Update

Okay, I'm sort of back. We still have the laptop, but I have to fight off all 5 kids to get to it. So, my blog entries may not be too regular, but I will use this to document the next 2 eventful weeks for my journal.

The packers worked for 2 days packing all of our belongings into boxes.

Eric and I had spent quite a few hours over the past few weeks sorting through the boxes that were stored in the basement from the time we moved here. We got rid of so many things quite easily. When you haven't used things for over a year, it's easier to part with them. Some things, however, were like seeing an old friend and made me anxious and excited to get back home to enjoy them again--my pampered chef baking stone, large cookie sheets, crockpot, and food processor. Even my old cd player makes me look forward to the day I can plug it in and turn it on--no adaptor needed! It makes me realize how naive we were when we came here. Why did we ship Eric's table saw, for instance. We actually thought we could use it here, and we would've, if we could have just plugged it in. We also brought our hammock--which never actually got put together. Reason--we never quite got to the point where we felt like relaxing in a hammock. It was in the "must load" section as I plan to use it when we get home.

Yesterday we saw the big truck pull up in front of our house. It was incredible! A year ago, I tried to dream of that day to help me cope with my life. I imagined alot of whoopla! In reality the feeling was surreal. We made it. We couldn't believe it!


Within 4 hours, the 40 ft. container was completely loaded with all our belongings, and those of our friends, by 5 men. I had left to pick up some doughnuts for the hard workers, but they were gone by the time I got back. Have you ever had Ikea doughnuts? Even though I bought enough for 5 men, 5 children, and 1 husband, the 5 kids and husband didn't have any problem finishing them off without a crumb remaining. I was sad I didn't get a picture of the truck leaving.

We have some friends in Kortrijk. They moved there about 3 years ago with a company called Barco. They used to live in Logan. About 4 LDS families came out here together and have been able to help each other through the culture shock. If only we could've been so lucky. We have very nice people willing to help in our branch, but they just don't quite understand the magnitude of culture shock here. We met one of the families, the Evans, at our first stake conference here. They were sitting in the little room where the meeting was shown in English. Becky Evans has the most radiant smile and optimistic outlook. Every time I talked to her, I felt better about being here and could see things in a clearer perspective. She helped me know where to find cocoa powder. She taught me how to greet Belgians by saying "dag" and told me success stories of sharing the gospel with them. She made me feel stronger and braver. We also met the Galloway family. Jennifer Galloway is the YW president in Kortrijk and we get to see each other at least once a month in our combined branch joint activities. She is not afraid of anything! At least that is what it looks like. She knows where to go to get almost anything she needs. Her counselor in YW only speaks dutch and Jennifer is able to work with her. She knows dutch very well. So do the Evans. We enjoyed Thanksgiving with all of them this year. They even knew of an American store in Antwerp. It was one of the best times we had here. We found many very over-priced things that we have missed during the time we've been here--root beer, pop tarts, peanut butter, PAM (one of my most missed items. I still couldn't make myself pay the required 6 euro price for it!), Betty Crocker cake mixes, Jello Cheesecake mixes, etc.

Back in November, they were planning to leave in June and we were leaving in August, so they sent a bunch of food stuff back home with me to start cleaning out their pantries. Who knew that we would be leaving sooner than them. As it turns out, they were all layed off around the same time we changed our job status. The Galloways had a few things they didn't want to part with and checked into shipping it back. We both wondered if there was a way to help each other by shipping their stuff with ours. We got a few bids and they got one bid on their 5 cubic meters. We had Team Allied figure in their stuff with our bid and there was no problem. On Wednesday the movers came and started boxing our stuff. The perimeter of our living room was full of boxes plus our couch. Jennifer came during the day and dropped off some of their things. Then later they came with the rest of their belongings. I was amazed at how much stuff can fit 5 cubic meters. Every bit of space was filled in our living room. I was a little concerned what the movers were going to do when they saw it. It would've been better if all the stuff had been here at the beginning. Even though it was figured into our bid, I didn't want them to think something was fishy. Galloways were very generous in paying us and tried to give us way more money than we wanted. Eric had handed Emily the money to look at and as the Galloways were loading in their vehicles, Emily said, "This is over a thousand euros". Eric said, "No, it's not that much", but quickly started counting and realized they didn't pay us 750 euros as agreed but 1200. I ran outside and told them they couldn't pay us that much. Jennifer told us they had figured it out by percentage--she is very smart--and it should be that much. I told her that was more than what their bid came out as. Eric handed her the extra money and she kept trying to give it to us. Finally, to help her feel better, I suggested she give me an extra 20 euros to give them as a tip the next day. She handed me two 50 euro bills. Naughty. As I ran past her husband sitting in the van--with his window down--I threw one of the 50's in with him and ran inside. They are very generous! The movers were a little shocked the next day, but we gave them pastries and a very nice tip. They seemed fine. The next time we see the Galloways, we will both be back in America. It will be a happy day and it's fun knowing that we would not be friends with each other if we hadn't come here.

Last night was our first night in the house without any of our beds. Becky lent us their very nice air mattress. Eric and I slept on that. Tyler, Emily and Caleb slept on an "egg carton" mattress pad on the floor and Brandon slept on a pad used for a lounge chair. Ashley slept on the reclining chair that we are taking to the container park before we leave. We all froze to death (almost). I had held out the 2 quilts I made, plus quite a few fleese blankets that are pretty warm. I hoped it would be enough if we had the heat on. It wasn't. Hopefully, tonight we can figure out a better way.

Today is Valentine's Day. We didn't do too much. Ashley went to the youth temple trip this morning and then went to Elke Goethal's house with Charlene. They spent the day together and then will go to a regional dance together. Ashley wanted to go so bad as it will be the last time she will see her friends from the Netherlands. Eric and I will go pick them up in Rotterdam tonight and get home at about 1 a.m.

It is strange being in the house without anything here. I have lost the urge to clean. I have plenty of food to try to get rid of, but cooking is difficult with the utensils I kept out. I only have 1 pot and a frying pan that doesn't work too well. The bottom is warped.

Last night for mutual we had a cooking evening and made a delicious dinner and ate it together. We had a YW from Brugge join us and she is a sweetie. Her name is Mbo and she recently joined the church, but is the only YW in Brugge. We made angel food cake for dessert, so I had to keep my pan out for that. Hopefully, we will be able to fit it in our suitcase. For dinner we had this chicken, pineapple, pepper thing sort of like sweet and sour chicken and it was served in halved pineapples. It was really beautiful!