Friday afternoon - and we are soooo ready for this move to be over!

Okay, that sounds pretty bad, when really, things are progressing well. We are very ready for a break, though, and we plan to have a lighter day of work tomorrow. Tomorrow happens to be Kirstin's 21st birthday, as well as Bethany's 12th birthday, so we'll take some hours of rest to celebrate, and also to recharge ourselves for the final days of the move.

Most of the large and heavy appliances and pieces of furniture have now been installed in the new house. There are just a few things we thought would be easier to move in a pickup truck, and our friends Brad and Trish Ward will be coming by with their truck on Sunday and Monday. Brad is also the man we are counting on to help us take down our satellite dish.

Refrigerator, freezer, dryer, couches and tables, loads and loads of tools and construction equipment are all moved. We aren't moving the washer until the latest day possible, so that we can keep on doing laundry - that necessary evil - until the final possible moment. It may take us a while to get the washing machine connected in the new house.

Rachel loves organizing and setting things up, so we've had her stationed at the new house since the very beginning. Things are shaping up well there, thanks to her handiwork.

Kirstin is getting a lot of needed (but not desired) practice with in-town driving. She's doing great, and should be ready for anything these 8 or 9 blocks of the city of Gracias can throw at her, after these days of non-stop driving back and forth between the houses.

Christopher stepped on a piece of graphite from a mechanical pencil just as we started this move, and he has been trying to get a bit of it out of the side of his foot all week. He's been a trooper, loading heavy items into the vehicles all these long days with an aching foot! It looks like the piece has started to work its way out, so we're hopeful this will be resolved soon.

Bethany flopped down beside me last night and declared that she had never ever worked so long and hard in one day in her life. I told her that was because she has now gotten big enough to do a lot of different kinds of work. When she was smaller, she'd often say, "I wish I was bigger," because she felt left out of the things she couldn't do with the other children. After I reminded her of this, she wailed, "I wish I was little again!" We laughed about it - the grass really is always greener . . .