The long drawn out goodbye

So, I'm finally at my leisure, sitting in my empty living room, on my knees no less, with my laptop propped up on an empty cardboard box and finally getting to post something. Perhaps the pictures will come tomorrow. But, for now, I'm enjoying peace...a commodity that has been hard to find for the last month. There were garage sales...massive ones to rid ourselves of all of our excess junk. Then, the obligatory trips, multiple to trips to Goodwill to get rid of everything that didn't sell. Then the true moving began.

For two weeks straight, we sorted through 8 years of "treasures" to decide what needed to be shipped to England (we're only allowed 8000 pounds of stuff, and we moved to Omaha with over 10,000...and that was before we had kids.), what needed to be donated or trashed, what needed to be stored, and what needs to go on the plane with us. It was a chore, but one that is happily now completed.

Moving day came and went with little headache. The movers came and neatly (and carefully...I was totally shocked) packed all of our belongings on one day. Then, they came and loaded them onto the truck (again, very carefully...I was still shocked) the next day. The very day after that, we loaded our stratus up, rented a car as well, and headed to St. Louis to ship our car overseas. (We're now driving our "ghetto supercar" that we drove in college all around town. You can hear us coming from about 2 miles away and it may win the Guiness book of world records for most duct tape on a vehicle. It rocks...and of course, we know you're all jealous. That's why we're bragging about it here.) But, don't be too jealous. My sister becomes owner of the supercar in 3 weeks. The supercar will escort her to her student teaching adventures in Utah. If you're on the road and hear a loud rumble, much like a giant lawnmower on the road...please move over. She hasn't driven in 3 years, and the supercar, while super, isn't too nimble anymore, hence the name "ghetto supercar".

We ourselves are camping out in our shell of a home until the 27th of this month. We have little to call our own anymore. We have an air mattress, a pack-n-play. A couple of blankets. A couple of obnoxious toys. More food storage than any 2 and 1/2 human being could eat in 3 years let alone 3 weeks. You know, the usual.

But, now more than ever, as we try to sleep on an air mattress that squeaks with every movement, and hear our voices echo throughout our house...we're ready to go and start our new adventure. I will hate to leave my friends, but my excitement to go only increased with the empty-ing of my house.

We just got home from a week long trip to say our goodbyes to our parents out east. Kevin's are on a mission for our church in Philadelphia. Mine are working and living in Baltimore. We've said goodbye, and now, it's time to go.