Moving Day

Aaron was away for two weeks for NATO Training in Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany so we've been on our own here when I got the phone call. ALL OF OUR HOUSEHOLD GOODS CRATES HAVE ARRIVED! I thought about waiting until Aaron returned, but I decided to accept the goods myself. Some military spouses probably just gasped in horror reading this....but I really need our clothing. I am still living out of one suitcase with summer clothes, the kids have a bit more because I went shopping for them here, but the rain! We need our rain slickers, wellies and warmer jackets. The summer is definitely gone and autumn just rushed in.

SO, I asked a few of my new friends to come over for the moving days for moral support and a show of force. This is probably my 10th move in 15 years and it NEVER goes well, on either end. The move from DC was definitely one of the worst, so I prepared myself. Word must have gotten out that I was accepting the goods alone because the day the movers arrived, I had a quite a few military & civilian employees from the base drive to the house to check on me both in the morning and afternoon. They all said to me...just watch. Norwegian moving companies are the best and they will treat you well. I told them that I didn't believe them as it NEVER goes well....and they kept saying...give them a chance, they will change your thinking. So I exhaled a little....

The movers arrived and there were 6 men. I found out that they were all from POLAND except one. I never had THAT many movers before and was so happy. They all spoke perfect English and were so kind and polite to me. This house is pretty big and I had an idea where I wanted almost everything so as they pulled my items off the truck, I just sent them to the rooms where they needed to go. It was going so smoothly, almost TOO smoothly. I had friends Ingerlise and her daughter Solveig here to help with Logan and to keep me company. In the afternoon, my friend Tiffany came and helped me unpack a few things. SO THANKFUL that they were here. The movers ended in the afternoon with about 12 crates completed, and I was left with the weekend to unpack. The kids did great with all of the mess, played in boxes, had paper throwing fights and did the best they could do to live in the chaos.

Monday the movers were back, and so were my friends. Another friend Ruth came to stay with me and watch Logan. She has lived all over the world (her house shows it, it is amazing) and has moved a lot more than I have, so she just started unwrapping things, keeping me company and helped me with the inventory. She brought us food and brownies and stayed with me all day and is just so lovely to talk with. Another new friend Trish tried to help but she couldn't find parking there were so many cars. I am so thankful for my new NATO family. The movers emptied out the final 7 crates except the last one which was the Harley Davidson. It was packed on a crate on the truck, and the movers had NO ramp to drive it off. They were all standing around the crate when I walked out there to hear them all talking fast in Polish. I knew something was up! I told them they had to speak in English and tell me what was going on. They were calculating the weight of the crate with the amount of the men because they were going to pick up the crate and place it on the ground. THAT WAS NOT the WAY to GET THE BIKE OFF THE TRUCK! I explained to them that we needed a ramp, and that the bike was too heavy, and if anything happened to it, WE'D ALL BE DEAD! DEAD! DEAD! I kept repeating it...and repeating it.... ha ha They started talking in Polish again and turned to me and said "you need to trust us, and maybe you shouldn't watch us".....Hmmmmm....they had treated me so well and were so careful with all of my stuff, they put EVERYTHING together again in record time like beds, the armoires, without complaint. They unpacked most of my big stuff already and removed the debris. I had to trust them...and I walked away!!!!
Ingerlise stayed to watch....................................and said that they did a great job and it was lowered softly and perfectly! A perfect ending to the best move yet!

Ruth returned the next day to help me get the house in a little bit of order before Aaron got back from Germany...she worked hard all day, went food shopping for me, and helped me put so many things together. My friend Tiffany stopped by again to check on me, too. And the rain stayed away. Happy me!

So we've been unpacking ever since. Still unpacking a week later. Still have boxes everywhere. It is not easy to set up a house with little ones but we are getting closer to being finished. Avery has had homework projects during all of this, and I won't sit Logan in front of the TV babysitter all day either, and I have had school meetings at ISS, so we are working slowly. I have a great babysitter right across the street. Elisabeth is Norwegian, is 26 years old and a university student. The kids love her and she refuses to talk to the kids in English (ha ha, she makes them repeat everything in Norwegian). And Avery is in love with her dog Topsy...so help is literally a few steps away.

All in all the move was almost perfect. Just one big problem....the vacuum is missing!!!

**On a side note: We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on 15 Sep!! Love you Big A!