Thursday, January 19, 2017

The Final 48 Hours Before the Big Move

The final 48 was full of last minute errands, a few unexpected “incidents”, and intense speed packing.  Dean’s last day of work was Monday and mine was Tuesday.  I breezed out of the house this morning at 7:30 hollering directions for the day over my shoulder as I flew out the door, truly hoping I would come home to 13 sealed pieces of luggage and an organized house to leave behind.  

About 11:00 dear friends arrived for attempt two at wrestling our hog Pork Chop into a cattle trailer. FYI – Blake Robinson has now listed hog wrestling to his multi-talented resume. The Carlisles took one for the team and welcomed our Pork Chop to their little farm.  He’s one fine hog! 


Dean picked me up at my office at 4:30, and we headed for one last Walmart run. We pulled back into our driveway at 7:00 and the final countdown began.  We stayed up half the night trying to cover all the bases.  All was going pretty well until the Honey Incident happened.  I had bought sucky bags – you know, the bags you can vacuum the air out of – at the store and was thinking I could revisit one child’s suitcase and make more room.  I wish I hadn’t because I discovered the honey.  Looking back, I think I would rather have not known.  One of our precious ones had packed a canning jar of honey in her bag.  She loves this honey jar as much as Pooh Bear loves honey.  The only problem is said honey jar has a hole in the top and a little honey dipper poking out the top.  This little honey dipper made the very best drizzle stick ever all in the suitcase that it’s been packed in the past several weeks.  Nice!!

Wednesday morning rolled around a bit too early for those of us who stayed up all night long, but roll around it did.  One day left to get it all done.  Thankfully, so many showed up to help us finish up the packing and straighten up what we’re not taking.  At one point it got to be so overwhelming that friends came and took some of our kids away to play, and my dear friend Andrea swept me away for another last Walmart run.  This trip was for shoes for 3 children who somehow have no shoes one day before we leave the country.  I really don’t know what I would do without my friends and family.  I would probably lose my mind!! 

My parents, my Aunt Beth, my sister Heather and her kiddos drove down for the day and we finished up the night with some cousin time.  Watching the cousins together made me miss my sister Blake and her family so much!   All these kids are going to grow and change so much over the next few years, and it’s a little overwhelming to think about.






The teens and I made ONE MORE last Walmart run just before midnight.  I know it sounds terribly irresponsible of me to be tooling around with teenagers in the wee hours of the morning on the day of the big move, but meeting the needs of my people circumvents the anxiety of unmet needs.  And one of my people was anxious about the item of leaving the country unprepared, so off to Walmart we went.  Who needs sleep!!

Now it’s 2:00 and we leave at 4:30.  My parents and some of our kids are crashed on couches, looking frat-party-ish.  The bags are packed, everything is ready, and we can’t wait to see how God is going to work in us and through us in Honduras!




Thanks for reading along.  Your prayers, encouragement, love, and support are so appreciated!

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