2005 -- what a year!!!

The Year in Review:

January, February &- March --

As Andy had gotten his Green Card in December of 2004, we pretty much knew that the move would happen this year, but didn't know the "when" part. The house was on the market but had few viewers. We spent a lot of time with friends and Andy's family and did a whole bunch of weeding through our possessions and figuring out what to bring, what to throw away and what to give away/sell. Andy turned 33 in March. I finished work at the Congleton Library on the 18th March to have more time to spend with friends & preparing to move.

April --

Andy's official last day of work was the 8th April, but he chose to use up a week's worth of Holiday before finishing, so ironically his last real day was 1st April -- no fooling!

We have our plane tickets booked and stress greatly about what to do with the cats -- we encounter a cowboy company (see Andy's blog archives for the full nasty story) and then discover a wonderful company SkyMaster and have a fantastic experience of flying the cats over to the States with them.

We all flew out on 20th April -- Andy and I arrived in Columbus around 5:45 and the cats didn't arrive until 11:30. We all slept soundly our first night as residents in America. It is nearly 80 degrees the day we arrive and less than 2 days later, we get a snowstorm that lasts for 3 or 4 days!! Welcome back to Ohio weather, Kristen!!

We start to look casually for jobs for Andy (he wanted to take a couple of weeks off to get used to living in America).

May, June & July --

The weather gets really warm and my mother graciously turns on the air for most of the summer months (because of Andy!! If it had been just me and Dad, she'd have let us roast!).

Andy has made some geocaching friends and meets up with them once a month at Cache & Coffee.

We started hunting for a church in April, but don't settle on one until the 22nd of May -- when we find the diamond in the rough -- Dublin Fellowship Baptist Church. I still rejoice when I think of that day. It was like walking in and realizing you had come home. The church has a wide variety of ages and there are several couples our age, which is incredibly encouraging! We find out later that they haven't been there long -- it appears that God has been drawing us all there!

Still no job for Andy yet -- several interviews, one that even looks very promising -- the decision is between him and another candidate and the other guy is hired. It is starting to get frustrating, but we press on and keep looking.

Brian & Ali & Mia and Ali's mom Vicky and step-dad Tom all arrive for 4th of July weekend -- it is a blast -- Mia is growing in leaps and bounds and is very expressive and says quite a few words! One of her favourites is "cookie", followed closely by "kitty", and we start to hear her say "no!" (much to my Dad's dismay). Ali & Mia are able to stay for a couple more days -- Dad rearranges their flights.

Sad news shortly after Mia & Ali fly back -- My Mom's sister, my Aunt Sue has passed away. She lived in Waco, TX but the funeral was in Harrisburg, PA. Andy and I drive to Harrisburg and spend time with Brian and my Uncle Mike and cousins Colleen & her hubby Ben, Jennifer & her hubby Joe and their son Aidan, and Michael and his wife Suzette. It is a sad time, but we are able to really spend some quality time with them -- it has been years since we last did that.

August --

Still no job but getting closer... Andy applies with a couple of computer temp/consulting agencies with the intent of doing temp work until he finds a permanent job. He hears about a job at a company called Capital City Consulting on an emailing list for jobs, and applies.

We celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary!

September --

We drive down to Atlanta Georgia on the 7th to celebrate my brother David's birthday -- and to spend the weekend there for his wedding to Katie! Most of the rest of the family descend on Atlanta the following day. It is a great time together with the family, and a beautiful wedding.

What made it even more special is that while we are down in Georgia after the wedding, we receive an offer on our house in Congleton!!!

Even more amazing, while we are driving back from Georgia on the Tuesday, Andy receives a callback for a 2nd in-person interview with Capital City Consulting! This interview will be a lunch meeting with the rest of the team, and if the chemistry is right, he will have the job!!

Kristen turns 33!

Wednesday the 14th of September is a big day -- we call the real estate agents and accept the offer, and later on in the afternoon, Andy is notified that he has been chosen for the job!!! Much celebration ensues.

Andy starts work on the 19th of September.

We start to get to know Adam & Steph from church, and their lil baby girl Adelyn.

October --

We decide on what we want to send over for presents to the Helsbys in the UK and we make them fleece blankets and post them off so they will arrive well in time for Christmas.

31st of October, Andy's first Halloween in the USA, we close on the house in England via our Solicitor & Power of Attorney, and we get "candy duty" at Mom & Dad's house, to pass out candy to the trick or treators. The evening is cool but nice and clear and there are lots of adorable children in sweet costumes that come to the door.

November --

Now that the house has sold and the money is in the bank, we begin to explore some of the Sunday "Open House"s. We look at different areas of Dublin and also some areas in Hilliard, Powell, and Columbus. We find a real estate agent and go through a bizarre experience of yo-yoing with a particular house we like. Long story short, they keep saying "no" but then turning around and saying "well maybe yes" and then eventually saying "well actually, no" -- this happens twice with the same house!! Talk about rollercoaster emotions! I was such a mess.

We eventually find a house -- an awesome story of God's faithfulness -- it's as though he saved this particular house for us!! We put in an offer and the fun begins! (*insert sarcasm here*)

For Thanksgiving, Dave & Katie drive up from Georgia and bring us some furniture!! We bought 4 of the infamous "THE chair" and David is able to bring us some countertop/tabletop pieces that were rejected that we're going to turn into a table/desk. We have a wonderful time with them and Mom cooks a fab turkey dinner.

December --

Our closing date was scheduled for 7th December and the moving date for the 10th December (Nobody told me til AFTER we'd scheduled them that the bank won't allow the insurance to start on any other day but the closing day -- so you need to close on the same day you want to move in!!!!).

We buy a new (to us) car -- a Buick Century -- a big ol' grandma car, that rides so smooth! It's silver and we've nicknamed it Clank -- like in the Playstation 2 game Ratchet & Clank. Clank is a silver robot with all the bells and whistles and accessories -- so it suits the car, which is full of features.

We go through so much stress and drama with the house purchase and finally on the 9th of December, we close at 4pm. The owner's mom (who lives in the area and has been acting as a sort of marketing agent for him -- b/c he's been sent to work in Chicago) is very thoughtful and has brought the keys with her, so we can run over that evening and start moving in. Which we do!!

Over the course of the next week, we start to find things for the house, arrange for the delivery of our items from storage, and moving things from Mom & Dad's crawl space to the new house. A very tiring but exciting time, and I don't know where our energy comes from but we do it all and don't feel tired until a week later!!

Our official moving-in day is Monday the 19th December, and we (along with the help of our uber-strong friends Taylor and Adam) move the furniture that Mom & Dad have kindly given us to the new house and also the items that we have purchased at various garage sales plus what we got at good ol' Mr. Treasures Xchange! All the furniture is in the new house and now the only item remaining at Mom & Dad's is the piano.

We celebrated Christmas just the two of us, which felt really weird -- as we're used to spending it with Andy's family now, and my parents went down to Georgia to spend it with Dave & Katie. It was nice, fairly relaxing, but it somehow didn't feel like Christmas. Strange.

I know I'm sure to have left some things out, but that seems to be it. We'll be sending out a We've Moved! letter at some point in the near future with pictures of the new house etc. so keep an eye out for that, and if you're not on our mailing list, let me know.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by kristen at December 31, 2005 3:17 PM