Our First Visitors and a Trip to Paris!

This past week, we had the privilege of having my parents here in Gent! Of course we had talked about them coming to visit many times in the past, but when they actually bought the tickets to come, I was so excited and couldn't wait to have them here. It was only a couple weeks between the purchasing of the tickets and their arrival, but it felt like ages. As a disclaimer, we are all doing well here and seem to be settling into a nice routine, but I was so excited to be able to show my family where we live, shop, play, etc. in person! I was also excited for my parents to get a chance to travel to places they have never been. On top of just having them here, it also gave me a little break from being with the boys all day by myself. I was able to visit some little shops and get some things done that I either can't do with the boys or is very difficult to do with them. I even slept in a couple days!! :) My mom was wonderful with entertaining and snuggling with the boys, giving parenting advice, and cleaning. My dad was also great with the boys and he also fixed tons of things around the loft that have been bugging me. It was absolutely wonderful to have them here. I thought I would give a little bit of an overview of our time with them.

My parents were supposed to arrive around 9:00 am on Thursday morning in Brussels. Cole made plans to take off work to go pick them up (with Cameron of course), but they were rerouted due to weather. Instead of flying from Cleveland, to Philadelphia, to Brussels, they were rerouted from Cleveland, to Charlotte, to Frankfurt, to Brussels. The ended up arriving here at the loft around 2:30 that afternoon. Although I was bummed to miss out on any time with them, I was thrilled when they finally arrived. 

After a little rest and relaxation, we decided to take advantage of a beautiful evening and go get a nice Belgian meal. We sat outside at a restaurant called Hof van Herzele. It was fun because we were able to get real Belgian food and it was delicious!   

     

Once we were sufficiently stuffed, we decided to walk around Gent to show my parents the city (while it was not raining). We enjoyed the nice evening... 
                                

Enjoying his ice cream cone!

And we, of course, had to get a waffle and ice cream as soon as possible!

My parents after walking around in the rain for an hour!

On Friday, we decided to do some more exploring around the city. Unfortunately, the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and it was windy and rainy, but that didn't stop us from going out and about.


After taking my parents to see the mall and park nearby, we went to a little bakery called Julie's House. On top of being very friendly and helpful, they have delicious pastries. We went there to inquire about a birthday cake for Harrison, but we left with a bag full of goodies which were so good! I will definitely be back to visit again! :)


We spent Friday night planning our trip to Paris on Saturday and Sunday. We decided that we would take the train, so we purchased our tickets and booked our hotel room just before dinner! Talk about last minute. We had a nice dinner here at the loft and then quick packed our bags and went to bed because we needed to be at the train station early to catch our 6:50 train. To say that Cameron was excited about the trains, metro, etc., is an understatement. He could not get enough!!

 When we arrived in Paris, we dropped our bags off at the Hotel Duquesne Eiffel.

Then we walked to the park near the Eiffel Tower and let the boys get some of their energy out.

Sleeping while we waited in line.

We waited in line for a loooonnnngggg time before we made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Thankfully, Cameron and Harrison were great while we were waiting.

At the top!

Just as a comparison, Cole and I visited Paris in 2006 when we lived in England. The picture on the left  is us in 2006. The pictures on the right are during our trip this past weekend...my how things have changed!! :)

After enjoying the Eiffel Tower, we went to grab a quick lunch at a little restaurant near the hotel (La Terrasse), then went to check in and take naps. We slept for a bit and then went back out to explore.

 We walked over the Louvre to see the famous glass pyramids and then walked to the Lover's Bridge over the Seine River. Apparently, if you put a lock on this bridge and then throw the key in the river, your love will last forever! We did not take part in this tradition, but it was fun to see.

Returning to the entrance of the Louvre, we began walking northwest through the Tuileries and onto the Champs-Elysees towards the Arc de Triomphe.   We had a delicious meal along the Champs-Elysees at Pizza Pino, went to see the Eiffel Tower one more time, this time lit up in the night sky, and then went back to the hotel and crashed!

