MOVE!

So much to recount!

Micah experienced major stress at school as Micah tried to disentangle himself from his adviser's grasp and get his thesis in. With days before the move, his adviser kept trying to get him to make changes and Micah was crazy mad because he was wasting so much time justifying why such changes were not necessary. But, Micah survived without blowing up at Dr. Gaylord, so that relationship is still intact. Phwew!

Amid that chaos, we got all organized and packed and then the movers came and took away all of our stuff. Our movers were cool and did a great job. The place looked great once it was all cleaned and empty.

We stayed in a hotel in Atlanta on Friday night, then drove on to Orlando all Saturday. There was miserable construction and the drive took about 9 hours. We stayed at a hotel near seaworld/disneyworld because it was on our route and I was overwhelmed; lots of people and traffic and places to waste money. Sunday morning we drove into town and it was a very interesting drive- once you're outside of Orlando, nothing but cattle ranches forever and then suddenly- BAM, you hit Melbourne. We went to church that afternoon in the palm bay 1st ward (there are 3 wards within a couple of miles of work). This would be our ward if we buy this home that we like:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1061-Knecht-Rd-NE_Palm-Bay_FL_32905_M51262-41795

Micah knows a ton of people in that congregation, from BYU or Georgia Tech or from interviewing at Harris. The guy at work who he immediately reports to is the bishop. There are a ton of Mormons working for Harris, specifically in the optics department. They hire a lot of BYU grads because BYU has a research program that is related.

Tuesday, our realtor took us out to search for more places. We found a couple of homes with potential, like this one:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/765-Hawser-St-NE_Palm-Bay_FL_32907_M65806-66749
They are affordable and in good in good school districts (which our the downers of the knecht rd house) but in the 2nd palm bay ward. We don't know much about it, so Micah doesn't want to make any offers until we've checked it out ourselves. He said he didn't know anyone in that ward, but then upon further reflection, he remembered that the guy who works in the office two doors down from him is actually the bishop of the other ward, so he's got a resource there.

I am getting more irritated by the day because it will take so long to get into a home once we're under contract and we only have an apartment provided by Harris until October 20. It's already too late to close by then, so I need to figure out where we'll stay during that gap.

The girls have been doing great. They were very good while I dragged them around to see homes with the realtor. They like our temporary apartment, but Angela doesn't like sleeping in the packnplay and has been very tired and cranky. Natalie already has a best friend for whom she has proclaimed her love, a three-year-old boy in a family from church who invited us over for dinner on Sunday. She is going to be in a preschool group starting next week with 8 other three-year-olds from the palm bay 1st ward. So, she's handling the adjustment pretty well. Both girls love the lizards that are everywhere here. Natalie loves the palm trees and is very attached to the idea that even though the publix stores are a little bit different here, they still have the same cookies that you can get free for kids at the bakery.

It's really bright and hot here. My head pretty much hasn't stopped hurting, from either the light or the lack of sleep or both or something else entirely. More exciting and much more concrete updates to come, I am sure! Our closing for our condo is scheduled for this Friday! Woohoo!