Moving out and Container Day!

FIFTEEN suitcases

FIVE hand luggage

FOUR backpacks

ONE really large tote bag

THREE children and TWO adults all drove with the above items in TWO vehicles to my father's house as a crew prepares to catalog, pack, disassemble and label everything in our house heading to New Zealand via a 40 foot shipping container.

Not too funny story that ended up being for the best - yesterday, I hurried home after a 24hr shift that did not allow for any rest because the packers were supposed to arrive bright and early in the morning, ready to start the process ahead of the shipping container being delivered to our house. Randy had been working non stop during my shift, only getting a few hours of sleep himself, getting the last items sorted out and packed up etc. 4 people arrived on time. A huge truck with packing and shipping supplies was also delivered to the house and I quickly showered and changed and tried to sort out my suitcases for the last time so that we could get them out of the way. But then, they left, and didn't start the job. The truck was driven away. Apparently this crew was of domestic packers, too small for a job the size that our house was. They took one look at our large home with all of the items and declared that they were not the one. An international crew was supposed to be here. At first I was livid- any deviation from this complicated plan of moving felt like a setback and a danger to our crossing the finish line of this marathon successfully. Thank goodness Randy is a calmer head than me. He called or shipping company, who we selected for many reasons, one of which was their ability to always be reached, responsiveness, organization and great communication and that paid off. They immediately worked to fix the problem and early this morning, 7 very capable men descended on our home and got to work.

By early afternoon, the crew had made so much progress that they were ready to switch the supply truck out for the shipping container.

Tomorrow, the crew will be back at 0600, to put everything onto the container. I am so grateful that things are working out as planned. That extra day that we were given actually gave us time to sort through some items that we'd overlooked and get things even better prepared for the crew today.

My last shift is tomorrow, then I will officially be done with work. Praying for a manageable shift.

God is good, all the time.