Selling the House Part 3

Read Part 1 & Part 2 before you start the final installment of the Selling the House Trilogy!

The sign is in the yard and the appliances are new and shiny.  The photographer took fantastic shots of our house on Monday afternoon.  The photos were online by dinner time Monday night.  

Then the fun began.

Over the next six days we had fourteen scheduled showings of our house.  Many were scheduled the day of so the house needed to be showing ready each morning.  I knew this was part of the process, but it's a pain in the arse.

The prep for the showings began the night before:   

• The meals prepared on the shiny new appliances entailed something that didn't splatter or leave a lingering smell
• The appliances were wiped down to remove fingerprints
• The dishwasher was run, whether or not it was full
• Sweep the floors
• Clean up the toys
• Run a load of laundry
• Burn the pretty smelling candle to mask any dinner smells

The mornings were the most fun.  In addition to the get ready for school routine we had to:

• Make the beds
• Raise the blinds
• Wipe down the bathroom fixtures
• Clean up the toys
• Rearrange the "staged' fruit on the table
• Adjust the "staged" flowers on the "eat in kitchen" table
• Throw all dirty laundry into the washing machine for later
• Cross your fingers while walking out the door

The most interesting part of showing your house is that you have to keep yourself occupied while you house is occupied by strangers.  I didn't mind the showings during the day as I was usually at work or could stay at work until the showing time was over.  The evening showings were the hardest because I still had to do the night routine of dinner, homework, and baths.  That was really tricky with 6:00 & 7:00 showings.  

The great news is that we only had to endure one week of showings because we received an offer on the house Saturday morning!  With some easy negotiations we quickly had a deal.  Happily we're passing our house along to a young couple that is just starting their lives together.  

Change that to SOLD!!!!

Not How We Thought The Weekend Was Going To Go

We had big plans for the long Columbus Day weekend.

Oldest Kiddo was going to spend a few days with her cousin.  Youngest Kiddo was going to stay with Nana & Papa so he could help Papa work on his new shed.  Matt and I were going to continue working decluttering the house and maybe even go out on a date.  

We had big plans for the long Columbus Day weekend.

Matt was out of town at the tail end of the week, and the kids and I had an easy morning getting ready for school on Friday morning.  It was so relaxed that they had time to eat breakfast at home instead of school like usual.

As I sat down to an 8:30 staff meeting, the secretary sent a phone call my way.  It was Oldest Kiddo's school.  I figured she had an upset stomach or a headache.

Not quite.  According to the secretary from her school, she fell on the playground and her shoulder hurts, bad.  I could sense tenseness in her voice, and she said that I should come check her out.  I asked if she thinks they should call the paramedics for Oldest Kiddo, but she urged me to come check her out.

I got the heck out of my school and across town to Oldest Kiddo's school.  I knew this was going to be something big if she wouldn't say much other than I should get over there.  Oldest Kiddo was sobbing in the nurse's office.  The secretary shared that Oldest Kiddo had a collision with another student on the playground.  Each kid was running for a ball and they did not see each other.  She ricocheted off him onto the blacktop and landed on her shoulder.

I knew the only option was to go to the ER.  Thankfully the hospital is only a mile away from school.  She was seen immediately, and they recognized that she was in a ton of pain and gave her some Motrin.  That worked very fast and she calmed down quick.  We only waited a few minutes until the X-ray Tech wheeled out.

You can see the results in the photo below.     

That sure is a broken clavicle

That's her right clavicle; clean break straight through.

Here she is all wrapped up in her sling & Ace bandage

The only fix for it is a sling and an Ace bandage.  It will take 4-6 weeks for her to heal.  We have an appointment with an Orthopedic specialist on Monday for a clear treatment plan.

She needs to learn to eat as a lefty

The ER doc said today would be a rough day for her since all the adrenaline from the accident would be out of her body, and she would start feeling the pain.  That is yet to happen today.  She woke up at her normal time and didn't want any Motrin.  The only treatment she is needing today is an ice pack in 20-minute intervals every two hours.    

She's been content to hang on the couch and watch movies all day.  

Very thankful for the long weekend so she can rest up!

