Crating... the story :)

We finished crating!! We were supposed to be able to all of our crating in one day (FRIDAY, the 9^th), but that didn’t happen. I guess that’s part of life, and we’d best get used to it. The key word in our lives is “FLEXIBILIBY.” J We are all learning to go with the flow. J

We had a wonderful company help us with crating. Heflebower packing and moving. They are a family owned business that’s been in business for 3 generations. They were SO great. Not too many people can say that about the company they crated with. We know one family whose story is just a nightmare, so I’m grateful that ours was fairly simple.

We had the majority of our stuff in storage, but we did have several big items in the house where we have been living. We were going to rent a U-haul to get our big couches over to storage so that everything was in one place, but Hefelbower graciously told us they would take care of that for us, with no extra charge. It was SUCH a blessing to us! God has placed so many people around us who have blessed us like this over these past several months, and we are so grateful for His provision.

So, the morning of packing, we had everything ready to go. We thought that they would pick up the stuff that we had at the house and just go over to storage and crate everything there. That’s not what happened. They decided to crate everything that we had at the house (which included 5 bikes, a bike trailer, and a “tag-a-long” bike). It just took much longer than we had anticipated. They actually wrapped EVERYTHING. I was so impressed with how careful they were. I had sever big plastic tubs, and they actually wrapped those! Raymond was our “master packer” and he was so good. He was careful with the things that were important to me, and was excellent at fitting all the pieces together so that we used as little space as possible. We were so impressed with them.

We were given the dimensions of what the crates were, and when we measured our couch, it wouldn’t fit. So, we requested a special crate to be made to fit our couch. Hefelbower was aware of it, but did not send that special crate. I’m not sure if they wanted to see the couch first, or what, but they ended up packing two of our crates and then taking the rest of our stuff with them to put in with our couch. Somehow, in the commotion of leaving, they forgot our hanging clothes… we all forgot about them. At the time, it was so stressful and frustrating to me, especially b/c it was a Friday and we would have to wait the weekend before we could finish it up. But, as the weekend went on, I was so grateful that the Lord has allowed it to happen that way. All weekend, I kept finding things that I had meant to crate, or that we decided to crate at the last minute. It was nice to have those couple days to put all those odds and ends together! J

So, on Monday, we packed our Suburban with all our “crate stuff” and headed for Richmond, which is where the crating company was located. I was so please that the same guys, Henry and Raymond were packing this crate, too. They had just done such a great job, and I trusted them to do it well. When we (I went into the warehouse while Wes and ALL the kids stayed in the truck) arrived, they had already wrapped the couch and had all our stuff lined up to pack up. We brought in the extra stuff, and they got started. They had planned to start by measuring the couch and figuring out exactly what size crate they needed to build… but, as they were looking at it, they decided just to put our couch in the crate and see how much needed to be added. It turned out that the couch FIT!! I guess when they wrapped it, it squished the cushions enough that it actually fit in the regular crate! It was great! It meant less work for the guys, and less money for the mission board… and for us, less time to have to be there. J

The guys did an awesome job, and we used less crate space than we thought, so that was wonderful! When it was finally time to go, we buckled all the kids back in their seats…. And the truck wouldn’t start. I guess we should’ve expected as much. So, while Wes went to see if Henry or Raymond could give us a jump, Weston prayed that the truck would start. J We got the jump, and it started right off. Weston was so excited to see such a quick answer to prayer. J

Well, after that we headed BACK to Williamsburg to get all of our stuff that we had packed for “Field Personnel Orientation.” (FPO) We couldn’t fit it all in our truck with the crate stuff, so we just decided to drive back and forth. We got back to Williamsburg and literally packed the kids into the truck. They couldn’t get out without us unloading fans and such. It was quite an adventure. Wes wassn’t sure everything was going to fit, but had just gotten lots of practice packing every nook and cranny with the crate… so, we were good. J lol.

It took a little bit, but we got it ALL loaded up, and we set out on our way BACK to Richmond! What a crazy day! I was so relieved to have it all finished, though. I just didn’t realize that our race wasn’t finished….