Packing packing packing

The packing has officially started! Josh is with Poppa & Grammy this weekend so David & I have gotten a lot of packing done. When we met my parents in Rocky Mount to drop Josh off Mama gave us a lot of boxes from all the cleaning out at her school. They're all full!  David went and got some from the warehouse at work and we've filled those, too!

Empty boxes ready to go!

We've made a lot of progress but it sure doesn't feel like we've done much. We've packed: most of J's toys, everything from the bookcase, all of J's clothes for the fall/winter, all of the clothes he's outgrown and were put away for storage, all of his stuffed animals (except Monkey, Butter Bear & baby wolf), all of the clothes from his closet, our winter clothes & coats, some of the clothes that are in season now, Christmas dishes, some bake ware, mugs, non-essentials from the bathroom, dvds & "office" stuff from under the tv, most of the utility/laundry room....I think that's all so far.

Most of the boxes are from Josh's room. He has so many clothes & if he doesn't grow too much he should be all set for the fall & winter.

Thursday night's progress

I've decided to use a color system for moving. Each room is assigned a color; red for kitchen, yellow for J's room, etc. Every box we pack gets a the appropriate colored sticker and a short list of what's in the box. Then when we move in the new place we can just put the appropriate boxes in the appropriate room and I don't have to stand around & read boxes & direct people as to which box goes to what room. :) I hope it works. Haha!

My color coded packing list

We're running out of room in the dining room to stack boxes. I guess we'll move on to J's closet and then our room for stacking. I feel unsettled about not having anywhere to move our stuff to. I'd much rather have a certain date to be out and a specific place to be moving to. Right now we have no place to move to and up to a month to be out of our apartment. I like a plan...this doesn't feel like a plan. ;)

Friday's progress

Saturday's progress

We stopped by Marty & Exie's house to get our stuff out of their attic. They've been kind enough to let us use some of their attic space for as long as we need it. Most of the stuff up there we donated. We haven't needed it for years, so we won't miss it. Things like our Christmas tree, ornaments and out of season clothes will go with us. 

Sunday's progress

While handing stuff down to me from the attic David lost his balance when he tried to catch a falling box and fell out of the attic! It happened to fast and so slowly all at the same time. Ironically enough, it was the smallest box up there! He's fine, just banged up a bit, has a few scratches and will be sore. Somehow he landed on his back and side and NOT his head (I don't know how he managed that) but he took down Exie's picture frames on either side of the hallway on his way down. None of the photos were damaged and we'll replace the frames. I'm just thankful he wasn't hurt more than a bruise or two. It could have been much worse and I've since banned him from all attics for a long while. :) I bet he'll let the box fall next time! hee hee!

This evening we're taking a break. David is working on school work and I'm going to meet Mama to get Josh back. I've missed him! We'll probably work on the art projects for his teachers and spend some (supervised) time with the paper shredder. He should enjoy that. ;) 

We'll be working on finding a house to buy or rent this week so please pray that the Lord will handle that quickly and easily. I'll feel much better when we have an idea of where all this stuff is going to go! I'd really like to have officially moved before David starts work on the 10th. 

Adventure is out there...

I'd like to thank you for praying for our family the other day. There will be some big changes coming to the White house soon and we're very excited and a little nervous. By the end of September we will be moving to Raleigh!

Last Wednesday David traveled to Raleigh for a job interview. We have been wanting to make the move to Raleigh for a few years now. It provides better job opportunities for both of us and would put us closer to family (especially one of our soon to arrive nephews!).  David is working on a degree in network security and we made the decision for him to start applying to jobs before he was finished with his degree just to see what would happen. He got a call right away and we were encouraged by that. The interview Wednesday was technically a second interview as he had spoken with the company over the phone a few weeks ago. Josh and I rode over to Raleigh with him so we could goof off while he was interviewing. ;) It also helped distract me because I was SO nervous!

Well, they offered him the job. The pay isn't what we had hoped (is it ever?!) and we were a little discouraged about that initially. My Uncle Doug was kind enough to let us come over and talk it out a bit with him. He is so wise and we value his opinion and advice. He didn't try to sway our decision one way or the other and made reasonable, solid points. After talking with him for a while we felt the "perks" of the job made up the difference and the numbers didn't seem like such a negative as they had at first. 

The position comes with a company car, laptop and cell phone. David is able to take the company car home and doesn't have to report to the office every day. Perk: we wouldn't have to buy a second car for him to get to and from the office with.

The company has offered to pay for any training and certifications David will need. Perk: currently this is an expense we have to pay for ourselves (and it's pricey!).

