first impressions

Day 1

Moving company shows up at 8:30 a.m. Packers ease into the job by looking around, whistling, and calling, "Here, kitty kitty!" to Patches who probably has ringworm on her neck. Stuff is packed and loaded by 2:30. We pick up the kids and leave for Wichita. Isaac starts saying, "I wanna go home..." The Marriott discount was quite a blessing. And the Marriott restaurant was quite convenient, but who would pay $4.75 for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich kids meal?! Do you know what kind of a PB&J sandwich I could make with $4.75?

Day 2

We travel to Dallas. Praise God for safe travel and cool temperatures. Our car A/C usually works in mild temperatures but not in hot ones. Isaac keeps saying, "I wanna go home..." We arrive at sister Carrie's house by suppertime. They feed us and we all head to the lake to swim and watch fireworks. Carly had her first encounter with two fireant bites on her big toe.

Day 3

Saturday. Day of relaxation. Carrie and Kyle took us to a park with nature trails and a huge playground. There were lots of families there, only one who spoke English as their first language. The multi-cultural experience was quite interesting, and I found it much easier to strike up a conversation with a Hebrew woman than it would've been to speak with an "Americanized" white woman. Why are white people so stiff, anyway, afraid to look dumb?! (I guess I don't want to look dumb either, but I often do anyway.) :) We topped off the night with frozen yogurt cones and shakes. It was unfortunate that Carly's cone fell up-side-down as soon as the lady handed it to her. No harm, though; 5-second rule. She ate it anyway.

Day 4

Sunday. We headed to Ft. Worth. The kids were sad to leave their cousin, and we were sad to leave Carrie & Kyle, but we needed to head west. After going to Aunt Phy and Uncle Harold's church, we stuffed ourselves at Ryan's steakhouse. The hot rolls with honey-butter are hard to beat. Travelling on...going west...we found ourselves on a 70 mph 2-lane. Surprisingly hilly. We pass the World's Largest Wind-Powered farm. We pull into San Angelo around 7:30 p.m. and manage to book a suite on base fit for a chief.

Day 5

Monday. 6:00 a.m.

A bugle-boy-recording has the audacity to wake us up with Reveille. Jared rolls over and mumbles, "You've gotta be kiddin' me!" We move to Goodfellow AFB's temporary housing. Homesickness sets in.

Day 6

Carly normally wakes up cranky, but today she woke up with a revelation shining in her eyes. She said in a sleepy but cheerful voice, "I think Isaac would stop saying 'I wanna go home' if you gave him a rub." We'll try that--not that we haven't already. Tuesday. Commissary, here we come! All I can say is: Garrett's Country Mart is over-priced and Sara Lee bagels rock! We sign a lease with Encino Apartments and plan to move in as soon as the moving truck gets here Friday. We're excited to get settled.

We miss you all!