We're Getting There

So here we are, just under a month to go.  We are still crazy busy.  Our days and weekends are filled appointments, packing, sorting, selling, re-packing, re-sorting, scheduling hotels, visiting family, and just trying to figure out what we're missing. 

 

Things are slowly starting to fall into place for us.  Let me just say, it has been a long, slow process with a lot of hurry up and wait.  We were finally able to score the elusive plane tickets over.  I was fairly certain we wouldn't know when we were actually leaving until a few days before.  We even have movers scheduled!  Talk about an accomplishment.  Now the only thing we are waiting on are Visas.  Cross your fingers and say a prayer, because if we don't get those, things get messy.

 

So how ready are we?  I'd like to think that we're pretty prepared or at least getting there.  It's been a lot of hard work. 

 

We managed to survive the garage sale.  Zach's dad was able to come down to help and I'm fairly certain without him here, we wouldn't have been as successful.  The weather was rainy/sunny/rainy/hot.  Emily wasn't feeling well.  Haley wanted to run a lemonade stand.  And then there was a huge hail/thunderstorm that came through that Friday night and knocked out our power all day on Saturday.  That made things fun, and hot. 

 

We've also sold off some of our bigger pieces of furniture since they would most likely not fit in a new house overseas.  When the girls saw our room after the bedroom furniture sold, they were very concerned, "Whoa!  Where are you going to sleep??"  That means we are sleeping on our guest bed and our clothes are in plastic bins for now.

 

 

The house is starting to look a little empty.  Things are slowly coming down off the walls. 

Piles are beginning to form in different corners.  There's one for storing, one of things to ship later so that it will be there for us when we get there, and one for travelling with.  It's not completely overwhelming yet, but I'm sure as we get closer I might feel a little differently.

 

We have a general idea of how the next few weeks will go.  The movers will come in a few weeks and take a majority of our stuff to be shipped off.   Then once school is out, we will take more stuff to be stored with Zach's parents.  On our way back home, we'll stop off and get the car shipped over. 

 

**Side note- in case you are wondering why we are shipping stuff off weeks before we leave, it's because it is estimated that we won't get our household goods for approximately 45-60 days after it gets shipped.  And the car won't be there for about 45 days.  Yay!**

 

When we get back home, there will be a few days on air mattresses until we turn the keys back over to our landlord.  After that, we'll be in lodging until we fly out.  The flights should be pretty easy.  There are only two and one is overnight. 

 

When we arrive we will pretty much hit the ground running.  Check into lodging and then come briefings, appointments, house hunting, driver's test, getting the basics set up, and just trying to figure out a new country.  I'm trying to go into it all with an open mind and the best attitude I can, because I know it's going to be crazy and different. 

 

So there we are.  The "calm" before the storm.  It's hard to believe that we are so close and it's all starting to become a bit more real.  Everyone still seems to be pretty excited about the move.  The girls are telling all their friends at school and sometimes even random strangers at the store (we might need to work on stranger danger).  Anyways, we are just taking it all one day at a time.  And before we know it, it will be time.  A great, new adventure!