Saturday and Sunday, my wonderful hubby was home. He sorted thru his man cave and I worked on the kitchen and cat's room. We got LOTS accomplished - rugs washed, balcony shaped up, car emptied of our personal stuff, and the fridge and freezer sorted. The fast officially ended at noon on Sunday - what a wondrous experience this 21 days has been! We've seen mountain after mountain crumble and fall into the sea.
One MAJOR mountain in front of us is this trouble brewing in Egypt. In the middle of the afternoon on Saturday, Glen received a call from the International Human Resources rep assigned to us - wondering if we were still planning to move. I was proud to hear my hubby tell her we were believing for peace in that country and still planning to move forward. She then gave him a mini-briefing of the benefits and perks for this job.
Sunday, we decided to stay home and watch our last Ray Vanderlaan DVDs (it was pouring and cold). What a WONDERFUL decision! Ray is a masterful teacher of all things Israel - his ministry is called "That the World May Know" and his DVDs are a "faith lesson" series done live in Israel. He taught on being a disciple, following the Rabbi Jesus, the history of the church - oh my GOSH what preparation for our move! Praise the LORD!
In the middle of the afternoon, Glen received a call from his supervisor in Fort Worth - yes she was working on SUNDAY! She advised us that due to the seriousness of the situation in Cairo, we were to be prepared to stay in the local hotel for a bit longer than 4 days. The company is #1 concerned with our safety - she told us that the local workers were all safe. Those in compounds were locked down and those not were safely being protected. But the worry of the internet and cell phone service has even the American Embassy concerned. It is very reassuring to know we have a company behind us - and God behind all! The security guy from the Middle East has flown into Cairo to make sure all Lockheed employees are safe.
We are praying for a swift removal of the current regime in Egypt. It is a classic case of the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer. The lower class are struggling to make ends meet, feed their families, find housing and jobs. This is an easy group to manipulate - desparation makes an easy target. We are praying that a level-headed peaceful replacement will be found and that the Muslim Brotherhood will have NO PART in the new government - we do NOT want another Iran!
Today (Monday), the packers arrived about 9:30. They are flying thru getting our things in boxes. I've asked them to leave our bedroom til last and assume that will mean tomorrow. We have no place to put our suitcases out so that we can remove the things we'll need for the hotel until they pack some things. I've been busily taking things out of the former office (where the boys are penned up) and shoving them in the guest room - it is a wreck! But the young man is busy making order out of chaos.
Tonight we have a dinner with the other 2 Americans on the Greek team and our sweet Ellie. She's the admin officer from Athens who has been our "girl Friday" ever since we got here - a Greek American and an invaluable translator, helper, negotiator. She's coming to close out the flat and the utilities. She and Glen will take the boys to the official office tomorrow to get their health certificate so that the cargo company will let them fly with us.
SO, at the end of the day, we should have nothing in this place except our clothes, bedding and personal items in our room and the things in the boy's room. Pastor Rick's guys are coming tomorrow for most of the furniture and our Greek kids will come in the afternoon for the appliances. Then we will lock the door and take ourselves (and our boys) the hotel. I'm SO looking forward to a little rest!
OH HOW WRONG! First of all, there were 3 packers. Georgio is the lead and he is awesome! Sergei (he's Greek) is #1 assistant and he's great. Michalis was tossing my kitchen stuff around - cutlery bouncing everywhere - and as I watched, he was manhandling my crystal and china teapots! I was NOT a happy camper. But this crew has limited English - and my Greek is worse than their limited English :( When at the end of the afternoon, Georgio told me that they would finish "today," I came unglued! Everything we'd done all weekend was geared to us spending this night in our own home, finishing packout tomorrow, having the furniture removed tomorrow and going to the hotel.
Soon, I had the company rep on the phone and I told her right up front that I was not happy with this guy! She tried to put the miscommunication onto Ellie (NOT TRUE) and then told me that this dude was one of their best packers but was a bit hyperactive! I asked her "what's the hurry?" We're not leaving as scheduled probably. Soon, the guys took Michalis to the hotel and G and S returned and stayed til dark packing the kitchen PROPERLY!
They will return tomorrow at 7:45 to finish up and load the container. A funny is that the truck that has been arranged to collect 3 bookcases, a chest of drawers, dresser, wardrobe, queen bed, double bed, small fridge, small table, 2 nightstands, microwave, 2 space heaters, queen hide-a-bed sofa, 2 china cabinets, and recliner ... the driver phoned Glen and asked if an extended mini-van would do! HA!
Ellie phoned - our landlord's sister is saying she doesn't have the money to refund our deposit! Are we having FUN yet?!
SO official word is that we are on "indefinite hold" until Lockheed international security deems it safe for us to fly into Cairo! Please pray for Egypt - we do NOT want this Muslim Brotherhood to become the ruling party - this is bad for the population and bad for the world - makes Egypt (the most populous Arab nation) like another Iran!
More later - stay tuned and keep praying!♥
No comments:
Post a Comment