Ready for Ukraine

Packing is completed and the time has come to board our first plane in just a few hours.  Our group of seven is leaving Saturday morning to join Amy who will be waiting for us in Ukraine.  She has been there for one week already with a group of four.  Her group members will be passing us in the air as they are on their way home and we are on our way to take their place.  It was a large group effort to get this team ready to go ...

Holly breaking down wheelchairs into pieces ... 

 

Kym fitting those pieces into suitcases

Everyone doing their part to get all the equipment packed.  The rules are that when flying internationally you are allowed two large suitcases, but on this team, you donate your two suitcases to the trip to be filled with equipment and supplies.  You use a carry-on backpack for your personal belonging and carry the suitcases with equipment from here to other side of the world.   

The trick is that each suitcase can only weigh 50 lbs. according to airline rules.  Walkers, wheelchairs, braces and therapy equipment is heavy and cumbersome, so it takes a lot of packing, weighing, re-arranging and re-weighing in order to make sure each piece of luggage is correct weight and dimension. 

A lot of donated braces and shoes traveling to the other side of the world to be delivered to children in significant need ...

We are traveling with 15 large suitcases, packed to the max with equipment, as well as 7 walkers and 3 wheelchairs that we will gait check and carry by hand through the airports and on and off the airplanes.

These are my five-star accommodations ... complete with 8 days worth of power bars, travel toilet paper (apparently you don't take that for granted over there) and my car shammy bath towel.  I have everything I need for the week and I am so ready to get gone!!

Thank you for all your thoughts, prayers, donations, and words of encouragement.  I am so grateful to be a part of such an amazing team of people with both those who I am traveling with and those who are supporting us here at home.  Thank you SO SO much!!

Please follow us this week at our blog : http://www.teamworksukraine.com/?cat=4

Your all caught up ...

So here we are.  Living in the small apartment, strengthening our marriage over the one very small bathroom.  We have found the house we will be moving to in Fayetteville hopefully in November (more posts on that in the future).  Travis is diligently studying and working hard this semester and next semester in order to graduate with his bachelors degree in May.  He plans on going to graduate school at NorthEastern State University in Talequah, OK, which will be an hour commute from the location of our new house in Fayetteville. Yay!! Mission accomplished!! I am crazy busy at work and with all the exciting extras.  I will be joining a medical mission trip to Ukraine in October with 8-10 other professionals who make it their mission to change lives of children in orphanages (many more posts on that in the future).

We LOVE it here in northwest Arkansas but we are SO excited to be moving to Fayetteville.  We LOVE it and we definitely feel like that is where we belong!  Not only is it football season, but more importantly it is Razorback football season which makes for a very happy husband ....

The weather is cooler and fall is fast approaching which is my absolute favorite time of year!! We are blessed beyond words, grateful and so excited for all that is coming up .....

Moving Day!!!

Adios empty sold house ......

Today is moving day!!!! .... I should take the opportunity to clarify the need for movers after we sold basically everything we owned.  It was the middle of July during the hottest summer on record for our area.  Several days in a row of 110 degrees and this day was no different.  Even though we were rid of a lot, we still had enough to make the move miserable in the heat.  Travis and I have moved several times together in the past, just the two of us, and are completely capable of getting the job done.  We have never used a moving company so, given the heat, I thought it would be a nice gesture to treat my husband to letting someone else do the tough stuff ... Ha!



We couldn't sleep the night before we were so excited!! The day we had waited for was finally here and we were officially moving on ..... Yay!! The movers were scheduled to arrive at the house at 9:00 am so we were up by 6:00 taking care of last minute stuff ... anxiously awaiting the truck to pull in the drive and haul us away.  The movers arrival time came and went.  It was approaching 10:00 and no word from them so I called to check on the situation.  And that was the moment happy moving day turned into horrible, horrible, we will never use a moving company again day!!!!! 

The short version of the very long story.  The movers were having issues with both the truck and the completion of the move that was supposed to be completed the previous day.  They would be there shortly and send extra help to expedite the move.  We continued to wait.  No movers after lunch.  Called again. Same story.  Be there shortly.  Called back at 5:00 that evening.  Finally on their way to our house with all the help they had and would have us completely moved within 3 hours ..... 7 grueling hours later we were finally moved. Not necessarily speaking or happy but moved.  I better eat my Wheaties between now and when we move into the house because I have been warned that there will never again be movers.  Ugh!!



Home Sweet Home

Here it is.  Home. 700 sq. ft. one bedroom, one bathroom apartment home.  We successfully and happily down sized from living in a spacious home with plenty of bathrooms to choose from to this tiny apartment with one whole bathroom.  Just one.   

I need to take some action pics of actual life lived in the apartment ... stay tuned for that :)

Where will we be going?

Called the movers to make sure they were available and could be booked for the day we were planning on moving ... didn't want to wait too long to get that scheduled ... and naturally he asked "what is the location of the property we will be moving you to?"  ..... hum, let me get back to you about that ....

We don't have a lot of stuff anymore and we are not sure about where we will be buying our next home.. We have an idea but nothing for sure.  I suggested the local extended stay hotel ... I mean you get laundry service twice per week! We took a tour, which was really just open the door to the hotel room, take a peak an that was it.  According to Travis it is not necessarily safe and we may need a bit more room for the two of us, the dog and the cat.  Ok, more creative thinking.  Luckily the apartment we lived in years ago will have us back for a short term lease, so we signed on for a 3 month lease and scheduled the move in day.  Called the movers to confirm that yes, in fact, we DO have a location to move to.  YAY!! ...

downsizing ...

Some backstory ... We purchased our first home (the one we just sold) as a broke down bank foreclosure. It had been on the market for over two years, completely neglected and in serious need of a lot of TLC.  The bank was ready to give it away and lucky for us we were able to move into a 3000 sq. ft. home for what felt like a steal.  Very slowly, over the course of the three years we lived there, updated it, made it our own and somehow found a use for or some furniture for most of the rooms.  Way too much room for the two of us ... but a lot of fun "fixing up" our place. 

So fast forward to real life time ... we have just sold the home that contains way too much room and way too much stuff for just the two of us.  Time to work out the game plan and re-group.  We know we are moving to Fayetteville and we know we are down sizing to a smaller home.  Dont know when we will be in the next house and dont know what we will need.  Aw ... Craigslist it is then! 

And so it was .... most of all the furniture in my home opened up and sold on craigslist.  Now to schedule the movers for what little stuff we have left ..... and figure out where we will be going ....

SOLD!!

Just like every other Sunday morning before this one ... wake up early, clean the house, don't have time to clean yourself, pack up the dog, throw all the extra clutter in the back of the car, hop in and head out to find a place to patiently wait for the phone call that you can have your house back. Not at all prepared to answer the phone to hear ... offer.  What? An offer? Seriously?  He was really looking to buy a house and not just check out our paint colors or how we used the extra space downstairs?

After a long 10 months of prayer and emotional breakdowns ... just like that ... it sold.  We left the closing table with only one place on the mind ... the only place to go.  We had to rescue dear St. Joseph ....

Placed him safely in the back of the car and headed out to celebrate over dinner and glass of wine ... at which point we realized .... we have no place to live ... YIKES!!