Finding Joy In the Journey!: May 2012

Who would have thought I would turn 24 in West Virginia? Well I sure did, and here are a few pics from the Day!

What to do on a rainy birthday, no car, and a 10 month old?
....
You eat oreos!

We didn't have any wrapping paper so Taron had to improvise. =) Please note that Calvin's gift to me was wrapped in a diaper.

After Taron came home from work we went to a Mexican Restaurant in Fayetteville called Diogi's. These people themed a whole restaurant around their dogs...a little weird. I usually don't associate eating establishments with animals, but the food was DELICIOUS!!!

And of course there was Mother's Day.

Sunday morning I came down the stairs to my happy surprises! Taron knows just what I like!

Thank you to my mom for your inspiration, strength, and contagious love for life. Because of you I have learned to see the good and joy in every day things. You taught me the real meaning of integrity. You have shaped and uplifted my life in so many ways.

Thank you to Taron's mom (my mom #2) for raising good boys. The strength you have shown during the different challenges in your life is inspiring.

Thank you to my sister Tammy who taught me to see life full of imagination. The tenderness in which you raise your children is something I strive for.

Thank you to my sister Rachel who is just awesome. I love how energetic and fun you are with your kids and I sure try to be the same way with Calvin!

Thank you to my sisters Carolyn and Alethea who are not yet mothers but are probably better Aunts to Calvin than I am his mother. =)

Thank you to my sisters Stacey, Torri, Sabrina, and Aimee who have always helped me feel a part of the family. I'm excited for all the years to come to get to know each of you better and better!

Thank you to Theresa Harris (my Mom #2 growing up) who wouldn't let me say no to any sport until I gave it a good shot, and who took me on all my adventures.

There are so many women, including many others who I did not mention, that have touched, inspired, and encouraged me. I would be lucky if any of their different qualities have rubbed off in me in any way!

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful women!

Now the post you all have been waiting for! Here are a few pictures of our life so far in West Virginia!

Ace Adventure Resort was great and let us stay in one of their cabins while we were homeless. Here are a few pictures of the cabin we called home for a few weeks before moving into our place. It was a very nice little place to stay but we did get pretty sick of living out of a suitcase. (It did have a hot tub!)

We had a hard time finding housing anywhere. As soon as we found out we were moving to West Virginia we spent every extra second we had on the computer looking for housing. Out of all the millions of apartment complexes I called, only a few actually picked up the phone and none returned voice mails. The few who did pick up the phone had a three month waiting list. So we moved with the faith that we would find some place to live.

At one point while staying in the cabin at Ace we thought we had found a place. It was in Beckley which was about 30 minutes away from the Resort. It was a little farther than we wanted but it was available now so we signed a contract, paid a pretty hefty deposit and was told we could move in the next Friday (which I think was the next day.) On Friday we packed up the car and headed to Beckley. After unpacking most of the car Taron discovered that we did not have hot water. After a phone call to the managers they let us know that the gas has been shut off and there was no easy way to get it back on until Monday. Ok...that would have been nice to know. Luckily we haven't checked out of our cabin yet so we packed back up the things we needed and headed back to the cabin. On Monday we packed up the cabin again went back to the apartment to find out that we still did not have any gas. We called the managers and they told us that WE had to call the gas company and set up a time for them to come turn on the gas. When we spoke to them on Friday we were under the impression they would get the gas turned back on and then we would have to put it under our name. We called the gas company and they couldn't come until Wednesday. Back to the cabin we went! On Wednesday we packed the cabin back up and headed out to Beckley one last time. We unpacked all of our stuff while waiting for the gas company to come. The gas company got there, did a routine check and red flagged all our appliances. They told us they would turn on the gas but would not turn on our hot water or gas stove because the apartments were not up to code and strongly encouraged us to get a Carbon Monoxide detector for our safety. The gas man also added that somebody had died last month in these apartments of carbon monoxide poisoning (which I'm not decided if that was true or just thrown in there for dramatic effect.) Well I have the baby with lungs the size of who knows what, so we packed the car up again, got our money back from the managers and was back at our dependable little cabin.

After a while Ace decided to offer us a place in Oak Hill almost right next to the road that turns off to head to the resort. The house was previously rented out to some of the resort's river guides. A bunch of single men who spent their days on the river. Was never cleaned, then had no one in it for about a year. This place was old and DISGUISING!!!! I wish I would have took more pictures before the house was cleaned so you would understand how bad it really was.

And here is "Old and Gross" (Our home!)

The day our pod (the rest of our stuff we shipped through U Haul) arrived, we decided to stay at the house. Not only has this house not been lived in for about a year but it also hasn't been locked. I was a little worried somebody secretly made this their home at nights and was a little on edge hoping that we wouldn't get a visitor. I would also like to include that this house has an extremely creepy basement that I just know is meant for storing bodies. While we were trying to settle into this old, gross and empty house we kept blowing a fuse upstairs. The third time the fuse blew we were upstairs in the second bedroom, I think we were setting up Calvin's bed. Instantly after the lights went out, creepy green glowing "I love you" appeared on the wall. This definitely boosted up the house in creepy points, and it made my skin crawl. But I was alright, I was going to be brave. Unless said by a stalker, "I love you" is not so bad right? Out loud I said, "Uh that's kinda creepy." After Taron agreed I realized he was facing the opposite wall as me. Turning to see what he was talking about, there in those same glowing, horrifying letters was MY NAME! No way, this pushed me over the edge. I was outta there!

And it was back to the cabin for us.. =)

For the next while my life was consumed with cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. The day our Pod arrived we had a good handful of ward members come help us clean. It was amazing!

We found all kinds of gross stuff including old juices stained in one of the cupboards in the shape of a mouse, gnarly spiders, lots of dirt and scum, and a dead bird! Guess who had to deal with the bird? =)

The bathroom before: This picture really doesn't do it justice.

The bathroom after:

Living Room- No couch quite yet

An Office/Art Room

Dinning Room with wonderful big windows

Kitchen

Bedroom

Stairs

A Hallway-This picture is being taken from the door of our bedroom. The door to the left is Calvin's room. There isn't a picture of Calvin's room because he was sleeping when I took the pictures of the house. =) The door straight ahead is a second bedroom. No picture of this room because we haven't done anything to this room yet.

Our next step is to get a few curtains and rugs to cozy up the place a little bit!

These next couple of pictures was an attempt to show how green it is here and how many trees West Virginia has! They are not the best pictures. These were taken right outside our house.