Mona Lisa

Venus De Milo

Sunday morning, we got up early, ate at the hotel, and then went back to the Louvre.  The Louvre is huge, massive, pick your favorite adjective for large, and there is no way to see everything and take it all in without staying for hours and hours, or even days...especially with two small children. So, we walked around a bit and made sure to hit some of the highlights.

After the Louvre, we walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral.

We walked around the church for a bit, then grabbed lunch right across the street from the Notre Dame at Cafe Panis before heading back to the metro station to get our thing and get on the train to head home.

Caramel and fresh whipped cream

On Monday, we went to one of the best places we know of in Gent to get waffles - Fritz. FYI...we were informed by the locals that waffles are not a breakfast food here. They are considered an afternoon snack or dessert...probably because they are usually smothered with chocolate and whipped cream. :)
                                                                                                                Anyway, we went to eat some waffles after lunch and they were delicious!

Peaches and fresh whipped cream

After nap time for the boys, we walked to meet Cole at work and then went to walk through the Sint Bavo Cathedral. There is so much history here and the Cathedral is just beautiful. I hope to do more research about the site and everything it took to complete the buidling so I can better appreciate it.




To end the night, we walked over the Patrick Foly's Irish Bar & Restaurant for dinner. It was, once again, a delicious meal! It was such a cute little place with great food. It was a nice way to end the trip. Once we were home, it was time to get my parents packed and ready to go bright and early the next day.










My parents left early this morning. They hopped on a train to Brussels and are in the air as I type. I can't even describe how nice it was to have them here for a few days! It's hard to have so many people you love so far away. It's impossible to describe what things are like here, so it was nice for them to be able to see it for themselves. I am really looking forward to our net visitors....any are welcome at any time! :)

Our First Week

Our first week in Gent is a little bit of a blur, but if I'm being honest, I'm not sure we actually did that much other than wonder around and try to acclimate a little bit. Cole had that whole first week off so we could get things done which was very nice. I'm glad I didn't have to do everything by myself!

We met with our landlady Wednesday (I think) to do a walkthrough of the loft to discuss any issues and also so she could show us how to work all the appliances. We turned the heat on that day and decided that, if we could, we wanted to move into the loft by Friday. This meant we had to get a few things to tide us over until our sea and air shipments arrived. We went to Ikea several times the first week. I have never been to Ikea before, but it is one of those stores that I love and hate at the same time. It is so huge and overwhelming, but they do have a lot of stuff to choose from. Anyways, since we didn't have our car yet, we had to make our trip to Ikea on the tram. Now normally, this would not be a problem at all. It's just a short tram ride to Ikea. However, we did not take into account that when we we would be coming home with lots of stuff from Ikea and that it would also be nearing "rush hour". After we purchased our things from Ikea, we walked back to the tram station with the boys, double stroller, and big bags full of a few dishes, pots and pans, kitchen utensils, towels, pillows, and blankets. When we got on the tram, it was completely empty. At that moment, we felt very confident that we could get home no problem. We picked some seats near a door and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible...not happening! :) As we got closer to town, the tram started to get more and more crowded. It got to the point where we realized that there was no way we were going to be able to make a quick exit. We made a valiant effort to get off at our stop, but the doors closed before we could get off. We again made an attempt to get off at the next stop, but we could not get all of our things and children past all the people standing in the way. Between that stop and the next, Cole and I decided that it was every man for himself and we just needed to get off as we could. We began making plans for what we would do if one of us got off and the other one didn't. It's funny now, but stressful at the time. So, armed with the stroller and Harrison, I prepared to push my way off at the next stop. Cole was in charge of Cameron and the bags from Ikea. At the next stop, a kind lady took compassion on us (I think she heard our game plan and didn't think it was very good), grabbed the stroller and ordered people out of the way so we could get off. So much for being inconspicuous!! At least we got off the tram and were able to head to the loft. We dropped off our bags from Ikea then went to the grocery store to get some cleaning supplies. We spent Wednesday evening and a good portion of Thursday cleaning to the point where we felt comfortable moving our things on. Our loft is quite large and the previous tenants left it in bad shape, so it took at loooonnnnngggg time to get it clean enough to move our things in. As I mentioned in a previous post, the loft was partially furnished when we arrived, so we had beds and couches to use until our things arrived.

