Packing and Moving Day :(

 There is one thing that President and I have been trying to figure out for three years and that is,  "When does the bottled water guy show up?"  He randomly arrives at our home and either drops off two jugs of water or 12.  He decides everything.  So of all the days we don't want him to show up, it was today...moving day!

So we quickly got our "Dar Natury" guy in and out so the "movers" could get to work.  We can't believe this day is here.  We still have a ton to do in Poland, and we aren't going home... but it takes about 40-55 days for things to ship back to the States.  Since we will be on the road for a good portion of our remaining time, why not get everything out so the Mission Home can get painted and ready for President and Sister Edgren.

The pictures started coming off the walls.  This family picture was in April 2010.   We have two new Grandchildren since then, and the other nine have changed so much.

 Everything must be wrapped and ready to pack today.  Things were very busy all around the Mission Home.

President has spent many hours looking at the transfer board and his Lake Powell picture...

Our "tie board" will go with us, and I have just the perfect idea with what to do with our "ties" thanks to my sweet friend, Lynette! The 'viewing' will be at our mission reunion...

My office upstairs is filling up fast.  I can't believe how much we have in paperwork for the Church and our records.

Now one thing that our packers need to be very careful with, and I will watch them closely, is my Polish Pottery.

Our movers 'assured' me that they know how to pack it up properly as they have moved 'tons' of it back to the States and all over the world.

 These guys were great....carefully packing and marking each box.

Now this guy was being too careful with President's "Marcin the Missionary" statue.  He packed it like it would break.  (If it fell on you it would crush you!) It anything BUT fragile!

We teased the mover about handling the statue so carefully. I think he figured out what we were telling him--The Polish people have a great sense of humor. "Marcin the Missionary" and the story behind him is ready to ship!

The living room was starting to fill up as pictures were carefully wrapped and boxed.

 Everything from upstairs was making it's way downstairs....

...and out to the moving truck.  I only wish I had a "slurpee" today and it would have been exactly like three years ago.

These guys were great! They worked hard and fast. A few of their questions about the church were answered and pass along cards. Everything is packed up and ready to be loaded into a container that will be 'trucked' to Gdynia, loaded onto a boat, and shipped to Los Angeles. There it stays until we 'touch American soil' and it will go through US customs and trucked to Las Vegas. We expect our things the end of July.

 We got everything (what is left) straightened up and quickly ready for the next event.  An hour after  the movers pulled out, our former Elder Sheridan and his family drove up.

 "Elder" Sheridan (center) was part of the infamous "red group" which went home about one year ago.  He and his family have been touring Poland and parts of Europe for the last two weeks. 

 We wished we could have had James point to his tie and show what he left behind. However, the "tie board" had just been packed up and shipped out. We are grateful for and love this good returned missionary and all he did to help the church grow here in Poland.

Side note: We were impressed how this family of 5 got everything into this very small car.  James arranged this 'grand tour' of Poland crammed full of wonderful sites. This is one missionary who learned so well how to plan while serving his mission. It was great to see him and meet (part) of his wonderful family. The two other members are serving missions in Denmark and Bosnia. It is always a treat to meet the members of our former missionaries families.  They continue to strengthen the Church wherever they are. I love my missionaries....ALL of them!