The company offers health insurance and will pay for David's after the 90 day period. Perk: we'll only have to pay for Josh and myself which should save us some money. 

Although the offered salary isn't as much as we had hoped it is more than he's making now. Perk: the company has promised a pay raise after 90 days and again after a year. 

Now the fun (and scary and overwhelming) part begins. We have to find a place to live, find a job for me, find a new daycare and only have a few weeks to do it. We've lived at our apartment here in Greenville so long that we're on month to month lease so we don't have a contract to break there. And because of the timing we'll have to pay September's rent anyway so we technically have over a month to find a new place in the Raleigh area. If anyone knows of anywhere to rent or possibly buy in Raleigh or Wake Forest please let us know. ;)

It's really a bittersweet feeling. We'll enjoy being closer to family and making new friends but we'll miss our friends here. So many of you have become like family to us. Luckily we'll only be an hour away! That's not so bad, right?

Well, there's still lots to do so I better get back to packing...and house hunting...and job hunting...*sigh*.

Meet the Pirates

We live in a college town and while it's fun to go to games and lots of events on and around ECU's campus, it's not so enjoyable when it's move-in day or even game day. The traffic is insane and unless there's a life threatening emergency we don't leave the house on those days. :)

This past Saturday we went out to Dowdy Ficklen Stadium to Meet the Pirates. It's a chance to meet the players and coaches of this season's football team. We had never been to this event and Josh is at a good age to really enjoy it.  

There were cheerleaders with pirate tattoos!

He was crushing so hard he wouldn't smile.

Petey the Pirate tattoo

 There were bouncy houses and slides,

Petey the Pirate,

 and even Pirate Steve. He's a real life pirate who comes out of the tunnel just before the players at all of the games. He's pretty cool. Josh met him at Pirate Fest this past summer and was really impressed!

This is the "tunnel" the football team runs out of at the games. Josh things it's "cool awesome" and always asks to go in it when we go to a game. The players have smoke machines and it looks really creepy and cool. Josh was happy to run through over and over.

The guys took turns tackling each other. First Josh tackled Daddy:

Then Daddy tackled Josh:

  Josh really enjoyed it and it was neat to be on the field instead of up in the stands for once. :) We didn't stand in the long lines to get any autographs but Josh doesn't understand all of that anyway so it was fine. We're excited for football season to start. We enjoy the cooler weather and attending a few games a season. GO PIRATES!

Big day

Today is a big day for our little family. I can't go into specifics right now but we would appreciate your prayers this afternoon. There could be some big changes coming soon!

NC State Fair

Last October the guys and I took a quick trip to Raleigh to visit the State Fair. It's a yearly tradition for everyone to meet at the fair and it's nice to explore everything there while getting in a visit with family. We always stop at the Mill and get a hush puppy on the way in. The next stop is buying an ear of corn so we can eat while we walk to the rides and exhibits. We always get weighed, eat a pickle (or two), get a chocolate milk and lots of stickers. On the way out we stop for NC State ice cream. :)

This trip was the first year Josh was old enough to know what was going on. He really enjoyed the animals and lights and sounds. He was a HUGE fan of the chickens and even tried to take a rabbit home.

Josh and Grammy look at the animals

Silly goat

I like the goats. They remind me of my PaPaw's farm.

This was also the first year Josh was tall enough to ride the rides!! Mama asked if I thought he would ride any. We explained that he would have to ride by himself and he was still eager to ride them. It was worth a try, at least. 

He was so funny standing at the ruler that tells you how tall you have to be to ride. The ride operator stood Josh there and measured him. Josh wanted to be sure he was tall enough so he slowly rose up onto his tiptoes. :) I'm sure he was an inch or two too short but he was allowed to ride anyway.

First big kid fair ride!

Watching him ride the monster trucks was my favorite. He would wave violently and yell "HEEEYYYY!!!!" every time he came around to where we were standing. He had the best time!

Watching him ride those rides on his own made me think of how much he is like his Daddy. I would have never ridden a ride alone. I still don't like to! I'm a total wallflower. He is such a good mix of the two of us. Sometimes he's outgoing and extroverted like his Daddy and sometimes he's quiet and introverted like me. I'm looking forward to this year's fair and watching him ride even more than he rode last year. Time to start saving money for ride tickets!

