Our stuff is on its way.

FINALLY! Mark is taking the final load to the shipping company, where our things will be loaded into a shipping container (along with 12 pallets of books donated by Books for Africa) and it will be off to Africa. In case you're wondering (and my kids thought it was interesting) the boat will cross the Atlantic, enter the Mediterranean Sea, travel down the Suez Canal, and then down the coast in the Indian Ocean to Tanga. (whew!) Then, it will have to clear customs, which can take an indeterminate amount of time, and then be trucked to Arusha. If you didn't know how far it is, it will take approximately 45 days to reach Tanga. The boat is an open barge, so the containers are stacked on the decks, not underneath.

It was unbelievably stressful getting this part of the preparation ready. Neither Mark nor I have slept more than 2-4 hours a night this week. Trying to decide what to bring, are we bringing too much, and all the what ifs...I learned that when pressed, I'm all about throwing it all in and sorting it out later, and Mark is all about leaving it behind and figuring it out when we get there. You can imagine the "conversations" we've had this week! heehee

Really--read my post and get rid of your junk! Or, I guess you create a religion where you worshipped your stuff, whether it has value to you or not, and celebrate it by acquiring more stuff and lovingly hoard it in every crevice of your house. That way, if you ever have to actually pack it, it would seem like a labor of love instead of a burden. Truth to tell, I like my "stuff" as much as the next person--but I am hoping that living in Tanzania will help shape that change in my and our kids to be able to let it all go more easily.

Good news--we are talking to Clive (who works for PHF in Tanzania) about housing on Wednesday or Thursday. From his descriptions, it sounds as though he may have located housing for us. We also have our first lead on a gardener/guard that speaks very good English and has experience with Swahili tutoring. That would indeed be a great blessing!

Bad news--we just learned that the immigration office says it does not have the necessary paperwork complete--they say they are missing birth certificates (which we submitted), a marriage certificate (which we were not told we needed), and certified copies of college diplomas. Well, colleges here don't certify diplomas--we pay far more attention to college transcripts, but in Tanzania the actual diplomas are very significant. We'll have to bring the documents with us and enter on tourist visas, which we can buy at the airport when we arrive. We'll pray that once we provide these documents it will be smooth sailing, at least in this area.

We will be packing the rest of the stuff for storage and moving it on Sunday. The time is ticking and sometimes I think we're actually going to be moving to Tanzania!