The struggles we've overcome: Moving back to Cali

Well, Yubo is out with friends for a bit tonight, so I will use this opportunity to write about this new chapter in our lives.

Forgive me for this long post -- I'm too lazy to separate it out into separate posts.

The Decision
A LOT of prayer went into this decision, at least on my part. Yubo had been wanting to move back down to Cali for a long time... probably as soon as work started going downhill. So he was just waiting on me to agree. I suppose, in that sense, there was also quite a bit of prayer coming from his side as well.

During a slightly tense conversation in the car concerning the matter, God went ahead and told me to go. Despite Yubo being a bit freaked out by my very sudden change of heart, we started talking more seriously about what it would take to move.

This was fairly early last year, and we were thinking we'd end up moving in November of 2012. Thankfully, that got pushed off to spring of 2013. It was still coming too fast for me, but we had more time to prepare ourselves.

Packing and Goodbyes
Unfortunately, that bit of extra time was not enough. Or I caught Yubo's procrastination bug.

The couple weeks leading up to our move day were difficult. Friends were trying to find time to see us one last time, but almost none of them were able to come over to help us pack and clean. Two friends came over and helped us with the living room and dining area. One came and helped with the majority of the kitchen.

Then a few people from a small group came the night before our move date to help us load the truck. We weren't ready for them, and despite the help, we ended up with even more work to do after they left. In a rush to clear off the big items for them to load, we were just throwing things around and packing boxes without thought. And since I was busy cleaning and packing, I couldn't direct them on where to put things in the truck; we ended up taking time to rearrange everything the next morning.

The day of our move, I had originally scheduled us to leave the house between 8 and 10am. That was impossible. We woke up early to tackle what we had left. I tried to comfort myself with the thought that we could check into our first resort late, and just not spend as much time in Oregon as I had wanted. (More about that later.)

Instead, the first half of our day was spent tossing everything that looked remotely important into boxes, taping them up, and almost literally (or literally, in some cases due to Yubo's frustration) throwing them onto the truck.

I tried to not regret those last hangouts and meals, and wondering, if they wanted to spend time with us, why couldn't it be at our house helping us? Dangerous thoughts. And I'll be honest: I was getting a touch irritated by all the, "You guys decided not to go, right?" But we somehow got through it.

Unfortunately, getting through it ended up in a very messed up house. We left so much stuff, and we felt horrible every second, thinking of what we were asking of our realtor to take care of. But we had to leave.

We didn't leave the house until about 6:30pm -- we weren't going to get to the resort until midnight....

First Stop: Depoe Bay
Scratch that. We didn't get to the resort until 3am. Why? We spent a bit of time at Fred Meyer stocking up a new cooler with drinks and ice, and getting other things to help us survive the trip.

Amazingly, we stayed fairly positive once we got on the road (aside from the massive amounts of guilt from what we left behind).

Downside of Depoe Bay was that our room didn't have a jetted tub as advertised -- the one thing I was looking forward to the most. Oh well. Yubo got a much-needed shower -- not saying he smelled bad, but he said he felt gross.

We reassessed our schedule, and slept.

Oregon Outlets
Somehow, Yubo had no idea about the lack of sales tax, so I felt the need to enlighten him. We were fairly close to an outlet, and Yubo needed shoes that didn't leak. So as soon as we checked out of the Depoe Bay resort, we decided to hit the stores.

First was breakfast at an adorable place called Beach Dog Cafe, recommended by someone at the front desk at the resort. SO GOOD! And it certainly made the drive worth it. We decided we will want to eat here again whenever we're in the area.

The retail therapy at the outlets really helped. A belt and a pair of shoes for each of us, he got a hoodie, and I got a pair of jeans.

We spent more time shopping than we should have, but we were still feeling good. Oh... little did we know....

Mini stop: In-n-Out, Redding
We were determined to have In-n-Out as our first meal in California. Since we had left late, it was just about a race to get there in time before they closed. And we barely managed, rolling up at 1:20am.

