Yesterday we packed up the last minute things, and said goodbye to our house of 7 years. It's been a good ride and we'll be back, but only as visitors.
It's really strange to pack up everything. There's so much stuff that has value when you're owning a house that suddenly becomes worthless while vagabonding. And it amazes me how many things are worth nothing to anyone else... Like a 2 month old cigar humidifier. Or a pile of mismatched washcloths. Or perfectly working 6 year old stove/range.
Nothing maintains value. I knew that cars depreciate but I didn't realize that everything you buy depreciates. Ug. It's a helpful reminder of a teaching of Jesus to not amass, store, or put hope in earthly stuff (possessions) and instead love on people for they do not depreciate.
Updates
We sold more stuff! We sold our hunting rifle on Thursday, and the camera while we were packing yesterday. But we did resolve to buy guns & ammo from Palmetto State Armory after we sold the hunting rifle. And a great friend helped us negotiate and sell or van while we were driving the rental through Indiana. It's crazy how that all came together in the end.
Becky has a dry socket. In hindsight we can tell when she started feeling the pain of a dry socket but in the moment we didn't know what it was until our dentist confirmed it.
She had the surgery last Friday, Saturday was feeling better and needed to be reminded to take it easy. Sunday the pain showed up with a vengeance. (We also found out Becky will never be taking Vicodin again!). Thursday our dentist confirmed that indeed she has dry socket. (Exposed nerve or bone) so hopefully sometime next week that pain will subside. In the mean time she's been incredible at pushing through the pain. I'm proud to have her as a traveling partner and my wife.
Paul did not get the internship. This too turns out to be a good thing. The resort was only interested in providing food and accommodation for one person. Our crew would have had to pay to stay.
Mikes house has not yet sold. Mike is buying our house with the proceeds on his house sale. He has a signed purchase agreement but the mortgage company for the buyers seems to be moving like molasses, for a professional mortgage financing service contact https://www.derwentfinance.com.au/construction-loans/. If you're the praying type we'd love to have you join us in praying that the deal would happen soon. Also pray for Mike who's attitude suffers when things take too long. He's had a couple of rough weeks and doesn't like saying goodbye to us.
Becky's sister had a boy on Wednesday. He'll be 4 days old today when we arrive and get to hold him. We're excited to be there to help but also that we get to meet Timothy.
We're slow-traveling it. I know a lot of Michiganders who pride themselves on driving straight through to Florida or Gulf Shores, however, since we're not on vacation and trying to cram everything into one week, for us the journey is not just a means but is to be enjoyed.
So we're camped out at a cheap hotel in Seymour Indiana. We've stayed in this town before en route to a wedding in Birmingham. But we tried a cheaper hotel this time.
You get what you pay for eh?
I just keep reminding myself this is preparation for living overseas. Who knows what kind of accommodations we might find ourselves in.
The kids don't mind. As long as they can jump from one bed to the other life is grand!
Thanks for following along on this crazy ride!