Selling the House Part 2

The last time we talked, I had just shared with the neighbors that we were moving.

Now it was time to blow the doors off this and share the news with work and social media.

I started with my team and then the staff.  It was a relief to share, but the sharing made this move real.  Their reactions were the same as we've observed from others.  However, the logistical questions started flying my way.  When am I leaving?  Who will take my position?  Do the students know?  I could not answer many of the questions because I have no idea.  We are selling the house to get in before the traditional slump around the holidays.  Who knows how long it will really take to sell.  We might be doing things out of order, but at this time we think we're doing the right thing.

The realtor did not waste any time putting the sign in the yard.  It was there when I came home at lunch on Friday, but it was not online because interior pictures had not been taken.  The realtor felt having the sign would start to create some interest.

The appliance delivery men arrived right on time, and we spent a few hours together on a lovely Friday.  I asked my in-laws to come in on this day for some support.  I knew the old almond refrigerator fit in the space with not a millimeter to spare.  While we measured the new fridge at the store and checked the measurements online, I wanted my father-in-law there just in case some emergency modifications of cabinetry was necessary.  Thankfully, we were able to spend the afternoon chatting and observing instead of hacking up the cabinets.

Sure hope the new owners love the appliances.  The boy isn't included.

Apparently if you have an eat-in kitchen your house sells better.  Both realtors told us that we had one.  Now, I'm not sure what kitchen they were looking at, but my kitchen is not an eat in kitchen.  The professional opinion was to put a small bistro-style table in the kitchen.  OK boss.

Youngest Kiddo helped

I guess there's an eat-in space

Fresh flowers make a house sell faster

Stay tuned for Part 3 when it gets really interesting.

Selling The House Part 1

Back in 2011 we made the decision to stay in our house and return it back to it's original three-bedroom configuration instead of adding another story or moving.  We were happy with our decision.  Staying put allowed us to travel more and with no additional mortgage costs, ultimately made the decision to move to London a no brainer.

We spoke with two well-known realtors in town the week of Labor Day.  We needed to know if our house was even ready for a For Sale sign.  Our timing was close, in a sense, to the holidays so was it even a good idea to try to sell at the time?  Both realtors indicated the time was great time for a house like ours because it appealed to many buyers: empty nesters, singles, young couples, and small families.  The best news of all, the inventory of houses like ours in the area was extremely low and the number of buyers was high.    

Additionally, both realtors had similar suggestions for improvements to complete before going on the market, and both suggested similar listing prices.  One realtor's follow-up was an email with listing price & comps.  The other returned on Saturday morning to sit down with us and go over the listing price and comps.

Then things started moving fast.  

Does your appliance store have a choreographed fountain & race car?

On Saturday, before we settled on a realtor we went appliance shopping.  Since both made comment that the almond appliances in the kitchen were not on trend, we felt that we had to do something about it.  I talked Matt into a trip to our favorite, always jam-packed appliance store in the 'burbs.  We went in as an information-gathering excursion.  We left with a new suite of appliances.  It was quite easy to pick out appliances that we won't get the chance to use.  I think we made nice choices for the new residents.  

On Sunday we made the call to the realtor we wanted to partner with; we chose the realtor who took the time to sit with us and answer all four hundred of our questions.  She is a former property appraiser, so we felt that her expertise would be beneficial from start to finish.   The Monday after Labor Day I went into realtor's office to sign the papers to get the house on the market.  Matt was in London, so I signed and then the realtor scanned & emailed them to him.  

At this point in the game the circle of people that knew of our moving plan was quite small.  The addition of a big old For Sale sign in the front yard made us have to spill the news pretty quick.  I asked the realtor to wait until Friday to install the sign so we'd have a few days to expand the circle.  She was OK with that since photos wouldn't be taken until Monday after the appliances were installed.

That meant I had four days until the free world knew we were moving. <insert panic here>

I started with our neighbors.  They'd be the first to see the sign and quite possibly it's installation.  They had a similar reaction as the our friends, a sad and happy reaction.  For the neighbors I couldn't catch up with, I had to send an email.  Not the most personal, but it was the best I could do in a time crunch.

I think you've read enough of the story for now.  Come back for Part 2.