RDU is Cool

My brother, Robert, is a Raleigh Firefighter and we like to take Josh by the station to see his "Dude" when we go to town. Josh likes visiting Dude at work. He spends time testing out the fire trucks and asking LOTS of questions about what this does and what that does and why that thing is round or red or moves. He likes playing with the weight lifting equipment at the station and gets a new RFD tattoo out of the visit. :) Robert is so patient and takes time explaining how everything works and lets Josh "drive" the trucks and turn the lights on. Josh is very blessed with awesome Uncles (and Aunts!). :)

Dude & J-Dub

Robert has a friend who works at the fire department at the airport. He made a call and got permission for us to visit that station. It was really neat. I had never been that close to airplanes before (besides being in one) and Josh was fascinated with all the equipment. We visited the observation deck at the airport so Josh could see the planes taking off and landing. He really enjoyed watching them come in and go out.

They gave us a ride in their special fire truck and we got to spray some water on one of the runways. It made a loud noise every time right before the water came out and Josh jumped every time. :) He said "That scared me! Do it again!"

After a quick trip on the insanely huge fire truck they have (seriously, I've never seen a firetruck that big) the firefighters got word that the plane carrying the University of Miami's football team would be rolling by soon. They were coming into town to play UNC. They invited us to hang out and wait so we could see it. Some of the guys had never seen a plane that big in all the years they've worked there.

It's so hard to believe something that big can fly in the air! I don't remember how wide the wingspan is but it's impressive.

Playing catch-up

It's been a loooong time since I gave my pitiful little blog any attention. I think it's been about 10 months. Yikes! So much has happened in those 10 months there's no way I could catch up on everything. I'm terrible about remembering things we do. I have very little childhood memories. It's kind of sad, actually. I'm just no good with the details. David will talk about somewhere we've been or something we did and I'll have no recollection of it. I need to start writing things down more. And taking more photos. I usually post Josh's little sayings and conversations to facebook so I'll have them "written down."

Josh is three now! He started a new "school" several months ago and while there was some transition time, he handled it really well and loves his teachers and classmates. He is even claiming to be in love with Ms Evie, his teacher. She's been so good to him and he has been spending his nap time just laying and staring at her. Silly boy. :) He has learned so much while there and comes home singing new songs and telling new stories. His speech has improved greatly. He never really had an issue there but has started saying his S's and L's and even some R's here and there! He sounds like a big kid now and I love the conversations we have. He is curious about everything (what toddler isn't) but sometimes he throws me off with the seriousness of a question. He's deep. It's weird. :) I've always called him an old man. He really does have grown up conversations sometimes. Little Grandpa!

I'm getting 2 nephews very soon...like weeks from now! Both of my brother's wives are expecting baby boys around the first of September. Our family is super excited about the boys and it's fantastic that they'll be so close in age. I know Robert, Kate, Matt & Megan are excited to finally see and hold Holton & Jackson but I just cannot wait. I cry just thinking about them finally being here. We're blessed to live within driving distance of each of my brothers but at times like these (and even not times like these) I wish we lived even closer.

I've been doing a lot of sewing lately. It's been fun and I've enjoyed it. I've made curtains, crib sheets and crib skirts for both nephews. It will be so cool to see their nurseries decorated with things I've made. I made a nursing cover for both Mamas-to-be and a reusable tote bag for the boys. I even added their names to the bags. :) I hope they'll get a lot of use. I made my first quilt! It's only about a yard long but Josh seems to like it. I'm in the process of cutting out pieces for my newest quilt project and only have about 50 or so left to cut. I need 256 total! I've also been asked to make a t-shirt quilt for a friend. I've gotten the layout done and it looks pretty neat. I have to find interfacing and backing next. I don't have much room in our tiny apartment to work on big projects (the t-shirt quilt takes up my entire living room floor) so that may be the most challenging part. I'm hoping to make real progress on it next week.

David is doing well. He is working hard, as usual and has started taking classes online. He has about 2 years of school left (with no breaks, bless him!). He's done so well at juggling work, school, church and our little family. I know all this hard work will pay off for him in the end. It will be a good thing for him to have a more specialized degree.

My Grandpa & Grandma Hand got an Ipad!!! They also joined Facebook!!! I'm so excited that they'll be able to see all of the photos and videos I post of Josh. We can even facetime with them so we can "see" each other more often.

My Granddaddy Hall is a published author! I can't wait to read his book. It's titled "The Joy of the Harvest" and is an autobiography and the story of his ministry. 

We had a fabulous family vacation a few weeks ago. My cousin and her new hubby were able to join us and my cousin who lives in NY came down and announced he and his wife were expecting this winter! Our family is growing by leaps and bounds these days. :)

Please be in prayer for us Whites over the next few weeks. Specifically next Tuesday afternoon. ;) We're keeping the details quiet for now but next week could bring some big changes for our family and we're cautiously optimistic.