PEACE

So we are on our last legs of getting out of here. We have gotten completely out of our house. The movers came last Monday to pack us out, it took them two days to pack and load the crates. I wasn't too happy about how they packed those crates and Dave was having a fit. The took apart all of our bookcases and desks, but left the screws and dowels in everything. That means that everthing is going to be broken, and I get new stuff!!! All of our things came to Italy fully assembled and the Italians think it is totally cool to take everything apart when they send it back to the states. What a pain in the backside!!!

With all of our stuff packed up and the house empty, we were able to clean and do final inspection on Wednesday. So that's all done. We have to take in the final meter reading for our electricity and pay an 'estimated' final payment (they will let us know in 4 to 6 months if we owe any more). We shut off the phone and internet, moved into TLF all on Monday of last week.

We got to spend Thanksgiving in TLF with just our family. We received a few invitations to share the day with other families from the ward, but decided that we wanted to be alone and relax after the stressful few days. We had ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, garden salad, pumpkin pie and apple pie. It was a great day! We talked about the many wonderful experiences we have had here in Italy and how grateful we are for our family and friends.

We had to speak in church last Sunday for the last time in this ward. Kaitlyn gave her last talk in Primary two weeks ago. So we are all good until we figure out what ward we will be moving to next.

This week is just as stressful, more for Dave than anyone. And today didn't start off very well at all!! First off, he couldn't find his keys, actually that is not unusual since he never puts them in the same place twice. When we lived in the house, he would usually leave them in the car until the end of the day when he needed them to lock up the house. He has a couple of times left them in the car since moving into TLF. I found the keys just a couple hours ago under the kleenex box. ;0) Then he had to go pay the final bill for the electricity and they wanted our account information, just in case we get a refund. So he had to come back to the room to get the checkbook, which he couldn't find where he thought it should be, so ended up waking me up to his stomping around. UGH!!! Now we just have to go over to the hospital to pay off that bill, that one is gonna make me stress out!!!!! Then we just need to take care of the car, we have to sell it because it is European specs, so we can't ship it back to the states.

After all of that is done and we have to get Kaitlyn's school records, our medical records, and Dave's last day of work. We will fly out of Venice to Paris, spend a couple of hours there. Fly from Paris to Detroit, spend the night in Detroit. Fly out of Detroit to Salt Lake City, rent a car, check into our hotel, get some much needed rest, then see our family!!! We are all so excited about returning to be near family for the holidays!!!