Crate Party

By Jason

While the wild fires seem to be slowly getting under control in Colorado, things are revving up here in Ann Arbor on the packing front.  The strategy is to pack everything that is small enough to fit into a wooden crate.  These crates are then stacked inside the container to keep things organized so that we can utilize the space to its greatest potential.  Items that don't fit in these crates (piano, large pieces of medical equipment, etc) will be packed on top of the crates.  One great thing about this packing system is that the crates can be disassembled when we get to Burundi, and then we will have all this good wood with which we can build things in the hospital and our houses.

 So we needed approximately 40 of these crates built so that when the rest of the McCropders come to Ann Arbor to pack their things at various times this summer, there would be crates that they could pack into.  To that end we had about 15 wonderful friends from our church who came over to our house a week ago and in the course of an afternoon and evening assembled all forty.  It was much like what I would imagine an Amish barn raising would be like.  Many, many thanks to Paul, Abraham, Phil, Ben, Josiah, Andrew, Peter, Shawn, Tim, Darryl, Andrzej, David, Truman, Kjell, Scott, and Steve who came and worked so hard!  I think a good time was had by all, despite temperatures in the 90s... what isn't there to like about building stuff with power tools.  Enjoy the pictures below.

Assembling the sides once the wood was cut

Building the Frames

Adding the plywood sides

Assembly line in full force

We finished along with the last bit of daylight

40 assembled crates, ready for packing