Our final day with the movers arrived bright and early on Friday morning.  The children enjoyed their cereal in aluminum take-out containers as everything in the kitchen was packed on Thursday.

They did a great job of entertaining themselves throughout the day while I was busy coordinating with the movers and finishing up the work in the back yard. 

There was plenty of Playmobil...

and legos to keep them busy.

Just before lunch, the 40 foot container showed up, ready to be filled with all of our "stuff"!

The kids had a great time watching the guys as they started loading up the truck.

Ethan was there to celebrate with the movers as they finished the last boxes.

Later in the afternoon once the movers left, one of my first friends in Brussels stopped in to say good-bye.  I met Amy when I was researching the local French schools.  We conntected right away and she has been such an encouragement to me. 

Amy came by with her daughter, and the kids all found lady bugs to show off.

As of Friday night, we were homeless because all of our furniture, beds, tables and everything else in the house was headed to the port to be shipped back to NC.  Thankfully, we had two wonderful families offer to host us for our last 6 nights in Belgium, so we could enjoy our last few nights in a comfortable home. 

Our first stop was with Matthias and Michelle.   They live just outside Brussels in an old farmhouse surrounded by corn fields and lots of open space.  It is perfect for the kids to run around and they have been so generous over the past few months to help out with our kids several times.  I was able to really get to know Michelle as their daughter attended the same school as Jenna and Ethan.  Michelle and I volunteered together on Thursdays at the school and spent quite a bit of time together. 

She cooked traditional Belgian crepes for breakfast on Saturday and sent us off for a day of cleaning and clearing out our house.

Thankfully, Saturday was a beautiful day and we were able to get a lot of work done around the house.  Drew was quite "helpful" as we sorted through all the suitcases.

More of Drew's "helpfulness" on display!

This picture is a blast from the past!  We have nearly the same picture from when we arrived and the house was empty.  We were waiting for our rental furniture to arrive and sat watching a movie on the floor.

Following several hours of work and feeling like we accomplished quite a bit, we took one last walk around the Clos (the woods in the middle of our street). 

We returned to Matthias and Michelle's around 4:30 p.m. and it was still ~ 80 degrees outside.  Michelle pulled out the sprinkler and the kids had a blast playing the water for close to two hours. 

Jason and Matthias watched the children outside while Michelle and I prepared dinner.  Ethan enjoyed doing his best to squirt all the kids with the hose. 

By the time dinner rolled around, we were more than ready to try out Michelle's made-from-scratch chicken enchiladas.

Michelle has been encouraging, spiritually challenging, a wealth of information and just a true friend in every sense of the word.  We will miss their family dearly.

Sunday morning we enjoyed another hearty breakfast with this sweet family and then headed to our last church service at IBC.  On the way to church, we passed this beautiful field of golden flowers. 

Our last service at IBC was memorable and we were able to say good-bye to nearly all of our friends from church.  God truly used that church to help us quickly settle and get involved in Brussels life.  I mentioned to one of my friends that I never really had a lonely day in Brussels, and much of that is due to the hospitality and kindness of the people at that church. 

After grabbing a quick lunch we headed to Matt and Amy's house, which is our final destination before flying out on Thursday.  The kids were excited to see their friends, Jason and Matt made one last trip to pick up the final items from the house and Amy and I sat down to catch up on all the happenings in the last few weeks. 

Once Jason and Matt arrived home, Jason asked me where Drew was.  I told him he went up to the playroom.  Since everything was a bit too quiet (always a bad sign with a preschooler in the house) we went up to check on him.  Much to our surprise, we found the playroom door closed and locked...with no way to open it from the outside.  Finally, after much coaxing, prodding and finally resorting to bribery with lollipops we managed to get Drew to turn the handle hard enough to let himself out. 

If you see the picture below, you might ask yourself, why is a child who was just released from a locked room crying. 

 The answer to that is in the evidence in the picture below.  Drew had found a bag of lollipops, locked himself in the playroom and went on a sugar binge!!  After our bribery reward of a lollipop was mentioned, all the adults were very surprised to see Drew open the door with a huge smile on his face and a lollipop already in his hand!  Oh, how I wish there had been a video camera in that playroom to capture those 30 minutes of pure bliss for this little preschooler as he ate lollipops to his hearts content!

After recovering from the great lollipop heist, we went ahead with our plans for a parents night out!  Thankfully, Matt and Amy were able to secure a babysitter and we headed to downtown Brussels for one last night on the town.  Matt and Amy treated us to a Westvleteren, which is one of the most sought after and challenging trappist beers to come by in Belgium.  The monks that brew this do not distribute it, but you must drive to their abbey and pick it up by appointment.  This is one of the only cafes in Belgium that offers it on the menu.  Jason and Matt had hoped to go to the Abbey this fall, but enjoying a beautiful evening out with friends was a good way to make-up for it.

We found an idealic spot for dinner near the Sablon.  The sign says the building dates back from the 1500's. 

Matt and Amy have been such amazing friends over the last 6 months.  They are both so positive and full of life.  Matt is an accountant, like Jason, so they were able to "talk shop" a bit and encourage each other professionally.  They also have similar interest in music, golf and many other areas. 

Amy has been one of the greatest blessings to me in Brussels.  She is an amazing mom with so much patience and a true friend willing to do anything to help out.  We are similar in too many ways to list and I will miss her more than words can say.  We are already working on planning a family destination vacation for when they return to the States.

Along with saying good-bye to friends, we also bid farewell to Carrefour (one of the local grocery stores).  The kids have always enjoyed this ramp/escalator that takes us back and forth to the parking lot.  It was quite unique to us when we first arrived, and I know they will miss it as they get used to the usual entrance to Wal-Mart that we will now frequent!

One final good-bye we made today was with my sweet French tutor, Colette.  She has become like family to us over the last year.  She is amazing with the children, and has a heart so full of love and kindness.  She was patient with me when I had little time to study and gentle in correction with all my many faults as I stumbled through French conversations.  We wish her all the best and she promises to help me continue my French progression via Skype.

Now we are on the eve of our final day in Brussels and it is all surreal.  I am hoping to spend some quality time with the kids, enjoy a day at the park (if the rain will stop) and take the family downtown for one last hot waffle smothered in Nutella!