Welcome to the OC

Well, we made it to Florida!! It was a long trip and there were definitely some bumps along the way, but I am pleased to announce that we found an apartment!!!

We got to Atlanta, GA at a little after 1 AM (EST, so midnight in IL) late Sunday night/early Monday morning. We left at a little before 11 AM Sunday morning, so it was a long drive! We stopped along the way to eat and get gas (that truck is such a gas guzzler) but we were exhausted by the time we checked in at our hotel. We all took a long nap and were back on the road by 7 AM. We made it to Florida in pretty good time, but got stuck in traffic once we hit the Orlando area. We parked our truck at Judy (my aunt's mom)'s house and hustled over to two properties we had already applied to and been approved at. One of them was priced well, but a little rundown (all of their cool amenities won't be ready for 4 months!) and just didn't seem like a place we would fit in. The other place was nicer, but more expensive even though the apartment was smaller. The first place was very pushy about us deciding by 6 PM if we wanted to live there, and it was already 4:30! We were sooo overwhelmed that we decided to just go back to Judy's and sleep on it.

We had a rough evening and even shed some tears, but we got plenty of encouragement and even got a tour of the area. Judy's friend drove us all around UCF, where Erik will attend school, as well as Orlando and Winter Park. It's a really nice area, and we're excited to explore it ourselves and to make this our home.

After being very discouraged, we did some more researching last night and came across a property that had great prices and decent resident reviews. We went there first thing this morning, and although it took us all day, we got approved!!! There were plenty of glitches in the process and we weren't sure if it would work out, but it did and we are so grateful! It's very affordable and seems like a nice community.

We decided to go with a one bedroom because it is still very spacious and a great way to save money. I still don't have a job so we can use all the extra money we can get. There's no washer and dryer in the unit, but it's got a laundry room super close to our apartment. There's also a swimming pool, exercise room, tennis courts, volleyball courts, gazebo, and even a playground. Safety was one of our top priorities, and this place has nightly security guards as well as a 10 PM curfew. It's also a very manageable distance from UCF. Traffic is pretty much unavoidable in this area, but the commute shouldn't be terrible, even in traffic. We can't get electric turned on until Thursday, but we'll be able to move all of our stuff in tomorrow, which is super exciting. Hopefully we'll even have enough time to go look at furniture while we still have the moving truck. The apartment community is called Santa Barbara and is located in Winter Park, which is part of Orange County. I live in the OC now...how cool is that!?

We are very grateful that we found a place, and we hope we continue to love it. Thanks to everyone who's been cheering for us, you are all so great!! I will leave you with some photos on the web site. I will try to take some of my own and post them in the near future.

Pool, complete with palm trees!

All of the units have screened in porches!

Workout room that I'll probably never use, but it's nice to have the option. :)

Pretty property!

Here's our floorplan!

Looking Forward to New Beginnings

The day I have thought about for months is almost here. Ninety percent of our things are in boxes, our moving truck is booked, plane tickets for our moving helpers have been bought, and we will be on our way to Florida in just 59 hours. We've said goodbye to several of our friends and most of our family members, and it is finally starting to sink in. I will be living more than a 20-hour drive away from almost all of the people I love. Although living in Florida is magnificently exciting, it is also incredibly daunting. I remember the feeling I had when I first arrived to Estes Park in the summer of 2007. It wasn't a great feeling, knowing I would be far away from my family. Not only was that only for 11 weeks, but I was surrounded by more than 16 of my closest friends. I can't even imagine how it will feel to drive into Orlando and move into our Winter Park apartment, knowing we will be there for at least 2.5 years and that we won't see out family and friends for months. One thing is different though. I have an amazing, loving husband to lean on and cry with. I am so grateful to God for Erik and for the road our Father has laid out for us. Right now I am doing my best to stay faithful that we will find an apartment we like and that I will get a job. Of course we hope to find a great community, like Cornerstone, that we can call our home for the next few years. Any friends I make may not be able to compare to my current loved ones, but I look forward to meeting new people and making a new home for my new husband and me. Please pray that our transition will be smooth and our travels will be safe.

If you haven't noticed, this is a new blog I started. I will do my best to update it when we get to Florida and continue to write about our new adventure. For those of you reading on Facebook who would like to follow, the URL is http://www.erikandgina.blogspot.com/ Look for more when we get there!