And so it begins...

We made it! We are getting settled in to our new apartment in Raleigh, NC. So far, we love it here. Even though we've only been here a few days, it feels right. Sure, it's weird being so far away from home and being in a new city, but we know this is good for us.

Here's a recap of our week:

-Sunday: CaryAnne worked until 3 and when she got home we finished packing up most of the things inside the house. We had a lot more to do than we thought. We ate supper with Aunt Jackie and some family that night and stayed up until about midnight packing stuff.

-Monday: CaryAnne worked until about 3 again (yes, the day before we moved). Daddy and I went to Summit and picked up the 16" Penske truck and brought it home to load up. Cody came over and helped, which was a huge help. We had more stuff than we originally thought, so we ended up having to put several things in the back of our car for the trip and had to leave a few things behind. That night we visited with family and turned in relatively early because we planned to leave at 5am Tuesday.

-Tuesday: Travel day. We actually only left 15 minutes later than we planned, which I think was a success. We were pulling out of the driveway at 5:17am (CST). Daddy was driving the Penske with CaryAnne and me behind him. Fourteen short hours later, we arrived in Raleigh. I think we actually pulled into our apartment complex at 8:30pm (EST) and pretty much started unloading immediately. Alex came over to see us and helped get some things into our apartment, then she and CaryAnne went and got us supper from McDonald's. Michael and Donnie were going to help unload but they were on a roofing job that day and didn't get home until about 10:30. By that time, we were too tired to do anything else, and we knew they would be too. Luckily, though, we had gotten most everything in except the couch, T.V.s, some boxes, and a couple of dressers.

-Wednesday: We got up around 8 and got ready to finished unloading the truck. Michael walked over (since we're in the same complex) and helped daddy and me grab the rest of the stuff and we finished in about 30 minutes. We organized some stuff and made the apartment look halfway presentable then went out to get some things from Lowe's and Target. CaryAnne wanted to cook lunch for the Hollises and the Britts so she made sausage dogs and mac and cheese for everybody. It was delicious. For supper, we all went to a Mongolian restaurant down the road. Donnie and Meghan treated us, which was great. It's a really cool place where you pick out all your ingredients for your meal -- raw meat included -- and they cook it in front of you. We thoroughly enjoyed it. After supper we went and saw the Hollises' apartment. It was a good first full day.

- Thursday: We had a lazy morning and slept in a little because we were all still exhausted. Daddy had to fly home so we took him to the airport, which is about 20 minutes from our apartment, and saw him off. He helped out so much, we were so glad he came. After we dropped him off, we came home, cleaned up and unpacked more boxes. The lady came and hooked up our internet that evening then we went to Michael and Alex's for supper. They made Mexican food, which was great, then we sat around and watched YouTube videos until about 10:30. The girls went for a walk at some point and came back with ice cream from McDonald's. Another good day.

- Friday: Today was pretty laid back. We got up and relaxed for a while this morning then went to pick up some things for the apartment. We met Donnie and Meghan at Sam Ash (music store) and looked at cajons. They had a couple that I liked but none that I wanted to buy. We got some groceries and went home for a couple hours to get ready for the night. We had our first core group meeting with the guys from Imago Dei Church at Tony's house in Wake Forest. It was a great night with new friends and good food. We had a short meeting and got to know each other a little bit better. We're excited to hear more about everything with the church as we continue to meet each week.

It's been a long, good week. We absolutely miss home, and all that comes with it, but we are so excited about being here. You should all come visit!