What packing has taught me...

The monotony of packing can beat you down some days, but mostly I've enjoyed it, as much as you can enjoying packing. Some have wondered how packing could take so long, but when you're having to decide what to keep and what to sell, it can be difficult... for us. Since we'd never planned to do mission work to this extent, we have quite a bit of furniture and stuff that we've collected, with the intention of keeping it all. Once we made the decision to go to Cambodia, we were very careful with our purchases, but we'd already made a decent stock pile at this point. It's also different from moving to another house down the road or in another state. I won't see over 75% of my stuff for 2 years. That means that simply writing "kitchen" on a box isn't going to help me much when I'm trying to find the measuring spoons upon our return. Plus, I don't know where Bradley will be working, or if we'll be keeping our home. Two years will fly by, in a sense, but it's also a long time to try and guess where you'll be in life. Then there's the case of trying to keep storage costs as low as possible, which means being very conservative with space while packing. Between that and labeling each box more specifically than I'd normally do, packing can consume quite a bit of time. While I've devoted most of my free time to packing, Bradley's spent most of his finishing house projects. So, I've compiled a list of things that packing has taught me. They are the following:

1) Bradley and I have too much stuff.

2) You can pack too many heavy items in a large box...

3) Trying to condense a 2-story home into 2 suitcases is quite a challenge.

4) Space Bags are amazing for storing clothing, but not for storing children. Did you know this? I was in the middle of stuffing sweaters into a bag, and discovered this label on the Space Bag:

For some strange reason, children don't pack well in these bags. Of course, it doesn't really matter for us, but I haven't the foggiest how the Edwards are going to manage storing their children for the trip. Oh well, their problem to solve.

5) A home isn't defined by the items found in it, but rather by the people. I'm thankful for this, as that means that our "home" is coming with us.

6) I am able to function when everything around me is out of place. {It's not preferred, mind you, but I'm getting pretty good at overlooking the piles of stuff to focus on the clean and tidy kitchen.*sigh*}

7) Finally, we are blessed beyond our deserving. We've had so many friends and family come help us with packing, painting, hammering, scraping, stuffing, prepping, staining, moving, storing, and more. To those individuals who have used their time off to assist us in our move, thank you. Your act of service and love means more to us than we can verbalize. I've been so busy when we've had helpers, that I don't have a picture of each person, but hopefully this one will suffice:

Thanks Pierce!

In conclusion, I will leave you with a packing poem.

Packing, packing, all the day

Packing, sorting, give away

Label, label, marker dry

Label, shake pen, one more try

Taping, taping, all the while

Taping, add box to the pile

Hoping, hoping, almost done

Hoping, yearning for some fun

Craigslist, Craigslist, everything

Craigslist, all but wedding ring

Typing, typing, one more post

Typing, hungry, eat some toast

Stalling, stalling, something new

Stalling, something else to do

Baking, baking, something good

Baking, use up all the food

Packing, packing, yet again

Packing, will it ever end?

Hope this leaves you with a smile. Ciao!