Thursday, we picked up our temporary lease car . It was nice to have a car, although you really don't need one here that often. However, when we first arrived, it was FREEZING here! So it was nice to have the option to drive places if we wanted to. Other than picking up the car, I don't think we did much else except clean on Thursday.

Friday morning, we packed our bags at the temporary apartment, loaded the car (to full capacity), and drove over to our loft. I'm so glad that I had an excuse not to drive (seizures) because driving here is crazy!! The streets are narrow, there are pedestrians, bikers, trams, and buses everywhere, and the driving laws seem to be a little up to each individuals interpretation. Add to that, pedestrians and bikers have the right of way at almost every cross walk, so they were just walking out right in front of us without notice. Of course it startled us because we did not know that rule at first! Cole did a great job learning how to drive these crazy streets and has kept us safe so far! Now, getting into our teeny, tiny garage is a different story. Out of the first five times we tried to pull in, Cole scraped against the side of the garage 4 times.  Even with me out of the car directing! I suppose you could blame me for bad directing?? Now, we are both able to get the car in and out without scraping, but we definitely had to come up with a game plan.  We spent most of Friday cleaning, putting things away, and figuring out how to work things in the loft. Hands down, Cole's favorite part of the loft is the built-in coffee maker in the kitchen!

Saturday, during the day, we ran errands and continued to work on the loft and getting the boys on their schedules in this time zone. I haven't talked much about the boys, but they were rock stars during this week. We, of course, had some moments where we didn't know what to do with them, but for the most part, they went right along with everything and were great! Saturday night, we were invited to another American expat's house for dinner. We found out (through our mutual hairdresser in South Carolina) that there was another American expat here and we were happy to connect with her as quickly as we could. We also found out that she attended the same church that we anticipated attending! She invited us over to her apartment for dinner with her and some friends of hers from church. It was wonderful to just sit, eat, and talk with people and not have to worry about everything to do. The food and company was great and we felt very blessed to have been connected with so many wonderful people so quickly!

Sunday, we decided that we would attend the service at International Community Church Gent. We found this church even before we accepted the offer to move and had been in communication with the pastor. We even met with him during our trip to find housing. It's an English speaking church just 15 minutes or so from our loft! We were both excited and nervous to go. If I'm being honest, I was a little apprehensive about attending a new church. As I mentioned in a previous post, we have a wonderful church family in South Carolina. We love our pastor, leaders, family, and friends that are there. We grew so much while we attended there. I had a conversation with someone who, at the time, I didn't know very well, but I now consider a friend about this very topic. I didn't think any church could measure up and that we would just have to make due until we returned home. This friend gently reminded me that, even though this church probably would be different, it would be exactly what we need. I am so amazed at those words and how they were spoken to me at just the right time. She opened my heart and mind to the possibility that God would work through me and in me regardless of where we attend church. I am so thankful for her gentle reminder to just seek God where we. So anyway, when we walked in the doors of the church, we were immediately greeted with warm, welcoming smiles. It is instant community! The church is much smaller than our church in South Carolina, maybe 20-40 people on a given Sunday, but the wonderful, gospel-based preaching and sincerity with which the pastor spoke really encouraged us. What are the chances of finding an English speaking, gospel preaching church in such a spiritually dead area?! It is different from our church in South Carolina, very different, but still good! We left feeling encouraged! (I want to write a post to explain more about the church at another time.)

After we arrived back at the loft on Sunday night, we received a call from our realtor in South Carolina who told us about an offer she had received on our house! If you recall from a previous post, we had listed our house just six days prior to her calling us with an offer. Six days!!! After a bit of negotiating, we accepted an offer and were told we would close sometime in April!