Meanwhile Our Summer Continued....

With nothing but time on our hands, we made the most of our summer.  We drove to Hilton Head Island, SC, and for a week we rented a house with my sister's family and my parents.  Hilton Head is a gorgeous place.  You can make it as low-key or busy as you like.

The house we rented was just outside the gate to the Sea Pines Resort and provided us access to the plantation amenities.  For our little family of four, we were content with days at the house pool and the beach.  My sister's family was more adventurous and rented bikes and went kayaking.  We made dinner at home several nights and even sought out an authentic Carolina BBQ place (which happened to be connected to a gas station!)

One morning my sister, my parents, and I went paddle boarding in the Sea Pines Resort.  The day was overcast, but the peace of the morning was wonderful.  I think my dad really enjoyed paddle boarding; I could see that he enjoyed taking his time to navigate the sea grasses and admire the waterfront homes.

Hilton Head is a winner.  You should go.

When we started our drive home from Hilton Head Island Matt jokingly shared that it would only be two hours to Jacksonville and then just a short two more hours to Orlando.  He gave me the "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" look.  I knew what he meant - Disney World.

We went into immediate plan mode.

• What appointments do we have this week that we can change?
• We did laundry before leaving Hilton Head Island
• We have some snacks 
• Does Matt have some hotel points that he can use to offset the cost?

I texted my college pals to get their opinion.  One summed it up perfectly - Of course we should go to Disney World, we are moving across the ocean!  When is the next time we will be so close?

That question sealed the deal.  We were going!  Two days at Disney World would be a sweet ending to the family vacation.

We arrived right around dinner time on Saturday.  Instead of burning a day on our park tickets, we spent the evening at Downtown Disney.  We all enjoyed the opportunity to stretch our legs from being in the car most of the day.

On Sunday we spent the day at the Magic Kingdom until the park closed.  Youngest Kiddo is at a great age where he was game for any ride we tried.  It seemed like after he got off each ride he wanted to ride it again.  His favorites were Buzz Lightyear and Goofy's Barnstormer.  Oldest Kiddo's favorites were Space Mountain and Mission Space at Epcot.

Monday's fun was slightly hampered by an obnoxious heat index of 112 degrees.  The blacktop sure does not help that situation - we actually melted onto the sidewalk.  We spent a few hours at Disney Studios then had to go back to our hotel for a little swim.  After internal body temperatures and attitudes improved, the family took the boat to Epcot.

Knowing what our future held, we ate dinner at the Rose & Crown Pub in the United Kingdom.

On Tuesday morning we knew a super long drive was ahead of us.  We packed up the car and hit the road back to reality.

Keeping busy during idle time

*Posts are finally back to present day.  As you will see when you read below, you've missed nothing.

Then there was nothing.

Zip.

Zilch.

Nada.

July and August were the most frustrating months of this whole experience.  There was NO information about anything. 

       

Matt is quite a diplomatic person, and he wants to keep it that way.  He asks the questions he needs to and waits for the answers.  No matter if the answer takes a fortnight (2 weeks) to arrive.  Meanwhile, Matt has to listen to my questions for which he has no answer.  Keep in mind, in July and August no formal written offer had been presented to Matt.  There was still a real possibility that this could fall through.  I think that is what scared me the most.

Also by this time we came to realize that a move before school started was impossible.  That was a letdown for all of us.  We thought the beginning of the school year would be a clean break for me from work and a fresh start for the kids.  But that was not to be.

So I mentally prepared myself to go back to work, and I had to dig out my personal teaching materials that I schlepped home.  Oldest Kiddo was happy to go back to her school so she could see her friends again.

Of course I continued to purge, sell, and toss various bits that we no longer need.  If the move does not work out, at least we will have an organized house.

Is the Weatherman Preparing Us?

Originally written 6/17/2013

We know the weather in London is not like our current home.  It tends to be a bit more chilly in the summer and warmer in the summer than we are currently used to.  London’s latitude is comparable with Canada, so that forecast makes sense.  They do not get snow very often, and air conditioning in homes is not common.  

