here we are 26 days later...

I was looking at my calendar tonight and realizing that it’s only been 26 days since Dad was unanimously voted in as the pastor of First Baptist Church of Hampton, New Hampshire.

For some reason, most of those involved seemed to think that we needed to move up here in order for Dad to carry out the duties of his new job ;).

So, here I am. I got here 2 weeks ago.

We just kinda went home and packed up everything at a break-neck pace. I think it was, like, ten days in between the voting date and the moving date. Or the getting-home date and the moving date. Something like that.

Since my 16^th birthday is November 8^th, my friends and I had a small celebration on the 8^th of October. We knew we’d be here by my actual birthday, and I really just wanted to do something with the girlies I know well :).  We watched a great movie, at great food, and had a great time. It was my last sleepover as a resident of WV. I can hardly believe it.

Girlsies: I miss you tons. Megan, I’m calling you this week. Accept any calls from a 603 number.

Our last day in West Virginia, 13 people from River Ridge or formerly of River Ridge came to help us pack up. We had a 21-foot truck stuffed to the gills by the end of the day.

Lydia came in that day from Worcester, and I also said goodbye to my best friends of ten years. They’ve been our neighbors and girlfriends all this time… We went from a distance of 1,000 feet between our back doors to a distance of 830 miles (and, as you know, 830 is just a hop, skip and a jump away from 1,00 ;p).

We spent our last night at my Mama’s, and left around 9 the next morning. It was really hard to say goodbye to my grandparents, also.

We broke the trip up, spending the night in Pennsylvania. Zoe and I alternated between the truck and the car (Mom drove the car, Dad drove the truck).

Some funny things that happened along the way:

1. I saw a license plate with the letters “OMG” on it.
2. The doggy rest area at one place we stopped at had two fire hydrants in it.
3. I saw someone that looked pretty much exactly like my aunt’s stepson’s daughter driving in Massachusetts traffic.
4. I almost left my camera at a rest stop.
5. James had a really, really funny reaction to the elevators in the hotel. He would follow you in boldly, then try to go back out right away. As you went up, he would sorta crouch with his legs sprawled out under him. When the doors opened, he was always the first off :).
6. We tied a porch swing to the roof of our little Pontiac Vibe :). We got a lot of Beverly Hillbilly jokes from friends and family :).

And we finally got here on Friday night :). There were people from the church here painting for us! Also, Jared and Becky came with Ruby not long after we got here and fixed us dinner. It was great :).

We had a long day of unloading and unpacking the next day, and my Aunt Gail came down and spent from Saturday to Wednesday with us.

Well, I really need to get to be now. I’ll be getting up at six tomorrow morning to babysit my dear cousins for about 7 hours. More on that and other subjects in what will hopefully be the near future :).