We are here! Settled in St. Louis

We are here!

We arrived last Thursday after 7 hours of straight driving from Oklahoma City to St. Louis. By that time, I was tired of “66” signs, old cars, and seemingly deserted towns. I never felt the need to stop by a “ghost town” because every “historic” “must see” town we stopped in seemed like a ghost town only occupied by the hotels and motels that have been in existence since forever ago. Overall, we drove ~2125 miles and crossed 5 state lines excluding California.  We stopped at historic sites and many “quirky” stops along the way.

Overall, we enjoyed the road trip and simply seeing more of ‘Merica. We hardly had any squabbles (right, Luba?) which has to be great considering we were in the car, tired, “hangry,” and direction-less a few many times. This will be one of the highlights of the marriage I think. I don’t know when we will get this chance again so I’m cherishing all of it – the comfortable and uncomfortable.

Packing up for the trip and slimming down to “must haves” made me appreciate Luba’s sacrifice yet again especially knowing mine was on a much much smaller scale as items could be shipped for an additional cost. The fact that he packed up life into a duffel bag and boarded the plane still overwhelms me.

I’ll be blogging and recapping each day of the trip and posting pictures. I wanted to start, though, by saying a huge THANK YOU to friends and Cornerstone family for sending us off with love. I left feeling so deeply loved and KNOWN. Each person’s words, token of support, or gift spoke clearly on how well I was known and how well my time was spent in California.

We partied with friends right up until the moment we pulled out of the parking lot and started our trip. It was very hard to say those last good-byes, so bittersweet. Hot steamy tears rolled for a long time after departure. I found solace in knowing for most of us, this is not the end.

What have we been doing since we arrived?

We spent the night at my sister’s Thursday night and drove over to “meet our place” Friday. We carried all the items from the car in. FINALLY no more living in the car and packing the trunk nightly. It was so stuffed that it would spring open like a jack-in-the-box at each stop. We brought in HUGE duffel bags stuffed with most of our clothes and all bags including valuables and sensitive files. It looked like moving in/out with each hotel stay. I had only seen our new place through FaceTime and pictures. My sister was kind enough to go view it and work on the local end to make sure we got everything squared away.

Since then, we have spent time with my sister and her family. We get to see THIS live on the weekends:

We have stocked simple items and cleaned and organized. We cleaned. Then, we cleaned some more. Oh, and we are still cleaning and organizing. 

our kitchen with Luba lining all those shelves & drawers

living area - it's a tricky rectangular layout like our Libra Circle address

I love this storage cabinet - it is going to hold ALL of my hosting "stuff"

Thank God for this storage closet

self-explanatory 

hallway leading to bathroom then bedroom

our temporary fancy bed

down sized but doable close space

What! We are so "international" with this barely useful washer/dryer in the kitchen

I am in love with all the tree lined streets - I am already excited for Fall to see these leaves change!

We will post more once our furniture and things arrive (estimated Thursday or Friday). 

We also got Missouri driver licenses and license plates! We LOVE how convenient everything is here. Everyone has been very helpful and the ease of daily errands has been so appreciated.

I start work on May 18 so we have these two weeks to explore our neighborhood and take care of residential errands.

Be on the lookout for additional posts regarding our trip and my good-bye to Cornerstone. I feel that a decade of employment deserves its own post!

I leave you with favorite photos from that last California day.

With love and appreciation,

Danielle