That night, as Cole and I talked about the week and about selling our house, we were just amazed at how much we could see God's hand in everything that had been happening, even before we left. He has been so gracious to us and protected us all along the way. We are so thankful!  We have now closed on the house and don't have to worry about it at all anymore! Praise God!

Grocery Shopping!

It may seem absurd to dedicate an entire post to grocery shopping. However, this has probably been one of the most stressful things for me since we have been here.  It's something that can't be ignored and I had to figure out how to be successful at it pretty quickly. This was one of my "jobs" in South Carolina. I had a system and a plan for meals, snacks, etc. during the week. It was a pretty well oiled machine. For probably the first three weeks here, every trip to the store resulted in tears, frustration, and the same five or ten ingredients (milk, bread, cereal, peanut butter, jelly, cheese, eggs, and tomato soup). That doesn't make for very nutritious meals or much variety.

We ate a lot of randomness during that time. I should not complain at all because we did have food to eat. We were not hungry during any of that time. But it was certainly not what we are used to. So why was it so stressful? Well, if you have ever been to the store with children, you know that trips to the store already have the potential to be stressful without adding anything else. Add in completely different products, a completely different language, no carts, and a huge double stroller and you have a recipe for stress! Oh, and I haven't even commented on the fact that you have to bring your own bags or pay for some at the store (while people are staring at you wondering where your bags are), and you have to bag your own groceries...STRESS! Thankfully, I have found that almost everyone here speaks English (at least a little) and no one has refused to help me when I have needed it.  Side note: I have only met one person who did not know any English and would not help me.

Anyway, let me comment on some things that are different about grocery stores and food products here. 

Milk: Most people buy milk that has been ultra, ultra pasteurized and sits out in the middle of the store...meaning, not in the refrigerated section. I know most people do drink that milk here, but it FREAKS ME OUT!! So far, I have not been able to jump on that train. Thankfully, they do have the option to buy milk in the refrigerated section, so that's what I do! The milk comes in small containers (1 liter), so we usually buy 4 of those a week.

Eggs: Also sit in the middle of the store...not refrigerated. Again, obviously it is fine, but again, it freaks me out. Also, sometimes the egg shells have feathers or remnants of poo on them. 

Bread: Bread is very different here. It doesn't seem to me that people buy regular loaves of bread from a store. They have a small selection of bread like you would see in America, but I don't ever see the locals buying that bread. More often, I see people buying bread in the local bakeries, or bakery like bread in groceries stores that they then cut up on their own. Not a bad thing, just different. I do a combination of both.  

Peanut Butter: Pretty much non-exsistent! If you can find it, it comes in these tiny little jars that last our family maybe a week! If you know me well, you know that I like to eat peanut butter by the spoonful, so we have gone through many jars since we have been here.

Trash bags: Trash, for the most part, is a government controlled thing. They have specific bags for specific trash items and the government controls how much the bags are. No matter where you go, they are the same price. In many stores, you can't just pick them up on a shelf in the store. You have to go to the service counter to request and pay for the bags. Again, not bad, just strange! 

Cheese: There is not much cheese here that I used to eat on a regular basis. I have learned to like gouda, which is readily available almost everywhere, but I am still searching for a go-to cheese like cheddar to keep in the fridge. 

Fruit and vegetables: Fruit and vegetables here are awesome! They taste so good, and since I'm so close to the store, I go several times a week to get them meaning they are always very fresh! While I do get some produce at the grocery store, I do more of my produce shopping at the local fruit and vegetable stands or markets. I have been pleasantly surprised at how much more fresh fruits and veggies we have been consuming since being here. Good and good for you! :)

Meat: Well, I now know what the words for chicken (kip) and beef (rundvlees) are in dutch. It has taken a while, but I can find my way around a meat section. 100% ground beef is hard to find...they like to mix beef and pork together, but I recently found a butcher close to our house where I can confidently purchase the exact meat I am looking for! I'm sure we've accidentally eaten some weird meat since we've been here (not muskrat or otters, just meat that we don't normally eat...not super adventurous with meat in our home). 

