So much to do, so little time...

The last few weeks have been quite a whirlwind for our family. With our upcoming move back to the Peoria-area, we have been attempting to get everything finalized in England and set up in Peoria. (Honestly, I don't remember having this many things to do when we moved to England.) ;o)

We are now on the countdown to when we move our family back. We have made arrangements with the movers to come on February 12 to begin packing all of our belongings up. While I didn't realize we purchased that many new things while living over here, we were about 10 cubic metres over our limit for the sea shipment -- so Mike has been working hard taking down bookshelves, etc. to attempt to make up some space (as the movers don't disassemble items -- they just place them in the truck to be shipped). The movers will be here for approximately 5 days (not including the weekend). Following the movers, we have the cleaning crew coming on February 18 until 20 to ensure the house is spotless before we do the "final" checkout of our house. We will either be travelling back to Peoria over that weekend or on the following Monday.

In England, half-term at the schools in the nearby villages is February 16-20...so Brett's last day at Elton School and Kendall & Kameron's last day at Warmington Playgroup is going to be Friday, February 13. I am already dreading the last full week of the kids' school and especially the last day where we will have to say to goodbye to all of the friends the children have met. All of the children and their families were so welcoming to us when we moved here 2+ years ago and made us feel right at home.

In addition to having to say goodbye to all of the friends we have met at the children's schools, we also have to say our goodbyes to the people that have been our "extended family" while living over here. We have met an absolutely amazing group of people -- both with Caterpillar and the U.S. Air Force. The ties and bonds that have been created will never be broken and we will look very forward to hopefully all of them moving back to the Peoria-area so we can reconnect and be close again. We have decided that this will not be goodbye -- but an "until next time."

(If any of you own stock in Kleenex tissues, you may want to increase your shares as the next few weeks approaches...)