The Countdown Begins

Things are finally starting to move along quickly now! We have an official start date of May 2nd so we will be buying our one-way-tickets to Brussels for probably April 27th. Which gives us only 51 days left in the states...and that's not counting the house hunting trip to Belgium!! Wow...that time is going to fly by!! We also have our house hunting trip booked for March 25th and will be spending the week there exploring, looking at apartments, and trying to plan for the move. Jacob's parents will be watching Autumn so it will make it a little easier to get things done, although it's going to be really hard to be away from her for a whole week! We will have a consultant on the trip that will make the appointments with all the realtors (I guess in Belgium realtors will only show you their own properties, so we will likely have lots of separate appointments and it will be several pretty intense days of searching). We've been looking online at apartments over there and it seems like we should be able to get a pretty nice one. We definitely want a three bedroom (so all our visitors will have a private room to stay in), one with a washer and dryer or atleast a hook up is a must, close to parks and grocery and everything else we might need since Autumn and I will be walking everywhere. Here are some pics of my favorite one right now although I'm pretty sure it's in a bad neighborhood because it's too good to be true :o)






I just love the french country style of the kitchen. I know for sure I want something with some character...some wide plank wood floors, tall ceilings with crown molding, that type of thing...something exciting and totally different from what we can get here! I was told to watch out for fireplaces though...so we need to find a place that the fire places are closed off because cleaning them is a pretty penny and you have to do it monthly! Something else I've learned about renting in Belgium that could be challenging is they typically only do 3, 6, or 9 YEAR leases over there! Since we are planning a 2 year trip that could be interesting. Hopefully our consultant will be helpful in negotiating that for us. I'm really looking forward to this trip and getting to explore our new home!

In other countdown news...I have EIGHT days left of work! Oh my! I have really been struggling with giving up my job. It's just so scary to let go of something when I don't know what the future will bring. I've also been advised that the transition would be easier if I was able to work over there. Surprisingly there is a Boeing Brussels office...it has about 55 employees and is mostly commercial airline sales. There was the possibility of me being able to just transfer there and as tempting as it sounded, in the end, I decided to turn it down. I feel like the opportunity to stay home with Autumn is something I may never have again and for that reason it just felt like the best decision I could make. So I have officially turned in my resignation and will be here only 8 short more days...sigh :o(

That's probably enough of an update for now!! There are more things to tell...like about our French lessons, and selling our house, and shipping our stuff...but I'll save those for next time! Au revoir...