You'd be entertained if you saw the comments on my FB. Our friends were rooting for us to get to In-n-Out in time. LoL. But it honestly helped us stay humorous about the whole ordeal. And we made it. And it was delicious. And we moved on.

Second stop: Windsor
Yubo struggled to decide what we should do. We were going to get to the Windsor resort so late. Would it be worth it? We already spent the points on it (and it was a lot of points). Well, the cost of the room cinched it for him, and he decided to push on.

This was a time where we really got confirmation that God was with us during this trip. We got bits before, but this "coincidence" was too clear.

Yubo wanted music to help keep him awake, but being in the area we were in, it was hard to get a clear station. After a quick prayer, the radio scan stopped on a station, and praise music floated from the speakers. The very first station was a Christian station. LoL.

At some point, it fizzled out. So I plugged in my phone to listen to the music on my playlist. Even though a good 70% of my music is alternative and rock, it wasn't doing much to keep us awake. So I switched to worship music, and I instantly perked up, wide awake as I sang praises to God. Yubo said he felt a bit more awake also.

We didn't pull into the resort until 6:30am. It was the roughest part of the drive. Poor Yubo was so tired, but he was absolutely awesome. And God's support was so comforting.

Final leg
We slept in as long as we could until checking out around noon. Got some Burger King, and topped off the ice in our cooler (our cooler is seriously super great). The new struggle for Yubo was not being able to find his precious blue Full Throttle. It was getting pretty ridiculous how difficult it was to come by.

Anyhow, we continued on. We actually made more stops than we thought we would. Yubo was really starting to feel the drain of the trip. His right knee and hip were really starting to bug. Because of that, an 8-hour final drive turned into something more like 10- or 11-hour drive. My math is probably off, but we didn't get into Anaheim until midnight.

Going back to our very original plan, we were supposed to arrive at something like 6pm.

Then there was the awkwardness of FIL deciding to put us in a hotel room for a week, instead of the bedroom at the house with the cats. At that point in the trip, all I had wanted was to be with my cats, so I was really bummed that wasn't happening anymore.

It's ok. I got over it. The sleeping/living arrangements actually are working out quite well. We are working on reintroducing the cats properly, and it looks like it might work. If not, we'll have another chance when we move again.

We're here
We've been having to do a little bit of reminding people that we're here for a few years at least. This is not a vacation; you do not have to try to see us and hang out this week. We still have a load of work to do, like sorting through those unmarked boxes of crap that got thrown onto the truck.

But my dad has confirmed that he would prefer us in Northridge, with the understanding that if Oceanside provides Yubo with a better job opportunity, we can start there if we want; I would help with the store down there for little to no pay so that we stop losing so much money through that store.

And the idea really isn't to make me take over a store. My dad said if we can support ourselves well enough without the store, that's better for all of us. So that's the goal.

The apartment hunting officially starts tomorrow, and Yubo will see what info he can get about the plumbing shops in both locations to see what's better.

We continue to rely on God to guide us, and appreciate the continued prayers.

5 Days.

The guy from the pet moving company came about an hour ago and took my babies away. They seem to be in good hands though. You could really tell the guy loves animals, and he handled them well.

So now it's really starting. The kids are on their way down to Anaheim. We can now leave doors open and really get cleaning and packing without worry.

Another sad thing was that we had to bolt out of our going away party at the church office because the guy got into the area a few hours before we expected him. Thankfully, God is good, and we managed to get home just in time. Literally. He was driving up the road right in front of us.

But it was a good party. Great food. Great company. Counterpoint got to sing.

Now we're taking a bit of a breather before we head off to a prayer night.

Things are, for the most part, continuing to come together. I might end up donating or throwing out a whole lot more of my inventory than I wanted, but Yubo says that's ok. We're starting over... sort of.... I really learned my lesson regarding inventory, and now I can start off in a better place (hopefully).