Moving In

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of talking about my moving adventure, so let's cut to the chase. We drove a long way to Kirkland Lake. We stopped and visited family. We started driving again, and realized that Montreal was actually ANOTHER day's drive away -- yes, another 5 or so hrs. So we stopped in North Bay and camped and decided to tackle the drive the next day, which was Monday. We had heard word that we might be able to get the papers signed on Monday night, so that we could move in Tuesday, so we drove hard that day, too. It looked like this:

The big difference between the roads around Ottawa, our nation's capital, is that they are better roads. It wouldn't do to have really rutted roads leading into the Nation's Capital, would it? So the drive was a bit smoother. We hit Quebec, and the signs turned French, but still we were driving and driving, and then finally, we were driving into Montreal.

Driving into Montreal is kind of funny because, well, it is an island with a small mountain in the middle, you see. So there you are, driving down the highway past warehouses and Ikea and factories and all the things you expect to see at the edge of a city, but up ahead, in the distance, you can see Mount Royal, which is still covered in trees, and the dome of this huge old church

and all these skyscrapers:

It was pretty surreal and cool after all the months of hoping and planning and working towards this goal, to finally be where we had hoped to be.

We arrived and pulled in to the FEB Quebec Office where we were staying, we thought, for one night. It is a church mission organization office that has some rooms that are used to house students who come in from around Quebec to take weekend courses while they are church planting around the province. Here is Aaron, helping us move our stuff to the top floor:

Well, it ended up that the people we were buying the house from had gone on holidays, so all our plans had to change. We went and peeked at our house, but despite the fact that it was empty, we couldn't go inside.

Two days later, we finally got to move in. The kids and I ate breakfast while we waited for the papers to be signed:

And then we waited some more:

And finally, we got to move in! Because it took so long, we didn't get to paint before we moved in. Instead we had 3 hrs to empty the moving truck and get it back to U-Haul.
So,here it is, in all its unpacked glory. 

The entry way

The kitchen

The living room

It took us a few days to get things sorted. This is two days later, when my Brother-In-Law and his whole crew came to help us paint, unpack and build a shed:

As well as the adult help, we had all kinds of kid help. And fortunately all kinds of Grandparent help (of the take-the-kids-to-the-park-and-don't-come-back-for-two-hours kind).

Whew, what a whirlwind week.

It felt like such a dream. Dave and I have always wanted to live in a city, to own our own home, and he has always wanted to study at a really big institution. To have all those dreams come together at once has been amazing. We feel so blessed and excited and amazed every day. And because we're both a little cynical, we keep waiting for the shoe to drop any day now . . .


So far we've had a few setbacks -- the late move meant we didn't get our shed and the promised fort for the boys' built right away. It meant I didn't get my resumes out when schools were still getting organized for the fall. It meant we only got a few rooms painted instead of the whole house. But all in all, we've felt blessed and excited and been more than a little giddy that things seem to be coming together. Little by little, we are making this house our own, and beginning to feel at home in this fantastic city we have landed in.