3 Years, 4 States

WHEN: 2007-2010 WHERE: Iowa, North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina How's this for a story of time & space... In the past 3 years (37 months), Stace and I have lived in 4 states! If that isn't ridiculous enough by your standards, we have also lived in 3 states in the past 11 months . This time last year, we still lived in North Carolina, unemployed an unaware we would be moving to Virginia, and to South Carolina less than a year later. This may be less astonishing to those in the military or clergy, but we are neither. We just lack a certain "stay put" gene that we can't shake out of our DNA. Currently, we have properties in two states - beach towns at that. Through September 30, 2010, we legally and physically have a residence in Virginia Beach and one in Charleston. We're millionaires!! (Just the opposite). But it feels like an adequate representation of our lives over the past 3 years. Sometimes, even we forget where we live. I imagine our families have worn holes in their address books, writing and rewriting our addresses on an annual basis. We hope and pray that each move offers more stability than the last yet try to make and enjoy the memories at each "stop". These are our "state stories".

Iowa. Home sweet home. As far or often as Stacie & I roam, Iowa will always be "home". It's where we were born, raised, met one another, married, and where our families still live. Going home never gets dull and it's sweeter every time.

Cedar Falls, Iowa (Home: 6/8/1983 - 7/15/2007)

"Birds of Paradise", our first place as a married couple (Cedar Falls Bible Conference grounds). We lived here for 4 very short weeks after our wedding, but it was our first "home" together. This brief chapter almost seems a dream - like it never really happened.

North Carolina. Our new home, just 46 days after our wedding.

Greenville, North Carolina (Home: 07/17/2007 - 09/19/2009)

"Melbourne Park", where we spent the first 2+ years of our marriage. Our memories during this time were abundant. From many vacations to the beautiful North Carolina coast; meeting and making new friends; both our sister's weddings; the birth of our first niece; and many visits from family and friends, we hold specials memories of this place and time.

Virginia. Our new home after 26 months in North Carolina.

Virginia Beach, VA (Home: 09/19/2009 - 08/14/2010)

"Columbus Station", hopefully the shortest time we ever spend living in one state. So much happened and so many more great memories were made during our short stay here but just under 11 months living in one state is not something we want to relive. Like our homes before, though, we will miss all we did and the lives we had in Virginia Beach.

South Carolina. Our current "home", after less than 11 months in Virginia.

Charleston, South Carolina (Home: 8/14/2010 - ??/??/????)

"Trump Street", home for now. We are enjoying the added space (almost twice as much square footage as our place in Virginia Beach) and we look forward to the mild fall and winter ahead! We know we will have just as many unique, exciting, and cherished memories of this place. And at every move, there was a big, yellow truck, lugging all our earthly possessions to and fro around the country. Each move, Stace and I hope we will get some sort of "frequent driver miles/rewards" with Penske, but we are still waiting. Maybe for our next move??

I suppose if there's a traveling story that rivals our own, it belongs to a piece of furniture in our house. This leather chair and ottoman (formerly my mother-in-law's, since she was a little girl), also grew up in Iowa. Since 2002, it has "lived" in 6 different states, at 8 different times. Stacie's sister & husband first took its from its home in Iowa to Florida (in 2002), then later to North Carolina (2004), and finally to Minnesota (2006). We "took it off their hands" and brought it back to Iowa in 2007. It then moved with us back to North Carolina (2007), to Virginia in 2009, and now it rests with us in South Carolina. This chair gets around - in time and space!

What does moving 3 times in 3 years look like?

Iowa - 2006

Iowa - 7/14/2007

Iowa - 7/15/2007

North Carolina - 7/17/2007

North Carolina - 9/4/2009

North Carolina - 9/6/2009

North Carolina - 9/19/2009

Virginia - 9/15/2009

Virginia - 9/19/2009

Virginia - 8/13/2010

Virginia - 8/14/2010

South Carolina - 8/15/2010

South Carolina - 8/15/2010

South Carolina - 8/21/2010

It has been an amazing journey, these past 3 years. Even sorting through the pictures I put together for this post brought back so many memories. You forget so many details of your lives, as memories are lost with each new chapter written. And with annual moves, sibling weddings, nieces & nephews, and family moves, our chapters are not long. Stacie & I can't believe where and what we've been through in 37 short/long months. We are grateful for where we've been and what we've learned and we hope God has some stability ahead for the next chapter in our lives. We'd like to have a family, home, friends, church...before we're in our forties. But wherever He leads, we will follow...one state at a time!

***Picture of the Week's have returned (see below)***

Jesse's POW (August 29, 2010)

WHEN: August 29, 2010 WHERE: 5150 Trump St., North Charleston, SC

See where this picture was taken, here!

Jesse's POW (August 22, 2010)

WHEN: August 17, 2010 WHERE: Trump St., North Charleston, SC

See where this picture was taken, here!

Jesse's POW (August 15, 2010)

WHEN: August 10, 2010 WHERE: 5 East Battery, (The Palmer Home or "Pink Palace"), Charleston, SC

See where this picture was taken, here!

Jesse's POW (August 8, 2010)

WHEN: August 5, 2010 WHERE: Virginia Beach Town Center

See where this picture was taken, here!