The calendar on the wall tells us summer is here, but we are not feeling it.  Oldest Kiddo’s softball season is wrapping up, and I think we’ve worn jackets and pants for almost all of the games.  We’ve also had lots of rain and cloudy days.  Maybe that’s the universe’s way of preparing us for the move.

Or the world is going a little crazy because London is having an unseasonably warm summer.

*The news shared in this blog posts was originally written many months ago.  We were not ready to share the news with the world at that time, so I added the original date the post was written at the top.

Finding A School In London - My Take On It

Originally written 6/11/2013

First off, this is a text-heavy post.

Next, there are obvious differences between the UK and US.  For us, finding a school is causing much anxiety.  My experience with registering for school has two steps.  

1) buy or rent a house in the school district

2) go to the school in your neighborhood and fill out some paperwork

3) Bonus Step - Go to Target and buy pretty new school supplies :)

Well in the UK, it’s not that easy. Once you read below, it will become clear that the enrollment procedures are vastly different. Please forgive me for any errors, but this is as I understand it.

You might be asking, “Why aren’t you sending your children to the American School?” The answer was really easy for us to decide - It costs over £20,000 per child, and Matt’s employment package does not include tuition. Truthfully, with Youngest Kiddo in preschool/kindergarten, £20,000 seems a bit much to pay. So the adventure will continue for our kiddos in the British school system.

I’m going to attempt to explain it to you, as best I understand it.  If you have ever seen the steps people go through in signing a toddler up for preschool in a competitive market, I think this is sort of similar.  Minus the application video & portfolio, I think.  Instead of neighborhood schools, they have what are called catchment areas.  This is sort of like a school district, however, you are not obligated to attend the school that is closest to your residence.

In mid-September 2013 for school year 2014-15:

1) Research the schools in your catchment area.  Talk to friends & neighbors about their schools and read individual school’s Ofsted reports.  Ofsted ranks schools on a scale of 1 (outstanding) to 4 (unsatisfactory). Real people write these reports, so the reader needs to take the rankings into consideration as well.  

2) Visit schools in your catchment area.  Many of the schools have specific days scheduled for the visits.

3) Apply to your top three or four schools in January

4) Wait for placements sent in April

5) In early May you receive acceptance/rejection letters for your choice schools

6) A little later in May is the deadline for appeals to get into the school you really, really wanted.  From what I read, not many appeals turn out successful.

The rules are quite drawn out when they have several students that could take an open spot and have no discerning differences among them (no special education needs, ward of the state, etc.).  Then it’s all about where you live.  The student closest to the school gets in.  In the case of a multi-story building the student whose address is closer to the ground gets in before the student that is a floor or more above.  

Now after reading the steps involved to enroll in school, do you see a problem that we’re going to have?  It is June (I know it's really October, but originally written in June).  We are almost 7 months late to start the school process for next year.  Now in the US, this would not be a problem as you attend your neighborhood school regardless of the number students in attendance.  Well in the UK, you get into a school if they have room.  That means the school that is 0.2 miles from your house might not be accepting new students, but the school 3.0 miles away has plenty of space.  

My current plan is that I will not drive in the UK, and I would prefer not to walk 3 miles to school each way (especially uphill in the snow and sleet) five days per week.

Of course I want our children to attend an outstanding school.  I’m a bettin’ gal that those schools are inundated with applications and turn many away.  Then what happens if the only school in your catchment area is an unsatisfactory school?  I don’t think I could, in good conscience, send my child there everyday.

Enter HR Gal from Matt’s new office.  He shared with her that our hope and goal is to be in the UK for school to start in September, but we do not have a good handle on if that will happen or not.  Based on that time frame we will be in the UK in time to start looking for a school for 2014-15  school year.  Aside from that small detail, we have not found a place to live, and thus, have no knowledge of the catchment area we should research.  

HR Gal heard the concern and started talking to her colleagues who live in many different areas in and around the city. She shared links with us today about enrolling in a school mid-year.  One of the stipulations to allow a mid-year enrollment is an international move. We feel somewhat relieved to know we won’t be denied schooling.  Now it’s just a matter of if we can convince a #1 or #2 school to accept our cute kids.

