The Great Zonio Moving Adventure Day 1

(photo originally uploaded to Flickr by _Nathan_W_)

I’ve been blown away by how many people I do not know personally who are praying for us and working their connections to help us on this next chapter of our lives. Thanks to all of you in the Elemental CM community. You are a blessing and encouragement to us as we take this crazy faith journey.

I thought I’d blog a bit about our 6 day trek from Thunder Bay, Ontario to Northern California.

June 25, 2010 – Friday

We packed up the 26-ft UHaul yesterday. Thanks to a great group of friends who are way more gifted in stuffing a moving truck we were able to get most of our stuff on the truck. Yes, you read that right… most…

Unfortunately, we had to part with some beloved items like our patio furniture (which was awesome) and the kids’ springy horse rocking thing.

I’ll have to remember to take a picture of the back of the truck before we unload it so you can see just how packed it is!

We finally said our last tearful goodbyes in the early afternoon and headed to the border. We weren’t sure what to expect at the US border, so we were prepared with all our documentation, inventory of stuff, letter from the vet, etc. All we had to do was fill out import papers for our Kia Sedona and pay $96 in duty! Everything else was waved off with a “Welcome back to the States!” from the border guards.

The rest of our drive was pretty uneventful until we left Duluth. It was pretty foggy. And there was road construction. So I was forced to drive a huge moving truck barricaded in on both sides with those concrete dividers they use to block off construction. I felt like a fat blind rat in a concrete maze.

Fortunately, there was noting else worth writing about… Unfortunately, there was noting else worth writing about…

At one point, Erin and I were talking over the walkie talkies about God asking Abram to pick up all his stuff and head for the “promised land” in Genesis 12. At this point, I think we can sympathize (in a more modern context) with Abram. We are unemployed, homeless and have all our possessions on our back (or in a moving truck) heading for some foggy (I had to use the fog in some spiritual metaphor in this post) destination. We know this move is what God is asking of our family. The rest is just details… Stressful details, yes… but details nonetheless.

As part of this journey, Erin and I have decided to put an personal hiatus on house hunting so we can focus on the adventure of this move and what God might have for our family along the way. We’d still love to hear from you if you have any leads on jobs or rental housing in the San Francisco East Bay. We’re just not personally going to actively look for something while on this trip.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. I better get to bed, we’ve got a long day of driving tomorrow!