October 2011-December 2011

At the end of October I left my position at Maranatha Christian Academy.  It was an emotional last couple weeks as I not only left my babies, but some of my dearest friends.  I also had the grandbaby is due any moment crazy emotions swirling at the same time.  I had a friend tell me that on those “stress tests”, the top three stress contributors are: 1. A birth or death, 2. A move, 3. Changing or losing a job.  So, while I should have been crazy and stressed out, God gave me a real peace and calmness during this time. 

Then, as Liam arrived November 3^rd, I was not quite prepared for the emotions of my son becoming a father and me becoming a Nana!  I cried for two days whenever I looked at him or thought about him.   But, it was a wonderful time and they were happy tears.

After Thanksgiving, Ross and I spent two weeks in France getting acclimated and looking for housing.  We had a cottage house that a co-worker owned available to us, and when I saw it, I knew the house was perfect, but wasn’t sure of the location being out in the country.  Since I would not have a car, I thought it would maybe be better to find something nearer the city.  However, after spending a day touring homes and apartments……our own version of International House Hunters….we knew the original house was the one for us.  Apartments and homes in France are much like they are pictured on tv…..very bare! No light fixtures, no kitchen cabinets or appliances and sometimes no flooring.  With each of them I still found no shopping within walking distance and would have to rely on busing.  At the end of the day, we decided that taking a bus 20-30 minutes was preferable to have the original house….complete with cabinets, appliances, flooring and most light fixtures!!

We were home for the holidays and I spent that time shopping for France.  We are given an allowance for purchases and the company would ship a large container for us.  We discovered that costs were much more in France…..basically the same in Euros as in dollars.  So, within one week, in the US, I furnished the whole house (furniture, kitchen utensils, linens, dishes, pans, laundry supplies, etc) from Ikea and Amazon Prime.  My neighbor saw 65 boxes delivered from Amazon and asked what on earth I was giving the kids for Christmas!!  When the Ikea delivery showed up, they just laughed.

Christmas was spent with family and we all enjoyed being together.  Lindsay and Calum began joking about becoming  “orphans” and how they could tell people they shared a home together in Buford instead of living with the parents.  Hey, we’ve waited for them to move out and when they showed no signs of it, we decided we’d move out instead!  Movers arrived to pack and ship our belongings, Ross left for France to start his new job and I waited until he returned home before leaving for France myself.  I spent that time seeing many friends and having a lot of fun with them “one last time”.  Also, spent time getting Sophie all set for the move.  She needed several vet visits, a pet passport, approval by the USDA, a reservation on the flight, it was quite a production.  Katie brought Liam to town the last week and let me have him part of every day.  I loved every minute!!!