(This post is a compilation of sentiments from our own experience as well as others' experiences.)
...your DVD collection suddenly becomes netflix. You told your boxes of movies "toodles" a couple moves ago.
...your CDs have also joined the DVDs in storage and Pandora is your new source of music. (I mean, after so many moves, may as well operate in "camping mode".)
However, despite downsizing the DVDs and CDs, half the moving trailer is filled with boxes of books. Theology books. Lots of them.
...you can cook Brakebush chicken five billion different ways. Yes, five billion different ways.
...until corrected, thought "gemutlechkeit" meant "beer and theology". (It actually means "friendliness". Similar. Kinda.)
...Pinterest boards become your collection of recipes. Goodbye, heavy cookbooks. I don't want to move you one, two, three FOUR times.
...you really really really want to reorganize all of the closets in the house. But...you'll be moving in just a few months, so why bother.
...you've heard the saying "you can do anything for a year".
...there's this awesome local deal on furniture. But...you have no idea what kind of home you'll be moving into next year, so it's a no go.
...you know what time Applebee's closes on Tuesday nights.
...you have countdowns. Multiple ones. One for vicarage assignment day, moving day, call day, moving day...and the baby's due date.
...you pay the large month to month renting fee in the summer as you gear up for the move to vicarage or call.
...Tuesday is grocery shopping day...beginning at 6:30 a.m. because the hubby leaves for class at 7:30 a.m. and the food co op closes before he gets home from class and work.
...a precious new baby is born nearly every week within the seminary community.
...you've got at least one vehicle that needs to begin its funeral plans.
...you long for "home".
...you know which moving boxes you like best. Lowe's or Home Depot? (Lowe's. They have handles.) Or boxes from behind the local grocery store.
...March and April suddenly become the longest months in the whole year.
...you know what "Zap, North Dakota" means.
...you get extremely frustrated when you can't find the end of the packing tape roll. (You know what I'm talking about. This is when you go to the store and buy not one, but two tape dispensers to save your sanity.)
...you've spent hours comparing moving truck rates between four different companies for the best deal. This comparing adventure includes any other discounts the companies may offer including AAA, clergy, Lutheran and student.
...you've had eight different jobs over a course of only four years, simply trying to provide for your family.
...getting a pet is something your family would like to do, but you don't know if vicarage housing would allow pets.
...you have a pet, but your vicarage housing doesn't allow animals. Sad goodbyes.
...you can list the top four popular apartment complexes for seminary families.
...you can list, by memory, all the staffing agencies in Fort Wayne.
...you learn that fog delays do indeed exist.
...you visit the seminary campus on a snowy day. It is breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful. A sight you will always remember.
...you received a much needed check at precisely the right time for the exact needed amount from a generous church. And then, on your knees, you cry tears out of thankfulness and awe of the Lord's providence.
...something that has been on your wish list suddenly shows up at the co op. And then you cry again.
...you've met wonderful friends that become more than that. They become cherished members of the family.
...you experience trials and tears...but the seminary community is there supporting, encouraging and praying for you.
