We get closer to moving day(s) all the time. Since we will reside in two countries, we need two types of storage--long-term and accessible. How do you predict what you'll need, say, this Christmas time or next summer? Or where you'll be? We'll shlep stuff off to accessible storage tomorrow, hoping that what we choose is right. The donation van is scheduled for Thursday; amazing (or maybe not) how large that pile is getting. Then the moving and storage people come Friday. Saturday we'll be cleaning an empty house, and Sunday we take off for Arlington, the first stop on our "farewell tour."
How do you say goodbye to your home of nearly 28 years? We know it's time to go, the same way we knew when it was time to retire, but that doesn't make it much easier. We've experienced this before, but that doesn't make it easier, either! Neighbors came by last week and brought well-wishing card (kind) and a bottle of wine--really kind.
Nephew Phil(ip) has been here since Saturday, on leave from his AF assignment in Pensacola learning how to teach newbies how to be weapons systems operators. His military experience, not as a WSO or as a teacher but as a frequent mover, has been a blessing. We broke bread with Andrey and Oksana at their house Saturday night. Cristina came down Friday to go to a wedding, and got roped into packing a box or two, too. The Wednesday before we said "see ya" to Phil and Kathy because they were taking off to cruise the Baltic, and Mark and Sherry because they were off to NJ and NY. If they can go off other places, they can come to Bratislava, by golly! Maureen and Matt will be in this house sooner (we hope) rather than later, and the boys will liven up this neighborhood--but that doesn't make leaving the house much easier, either!
Paula got her teaching assignments this week--Brit lit and Latin American lit!
Time to quit and go eat lunch, and then pack some more. Tempus, after all, fugits.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
A Great Couple of Weeks (mostly)
Special friends, special times, special places--all add up to a great couple of weeks, if you don't count filling even more boxes. But, we chose this position, so we won't complain (where anybody can hear us). We spent the weekend of the Fourth of July in Washington with 
Cristina and Dick and Sylvia Rortvedt. Family all, they provided great company, great food, and fireworks over the Washington Monument for us and several thousand of our closest friends on the lawn in front of the Netherlands Carillon.
We got to go to Power in the Spirit, the Virginia Synod's retreat focusing on worship and telling the story, and got to spend quality time with Diane Jacob
son, who's directing the ELCA's Book of Faith initiative. She came to see us, oh, and to be the Bible study leader at PITS. Good to see her and take in all she had to say, good to get the great food at Roanoke College, and wonderful to see all of our good friends from around the synod. Diane got a little pot in Salem. Hope she shared with Paul and the other workers in Grand Marais. Sigh. We missed y'all!
Sunday Pastor Jean Bozeman, Assistant to the Bishop of the Virginia Synod, and Pastor Chris Farrow, who shepherds our home parish, commissioned us, and th
e people of St. Paul's put on a wowser of a potluck. We were treated in style, let me tell you! And Sunday 
evening we spent with our children, Cristina and Anna here and Joe and Erika on Skype. A bit of advice--it's better to have 2+2 or so rather than 4+2 on each computer.
The hardest thing, besides being so far away (geographically) from all here in the US of A, will be living up to all of the love we're being shown. But I guess we're going because of the unconditional love we've been given, so maybe it will all work out after all....
Cristina and Dick and Sylvia Rortvedt. Family all, they provided great company, great food, and fireworks over the Washington Monument for us and several thousand of our closest friends on the lawn in front of the Netherlands Carillon.We got to go to Power in the Spirit, the Virginia Synod's retreat focusing on worship and telling the story, and got to spend quality time with Diane Jacob
son, who's directing the ELCA's Book of Faith initiative. She came to see us, oh, and to be the Bible study leader at PITS. Good to see her and take in all she had to say, good to get the great food at Roanoke College, and wonderful to see all of our good friends from around the synod. Diane got a little pot in Salem. Hope she shared with Paul and the other workers in Grand Marais. Sigh. We missed y'all!Sunday Pastor Jean Bozeman, Assistant to the Bishop of the Virginia Synod, and Pastor Chris Farrow, who shepherds our home parish, commissioned us, and th
e people of St. Paul's put on a wowser of a potluck. We were treated in style, let me tell you! And Sunday 
evening we spent with our children, Cristina and Anna here and Joe and Erika on Skype. A bit of advice--it's better to have 2+2 or so rather than 4+2 on each computer.The hardest thing, besides being so far away (geographically) from all here in the US of A, will be living up to all of the love we're being shown. But I guess we're going because of the unconditional love we've been given, so maybe it will all work out after all....
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