Moving Day Madness

Well, it's here! September 1st has arrived and with it comes moving day. Today, the movers arrived at 8:30 and after a quick walk around the house to see what goes and what stays, they started wrapping, stuffing, packing and taping away.  My amazing friend, Tracey, took the children last night after dinner and they stayed with her all day.  It was a huge blessing for me and the movers!

I took a few pictures of the progress at "midi"- or the lunch break.

It was amazing how different the house looked in just a few hours. 

 Around 4:45 p.m. the guys called it quits for the day and this is how the house looked.  They are nearly 100% finished downstairs. 

Only our room, a few last minute kitchen items and all the mattresses remain! 

One thing Jason and I learned through this moving experience, is we had to establish a "safe room".  This is a room sectioned off and clearly marked "DO NOT ENTER"!  It is where we store all the items that either need to be packed into our suitcases or air shipped back to the US for our immediate use.  Therefore, everything you see in the photo below, other than the mattresses has to find it's way into a suitcase or FedEx box in the next couple of days.

While the movers were working away inside the house, here are a few photos of the fruits of my labor.  I was able to weed and re-mulch both of the flower beds near our back patio.

And now, the photo below shows the final frontier that I must conquer tomorrow.  I'm praying that we will have good weather again and I can finish with Belgian gardening once and for all by noon tomorrow!

Following the mover's departure around 5:00 p.m., I headed to Jason's work to pick him up so we could collect the children from Tracey's house.  She had kindly offered a few weeks ago to cook dinner for us, which was a tremendous blessing as every one of my pots, pans and casserole dishes are now wrapped tightly and tucked in boxes for the next month or two.

I wanted to include a picture of Jason's office building, as I'm not sure I've posted this before.  His company occupies one suit on the third floor of the office building shown above. 

We arrived at Tracey's around 6:30 just as they pulled in from a day at Paradisio park.  It is an interactive zoo complete with an elephant show and a hands on exhibit where the children were able to pet a lemur. 

Tracey has been one of the biggest blessings in our lives since our arrival in Brussels.  She is been a constant source of encouragement, always willing to lend a hand, and devoted mother who has challenged me in my daily interactions with our children.

We said our goodbyes to Tracey's family.  They are headed tomorrow to the UK for an annual holiday, so it was our last evening with them before we leave next week.  We will miss them all so much, but I've already been on the look-out for cheap airfare so they can come visit us in NC!

Now the kids are sacked out together in the boys room with "camp out" as all but their mattresses are packed.  Tomorrow will be action packed as the movers finish packing and then load the container.