*The news shared in this blog posts was originally written many months ago.  We were not ready to share the news with the world at that time, so I added the original date the post was written at the top.

Everyone Takes the News Differently

Originally written 6/10/2013

We’ve been trying to plan a date with college friends to the beach, but it looks like our summer weekends are not compatible.  So instead of heading to the beach, it was much easier for schedules to have the group at our house; shorter drive and less preparation.

Whenever we get together with our college friends, which we will all say always too far in between, it’s like time has never passed.  We spend a bit of time getting the scoop on the kids, but then we all relax with beverage and have great conversations.  Of the six adults at the table, four are teachers of varying disciplines and grades.  Often that dominates our conversation.  

One topic we discussed was my work status.  

Pause for a little background - Matt and I came to the conclusion last year, before London was a go, that I would pursue working part time. He realizes working full time from 8-4 then being the lone parent from 4-10 is not always fun. My principal, as you've already read was not thrilled with this prospect, was coming to terms with my part-time status since I'd still be working at the same building. I was really looking forward to the opportunity to run errands and get dinner started while the kids were still at school. Then when Matt had a heavy travel week, the stress level at the house would be lessened.

Our friends asked if I was excited for part-time work next year, and we figured that was a good segue into the move.  

“So, you are working part time next year?” says College Pal A.

“Um, that..... or less,” I respond

Furled eyebrows and confused faces appear.

We explained that Matt was offered a promotion to London and we were going to accept it.  College Pal A immediately bursts into tears and College Pal K continues with the furled brow, but I could not see what was happening under her sunglasses.  

After a few seconds, College Pal A asked if our move was the reason we asked them over for dinner. Obviously that was not the reason, however a face-to-face discussion was a much better option than a Facebook post!

Happily, they did not disown us as friends and asked many quality questions. One of which was if they could take some of our furniture :) I think they are going to be OK.

*The news shared in this blog posts was originally written many months ago.  We were not ready to share the news with the world at that time, so I added the original date the post was written at the top.

The Purge Continues

Originally written 6/7/2013

In the vein of doing small things that can and should be done whether or not we move, today’s purge was the freezer in the basement.  Back when the Youngest Kiddo was born, we were big into keeping a large inventory in the basement freezer (a quality 1970's Kelvinator).  Ground beef and chicken were in an endless supply.  As the Kiddos have grown so have our cooking practices.  In the last six or eight months we have not stocked or used much of the food in our freezer.  Since today is garbage day, it was time to purge.

It was probably a good thing I decided to purge, for food safety’s sake.  I found a pork tenderloin that was put in the freezer in November 2010 (it's 2013 for goodness sakes).  Something tells me that’s not going to be a delicious meal.  Too bad no one was having surgery in our house because I had a nice inventory of bags of frozen vegetables (tee hee).

I'm curious if we will see an improvement in our electric bill next month now that the energy hog is off line.  

**Update 7/7/2013 

The best part of unplugging the freezer downstairs is that we do not have to lug it up the stairs. Our electric company will pay us to lug it up the stairs and take it away. The only stipulation is that it must be in working condition. We met that requirement.

It took these two men less than 10 minutes to walk in the back door, grab the freezer, and load it onto their truck. All we had to do is sign to say they took it.  

**Update 7/29/2013

The $35 check from the electric company arrived in the mail today. Brilliant!

*The news shared in this blog posts was originally written many months ago.  We were not ready to share the news with the world at that time, so I added the original date the post was written at the top.

The Start of the Purge

Originally written 6/5/2013

We are still waiting for Matt’s employer to send all of the specifics of the transfer plan.  The waiting is killing me. Thankfully Matt is the one with patience and we balance each other out. Since we are 99.8% sure this is going to happen, why not start consolidating and purging items we no longer need?  

