Sorting, Packing and Painting

This has been a busy, busy week. Between New Years parties and goodbye parties with friends and family we have spent every day sorting through mountains of clothes, dishes, books and the junk that we've managed to collect in the 13 years we've lived here, packing away the the things we want to keep, packing up the things to take and and either giving away everything else or making dump runs. We still have a long ways to go!

Ben and Thomas, whose room usually looks like a war zone, had their work cut out for them. As you can see from the look on Ben's face, the reality of the situation has finally hit him. Thomas, I think, just gave up.

It became evident pretty quickly as we cleared out bureaus, beds and dressers that some of the rooms were severely in need of repainting, so Thomas and I have also been tackling that. Our new tenant chose the this color for her daughter's bedroom. Very Central American! By the way, this room is the same room pictured in in the photo directly above. This should give all of us the hope that world peace really is possible.

This week is our final week to get everything done. Taxes, lawyers, painting, carpet cleaning, trailer packing, van maintenance, more vet visits with APHIS form 7001 signings, good byes...everything needs to be done by next Sunday. If all goes well we will hit the road on Tuesday morning and head for Jacksonville, FL. I will be speaking at the Sunday morning service and we will have STM team training sessions on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Then it is on to Mississippi to visit old friends from Hurricane Katrina days. Next stop will be in Texas to pick up a box to bring to Honduras for friends Alan and Nicole, a stop at the Guatemalan embassy in Houston to obtain paperwork for Tiger and one last visit to the vets for a final check up on him so we can enter Mexico.

Hopefully all the paperwork that we will have sent ahead of us to the border agent will be processed and cleared and by Friday morning, if all goes as planned, we will be in Old Mexico.