No!!! Not Packing!

Kids with Grandma & Grandpa in Boston snow

Sometimes it has seemed like a puzzle, a challenge--- other times like a nightmare, a packing nightmare that we are only half-way through.

5 locations, 5 different climates, 2 adults, 3 children, 3 different airlines, 3 different luggage allowances, 4 airline trips, 7 flights, almost all our possessions:

FRANCE- 1 year - Alpine (snow, cold) - Leaving Luggage Allowance: 3- 23kg/51lbs bags each, total: 276kg/608lbs
We had a year to accumulate stuff, but luckily that is a healthy luggage allowance (the airline has special allowances for international workers like us).

CALIFORNIA- 3 weeks - It’s California (no snow, but chilly)-  Leaving Luggage Allowance: 2- 50lb bags each, total: 181kg/400lbs
Don’t forget we’ll be getting Christmas presents in CA and Boston too for that matter.

BOSTON- 3 weeks- New England (snow, cold)- Leaving Luggage Allowance: 3- 23kg/51lb bags each, total: 276kg/608lbs
Shoot, I guess we can’t leave the winter clothes in France. Don’t forget the things we have in storage in Boston. But at least we have a good allowance on the way to Kenya and at least we’ll be able to leave all of our cold weather clothes in the US.  But before we leave the US we’ll need to think about what we’ll need for the coming years that we can’t get on the islands. Mail isn’t reliable so we shouldn’t plan on shipping much. How fast do you think the kids will grow?

KENYA- 1 week- Cool & pleasant (like a US fall/spring)- Leaving Luggage Allowance: 30kg/66lb each, total: 120kg/265lbs
We’ll need some jackets and long pants for the mornings/evenings in Kenya. The conference in Kenya is a week-- are we going to drag all our possessions to this conference? Let’s at least try not to have to open all our bags that week... but wait, the luggage allowance leaving Kenya is less than half our allowance coming into Kenya. Thankfully there will be some people going to the islands at this conference, they may be able to help us out. But wait they probably won’t be able to take an entire 23kg bag, so I guess we’ll have to repack in Kenya, and we might have to leave some things behind in Kenya to await a later trip. 

ISLANDS- 3 years- Tropical (hot & humid)- Interisland luggage allowance: 20kg/44lbs each, total: 80kg/176lbs
We’ll finally be on the islands. It will be summer clothes from then on. But the main island isn’t our final destination. We still have a little interisland plane ride to go.  At least getting to Clove island we can ship some of our stuff by boat.

Our youngest & Aunt

So we’re in Boston now. We had to pay for a couple extra bags coming from CA but we made it this far. Now we get a little respite from packing but the job is still looming in our minds. The sideroom of Tom’s parents’ house is full of bags and we’ve started bringing out the boxes from the garage storage. It’s not over, but it is not impossible. We’ll do it. We’ll get there. By God’s grace, we’ll manage.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Megan’s aunt has recovered enough to go home from the hospital after brain surgery- we are very thankful. Continue to pray for her full recovery. We made it safely to the Boston area. The kids did well on the planes. Our plans for our final weeks in the States are coming together and we are thankful that we will get the opportunity to see a bunch of friends and family in the coming 3 weeks.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for a relaxing and enjoyable time with friends and family for the next three weeks.  Pray for our times of sharing about the islands with different groups here on the East Coast.  Pray for everyone’s good health during this flu season.  As always, remember to pray for the islands, for the work that continues to go on there, for the struggles of our island brothers and sisters and for our future team.