I CANNOT believe it has been one year since I posted on this blog. Life has been busy of course, but really?
The good news is, we are still in Stillwater, OK. The bad news is, we MOVED again!
I guess it's not really bad news, but moving is hard!
Anyway, we were going to move this summer, to a little bit bigger home, since we have 5 kids, 4 of which are still home, but the contract fell through. So we were good with that, stay where we were, in a smaller home, with all our stuff being stored in 7 different places! Yes, that is correct, 7 different places. But still, trusting, God's timing, not ours. Well, we started the school year and all that it brings. We had Jesse's football schedule, Ruth's cross country schedule, Esther's volleyball schedule, and Anna's cross country schedule to work around. Joshua asked if he could sign up for flag football, and my answer was "Heck No!!" (His time is coming!) So, packing up the trailer and heading out every weekend to somewhere in Kansas for football, plus throwing a xc meet or VB game in there, sometimes we would be in 3 different cities, 2 different states in a matter of 24 hours!!
Right in the middle of this, the people who owned the house we had put a contract on over the summer, came back to us and offered us a deal we couldn't refuse, so after praying and signing the paperwork, we had to close in 2 weeks. All of a sudden, in the midst of an already crazy schedule, we were moving across town!!
This was exciting and exhausting all at the same time, because you know, the Ray Ford Family does not pay movers!! We do it ourselves. Ha! So we spent the next few weeks, slowly but surely trickling things over to the new home. But as we got to the end of the month, Ray said he was not paying another month in storage, so we HAD to get the storage stuff over to the new home by Friday. Well, that was fine, except, we had a XC meet in Arkansas, and a football game in KS, along with 2 volleyball games that week, both an hour drive away! The boxes were not the difficult part, and we were able to get that over in about 5 trips, but the RV, oh baby, that was a different story! You see, we have a large separate garage/workshop/RV storage at our new home. I call it the barn. Anyway, it is great, but the people before us didn't have an RV/5th wheel, so they built a loft type structure, to use as storage. It was right in the spot were the back half of the 5th wheel needed to go in the barn, so we had to take that out. Well, Ray wasn't about to waste that great storage, so instead of dismantling it, he wanted to MOVE it. Now this thing probably weighed 700+ lbs. It was attached to the side of the wall, but had 4 large beams that supported it, like legs. Ray decided that we could just cut it away from the wall and move it over on wheels. After we propped it up on skate boards, furniture dollies and the like, and tried to move it a few feet, we rethought! So the next day, while the kids were at school, Ray and I attempted to move this thing. He attached casters to the 4 legs and we began to push. It was sooooo exciting, the thing was moving, we were so proud of ourselves, we were gonna have this thing moved and secured to the other side of the barn in a matter of 30 minutes.
Well, pride cometh before the fall.......... we ran into a little finagling around the garage door and while Ray was trying to figure out how to manuver it, the thing started to fall!! We could hear wood cracking, and I was supporting one leg, Ray ran over to support the other, and we were huffin' and puffin' like to old fat people, sweat beads pouring from our faces. We couldn't move, yet, we had to get something under this thing or it was coming down!! About that time we look up and here comes 2 Jehovah Witnesses!! They asked if they could have a few minutes of our time!!! What?! Can you not see we are in dyer need of some assistance?! Ray said "No! We are a little busy at the moment, but you can help us if you want!" They declined, but then asked if they could leave some reading material for us?! You have got to be kidding! No!
After they left, Ray said, "Ok, I am gonna step away and grab the ladder, and try to prop it up underneath, if it starts to fall on you, just run away!!" Oh my gosh, how do I get myself into these situations with this guy?? Well, he was able to get the ladder under the structure before it fell on top of me, and we stepped away for a moment. He decided we would use the tractor, and lift the weight up off the legs, while we moved it, then secure it into place before we moved the tractor. Long story short, 10 hours later, after we started this project, we had the stucture moved and secured into place. A friend stopped by while we were in the process and gave alot of support and encouragement, but like she said, it looked like a 700 lb spider on roller skates!!
Needless to say, we were exhausted after working ALL DAY on this short quick little job, and we were supposed to get on the road that night and head to Fayetteville, AR for Ruth's XC meet the next day. Well, I thought we were going in to clean up, when I heard the chain saw roar to life! What now? The 5th wheel was still at the storage facility, but we had to renew the lease the next day if we didn't get it out of there by the weekend. We were taking the 5th wheel to AR and then to KS, but when we came back home on Sunday, Ray wanted to be able to put it into the barn, soooo, we had lots of tree limbs that hung across the driveway. Ray had to clear those so he could bring the 5th wheel in once we returned on Sunday. So all of us went out and as Ray cut a limb, we dragged it into the front yard. I wanted to take them all to the back behind the barn, but the sun was going down, we were supposed to get on the road, and we just didn't have time. I was embarrassed because our neighbors all have very well kept yards, and here we come, just moving in, and trashing the place!! Well, as we worked into the night, Ray cut, and we dragged! Finally, after he had cut his last limb, the idea of getting on the road was out of the question!! To say we were tired was an understatement! We decided to crash, and just get up early the next morning and head out.
