A day of labor, indeed

As the chaos of the past week and a half comes - thankfully - to an end, the chaos of the next few days begins.

I am glad to report that I have been able to rest the past couple of days and have happily slept through the last two nights, something I hadn't done in about a week.

After celebrating a funeral Mass late this morning, I set to work for an afternoon of packing my belongings in preparation for my move to Virden this Saturday. About fifteen of the high school students came to help.

I was a bit surprised by the number of them, and very grateful, especially considering most of them stayed for the four hours I had planned to use for packing.

We started off really well and kept basically organized, but there were only about six of them at first. Some of them I put to work in my office and packed it they did. They packed more of it than I intended, but all is well and will save me more work later. The others I set to work in my library and we now have that nearly finished.

As the afternoon moved along and more students came to help the more disorganized we became. I really did not expect so many helpers all at the same time; I expected them to be coming and going throughout the day. I felt rather overwhelmed as several of them would ask me at the same time what else they could pack or sort. Their willingness to help either shows their affection for me, or their readiness to be rid of me ;)

I still have to pack my electronic equipment (television, stereo, computer, etc.) and clothes, and a few other odds and ends that I'm not quite sure how to pack. I also have a "junk drawer" or two to sort through (don't we all?) and a closet to go through that has things in it I'm not sure I've set eyes on since I arrived here four years ago.

All of the packed boxes have been moved to the garage and are ready to be loaded onto the trucks and trailers Friday afternoon.

I'm amazed at the generosity of the students. Of all things they could have been doing on a beautiful afternoon free of school, they chose to spend it helping me pack. I'm also amazed at the speed with which they can work, when they put their mind to it.

Tomorrow morning I will drive to Springfield to concelebrate the funeral Mass for my Pastor's father. Afterwards I will return to Effingham for a bit of packing and a soccer game.

I'm not sure how much blogging will be done during the remainder of the week. If I don't post much, know that it is because I'm packing and saying farewell and not because I'm abandonging the blog.

Your prayers, as always, are humbly requested.