After the third week or so, things started to calm down as we were feeling more settled in the loft, so I was able to be more meticulous about shopping...making meal and shopping lists, having a route, spending a bit more time at the store, etc. By that time, I was also learning what I could and could not realistically expect to get at the store. I had to come to terms with the fact that I am not going to find all my beloved mexican food ingredients in the store no matter how hard I look! :) So I was able to start making healthy and nutritious meal plans with the knowledge that I would actually be able to follow through with them! As a side note, there are at least two grocery stores within walking distance (three minutes) of our loft. Neither of them really have carts and they are pretty small. This is a problem with my two little ones. What I now do is walk to the store with the double stroller, then when we get to the store, I push the stroller, and Cameron walks behind me pulling a little shopping basket. Sometimes he's a little rambunctious, but for the most part, he is very helpful. He pulls the groceries and then puts them on the conveyer belt while I bag the scanned groceries. We then stack them on the stroller and walk back to the loft. It's a good little partnership!        

So over the past two months, I have refined my grocery shopping and now visit the grocery store, bakery, butcher, and fruit and vegetable markets several times a week. I know it seems strange coming from America where we like to knock everything out in one trip, but I have found this to be the best way to get the best ingredients. I am thankful for all the options and for the ability to walk to all these places. 

One other nice surprise I discovered was the existence of a store called The American Food Store in Antwerp. Antwerp is about 40 minutes north east of Gent, so it's not too far! We decided to make a trip there not too long ago to see what was there. It's a little hole in the wall store, but we were very excited to be there. I know we haven't been gone that long, but it was soooo nice to walk in and know what everything in the store was!! It is mostly packaged, processed junk food, but it's nice to know that if we need a taste of home, we can get it there. The only downside to the store is that the prices are outrageous. (I think we paid $8.00 for a box of Oreos...don't judge us, we really needed some Oreos! :) We also got quite a few cans of black beans (a staple for me back home), chips and salsa, enchilada sauce, and some crackers. We ate almost a whole bag of chips and salsa on the 40 minute drive home!

So here is a rundown of my favorite (so far) places to shop around Gent:

Grocery store: There are several where I shop, but Delhaize is my favorite. I walk to this city Delhaize weekly, but there is another larger branch that I occasionally drive to when I need something more specific. 

Bakery: There are MANY bakeries that I visit, but the locals told me that Himschoot Bakery is the best. It definitely did not disappoint! This is one of the oldest bakeries in Gent and you can definitely tell they know what they are doing. It's always busy and yummy. It's not the closest bakery to our apartment, but it's worth the walk!

Butcher: I first visited Slagerij Aula on the recommendation of a neighbor. I haven't really investigated butchers other than this one, but I am very happy with it so far. There is a ton of variety and, in addition, there is a nice selection of cheeses, produce, bread, pastas, snacks, etc. There is also a nice little restaurant in the middle. 

                                                   Market: Again, I haven't investigated too many other markets because I found this little organic market that I walk to every Friday. I get all kinds of fresh, wonderful fruits and vegetables there. I also usually stop at another fruit and vegetable stand to fill in what I can't find at the organic market.

I am starting to feel more confident going out and about and just exploring to see what is out there to enjoy. I am very thankful that this area is starting to come together. My trips are not always smooth, but they are getting better each time. I hope to continue adding places to find yummy food! 

Looking back...Our First Day in Belgium

I
I'm sure we looked a little strange, standing there on the sidewalk with a mountain of luggage.  Thankfully, we were able to snag a luggage cart and move the mountain into the lobby, check in, and finally make it up to our temporary apartment.  We had heard that the best way to beat the jet lag is to force yourself to be on the schedule of wherever you are. Whoever came up with that idea did not have small children. That result of that strategy is likely one less family member by the end of the day. Needless to say, we all crashed and slept for several hours to try to catch up on some of the lost sleep. After three hours, we made ourselves get up, cleaned up a little, and then walked over to meet our relocation agent (Dina) at the loft where we would be living. It was very exciting and nerve racking to see the loft. We already signed the rental papers, so we were hoping we would like it and that it would suit our family.



