Moving

Here is what our car and trailer looked like when we arrived in Kentucky last Saturday.

We've downsized one trailer size from the time we went to Canada. We used a smaller trailer this time. You can't tell in the picture, but there is also much less stuff in the car than last summer.
We go rid of tons of stuff. I don't think you realize how much stuff you have until you move. And packing for storage/Africa made me very aware of each thing.
Now we are getting stuff ready for the container. I will be glad when it is over!

Latest News

We have decided to postpone our move due to all of the details that still need to be worked out. We made the decision too late to cancel the moving truck. Since we had to pay for it no matter what, we moved the stuff that we planned to put in storage. While Stephen and some friends were loading the truck on Tuesday, I was inside watching the kids and unpacking boxes.
We are still going to visit our families. We leave this afternoon to go to Great Falls. Tomorrow morning I fly out at 6:30 AM with the 3 younger kids. Stephen and Ian are going to drive and meet us there. Hopefully, I will update more during the holidays.
The pictures above are some moose we saw on the way home from Kalispell on Sunday. We had a better view at first, but by the time I had the camera out I only got a picture of them walking away.

Lost in the boxes

More packing

Some more pictures of our packing endeavors. The one of Caleb is from Wednesday, when he was not feeling well. He did have an ear infection in his right ear. He is on antibiotics and feeling better now. Isabelle and Kathleen are back. They had a great time, but it is nice to have them back with us now.
The packing is taking forever, because we have to sort everything into categories. We are getting rid of lots of stuff. Some of it is going to various people, but a lot is going to be sold at a yard sale. We are also putting things into storage with Stephen's parents in KY and some with my sister in TN. We will be in a small apartment, so we are trying to take as little as possible. I won't bore you with the details, but I will be glad when this is over!

Havre

On Saturday morning we went to Havre to visit Brad and Kathy. Stephen was able to speak for 10 minutes at the CMA church in Havre (where Brad and Kathy attend.) That didn't go as well as it could have. He wasn't able to use the A/V equipment, and his prepared presentation was based around power point. But I was quite impressed with his ability to just get up and speak. He gave a brief history of missions- starting with Jonah, including St Patrick and others and told a little bit about what we were doing.
We had a great time visiting with them and seeing the progress that they have made on their house. We also had a chance on Sunday to reconnect with some other friends that we met while in Havre this summer. I never take enough pictures anymore, so I only have a few from this weekend. I meant to get some pictures of the outside of their house, but never quite got to it. Kathy started a blog while I was there, so I'm sure she will have some pictures on it in time. I will post a link to it later.
Right now she is too busy to blog, b/c in addition to her two children she has Isabelle and Kathleen. She offered to keep the kids so that we could get some packing done. We left the two girls with her until Wednesday night. They are having a great time, playing with Brooke who is about the same age.
Yesterday, I got Ian of to school, put a movie in for Caleb and worked on packing. I was able to get lots accomplished. When Lowell and Bonnie came for our evening Bible study they took a load of stuff back to Cut Bank. (More things we are getting rid of.) Caleb watched too much TV yesterday. Today he is tired of watching TV and wants my attention. (Mostly he wants me to sit and watch TV with him.) While I am glad that he prefers me to mindless entertainment, I want to get more packing done!
I'm changing colors to write our big news. It is still not set in stone, but it looks like we are MOVING TO QUEBEC in about 2 weeks! There is a man from the school we will be attending who has been helping us with all of our paperwork etc. We have things mostly completed. Stephen had to fax some missing documents. But we will be able to get a visitor's visa at the border and then go back to border for our Study visas once the paperwork is complete. Now we just need to take care of those other details like renting an apartment, finding childcare, etc.
There is quite a bit that needs to happen in a short amount of time. But I am less stressed now that the uncertainty is gone. It was hard to pack things not knowing if we would be moving for sure. I had been reorganizing, downsizing, cleaning, everything possible to get us ready without actually packing. I didn't want to pack anything I would have to unpack. But yesterday I had to cross that line, so I am glad that I won't just have to turn around and unpack those boxes.
We found out that there is no way that we will be able to complete Kathleen's adoption before moving. That was disappointing. We are going to talk to an immigration lawyer to make sure we have everything in order to take her across the border. We don't want any surprises there!
Anyway, I'm off to pack...