Finding the Silver Linings...

Okay. So, yes, we have made it to Washington and are settling in. But it has been a long time in coming.:) So, going back to the beginning of our move, back to when we left Ithaca for Seattle.


The flight to Seattle was long but, thankfully, uneventful. The day after we flew in, we had a housing tour with a rental agent that Microsoft had set up for us. After three hours of looking at about 8 different rental properties, we actually found a house that we loved, and put in an application. We were the only applicants at the time, and we had another house we kind of liked as a back up. We were eager to start our 19 hour road trip to California and so we immediately set off that same afternoon.


After we arrived in CA, things seemed to be progressing nicely on the house. That is, until the owners of the house got involved. To make a long story short, after a week of waiting they told us they had chosen another applicant. From what our rental agent said, she had the impression that this was the first time the owners had rented the house, and I think they were just a little nervous about the whole thing. And, the more we thought about our 2nd housing choice, the more we didn't want to live there. So, we were disappointed, especially since this would mean we would have to head right back to Seattle after Christmas so that we could find a place to live. This meant we would have to cancel our trip to visit Dave's parents in Utah.

So a few days after Christmas, we packed up the car and all our belongings, yet again, and started the trek to WA. A few days later, on New Years Eve, we went and toured some more houses. Many of the houses we saw were nice, but they seemed to lack one thing or another that was on our wish list. Thankfully, when we finally got in to see a house in Sammamish, we liked it, and felt it was perfect for us. So the Silver Lining of being turned down on our first rental application and having to cancel our Utah trip, is that this house has everything on our wish list and is about 10 minutes closer to Dave's work. Things went quickly after that, and two days after seeing the place, we signed the lease.:) Whew. I was so glad to have that taken care of.


The day after signing the lease, I went to register the twins in Kindergarten, and found out the Kindergarten of the school in our community was full and so the twins would have to attend another school. The Silver Lining there is that the twins got to be in the same class and they would be able to ride the bus. In Ithaca, I loved only having just one teacher to work with and such. And if they had gone to the school closest to us, I would have to drive them in because we live within a mile of it. But since they were going to another school, the bus picks them up and drops them off right at our door step. A definite bonus.:)


One last interesting start to our time here, is that our car got broken into and our GPS was stolen. Somehow, they shattered the driver side window. What could be the silver lining in that? Well, the window of our car has not been able to roll down for a few years, which is a pain to pay toll booths, go through drive through's, etc. Since the burglar smashed that window in, the insurance company had to replace the window, and they couldn't fix the window without fixing the problem of rolling it up and down. So now our window is fixed completely, and the insurance company paid for it.


So, after a few disappointments, and a few breakdowns on my part:), we are settling in. We are so thankful things have worked out well, and that Dave has started work with a great company. One thing I have learned from these experiences, although bad things that happen don't always have silver linings, sometimes they are there if you look for them. I realize many people have MUCH bigger problems then these, and that these things are quite trivial, but I think I needed this lesson to look for the good, and not always dwell on the bad, which is what I have a tendency to do. Hopefully, I can remember.:)