Calmer

A bit more relaxed about the way things are going now.

Spent the weekend packing boxes, emptying cupboards, repeatedly going to the tip, etc. how much stuff do we really need?

we could spend vast amounts of money on removal firms double handling and storing things, or we could donate nearly all of our furniture to charity. OK, its a cheapskate way of getting bulky items out of our house, using charity workers as removal men. But it does do good as well, and is also important symbolically, as we really want our new life to be a completely new life without baggage. (I don't include my heirlooms in this - I respect my heritage)

Two items for prayer:

1) Our 14-year old really does not want to come - mainly because he will be ripped out of his very strong friendship group. He wants us to let him stay with them, saying their Mums have offered to have him. We might contemplate this if he had learned the basic facts of life such as : daily shower, daily clean shirt, put your laundry in the basket, etc. He still needs mothering in these respects, and on the one hand we wouldn't want to impose those chores on some other poor woman and on the other hand my wife would feel further robbed if these duties were taken from her and given to another. Additionally, he is quite naturally apprehensive about being thrown into a completely new school in a completely new environment and cultural milieu at a key stage in his education. Pray that our son will have a change of heart and see past the pain of loss and anxiety about the unknown to the new opportunities that are before him.

2) Since sending a very draft form of contract to our buyer for the advance rental, they have gone quiet on us. We are worried they are beginning to get cold feet. Pray that they do not back out of either the rental period or the purchase.

And to conclude on a humorous note: using a chair and barstool as a staircase to reach a high cupboard, and to spend time packing a heavy crate with books while up there, of course by the time I came down I forgot about my 'stair' and stepped straight off the bar stool into the void with the heavy crate. Wooooaaaahhhhrrrgggg! Crash! I got away with a slightly bruised knee and a deeper conviction that my vertigo is an essential self-preservation device that should not be ignored.