Safe Arrival in Ireland

Kristy and I landed safely in Dublin yesterday morning. We were able to get some sleep off and on throughout the flight, usually resulting in a sore neck or back. Yesterday was spent working as hard as we could not to nod off so that we could get a good night's sleep and get onto Dublin time. We’re staying at the Taylors’ home in Leixlip and Stacey Covell, who lives right around the corner, has been helping us out with our meals and providing lifts here and there. Today, we’re scheduled to check out 3 or 4 houses and apartments to rent.

We had a great team of about 14 people helping us out with the moving last Friday. Probably too many people for the job. (Click here for pictures.) I went out at about 9am to get coffee and bottled water for our crew of volunteers and when I got back, a painting crew was taping up our front door and garage to paint! I couldn’t believe the timing. When I objected, they just told that they would get it done in 20 minutes, in time for us to start loading up the moving truck, which was supposed to pull up at around 10.30.

When I went inside, Kristy was livid. After calming her down and reassuring her that it would be just fine, we both stopped in our tracks. Was that a semi-truck outside our door?! Sure enough, the painters started pulling down their paperwork from our front door and motioning to us about the moving truck.

When I went outside to meet the truck driver, I said, “You’re early. Really early. We don’t even have our moving crew here yet.” In my mind, I was thinking, “God, do you have any other surprises waiting for us today?!” The driver assured us that we wouldn’t be charged the $75/hour until after the scheduled time (11am-1pm). Fortunately, this meant that as soon as people started showing up, we could start packing things into the truck.

After getting the truck about a quarter full, someone stuck their head in the back of the truck where I was arranging and packing with Aaron and said, “Umm, Brandon? The automatic sprinkler system just went on. And it’s getting the furniture on the driveway all wet.” Kristy promptly pulled a crew together to wipe down the furniture and cover the sprinkler heads. I'm pretty sure that was the last little surprise for the day.

It took us about 2 hours and 15 minutes to pack up the container and, thankfully, because the driver had it there a little early, we didn’t get charged for the extra time. As we finished, I felt pretty good about how well things were packed. Between Joe King (from the GEM office), my father-in-law, and the truck driver, it seemed like there was plenty of good advice being thrown around about packing to keep things from shifting too much on the open seas.

We'd appreciate your prayers for both finding a place to live here in Dublin, as well as finding people to rent our town home back in Colorado Springs. We're off to Hungary early Saturday morning to the GEM Annual Conference. Pictures to follow!

Categories: life