Leaving and Arriving

Catch up:

We got our visas Monday the 10th of June, right before the kids' first swim meet.  HUGE excitement and big-time work followed.  All got packed in trunks or bags and weighed and weighed again.  50 lb limit meant re-organizing and taking some things out. Space bags are great, but two full ones are over weight!  The kids' room only had a week's worth of clothes, legos and toys in zip lock bags left.  I went through my dresser, closet and shelves.  I looked  at pictures, pulling out a few to bring with us.

Chris calmly sold things on e-bay, saved pictures on a hard drive to be left in VA, and finished the last of the financial things.

First Swim meet

Friends came to say goodbye.  The Halfords from Charlotte, the Armentrouts come from Roanoke, Chrissy and Sue threw a wonderful open house goodbye party. Chris's brother John drove over from Tennessee.  Heather and Greg stopped by. Ashley and the Kings came by the last swim meet.  The Thomas' family stopped on their way out of town.  So many friends.  WE are so blessed! I cried. I will miss all these dear friends.  So thankful for the internet so we will not lose touch and we will continue praying for one another!

Giaquintos

Armentrouts

Heather and Greg

Grandmom and Noah

Laura Sharrett- our new God-daughter

Patrick and Cherise

Matt Stoker

The Thomas girls

Chris and John

Austin and Noah

Kristin and Hannah

My swimmers

Kristin

Chris things got packed on the 17th and the 18th.  He is a procrastinator. We found room in the carry-on bags for his things and reweighed the bags again.

We were scheduled to leave at 10 am from my mom's house on the 18th.  I did not have time to clean my room or vacuum.  We did not leave things the way I wanted to.  I hope Mom will forgive me!  We pulled out close to 1130. Not too bad.  It was raining Chrissy and Katy and some of their kids helped us load up the Garber's van.  We hugged and cried. Chrissy prayed with my mom as we pulled away.  I couldn't ask for a better friend.

Goodbye Chrissy!

Goodbye Mom!

 Wet Goodbyes....

We drove to DC in the rain, petted Amanda's rabbit (who would have been so thoughtful to bring a sweet pet along to make the leaving easier?  Thank you Katy!), stopped for lunch at Cheesecake Factory (thank you Patty and Cari), hurried, and unloaded in front of the British Air sign.  Katy and Amanda helped fill out luggage tags and pulled away.  It took 2 carts to move our luggage in and get to the desk.

Katy: Fearless driver
Thanks for everything!

The bunny

Kristin's turn

Our luggage...

Then the rest of the time at the airport was HURRY and wait, hurry and wait.  We made it to our gate just in time.  All of us in one row.  We got dinner and breakfast (I thought it was just breakfast!).  Noah said, 'I bet this is the only time I get to pull an all-nighter watching movies.'  And he did!  Kristin and Ben slept about an hour and a half on the six hour flight to London.

First time on a plane for our two youngest!

The all-nighter....

What's in the bag?  What are the headphones for?

Short Nap

London Airport.  That's all we got to see of England....

 London was rainy and so was Geneva, so we didn't see much of either from the air.  We wound our way out of the airport, found most of our luggage, filled our a luggage claim, and found our nice taxi driver with a sign that said 'Gassler family.'  I should have taken his picture, but we were SO tired.  I had not slept the whole way and had very little sleep for several nights before!  Chris had enough in him to talk to the driver in French.  I couldn't even think in English!  The ride was beautiful, especially Annecy. I almost wish we went to the school there!

The border

Lake Annecy

In Albertville we dropped off our luggage at our friends' house.  The Hare family had a garage to keep it, and no car thankfully! Then we went to our temporary place: a one bedroom flat 10m X 10m.  It is like camping- we are organized here, but not unpacked.

One trunk lost its clasp.  Two more lost handles.  

That's it for now.  It is beautiful here, but I must rest before I share anymore!  Pictures to follow- when I have fast internet to upload!


p.s.  I have left so many friends out.  Not enough time!  Thank you all and thank you for praying!