it is to be a part of the Family of God. Erich and Kendra didn't know us very well, but they treated us like family and loved us like they've known us for years. We couldn't have been packed and on the road the next morning without their help. Donna and Garrett were willing to help us at the last minute (Donna had just returned to Houston on Monday after being on a youth group mission trip and Garrett and Jessie had just had a baby less than two weeks ago!) We are so thankful and blessed to be a part of God's Family!
We hit the road Tuesday morning and headed for Albuquerque with Thomas driving one moving truck, Garrett driving the other moving truck (with our car in tow), and Donna and I driving our van with Bailey. (I wish I had pictures to show our caravan!)
This picture doesn't show the true meltdown state that Bailey was in because there was a fly in the car. I had to cover her up with a towel from chin to toes and then hold her face so the fly wouldn't land on her. We soon stopped to get the fly out and have some dinner!
We made it to Albuquerque and Donna was Bailey's new friend.
Donna was my group leader at Kadesh when I was a senior in high school. We have been friends ever since, usually seeing each other once a year (she lives in Houston), but we hadn't seen each other for about 3 years. It was so awesome to see her again and be together for almost 12 hours in the car! Thank you, Donna!
The second part of our road trip was from Albuquerque to Malibu, but we knew we couldn't do the drive in one day. We left Thursday morning to drive to Kingman, AZ and then into Malibu on Friday. Our wonderful moms joined us and were troopers in helping us drive and entertain Bailey.
When we got to Kingman, AZ our hotel was not up to par. We had wanted non-smoking rooms and our rooms smelled like smoke. When we asked for another room, we were given the keys to the Mickey Mouse room! (I wish I had a picture...) The room was filled with Mickey Mouse posters, wall paper, and bedspreads (looked like it was from the 80's). Thomas decided we needed to find a new hotel.
To add to our interesting experience in Kingman, this is the restaurant that was recommended to us. It was quite the place, but we were hungry and tired and the food was decent.
Our caravan made it to Malibu on Friday evening and we were happy to see the ocean!
