The goodbyes have started

Yesterday, Matt took Stuart and Paloma to his parents, where we'll get to see all the family - Laura, Nancy, and boys are coming from Cali and AZ! I am still in Topeka b/c our new carpet is getting installed as I write. The children won't be back to our home in Topeka - ever - as we'll be selling it, and - Alba leaves for SE KS and also won't ever return to this home, that we've known for 8 years. This is the longest I've lived anywhere. The children had their goodbyes with most of their friends (definitely harder on the moms than the children:((( , and now we are just packing stuff away and organizing the 18 suitcases! Each one has a lable of our address in ROC (which simply says "across from the Embassy of Chad", that is our school's address) + some phone numbers in ROC of a few women who live there and are connected to the school, IN CASE one of the 18 suitcases doesn't make it the first round (I would be shocked if they all made it on the plane with us when we land!). BC we don't have a phone number there yet, that is how we have to tag the suitcases. I took pictures of each suitcase, have numbered them, and have a list of the items in each suitcase. So, if one disappears, VOILA, le foto! I feel very sad about leaving so many loved ones behind, yet know we'll be back next summer to visit, and am grateful for SKYPE and email, and this BLOG, etc. However, it is the end of an era, and - with all ends, leaves one feeling both a sense of excitement of what's to come, and also sadness for what's being left behind. We've made Topeka our home for a long time, and my heart aches when I think of leaving my dad/Fanny - who've we've had the greatest luck/pleasure living around the corner from for 8 years, some dear neighbors, wonderful friends whose children's lives are interconnected with our children's lives, other friends who've just been our friends forever, and - knowing Matt's parents are just a 3-hour drive away:((( Lots of memories in this house, where we've lived before our wedding, the only place our children have known as "home". This is a great time to move with children, I think their young ages are ideal. I think that now, I may write something else later on, after we're there! As of now, the plan is for just Matt and me to come back from his parents for a week to finish all the "house shizza" and sign off papers to put it on the market, and then go BACK to his parents' house, where we'll stay until D-Day, Aug. 9. They will drive us to the airport and our 18 suitcases, in our two cars. We'll leave both cars at their house while we're gone, and reduce our insurance to the minimal (so cars can't be driven, but - are covered in case of hail, fire, etc.). I'm attaching some pix of final days at home in Topeka. The pix are of Stuart and Paloma's last night sleeping in their room, Alba, goodbyes to neighbor Doris, Uncle Shane, Granny Fanny, kids getting ready to leave in the car, and Matt loading up the truck.