We Have A Move Date!!!!

Well it's happened...we have a moving date.  It is amazing what a date will do for your mental health...not to mention your sleep! Not too long ago we were mired in the unknown...dates were things that we couldn't even pick because of the paperwork and many other factors that were just all seeming to keep this move in a state of chaos.  Now we have a date.  We still need to complete a mountain of paperwork and we are still trying to coordinate the timing of this paperwork so we don't have to do too much back tracking or country hopping; but the date of the move is now a reality.

We are now getting into high-gear and packing everything that isn't nailed down in anticipation of filling the container in time for its departure.  It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate.  I mean when we moved houses before it always seemed alot, but now we are having to quantify the number of boxes and furniture in a way that we never did before.  Things have to fit into a 40 foot trailer.  Now that sounds big and it sounds small, dependent on whether you are spatially challenged like me or not; however, I can assure you that we will fill that trailer and only have a little room left over for anyone who wants to ship something with us because they don't have enough for a whole trailer.

I am just thankful, and relieved, and now a little bit excited that there is a date in the near future that isn't a "sort of", "maybe kind of", "maybe not", or a "will see" date...it is an actual date on a calendar that I can look at and work towards.

Thank 'whatever you pray to' for small mercies!

Now all I have to do is make sure I don't pack things I will need while I live out of a suitcase for a month...because my house will be on a boat for 30 days and I'll be waiting for it to arrive!

The journey begins with just one step.

Happy New Year, oh and we're still here....

Well here we are...it's 2010 and we are still packing and living between two Countries.  The reasons for this lie in several areas, and all are somewhat outside our direct influence.  The paperwork has been very slow, in both Countries and the money to move has been slow in coming too.  The economic crisis that was felt around the world has had a negative impact on us and we are doing our best to recover but this has put our departure date beyond our original expectations.  The good news is that we have had some good news in the last two days on both these fronts. This means that chances are the container will go at the end of March, if we don't suffer anymore setbacks.

 

So here I sit amongst the boxes...thinking about what comes next. 

The most difficult part of this whole thing for me is the fact that things are moving at a pace that is akin to Molasses in December.  This cannot be changed.  I have tried and found that again I will need to just let things move at their pace and sit patiently.  It's kind of like waiting to give birth.  You have a due date, but of course this is just a projected date; the actual date being dependent on many factors that are actually outside your direct influence.  The labour can be short or long or difficult or not.  You might be in for the long haul, going 40 hours only to find out that after that exhausting effort you aren't having a regular delivery, but a C-section instead.  This can bring all kinds of complications, not to mention the prolonged healing and the need to have more help with the baby then you had planned.

Projects are like this and what I have found is that this one in particular, the move and the new venture together, are now like I have passed my due date and I have started that labour and it's going to be a long and painful one. 

In these moments where I feel like the woman in labour who is relying on everyone else to help the process along, I have to remember that the end result is a gift...all the hard work pays off.  Women in labour finally get to meet their babies and people who work long and hard and face the obstacles and keep going, get to see their projects become realities.

Okay so here I sit amongst the boxes, taking deep breaths, and remembering that the hardwork and pain of waiting will all be worth it in the end.