The Browns: California Lovin

The past few months have been such a blur! Leaving home was much harder than I thought it would be. I just can't wrap my brain around it. We actually moved all of our stuff to California and live here now. The packing up part wasn't hard... most of our things were still in storage, we mainly just had to gather up what we had at my mom's. Which didn't seem like much at first, but it actually took me the longest to sort through. So maybe I put it off until the night before we left... I may or may not have been in denial. But after a very short week of some really hard goodbye's, we finally got all of our stuff crammed into our rental truck and we were on our way. Caravanning, might I add. Clayton drove the truck with his car hooked onto it. And I followed behind in my Subaru. Alone. Going 55 mph the entire way (thanks to the speed limit on that stupid trailer). That is a 14 hour trip I will DREAD until the time comes for us to move back and do it all again.

So we got to San Diego in one piece..... Now what? That was kind of the theme of our "adventure" when we first moved here. We were lucky enough to stay with friends for a week until we found a place. I will spare you the long drawn out story of our (mostly MY) struggles. And just say that after a week of scouring the internet and newspaper and completely invading our friends' home, for which I will be forever grateful to them, having the worst luck, feeling so scared and wondering if we were doing the right thing...we finally found a place in the area we wanted, at a price we were willing to pay (after having raised our limit several hundred dollars--boo California), it's close to Clayton's school, and minutes from the beach!
That was one of the hardest weeks of my life. But Clayton reminds me that I say those words about a lot of trying times, and somehow it always works out. We wouldn't be here without the help of our awesome friends, The Calls. We owe them our life for letting us crash with them all week. And of course our amazing family, without their help and constant support I can't imagine what would have happened or where we would be. Looking back on it now makes me truly grateful for everything we went through to get to where we are. Trials are what makes us stronger, no matter what magnitude the trial is. It's meant to help us in the long run. We are truly blessed. I'm especially grateful for Clayton and how patient he is with me. I'm grateful for his incredible work ethic, and his passion for being the best he can be. He is my hero. In times where I feel like my world is crashing down, he is there with a smile and a hug just happy to be with me.. no matter what is happening, and no matter what has gone wrong all he cares about is that he is by my side. He has taught me to be grateful for what I have now, and not to be so anxious for what's to come. Sometimes I can't believe how much he is like my dad. It's like they have one soul. Which is so comforting in the hard times. I couldn't be happier and I couldn't feel more safe in anyone else's arms. And in retrospect, all my "struggles" are just a small tiny drop in the bucket. I just have to thank my lucky stars I have all of eternity with my Clayton, and none of my worldly worries and hardships could never change that.

Here are some photos from our journey--