We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived! We thought the loft was beautiful and very spacious for our extremely rambunctious children. Once again, we felt very blessed to have found such a beautiful loft without having even seen it. The loft was partially furnished and the landlady agreed to leave the items until our things arrived, another blessing.  We spent some time looking around the loft and let the boys explore before we went to the City Center to walk through a grocery store and get something to eat.

Zuid City Center 

The City Center refers to a building (not the middle of the city) which has a mall (very small compared to what we're used to), and a grocery store inside. Thank goodness Dina came with us because everything was SO overwhelming. On top of being tired, we didn't know exactly how to communicate with people, or what to buy at the grocery store. Dina took us to the sandwich shop in the mall and helped us order some food. After we ate, we went to the grocery store so she could show us around. As I was walking in the door to the store, a lady came behind me and pushed me out of the way! I started crying...not sure why except that I was so overwhelmed and, at that moment, I felt like I would never feel comfortable or confident in our new home. I felt like we stood out like a

Match Grocery Store

sore thumb and everyone was looking at us. Dina walked through the store with us and showed us some staples that we would probably need like milk, bread, etc. and explained the way grocery stores work. I know that sounds silly, but it's different here! I'll post more on food and grocery stores at another time. We didn't buy anything, but it was helpful to walk through with someone who knew what was going on. I should mention that the shopping center is about a 3 minute walk from our loft!

After our trip to the City Center, we went back to the Aparthotel to let the boys rest. We also ate dinner at the hotel. We had made plans prior to leaving for Belgium to meet another American expat with the company and his wife to walk through the grocery store. They thought it would be helpful to have some help to get a few things to get us through a couple days. They were right. Even though we were all exhausted, it was good to once again walk through the store. So, back to Match we went. Cole's co-worker, Adam, and his wife, Annelies walked through the store with me while Cole entertained the boys. Adam, an American, and Annelies, a Belgian, gave me tips from different perspectives. Adam was able to show me what was very different from what I was used to, and Annelies was able to give me recommendations about what specific brands were good to buy. In the end, I think I purchased bread, milk, cereal, turkey, cheese, baby food, and some fruit...enough to get us by in our temporary apartment for a few days.  By the end of that trip, my head was ready to explode! We parted ways with Adam and Annelies, grateful for their kindness, went back to the Aparthotel and crashed!

It's difficult to describe how I was feeling at the end of the first day. Before we left for Gent, I went back and forth between calm, cool, and collected, and completely freaked out. I was hardly ever anywhere in between. I think that's the best way to describe how I felt during our first day. Our emotions were all over the place during the day, but when we finally laid down that first night, Cole and I both felt like things were good and that we would be fine. God was and is in Belgium. He had brought us safely to our new home. He allowed us to be uncomfortable, perhaps as a way to point us back to the constant grace He had been and continues to pour out on us.

Looking back...Traveling to Belgium

On Monday, February 18, we got up early to finish all our last minute packing and cleaning.  I feel like I should say that the morning was pretty relaxing and stress free for the magnitude of what was about to happen...definitely God's grace in our lives! When we were ready to go, the four of us, along with my parents and Cole's parents, went on our way to the Charlotte airport. I was worried that it would be a very emotional and tearful goodbye at the airport, but again, we were able to part ways in very calm manner. I am grateful for that as well!

