Packing & Moving

Maybe one day we'll get better at this but right now, packing and moving all of our belongings, our entire house for the past three years, was extremely exhausting emotionally and physically not to mention a tad bit stressful (OK, that is really an understatement: it was extremely stressful!). So many decisions had to be made about what to keep, store, give away or bring with us all during the hottest month of the year! The week before the big truck was to come, I spent numerous hours just washing, folding and sorting blankets, sheets, clothes, etc. and Dan worked on taking pictures, shelves, and bookcases down and washing barrels to store things in.

The Camerons came into Caazapa on Sunday afternoon and all day Monday and Tuesday took all the kids to the other vacant mission house across town so that Dan and I could get some uninterrupted packing done. My dear friend Vonni even made the meals, all we had to do was show up for lunch and dinner! Then on Tuesday the Floyds came and their three boys (their youngest is Eli's age) added a great dynamic and helped with child care while Tony and Jean (AKA the Dream Team) cracked the whip on Dan and I (which we needed!) and helped us stay focused and finally get the house packed up. Just their presence was encouragement enough! My kitchen would not have gotten done at a reasonable hour if Jean hadn't come in and taken over. Thank you Tony & Jean! Thank you Greg & Vonni! We couldn't have done it without you!

Wednesday, January 13th was the BIG MOVE DAY. We were all set for the truck to show up at 5/6 AM. Rising after only a couple hours of sleep, we got the coffee ready and started moving more things out onto the porch. 7/8 AM still no truck. Dan finally called the guy and he had been in an accident at 3 AM that morning and was looking for another truck (comforting I know!). Eventually he found one and showed up at 2:30 PM. While we waited we moved everything outside, washed garbage bins, labeled things that hadn't been labeled yet and made good use of the time. The kids did fairly well.

The truck pulled in and they began loading everything. Our concern was that the stove, fridge, and washing machine go on first but we were told no, wait. Then when the truck was almost full they remembered these rather large items. As they balanced my stove on top of the peak of a doghouse and toar the plastic on our mattress I just cried and had to walk away. I am told this is a normal frustration as they just don't understand, it is just stuff to them and so, the furniture gets all scratched up and things get broken. They weren't able to fit everything in so we ended up having to pull a trailer behind us with the final few things. We finally made it into the city by 10 PM, unloaded everything and put it into storage here at the guest house. The Camerons came with us to the city (with Piper in the back of their truck!) and the Dreilings met us and were such a huge help as they helped carry things up the stairs to the deposito and organize everything.

That was Wednesday. Thursday we all basically slept and rested all day and then on Friday Dan had a very important meeting in the morning (which gets its very own post...coming soon!) and at 4 PM he climbed on a bus and went off to Argentina!

Now I am here with the kids enjoying the air condition, relishing moments with my friend Vonni and her kids, and trying to figure out what to bring to the States!