Moving Madness

This is how our 25 boxes arrived from Serbia! Lots of unpacking for the McCoy family!

What a whirlwind! This past month allowed no time for blog-posting or friend-making; instead, the month sounded a little bit like this for me:

Pack your life into those 25-dust-covered boxes that are hiding under your bed in Serbia - 

Place said boxes on a truck bound for Belgium, and expect them to show up at your new apartment in a few weeks -

Did you make sure to update that shipping list before sending those 25 boxes? - 

Decide how to pack five suitcases with basic living essentials for those few weeks and remember a knife and at least two place settings, oh, and bedding and towels. . . there's got to be something you're forgetting - 

Say tearful goodbyes over one too many cups of coffee - 

Give your landlord a goodbye card and a long hug; she really was more like a mother to you - 

Throw those five suitcases into your Serbian car, grab your husband, and drive up to Germany for Reece's 30th birthday party (read about that extravaganza) - 

After a weekend of birthday-party-bash-excitement, drive your Serbian car back down to Budapest so that a driver can pick it up and take it back to Serbia. Get yourselves and those five suitcases on a plane bound for Brussels, Belgium -

Now you're in Belgium - but you have a lot to sort out before you can feel at home - 

Like you need furniture in your apartment now. . . and light bulbs . . . and electricity. . . -

Ready - Set - TRANSITION!

For ten days we hustled! It felt like we could never be settled, and there were just so many little details to figure out. Looking back, it really all fell into place rather quickly, but the transition period is sort of stressful. In those first 10 days, we signed a lease on a lovely apartment, opened a bank account, had all the utilities transferred into our name, bought a washer and dryer, spent 11 hours in IKEA picking out and purchasing basic furniture for our new apartment, and we got a car. Now that it's all said and done, it's easy to forget the stress of moving. This blog post is going to serve as a reminder to me that moving is always going to be a little stressful and difficult. Or a lot stressful! While we still miss Serbia and our amazing friends there, after a month, Belgium is starting to feel a little more comfortable. Once I get out and about, I will start blogging about settling into a new culture and hopefully meet some new friends. 

This is all part of the story - the journey - that we signed up for, and we are daily trying to

 live our lives to the fullest. 

Thanks for reading!

The best part of our new place. . . I HAVE A DRYER!!

A patio with no seating and packaged lunch on move-in day. 

This is what our place looked like after our first IKEA trip. There's potential here!

Slowly things started coming together. 

I love the view we have from our patio. Even without furniture, this just makes the world seem right.