28 Days

WHEN: Virgina, South Carolina, and Everywhere In Between WHERE: July 24 - August 21, 2010 ::blog soundtrack:: Death and taxes. Those reading this have only personally experienced the latter and as for me and my families, we have gotten our (tax) money's worth over the past 4 weeks. We have put more wear & tear on this country's interstates than likely is allotted per household. Just between Stacie, me, and both our parents, we have traveled a combined 11,000 miles on interstates during trips over the past 4 weeks. That's almost 2,000 miles a piece! For Stacie and I, all that traveling has also been the gain of numerous auto repair shops along the way. And don't even tell me what 11,000 miles comes out to in gas dollars. I don't want to know! But my number-loving mind had to stop and calculate (around $1,600). But miles and automobiles are only part of our story the past 4 weeks. I don't know how much more "stuff" could have been crammed in to the last 28 days for us - temporally or spatially (had to get my time & space reference in there). Our lives have been compressed, stressed, and blurred in many ways but not without making memories we will keep with us for a very long time. July 24 may not seem like long ago on the calendar but for us in real life it seems years ago. Since then we have had Stacie's family down to visit us, had my family down to visit, traveled to South Carolina twice (450 miles one way), packed up and moved our house in Virginia, then unloaded and set up every box in South Carolina, and changed jobs during the whole process. We have been on our toes every day of 4 weeks and are now looking back in exhaustion and intrigue, trying to remember all that happened in the whirlwind that is now behind us.

Stace & I had the week off while her family was visiting. It was just as much of a vacation for us as for them. It was our last time to "see" Virginia Beach and last chance to relax before the real whirlwind of chaos began.

Does this look like an apartment of two? Somehow we managed to stuff six people into a 900 square foot apartment for 7 days. Quarters were tight! August 6, my last day of work. I've worked one week in the past 4 weeks and been paid for all but the last week - is this retirement? Dealing with HR forms, emails, and personnel (for leaving one job and beginning another) was a full-time job in itself and always a concern in the back (or front) of our minds. We met my parents and sister in Virginia the following week and drove down to South Carolina to find a place to live. It was their first time to South Carolina. It was our fourth time, and the second of three times in the past month. We can't keep our trips straight! God provided us a condo first thing in the morning which gave us the rest of the day to tour and show them historic Charleston. By the way, TAKE the chance to visit Charleston if you ever get it. We're not just biased because we live here either. Sure you can go elsewhere for beaches, palm trees, and national history but the way they're combined in Charleston creates a charm unlike any other place I've been. At Waterfront Park in Charleston. Back to the beach (Isle of Palms)! Not as crowded as Virginia Beach and much warmer water. Our new abode - complete with cockroaches, mosquitoes (the state bird), lizards, frogs, and (probably) alligators. We're still pinching ourselves that we live here and so thankful to have a home and job. Moving buddies. My parents helped us move in to our first place in North Carolina three years ago, we helped them move in to their new house in April, and they drove us down to Charleston to sign our new lease last week. If holidays, weddings, and grandchildren ever fail to bring us together with our families, moves will! Picking up our Penske truck (third time in three years) involved helping the dealer bend the rear bumper back via this steel post. Sign of things to come? The handsome discounts and customer service provided by Penske were worth it though. After three moves with Penske, I have nothing but positive things to say about this company. I have become a self-proclaimed volunteer salesman. Getting ready to load up Big Yella'. August 13 The insurmountable piles of junk needing to be boxed and loaded. You really come to despise your belongings when you have to move every year. August 14 Finished and ready to hit the road! Annnnnnnd, we're stopped. We were planning on leaving Virginia Beach at noon but didn't get out of our complex until 1:30. Then we had to stop by our cable provider to drop off our modem (unknown to us until we turned in our keys and at a location we were completely unfamiliar with). When we got there we were told the modem was ours and our stop was moot. Go figure. We had a quick lunch and hit the road at 2:30 (a far cry from noon). Of course there was heavy traffic before we even got out of the city and we had an 8-hour drive ahead of us, with a loaded 40ft. truck, pulling a car and trailer behind us. Compression and stress were rearing their heads for the zillionth time. We've gotten used to sleeping on the ground... ...and keeping the bare essentials (e.g. shower liner) out of boxes and available on demand. August 15 Truck unloaded, but far to go! August 21 For all intents and purposes, FINISHED! Our car repairs began first thing Monday morning when AAA came to tow our first car to get the brakes fixed that locked up during it's transport on the trailer. Our other car took it's trip to the repair shop on Thursday to get a new muffler. $600 in car repairs is never any fun, and especially not smack dab in the middle of a move! For a guy who keeps close tabs on all his receipts and finances, these have been a challenging past two weeks. We were without internet for 7 days until yesterday and receipts have collected on my desk like cockroaches in the pipes! I have some serious work to do. Time other than on a blog needs to be spent on this computer. We are so thankful God has provided us another place to live and a job when so many are unemployed. He has provided for and guided us every step of the way, even when we thought our way would work better. We are still getting settled and I begin work on Monday. Somewhere in there I will have pictures to post of our condo. It's good to be back on blogger but I enjoyed the hiatus as well.