Moving Day!

Most of the people I talk to lately think I'm really busy right now. I think they imagine that the house is full of boxes, packing tape, and a big calendar with a date circled in red ink. But really, that day was a month ago, that stress is past, and now we're coasting, just waiting for the house to sell (and trying feverishly to keep it clean in the meantime). December though...that was the month. Looking back I'm still kind of surprised we survived it.  We kept planning it and planning it, looking at different ways we could do things to try and save money, work, or stress. In the end, we made the best choices we could and swallowed the bitter pill. And now! My house is empty! And clean! And did I mention we are selling it?!

Isn't it beautiful? I love that it snowed that day!

So the reason all the packing was done a month early is because everything has to be shipped across several oceans. (Really,  it could just be shipped across one, but then all that stuff would have to be driven across the country) That's right, it'll be put on a barge of some kind sail to Ghana. I'm a little curious to know if they go through the panama canal, or go around South America. Either way, it's probably a long trip. We're estimating 6 weeks before it arrives at the port overseas. We found (while weighing options) that you can have the shipping company come and pick your things up, or you can drive it over to the port yourself. Guess which one is cheaper...? That's right, the Do-It-Yourself Option! And since our family was going to be driving to Seattle for a family reunion over Christmas, we figured it'd be easy (well...easier...ok, maybe not easy, but do-able) to drive a U-haul and drop it all off. This plan also involves dropping off our car at the end of the vacation so that our car can be shipped over as well, leaving us without one for the rest of January. But! We'll manage.

This plan worked pretty well, I have some amazing friends and visiting teachers who came over and helped me box everything up (No kidding, they were awesome! I was so used to trying to encourage my kids to help...that doesn't work so well), weigh each box, mark it with our information, and of course organize and get rid of the junk left over. With their help, and some other guardian angels helping me, we somehow got almost everything packed into a box (I only say almost because I'm still finding things I wish we had packed). We weren't taking furniture...cooking supplies...winter clothes...Other things we either wouldn't need, or could easily get in Ghana (shipping prices are atrocious), so really there wasn't a ton to pack. Then that night we loaded it into the U-haul and tried to get the house clean so we could put the house on the market the next day.

"Moving Day" dawned beautiful and we tried to make sure we had everything ready for a long road trip/ moving trip/life changing transition point. This trip was so much more than a long road trip, but lets not forget it was still a long road trip, with two little kids, ages three and under. Somehow we scrambled long enough until we figured it was all we could do and had better just leave. We got a late start, but soon I was driving, with our two kids and exchange student Max (wonderful helper, he was the one responsible for keeping the little ones happy) ahead of Emmanuel up north through Idaho, Montana, back through Idaho, and finally into Washington.

The drive itself wasn't so bad. For me. Beautiful scenery, clear weather, I got to listen to a couple of books...we did pretty good. Emmanuel however, had no radio, or tape player, or even someone to keep him company. I'm not sure how  he survived as we (very slowly) made our way over the mountains.

Eventually...15 hours after starting out..we drove into the port near Seattle. We were elated and exhausted, and so ready to get to the calm, relaxing part of the trip. Fortunately, there were real people at the port (not annoying phone customer service types we'd been working with on the phone) and they had pity on us poor bedraggled people. We must've looked pretty awful, they offered us water, food, a bathroom, and couches to sleep on, but we were happy to just drop off our things and get going. We still had to find a place for the U-Haul, plus two more hours up to Discovery Bay where my family was staying, and it was getting dark. 

Really, this trip was so long and crazy, if I were to tell you every traumatizing part of it, you'd be at the computer for a while. But truly, we were watched over and blessed on the way. We didn't slip on the roads, we didn't fall asleep at the wheel, no one even threw up (on the way there). I can't really describe how we felt when we got to Discovery Bay. We were exhausted. Not just from the drive but from the month of packing and coordinating and planning and trying to make this trip work. Now, we could relax. We could let the kids play happily with cousins and grandparents. We could get 8 hours of sleep (all in one night!). We could shake the cough and flu bugs that had been dogging our steps (we didn't really finish doing that...but we're working on it).

The other day at the library I checked out some books on moving, trying to explain to the kids what we are doing at the end of the month (they still can't quite wrap their brains around it). A lot of the books involve packing things in boxes and long drives. We already did that part...I need a better children's book, more suited for our situation. I guess we're kind of a minority, people who pack up and move across the globe. I'm just glad the packing part is over.

By the way! We leave February 1st! I don't think I mentioned that.