The next morning, Ray headed over to get the 5th wheel, then come to pick us up and head out. He called and said to come outside and load up, but as we walked outside, with overnight bag in hand, we see Ray unloading stuff out of the 5th wheel onto the front lawn. We had several kayaks in the back of the 5th wheel, and to have room for the kids to sleep in the back, we had to unload them. At this point, we are cutting it close to make it to Ruth's race, so we just start chunking kayaks and all the gear into the front yard, along with piles of tree limbs! About that time, our new neighbors cautiously walked over and asked if we need any help. What was your first clue?! Yes we need help, but I think it goes deeper than just unloading our crud out of the trailer!! We graciously declined, and assured them we were not the Clampets, and we would have this all cleaned up eventually!! Ray hollered for everyone to load up, and we flew out of there, dust and leaves off the tree limbs flying behind us!
Well, several hours later, we were cruising toward Fayetteville, when we realized we had missed our exit! That was fight number one on this trip! We only had to go 30 miles out of the way, because we were on a toll road, and there are no exits!!
After getting back in the right direction, and apologizes and forgiveness were given, we were cruising again. We made it to the meet, and only had to park 2 miles from the course!! Ha! Thank goodness they had a bus that shuttled back and forth. We ran up to the start, saw Ruth run with 600+ other high school girls, it was crazy 22 minute race, then loaded back up to head up through Missouri, and over into central Kansas for Jesse's game. Whew!
7 miles out from the meet, Ray asks where his phone is!! I don't know!! We have find my friends on our phones, so I can see his phone is on the side of the road, back where we pulled onto the highway from the meet. Ray wheels the big rig around, and we head back to get it! As we are approaching were it showed it was, it begins to MOVE!! What? Someone has picked it up. We started calling it, multiple times, but no answer! So, what do we do......... We follow it!! 2 miles down the road, it stops in a Lowe's parking lot. Ray instructs the kids to stay in the car, while we walk around in the parking lot, my phone in hand, tracking where his phone is. We look like a couple of creepers, and it's a miracle someone didn't call the police. We had narrowed it down to 2 cars, so as we were looking through the windows of the cars, and getting lots of stares, a shady looking guy comes out towards Ray and asked if we were looking for an iPhone. Not sure if he had good intentions initially, since he hadn't answered when we had called, but needless to say, we got the phone back!! Miracle!!
Well, that put us 30 minutes later on the road than we had planned, so we headed out again, 5 hours away from where Jesse was playing. 2.5 hours down the road, Ray and I could NOT keep our eyes open, we were so worn out, not only from the last 24 hours, but the last few weeks of moving and kids' athletic schedules. We pulled the truck over, gave our phones to Joshua and Anna, and all crawled into the trailer. We set the timer for 20 minutes, told them to play games, and not wake us up until the alarm went off, and we crawled up in the bed and CRASHED, dead to the world, as soon as our heads hit the pillow. 20 minutes later, we were off and running again!
We arrived at Jesse's game, at the end of the 2nd quarter, after dark, in an unfamiliar stadium. Fight number 2 happened after I tried to coach Ray on where to park!! Ha! Eventually, we made it into the game, reconciled and exhausted, but thankful we had made it, finally.
After the game, we camped in the trailer and slept in a little the next morning, before we headed back to Stillwater. When we pulled in, it was bitter sweet. We were so thankful to be home, yet looking at the piles of stuff in our driveway and yard, it was a little hard not to get overwhelmed. Ray announced that no one was released until we got this trailer into the barn. So we all worked together, cutting the limbs up into small enough pieces, so that we could drag them out of the way. We cleared all boxes out of the way in the barn, and made sure the path was clear for Ray to back that baby in. It was the moment of truth, and excitement as we had all worked so hard, the weekend was so exhausting, but this would be balm for the soul, and make it all worth it. You know what I am about to say.......... The trailer AC unit was TOO TALL!! by about 6 inches!!
That was it, we were done, Ray put that baby in park, and we left it there, all week, half in half out!
Our poor neighbors.
We either had to laugh or cry, so we laughed. We had already cried a little that weekend. It's all good, right? This is a first world problem, it's not eternal!
Well, I am happy to say, 3 weeks later, Ray Ford, who is a risk taker, and not afraid to attempt something I would NEVER do, took a chain saw, and cut a notch above the garage door, and got that sucker in there!! No, it's not that pretty at the moment, but even our neighbors were impressed. I think it is what makes Ray a good surgeon, he is not afraid to cut something open, fix it, and make it work.
And I am happy to say, we have moved all piles and items out of our front yard and around to the back. Also, things are calming down, thus, the ability to do this blog entry. Ruth qualified and ran in the State Championship XC meet this past weekend. Esther finished up a good season of VB a few weeks ago. Anna had her last meet 2 weeks ago, and we only have 2 more Sterling Football games. We finally were back in town for church on Sunday after 6 weeks of missing in action from being on the road for football games. I think things are calming down!! Now to unpacking boxes!
Have a wonderful week,
JJ
