All Together Now

This blog will be mostly a listing of events with a few details here and there. From reading the list I think that you will understand that we have all been very busy this past week. Great events have taken place.

Last Thursday at around 6:00 pm we entered our new house on Buchanan Ave. for the first time as new residents. Paul and Dave Boling and Bill Meier were there ushering in the first of many moving van and truck loads of stuff.

Friday night we all slept in the house for the first time. It was a very hot night in Corvallis. The Evans's slept on their newly filled water bed and the Herbs slept in the cool, cool basement.

Saturday morning was moving day. We were overwhelmed with the amazing turn out for our moving party. Snacks and lunch were provided by church folks. Moving and cleaning help was provided by a great gathering of church community from near and far, family from various branches, and friends of all sorts. A HUGE amount of work was accomplished. Most everything was moved from both houses. A stunning accomplishment. It was also about the hottest day we have had all spring. What a sweat bath.

Sunday after church more moving took place. There were a few big items that needed to come over while we still had the moving van and utility dolly. The Boling brothers were there with us again helping us with these last big items. This was also the day that I took an initial try at organizing the kitchen. I started at 10:30 am and finished at 5:30 pm. I had cleared enough away that I was able to wipe the counters!

Monday was another big day of slowly chipping away at the mountains of boxes and furniture surrounding us. It seemed insurmountable. Jeremiah and Nan also had a visit to the doctor this day. He decided that they should go into the hospital at midnight to begin induction.

Tuesday was yet ANOTHER huge day of unpacking, box organizing and furniture moving. It was also chemo day for Mom. Jeremiah and Nan gave us regular reports from the hospital where different induction methods were being used. By dinner time it was obvious that baby Sam would be entering the world soon. Mom and Dad took off to Portland to lend their support to Jeremiah and Nan and to welcome their new grandson into the world.

Wednesday morning at around 2:15 am Sam Tanner Evans was born. He weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 & 1/4 inches long. Nan had to have a c-section after quite a few complications arose. Mom and Dad were able to greet Sam at around 4:00 am and made it back home at 5:45 am.

Of course more unpacking occurred on Wednesday too.

Also on Wednesday Mom had a doctor's appointment that went very well. The chemotherapy seems to be working and the inflammation in her breast is down even more from last month's check-in.

Thursday, yes, more unpacking. Thursday night Steve had his Spring music concert at school. He is always quite relieved when his programs are done. Soon the school year will be done too!

Friday was a busy fun day. Steve took the day off work to split all the wood from the huge tree we had to have taken down. This was at our house we are selling on Dixon St. because it came up negatively in the inspection as it was cracking the foundation! The tree was removed last week Thursday and the gigantic rounds of wood have been on our front lawn ever since. We have to clear out of the house next weekend, so it was time to get the wood split. Steve and Dad rented a splitter and the whole family took turns running the machine, hauling wood, and stacking wood. It was a pin oak tree and we will use the wood at our new house in the wood stove and fireplace.

Saturday (today) Steve and I woke up at 4:30 am to get ready for our garage sale. We also had to take care of this project this weekend in order to be out of our house on time. We had a great time practically giving away all sorts of stuff. It was a great relief to see other people carting away our junk.

Tomorrow we will all travel up to Portland after church to see Jeremiah and Nan and new baby Sam. Mom is in the kitchen cooking right now so we can take some dinner to them.

Here we sit in our new house. We are all together in this place and that feels so good. The house is still a wreck with boxes needing to be unpacked, furniture needing to be placed, and all the regular chores of life like laundry and meal prep hardly being adequately taken care of. But, we are doing our best and this is our life!

It is 8:00 pm and I am very ready for bed.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Love, Emily

Let's Move!

Yes, I have been avoiding the blog. I have been avoiding it because my real estate life has been so painful that I did not want to commit it to written words. Actually, I still don't feel like chronicling it, so I might start elsewhere.

How about here...Mom lost her hair this last week. It was starting to fall out last time I wrote and it continued at a pretty steady pace. Mom and Dad spent some time online and found great hats and scarfs, many of them free trade. On Wednesday last week my Dad cut Mom's hair really short for her. It looked good that way, quite butch. Also, it made less of a mess coming out. Then on Thursday her hats arrived in the mail. Friday Dad shaved her head and she has been seen styling her cool hats and scarfs ever since. I doubt that we will ever see her in a wig.

On Saturday we all went up to Portland to see my brother Jeremiah and sister in-law Nan and deliver them a truck load of hand me down toys. Nan is due TODAY and we all eagerly await the arrival of baby Sam. We were happy to see them and happy to pass along all these baby and toddler toys that were hanging out in our attics, but now need a new home since we are leaving our attics. It is nice when people accept your stuff!

Today was a big day in our real estate life. The first big thing is that Steve and I decided to give the people buying our house everything they wanted from us just so that we could have peace of mind and get on with our deal. Some people might think this stupid of us, but really we did not have the heart or the energy for the real estate game. We just want to move on and little bits of money are not worth our energy! We will have more than enough money to do what we want to do and we are lucky to be able to say that. The second big thing is that Mom, Dad, Steve, Maya, Elias, and I all spent an hour and a half down at the title company making our ownership of the Buchanan St. house official. We did it!

So. let's talk about moving. We will have a pre moving party this Thursday afternoon in order to get some of the large items onto a truck and get a head start on moving day. If you are strong and able to help us lift some of our largest items on this day please let someone in the family know. Then this Saturday May 17 we will do our very best to move two households into one. Everyone that wants to help out is invited. The moving will start at 9:00 am and continue into the afternoon. Show up at 1555 NW Buchanan Ave or 1415 NW Dixon St or 1835 NW Division Pl and there will be something you can do. Like I said before, some light cleaning of Division Pl would be very helpful in order to get it ready for an open house that Sunday.

That is all for now. Real estate has worn me out for today and it is time for me to go to bed. Thank you again to all the people who are helping us at this time in our lives. Thank you for all the food and boxes and offers of help. Thank you in advance to all the people who are going to help us move.

Good Night,
Emily