Over dinner tonight, Matt and I decided that tonight would be a good night to pull an all-nighter. Because… the movers are coming tomorrow! They’re doing the packing (so that they can certify the contents as a third-party); however, there’s still a lot to do! Things like…
1. find all car titles/registrations/etc. so we can sell our cars, all 2008 tax info, all identification, passports, and tickets – don’t want that paperwork to get shipped to Africa in the containter!
2. set all liquids aside to be packed separately, and definitely remove all flammables
3. back up Matt’s hard drives (so all those of you who have pictures with him can know that there will always be a safe copy here in the States)
4. pack in our 4 “suitcases” what we want with us for the next 3-6 months while we wait for the container to arrive in Lilongwe
5. hide in the closets all items that we don’t want the packers to pack up and clearly label the closets “DON’T SEND TO AFRICA!!!”
6. inventory everything we own for insurance purposes
That’s all that I can think of off the top of my head, but I’m sure there’s more to do!
And here’s what it looks like around here right now…
Storage items, office supplies, sewing projects, photography equipment, and then everything else you need to make a home a home! It’s a mess mostly because we pulled everything out of the closets to use those as storage for items not being shipped in the container.
What we’d like to keep with us for the next 3-6 months, so will need to “hide” from the packers. Figuring this out was a little complicated, as we’re traveling in the next couple months to Washington State, Kansas, and Colorado – so we need cold weather clothes – and then we’re moving to south east Africa – so we also need hot weather clothes!
Meet the ActionPackers. These containers are just barely under airline size regulations for what you can check as luggage, and being simply made of thin but very durable plastic, they’re really lightweight. Bottom line: you can max out on weight and size with these containers. We’ll pack 4 of them full of whatever we’d like to keep with us here in the States and then travel with us to Malawi.
And no, this is not how Matt is getting to Malawi. =) But this nifty little “Pelican case” will carry his hard drives in the container. Pelican cases are rated to be guaranteed forever in every circumstance, with the exception of three circumstances: shark bites, bear attacks, and children under the age of 5. Hmmm. Just to make sure, when the case arrived, Matt threw it on the ground and stomped on it. Good to go!
We’d appreciate your prayers in the next couple days as we move out of our apartment and life becomes very different for us. The changes are all good, and we’re excited to walk in faith these coming months, but we know that your prayers are important! Pray for our faith and endurance through this move, and pray especially that we would learn to love and serve Jesus more because of it! We’re excited to have you partner with us in prayer through this adventure, and many more to come!