We boarded the plane for the short flight to Washington DC. We sat on the plane for a short time while they fixed a small problem, but had an uneventful flight otherwise.  We had a 2 hour layover in DC before we boarded the "big plane" as Cameron likes to call it. We sat on the "big plane" for at least an hour after we were scheduled to depart while the maintenance crew took their time deciding whether or not we could leave without a spare oxygen tank.  It was not a very fun hour of sitting. Cameron was easily distracted by activities we brought for him, but Harrison was not so amused! In fact, he spent a good portion of that hour screaming!! I don't like to be the one causing a distraction or annoying people, so this stressed me out a lot. Thankfully, shortly before we finally took off, Harrison fell asleep. I can honestly say that the rest of the flight was very uneventful. We ate some dinner, watched some movies, and then all fell asleep. None of us more than a few hours of sleep, but enough to make the trip a little more tolerable. We landed in Brussels around 9:00 (3:00 am EST). We grabbed our luggage (all of our luggage made it), and headed out to find our taxi. I'm sure it was amusing watching us try to navigate through the airport by ourselves. I'm quite certain we all looked a bit disheveled, but we also had a ton of luggage - 7 pieces of luggage plus a double stroller, two carseats, and two small children in tow. It was a bit of a mess, but we made it!

After our caravan made it through customs, we found our taxi driver who had a strange look on his face when we saw us. He told us that there was no way we would be able to fit everything in the car he brought for us. I wanted to cry when I saw the car...it was small. I was not prepared to deal being stuck at the airport until we had another solution, but thankfully, the taxi driver found a colleague with a big van who was willing to trade routes with him. So, we loaded the bags, carseats, stroller, and ourselves and headed to Gent. It took about 40 minutes to get to our temporary apartment. The boys (including Cole) slept while I sat in the front seat and worried about all the changes and all there was to do to make Gent our home.

When we pulled up to the Aparthotel Gent, the taxi driver set a record for "Fastest Unloading of an American Family with Lots of Stuff."  We were left standing in front of the building, our luggage on the sidewalk, and a little dazed.

Thankfully, it wasn't raining.

We had arrived.

Decisions, Decisions! Before the Big Move.

It has been a whirlwind of activity since we moved to Belgium. From trying to find our way around, to cleaning and furnishing our apartment, to grocery shopping, to meeting new people, it has definitely been a unique experience! I am thankful that things are starting to calm down and we are beginning to get into a bit of a routine. I wanted to write down what these last 4 months have been like so I can look back and remember how crazy they were and how good God has been to us through this entire process so far.

Let me start back in November - when we were trying to decide whether or not to take this opportunity. Cole's company had offered him an expat contract in Gent, Belgium. The package was designed as a 3-5 year assignment. Cole and I were not on the same page for quite a while. Cole, being the adventurous one that he is, thought that this would be an amazing opportunity with lots of fun and adventure. He also thought it would be a good challenge and a chance for growth within the company. I was never completely against moving, but I took a more realistic and cautious approach to thinking through the opportunity. I thought it could be fun, but we have two small children, I was going through some medical issues, and we had finally found a wonderful church family home and had started getting involved with music and an amazing small group.

It was confusing to my small mind as to why God would lead us to such a wonderful place in our lives only to ask us to move on. After a lot of discussion and prayer, we decided together that we would move forward with the opportunity. As long as doors continued to open, we would continue to walk through them and follow where we felt like God was leading us. As you can see, the doors did in fact continue to open because we are now in Belgium! Once we decided to accept the opportunity, we had to move fast as the potential leave date was sometime in the beginning of 2013. That only gave us a few months to go Gent to find housing, as well as pack, sell our house, and enjoy the holidays. Oh, and we also had to take care of the kiddos! :)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

In December, just before Christmas, Cole, the boys, 

my sister (our wonderful nanny for the trip) and I went to visit Gent. I don't remember a lot from the trip, partly because it was a fast trip packed with a lot of business, and partly because the seizures affect on my short term memory. What I do remember of the trip was positive. With the old buildings and architecture and decorations for Christmas, it was beautiful. It also seemed like a safe, friendly place. Cameron loved seeing all the trains and buses. We even took a tram ride around the city so he could have that experience. Oh, and the food was amazing!! This was important to me because Cole and I lived in England for a short time and the food was terrible! Those of you who know me well know that I like to eat...a lot! Anyway, back to the trip. We met with a potential school for the boys (they start school at 3 here) and found an apartment that we liked. We interviewed with the landlady, but she ended up choosing other tenants who promised to stay for 9 years! I can't say that I blame her. Unfortunately, we did not find this out until we had already left Belgium, so we had to find another apartment without actually seeing it! Yikes! We left there and headed to Florida for Christmas vacation with my family and tried to relax.

