Closing Time

Tomorrow we close on our new home...tomorrow we pay and sign and officially own, but we do not get the key.  Once again we've allowed 30 days occupancy.  We did this the last time we moved to Michigan and vowed never to do it again, but when the time came we had to make some choices and we realized we could not control every aspect of the situation.  So here we are, a little older, a little wiser and still doing the same thing--not exactly the same thing, we did learn something.
This is our 3rd time in temporary living in less than 5 years and it is not easy.  It has been hard every time, but the last time in Belgium was much, much harder.  When the current owner practically shuddered at the possibility of her family going into temporary living in their new home and mentioned that she was amazed that we were doing it, we shrugged it off.  She has no idea.  There is no perfect way, no easy way to move.  It is hard, requires patience, sacrifice and organization and it doesn't seem to become easy with practice.  Easi-ER maybe, but not easy.
We're all managing in our own way.  The parents are ready, but realize the last 3 1/2 weeks have gone fairly quickly and the next 4 1/2 will go quickly as well.  We're busy, but not too busy.  We're able to enjoy time together as a family and that is what we wanted.  We had to choose between two variations of "normal"--we could have stuck with our normal routine in Belgium with our normal house, and our normal school and friends, but an absent dad; OR a mostly present daddy (with business trips on the same continent and relatively same time zone) minimal stuff, US convenience and comfort and putting the first part of the move behind us.  Obviously we chose the latter. 
Nathan has adjusted the best in this situation.  He doesn't seem the least bit bothered by the temporary living and he is really doing well in school, has a playdate this afternoon and seems to have moved on from missing his old friends and school in Belgium at least to the point of being sad about it.  Hannah has been disrupted the most and she has verbalized her disappointment the most.  Sarah's fine-happy to be with her family--although she does, without fail, talk about her best friend every single day.  I guess if any of them are likely to be on Dr. Phil's show telling the world how we messed up, it will be our middle child, but hopefully some day she'll understand.
I know I've been a slacker with the pictures lately.  I've gotten overwhelmed with the picture organizing and blogging--a la trips to Ireland and Hong Kong.  It just isn't easy to get the words all in at the same time I'm living and feeling them--and going through the last pictures in Belgium has been emotional.  I don't think I was able to really feel the emotions when we were leaving and saying "goodbye".  I went through the ones on Nathan's farewell from school last week and felt sad--I felt more what he was feeling as he went through it than I did then.  So here are a few of our last memories in Belgium...

The Easter Cross at our church...we all brought fresh cut flowers and put them on the empty cross--changed from something ugly and empty to something alive and beautiful!  Such a special tradition and we really enjoyed experiencing Easter at IPC for the first time this year. (We were traveling every other year).

Hannah with her teachers on the last day of school before the break.  She misses them so much!

Sarah and her BFF, Josie. The met when they were both in car seat/carriers 3 years ago.  Oh how she misses Josie.  She talks about her incessantly.

Another great friend, Arianna.  These two have been Bible study friends for the last 2 years...every Wednesday morning the played together at what Sarah called "The Polly Pocket House".

On his 2nd to last day of school, Nathan added his handprint to the "Wall of Memories".

He chose orange, of course.

He also got a lion and a hug from the school principal. (Normally this would have been done at an assembly in front of the whole elementary school, but because of the missing teachers and students due to the volanic ash, it was canceled.  Mom, Dad and Sarah came to watch the goodbye in the classroom).

Sarah also got a lion and a hug as an honorary St. John's sister. (Hannah got hers on Tuesday at her assembly--we missed it...life was busy that week).

The whole class said "goodbye" with a card and t-shirt they all signed.  Almost everyone was back by Thursday--one friend got stuck in the States.  (This one gets to me the most--they were all genuinely sad to see him go--and he was sad to go--it was hard.  PS  After we moved, our son admitted to having a secret crush on one of the girls in his class.  I promised to keep it a secret so I can't tell who, but can I just say, "Awwwww...")

There are more, but not many.  It was a crazy, busy time and not easy to say so many goodbyes, much less document them all.  I'll post some pictures from our last drive around Waterloo next time.  For now I've got to get back to the girls...