Moving
We’ve made it to Addis with all of our things. Most things made it here safely. Overall it was a relatively smooth process, although not without some glitches. Here are a few…
Rain Damage
Moving during the rainy season has its problems.
Sometimes there’s not much to do but take a break.
It’s pretty much inevitable that when one moves during the rainy season, there will be some rain along the way. And we didn’t get away from the rain this time. Loading in the rain, using an open backed truck for moving, and having to pack many of our things in containers that aren’t airtight made for some wet, muddy things when we arrived.
The irreplaceable proof of Jon’s completion of residency, his diploma.
This somehow got thrown into the top of a carry-on suitcase, which got wet. So the diploma now has a water and mud mark on it. He never cared before about framing and hanging it but he now wants to have it framed and put up.
Beds that won’t come apart and won’t fit up the stairs
The beds we had made in Soddo ended up being all one solid piece that doesn’t come apart aside from the use of a saw (which has already been done…another story). Upon arrival in Addis, we found out that these beds also wouldn’t fit up the stairs in our house and none of the bedrooms are on the first floor of the house. Thankfully, Tim and Laura, our friends and a resident from Emory and his wife, had just arrived the night before and he likes to figure such things out. So, he rigged up a sort of pulley system (minus the pulleys) with our clothesline rope, hired a couple of guys who happened to be walking by, and managed to pull the beds up to where the bedrooms are.
The girls’ single-sized beds fit through the sliding doors with no problem, but the next question was whether our queen-sized bed would fit over the railing of the balcony and through the sliding balcony doors.
The physics of such a feat proved to be difficult, but possible.
And just taking the door off solved the other problem.
A house with no appliances
This isn’t a glitch as much as it is just something a little different that presents some additional challenges. We quickly found out that when one rents an unfurnished house this also means no appliances. So, we have lived in the house for about three weeks total with no way to cook or keep anything cold. It’s amazing how fast things spoil without refrigeration and one can only cook enough to eat for that meal, so we’re thankful for the ability to keep things cold!
Now that the beds are in place, its on to the work of cleaning the house, finding appliances and having them delivered, unpacking, and getting settled enough to embrace the beginning of the school year.
Jon and Bekah–Just wanted you to know that you’ve been in our prayers since the early Emory days… we’ve been following the blog plus updates from the my folks (the Brittons) / Cheryl and Mark. I am so very proud of the way you have both parented and loved those around you as Christ has led. When our children were young and we’d moved to the south, we walked in some similar paths to yours leading to this particular relocation, and I can now see with my eyes what were steps then taken by faith. He shepherds us incredibly well.
much love from our family, Carole (Britton) Virden
Wow, that sounds like an adventure! I hope you have appliances now and am praying that the beginning of the school year is going well for all.