Quick side note from Cole: although we had done some traveling with the boys previously, Harrison had never been on a plane before and Cameron can't sit still for 10 minutes, soooooo you can imagine we were a little nervous about traveling for 20 straight hours, through multiple time zones and living out of a hotel.  Add 6 days of constantly going from one thing to the next, to getting on a plane and traveling for 24 hours straight before checking into another hotel (albeit one in Florida) and you very likely will do this to one of your children:

All things considered, the boys handled traveling better than we did.  Harrison was lucky enough to even get his own personal bassinet on the flight to Brussels. (side note over)






It was so nice to be with my entire family for last time in what will probably be a long time. I did some research to find another apartment that would work for us and ended up finding one online. We asked our relocation agent to check it out for us and take some pictures. She went to see it and told us that it was nicest apartment she had seen for us. We told her we wanted the apartment and to move forward as soon as possible to secure it for us. She was able to get it and sign all the paperwork before anyone else could come in and get it. So, we then had one major task to check off the list! That was a big relief!

Once we were back in South Carolina, we immediately got to work planning and preparing, sorting, packing, and throwing out, donating, and selling things we would not be taking. This process was especially tedious because we had to inventory every single item in our house and then find a replacement value in case anything happened during the move or in storage. I think it's safe to say this was a trying time for Cole and me. There were a lot of late nights and panic attacks (mostly by me...ok, all by me) during this process. We also connected with the relocation company who would assist with the moving and storage of our things as well as the sale of our house. We decided to wait to try to sell our house until closer to our leave date, so we focused on the packing. The movers came for the first round of packing on January 28th and 29th, taking the majority of our items for sea shipment and storage. This included all of our beds and furniture, as well as most of our clothes, toys for the boys, and kitchen items. Thankfully, our incredible small group helped us out by offering beds, toys, kitchen utensils, etc. so that we wouldn't be completely helpless in our house. What a gift each and every one of our small group members are to us!!  We sent our sea freight early so that it could arrive in Belgium closer to when we would arrive, but waited to send our essentials until closer to our leave date which was scheduled for February 18th. The movers then came on February 12th to get the rest of our things except for what we would take in our suitcases...it was really bare bones in our house after that!

Our stress level really went down after our air shipment was packed and taken away. We could look forward to spending time with family and enjoying our going away party thrown by our small group. My parents came Wednesday and Cole's came Friday. Everyone was a big help getting the house ready to put on the market and helping with last minute errands, etc. On Friday, we had a Belgian themed going away party with waffles, cheese and chocolates! It was such a wonderful time to spend with our great friends and family before leaving. I wish I had pictures from the party, but sadly, I did not remember to bring a camera. Believe me when I say that it was a good time! We woke up Saturday morning to find Cameron covered from head to toe in red spots that looked a lot like chicken pox.

We were shocked and didn't know what to do. Our plan was to leave on Monday, but we didn't think a plane full of people would like to be exposed to chicken pox! We took him to the doctor to see what was going on and found out that he was having an allergic reaction to some medicine he was taking for an ear infection. We felt like we could handle that, so we moved forward with plans to leave on Monday. Sunday, the day before we left, we had the honor of having Harrison dedicated at church. I know the people we've connected with in South Carolina have been and will continue to pray for us and our children while we are gone, so I was very happy to be able to take part in this before we left.

We woke up Monday morning ready for the last few tasks before heading to Charlotte to board our plane to Belgium. The last thing that happened before we pulled out of the driveway was the "For Sale" sign was placed in our yard. It was a very bittersweet feeling for me. I loved our little house. It was the first house we ever owned and the place where I brought both my babies home. But, we were called to move on, so move on we will!