Good Bye Kansas, Hello Illinois (Part 2)

This move to Illinois, although meant to be a short term thing, is more difficult for me than the last one.  We are MUCH further from our family and friends and I feel more isolated.  We got used to being able to go home (either to Ames or Omaha) for weekend trips and we loved having visitors as often as they came!  Here, we're not going to enjoy the frequency of either of those things.  It's almost 6 hours to Ames and almost 8 hours to Omaha....can't just decide to be spontaneous and have Brandon take off a few hours early from work to be to either place by supper time!

Thankfully we do know one couple here in Champaign, which helps me a lot!  Nate and Lina have been a great help to show us around town and help me not feel so alone.  I don't know what I would do without Lina here!

But I already miss things.  I miss certain stores that I loved shopping at....I miss certain restaurants that we frequented in KC....and I miss certain people too!  I asked Lillia if she liked living in Illinois and she said she missed her Olathe house and playing in the basement.  Our house in Kansas had a finished basement, here it's unfinished and not really set up yet.  She doesn't like going down there (partly because it's cold on her feet, which can easily be fixed by putting on socks!)

So, this move is harder for me.  But I know that it can help refine me.  It's a good move for our family, for Brandon's career.  It's answer to prayer for Lina, for God to bring a good friend into her life as this is a challenging move to Champaign for her too.

So, if you're going to Trader Joe's or Super Target or Jason's Deli, think of me, and be thankful you have that where you live.....because those are just a few of the establishments that are missing in my neck of the woods!  (Katie Euken, how do you do it.....with NO Target in Muscatine?!)


Back to the move itself.....

We surprised the kids in Omaha and stayed for a few days and got to enjoy time with the family.  Even Brett and Caitlyn came for a visit!  We taught Lawson how to eat sweet corn and he loved it!  :)

After spending a few days in Omaha with the kids, we were finally cleared to close on the house and we made the LONG (to us) drive to Champaign. 
My parents stopped on their way home from a family wedding in Michigan and helped for a few days.  We were so grateful for their handy work!  Then they left us to it and we tried to make quick work of unpacking boxes and getting as much done as possible before the munchkins returned!

The first room finished was Lillia's room.

And we've slowly been making progress since....

Good Bye Kansas, Hello Illinois (Part 1)

It's been 3 weeks since we moved into our new house in Illinois, but it's been about 4 weeks since we moved out of our Kansas house!  We had a few bumps along the way, with our closing being delayed and being "homeless" for about 5 days, but thankfully it all got worked out.

After all our things got packed up in the big moving truck, Brandon and I cleaned up the house, making it sparkly for the new owners.  I looked just like I remembered it did when we first walked into it 2 years ago.  However, the outside looked a bit fresher with a new paint job and some updated landscaping.

Then it was time to leave the keys and drive away for the last time.  We had no where to go, since we were no longer closing on our Illinois house the next day, so we decided to have a "date night," even though we were both grubby from cleaning and sweating.  But hey, we had no kids!  So off to get Thai food and see a movie we went! 

Turns out we ended up going to Omaha the following day, as our closing was delayed yet again.  So we got to spend some unplanned time with the Fischers and with the kiddos before the craziness of starting a new life in Illinois began!  More to come....