July 30 – “It was not enough”

House buying update for Kel and Christina.  Looks like the "last leg" I mentioned yesterday has grown another toe.  Closing has been pushed back a day to Friday at 1 p.m.  Come to find out, the seller’s ex-wife still has her name on the deed documents.  Now she has to sign them as well.  And some kind of long-term semi-solution to the non-presented contract amendment appears to be in the works as well.  We’ll just have to stay tuned for that one. 

The postponement really doesn’t change much of anything as far as their move-out date is concerned.  That would be today.  I went up into Texas yesterday with Jachin and Micah to see if I could give them a hand.  I ended up inside the U-Haul stacking and playing tetris with all their multi-sized boxes.  Another guy from their church finally got there who understood the concept that I was working toward.  Between us we built pretty solid walls of boxes and cushions and random sports paraphernalia.  Didn’t have any ropes to use, but I think they were packed tightly enough not to need them.  We even managed to fit in a huge eight by four foot table Kel had in his garage.  And the train table my Dad built.  By the time we quit around 9 p.m. we had that truck (whatever length the biggest one they offer is – maybe 26 feet?) full to the gills. 

And it was not enough.  Yep, that’s right.  This morning he and Christina have to go back to the U-Haul place and rent another, smaller version of Big Bertha (The sales lady’s affectionate monicker for truck number one).  We still have their couch, their dining room table top, Christina’s hope chest, two large chairs and a few smaller ones, and a myriad of sundries and boxes, none of which we could fit into Bertha.  And we also have the dubious distinction of being assistance-less for this final load.  The ones helping all have to be at work today.  I don’t think it’ll be all that bad, though.  There are supposed to be some ladies there to help Christina clean up the house.  One of them is ex-Coast Guard, and she is incredibly strong.  She helped me move one of the chests yesterday.  Impressive.  I think between us we’ll manage.  And by “we” I mean as long as my back holds out. 

Once we get that second truck loaded up, it becomes a waiting game for that elusive closing time.  I’m not sure at this point if they are parking the trucks here or leaving them in the church parking lot.  It has always been weird to me to consider that the entirety of your accumulated household can fit into a truck (or two) and be quite vulnerable until you are able to complete the download.  Kel and Christina are supposed to be allowed to do a walk-through of the property around noon tomorrow before the closing to make sure things are still as they expect them to be.  And once they have keys in hand, the unloading begins.  Can’t wait.

Philippians 3:16 says, “Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”

Father, grant us an extra portion of tetris-ability this morning so we can get this final load done.  Amen.