All over the place for 10 minutes...

I write in here so rarely. What a pity really as I was planning on using this as my "memory book" for Ivan one day. There are several unfinished posts in my drafts folder with thoughts jotted down that were intended to become entries at one time or another. Some may most won't.

I'm slowly but surely turning the corner on my grief for Sherman. March 4th will be one year since I was last able to rub my favorite ears in all the world. I am slowly opening myself to the thought of another dog in our home. Decisions, decisions.

We have been blessed with the opportunity for another trip to Disney World in April. Thanks to a monetary gift at Christmas and the use of a friend's timeshare we will be heading to "The World" a whole lot sooner than we ever thought possible. This trip will be SO different from the one we took last year. We are travelling with my sister and her family for starters. We are driving and staying off property. We will be on a major budget with no dinning plan to splurge with. However, it's all good...we are going to get to see Ivan at Disney World while he is still unaware of "coolness" and worrying about others. Blessings abound.

That's ten (very interrupted) minutes. I'll try to do this again when Ivan is not home and my niece is not here too!

Ivan's First Tithe

Yesterday Ivan gave his first tithe. He placed his envelope into the collection plate with such joy and exuberence it was really heartwarming to watch.

A Nickel and Dime and a Ben Franklin or two!

I really don't want to poor mouth here and I know that as long as we continue to give to the Lord with a giving heart He will make it all work out. However, this move is getting expensive! It isn't any one thing but all of the little things that are adding up and fast.

OK, well there is one big thing...the cost of the movers. Woowee are they going to cost an arm and a leg! We have some extremely large pieces that we will need to move and there is no way that we can do that ourselves, so we have to hire movers for those pieces. Their hourly rate is hefty enough, but throw in the "travel charge" and the gratuity that will be expected and boy howdy does it all add up! Plus we were thinking that we would move out on one day and move in on the next, but that just won't be possible. One company quoted me an overnight fee of $500 and the other $625. That is almost as much as we are going to have to pay for their actual service time.

Then there are the "nominal" charges that the phone company, cable company and power company will charge us to reconnect to their service at our new location. Never mind that we have been customers for almost 10 years and that we are just transferring the service to a new address.

Ahhh! It is all so maddening. I am beginning to understand why all of my friends say that they will never move again.