Full week, empty apartment

Getting ready to move to China is a pretty time-consuming task. Throw into the mix some important visits with friends, and you get one hectic week.

One of the highlights was a going away party (thrown by a wonderful friend of ours. It was really special, and lots of our friends showed up to say goodbye, eat some really good appetizers, and chat. We finally left (close to midnight) when it was obvious that we were all getting really tired.

Our last week in the states included our final Ecclesiastes Bible study (a culimination of a year's study), my last day at work, and our apartment sale. You never know how much you own until you try to get rid of it all (or pack it up for storage). I used to think that I needed a few more things for my kitchen, a few more pieces of furniture, a few more nice clothes. But I learned last week how much stuff I really had. For a while I was really sad about having to sell a bunch of our stuff. But then I remembered something that a lady from my church said: you have a lifetime to accumulate possessions.

We sold and got rid of about half and stored about half. It was completely exhausting, but with the help of friends and my gracious parents who came down from Illinois, we were able to get it all done in time to fly off to Asia. If you want to hear more about the ongoing adventures of the Talberts in China, please visit our new blog. I'm thinking this one might be out of commission for a while.