Recovery Continues

I had three packages to take to the post office today so I took my first solo drive since surgery.  After the post office I took the car to our local express car wash to get rid of the dirt and salt from the last two weeks.  It looks so much better.

We confirmed a ride to the airport on Saturday morning and have started thinking about what goes to California and then on to El Salvador.  It's looking like there won't be much extra space.

Crazy Day

Sometimes the day before you leave the country is a bit crazy.  Today was a classic, crazy day--lots of projects to finish, last minute errands to run, last minute laundry and all that and more while trying to work around the schedule of a painter who was repairing a couple of cracks in the bedroom wall.  

We managed to get everything done and I finally started packing.  Airport pickup is at 9:15 in the morning, so at least we don't have to get up at the crack of dawn.  

 

Tomorrow is Moving Day

Busy day . . . . spent the morning trying to finish up our packing.  We went to the attorney's office to sign the rental agreement at 11:30 a.m. and picked up the keys to the new apartment.  After lunch we decided to try to take a few of our fragile things over ourselves.  Unfortunately, we when arrived we found that it had not been cleaned up by the workers who installed the air conditioning wall units in the bedrooms.  There was dry wall dust--enough to write your name--in the master bedroom, bathrooms, living/dining and kitchen.  Even the glass top on the stove was covered with white dust.

We were so disappointed, but glad we discovered it today and not tomorrow morning when the movers are ready to unload the furniture.  We called the landlord who was also frustrated that the workers didn't clean up as they were paid to do.  He was going to personally go over tonight and clean up.  We hope he has a powerful vacuum.

Back here at the "old" place, we are walking among the boxes and sitting on chairs because our couches are wrapped in plastic.  We had them cleaned last week while we were gone and the company wrapped them when they finished.  We decided to leave them covered for the move.

Here's a few pictures:

Tomorrow I'll try to post a few pictures of the new place . . . even though it will be a mess.  For sure, I'll take a picture of our beautiful view. We're very excited about living close to the hotel (where church is on Sunday mornings) and to the church itself.  The move means less gasoline to buy, more time at home and less time dealing with the traffic!

Don't know when I'll have a chance to bring the blog up-to-date after our great VBS in Guatemala, but I'll try.  

I Love Change

Actually, I do like change, but Stephen not so much!  We are in the middle of moving from the townhome where we've lived since we got to El Salvador to an apartment much closer to the church.  Even though we don't have very much stuff, moving is still a hassle, right?

The issue in moving right now is that we have a very limited amount of time.  We made the decision to move last Friday (11/7), gave written notice to our landlord and on Saturday dropped off the deposit with our new landlord.  The movers are coming on Tuesday, November 25, which doesn't sound too bad until you realize we are leaving for Guatemala on Thursday, November 13, and won't return until Sunday, November 23.  Yes, you heard right--we are going to be gone 11 days between now and moving day!

So that's what the front end looks like.  The after-we-move time frame isn't any better.  Everything should be in the new apartment by Tuesday, November 25, and after three nights in the new place we're heading to Nicaragua.  I'm pretty sure we won't be unpacking very much!

We get back from Nicaragua on Saturday, December 6, and fly to the states on Monday, December 8.  There will be plenty of boxes awaiting our return on January 2.  

Here's a few pictures of our progress so far.  I'll post more about the actual decision and how faithful God has been throughout this stressful process.  We are confident that this is the right time and right place for us.  

Quiet before the storm

We followed Pastor Nelson and his family to Guatemala on Friday morning.  We are at their home helping prepare for the Happy Feet mission group that flies in this afternoon.   By helping prepare I mean going to PriceSmart and buying almost $500 worth of food for the trip then chopping onions, celery and other veggies to make a pot of soup that will feed 40.  Later today we must shop for the fresh fruit, bread, cheese and other perishables.  Nevertheless, this is the quiet before the storm of loading up 5 vans and driving to the mountains with 40 people.  Monday we will spend our first day passing out new shoes and sharing the gospel with the children in the  little town where we will be staying.  The team is bringing 1000 pairs of shoes and we will try to give them all away, although Nelson says it is difficult to do more than 200 per day and we will only have 4 days.

Please pray for the team, the kids and those of us from the church in Guatemala who will be helping, translating, cooking, etc.