Tender Mercies - Safe Move and Successful Dissertation Deposit

It was amazing how everything worked out last week, so I wanted to take a few minutes and list the tender mercies of the Lord.

1. 20 men who showed up to help us load the truck. A shed was moved from our backyard to the backyard of another member of our ward. Add that to a piano and the fact that it was snowing with ice already on the ground, they had their work cut out for them. With all that help and only so much room on the truck, there were invariably people standing around. I appreciated each one who came though. It meant a lot.

2. Movers who refused to leave until everything was loaded. We had planned to load the big stuff, then finish up throughout the day. However some of our help said they weren't leaving until everything was loaded. This was a little annoying because some of the things we still needed got packed, but it turned out to be a blessing because I ended up not having time later in the day as I will describe below.

3. Two excellent and experienced truck packers and car loaders. The ward here was impressed with how well our moving truck was packed (good thing to or we would have never fit everything on). I was nervous about loading our car onto a moving trailer because I had never done it before. One of those helping us load the truck had loaded cars on trailers before, so once the truck was loaded, we hooked the trailer up and loaded the car on it.

4. Friendly neighbors who made breakfast for everyone who helped us move. Our next door neighbors made pancakes and bacon for everyone who helped us move. We had a large crew and it was very tastey!

5. Reviewers with time to read dissertations. I guess one of the advantages of finishing up when I did is that the department and graduate college reviewers weren't swamped with dissertations to read. While we were finishing loading the truck, the department reviewer called me and said he'd finished reading my dissertation, had a couple corrections, and if I could make them, he would sign off on my dissertation. Later in the afternoon, I submitted my dissertation to the graduate college and they responded within an hour with their corrections.

6. A ride to campus. After we said good-bye to the movers, I realized our car was loaded on a trailer and our truck was packed with random items, and had no way to get to campus besides the dreaded bus. I ran out and stopped my buddy Nate before he left and asked him for a ride to campus so that I could make my corrections to my dissertation.

7. Sucessful dissertation deposit! After I completed the department corrections and the graduate college corrections, I received an e-mail saying I had successfully deposited my dissertation! What a relief to not have to worry about that from so far away and while I'm starting my new job!

8. 5 sisters who helped Brittney with the cleaning. As I mentioned above, I had planned to spend the day packing odds and ends and helping with the cleaning, but when I got the chance to deposit my dissertation, I took it. I am grateful that Brittney didn't have to do all the cleaning by herself.

9. A friend to take our spare tire. When we sold Bobby, we left his spare tire in our backyard. I know Grandpa Smith would have kept it in his garage forever, but we just didn't see the point in hauling it across the country. Some of those helping us load the truck recommended we take to it Walmart and pay for them to scrap it. My friend Dan who works with cars stopped by that night and took it for free to his work to be scrapped.

10. Neighbors who needed a washer and dryer and neighbors who knew our neighbors needed a washer and dryer. The house we are hoping to buy comes with a washer and dryer, so we were hoping to sell our washer and dryer, but hadn't had time to advertise it much. While we were loading the truck we found out from our neighbors that one of our other neighbors were looking for a washer and dryer. We were able to sell the washer and dryer and move them that night.

11. Someone who could undo our padlock. I locked the moving truck up for the night with a padlock meant for a gym locker room. The only way to get it on was backwards, so that made it next to impossible to get off. The next morning, we wanted to throw some last minute items on the truck and neither Brittney or I were able to get the padlock open. After several frustrating attempts, my fellow board member, Larry walked by and offered to help. He opened it on his first try.

12. Two traffic jams. Just outside Indinapolis, IN and just outside Dayton, OH we got stuck in traffic jams for 45 minutes each. If these traffic jams wouldn't have delayed us, we probably would have pushed through to try to make it the whole way in one day. The Pennsylvania Pike was closed that night for high winds and dangerous driving conditions for trucks. It we hadn't have stopped in Washington, PA (just across the border into PA) we may have been stuck in some high winds, pretty scary for a novice truck driver.

13. Amazing rearview mirrors. I was nervous about driving all our stuff in a moving truck pulling our car on a trailer in the middle of winter. Once I got onto the freeway and got the hang of watching my rearview mirrors to make sure I stayed in my lane and keep track of cars passing me or semis I was passing, it wasn't bad at all. Just had to remember what our friend Denny said. Most accidents occur when you go too fast or are backing up, so whatever you do, don't back up fast!

14. Brittney didn't get sick while driving our truck. I'll let her tell you why that was such a tender mercy later.

15. I'm teaching nutrition classes. When I applied for the job, they wanted a dairy professor to teach reproduction classes. My emphasis is nutrition, not reproduction, but the job sounded perfect for me otherwise, with 100% teaching assignment, so I applied. The nutrition professor quit at the end of fall semester to take a job with USDA. The immediate need for a nutrition professor was greater than the need for a reproduction professor. I think that's part of the reason I got the job, and it's a great blessing because I am more familiar with nutrition and would have a much harder time jumping into teaching reproduction.

16. Smart home-teachers. When we told our home-teachers we were going to have to find temporary housing until we could get into our house, one of them recommended we ask the college to pay for our temporary housing since it was because of them we were moving before we had a house. I did ask and the college responded by providing an apartment on campus for us to stay in until we get into our house.

17. Co-workers who care. The apartment does have its drawbacks, like no stove, oven, washer or dryer. When one of my new co-workers found this out, she invited us over for supper and invited Brittney over to do laundry anytime.

I feel this is where the Lord wants us to be and He is blessing us for our willingness to follow his will, even though sometimes we have to take a couple steps into the darkness.