Over Memorial Day weekend I started with a small, yet important job, our music.  We have four large boxes of CDs that needed to go somewhere.  At one point we put all of our CDs onto an external hard drive and packed the CDs away.  The CD market is certainly not what it used to be, and I had low expectations of what would come out of these.  I started with an internet search about selling CDs, and I came across Second Spin.  You search for the CDs you want to sell & they’ll indicate the price they are willing to pay you, if they are taking that title at all.  My initial search of CDs found that they were taking my titles for varying amounts of money.  Don’t get your hopes up for a windfall; prices range from .25 to $3. Box sets and highly desirable titles will go for more.  You have to pay for the shipping of your items to the company. They suggest USPS media mail, so the cost is not very high.  To help defray the cost of shipping, the website offered a media mail shipping rebate based on the number of CDs you send in. I shipped over 25 CDs, and that should net me a $5 credit.  I paid $7.25 at the post office to ship the box; I think $2.25 is a decent premium to pay for what they will pay me.  

I received an email from Second Spin when they received my CDs and another email when my payment was ready. I followed the link from the email and my funds were deposited into our PayPal account.

Next I read about Amazon’s Trade-In Program, which takes books, music, video games, and electronics. Amazon gives Amazon gift cards for your item instead of cash, but for our family that works. Amazon is our go-to website, especially since Amazon Prime provides free shipping. The prices offered for each CD seemed to be comparable to Second Spin with one bonus, Amazon paid for shipping.  I was sold.  It took time to search through every.single.CD.we.own, but my time was well spent.  After one weekend of selling, I accumulated over $80 in Amazon credit.  At .25-.50 each, that was a lot of CDs.  I finished our boxes today and created one last order of $20.  I also checked a few professional books I purchased for grad school and my job.  Amazon only took one of my books, but they paid $18 for it.  That's better than sitting on my bookshelf never to be opened again.  

Not all of our CDs were taken by Amazon.  They work on a supply and demand system, so CDs that have a large following are offered at a low .25 or not at all.  None of our Dave Matthews Band CDs were taken by Amazon.  

I still have a decent amount of CDs left.  Over the weekend I heard a commercial on the radio for Half-Price Books, and it mentioned that they take music, too!  Youngest Kiddo and I took about  30 CDs and a few books into our local store to see what they’d give us.  They offered me $12 for everything.  The man at Half-Price Books indicated that they receive many CDs each week, but not nearly that many are sold each week.  My music was destined for the Dollar Bin and would probably be discarded before it could be bought.

We still have about 80-100 CDs left.  I might make one last run through at Second Spin & Amazon to see if the market for 90’s music has changed in the last week.  If not, then Goodwill will benefit.  

**June 24, 2013 update - I’ve been happy with both the Amazon & Second Spin experiences.  Both options paid a fair price for my items.  Amazon sent a detailed list of the CDs sent in and their rating of them.  The condition of several of my CDs were upgraded to a higher pay level by Amazon, so I’m confident in using this service in the future.   Second Spin had an option to receive my payment via PayPal, and that was the easiest part of the whole process.  The only drawback to Second Spin is that I had to deal with the Post Office.  

** September 12, 2013 update - I've continued to use the Amazon Trade-In program as we continue to consolidate our belongings. I found several old iPods that Amazon paid decent money for.

** All opinions about Second Spin, Amazon, and Half-Price Books are my own and no compensation was received.

*The news shared in this blog posts was originally written many months ago.  We were not ready to share the news with the world at that time, so I added the original date the post was written at the top.

Life Reduced to a Google Doc

Originally written 6/4/2013

Matt and I love a good list. Actually I'm the one that loves a written list, mostly because I forget if it's not written down. Matt has a super human memory and doesn't forget anything. Usually for big decisions we make a pro/con list.  Over the past few months we made several pro/con lists to decide if we should move. Obviously the pros beat the cons this time.  

For this move we needed the mother of all lists. We decided to use Google Docs for this endeavor. The electronic nature of Google Docs allows us to add to our list whenever (no matter the timezone) or where ever we are. I have the Google Drive app on my phone so I can add to the list as it pops into my head.

So car Google Docs has been a dream. We decided to use the spread sheet feature, which allows us to organize our data into tabs.

• Tab 1 - What might we have to buy (pretty much things with plugs) & what's an approximate cost in Great Britan Pounds (GBP)
• Tab 2 - What we have that we want to donate, sell, or put in storage
• Tab 3 - Realtor Info including positive qualities of our house that might interest a prospective buyer and curb appeal improvements
• Tab 4 - Get, Forward, Cancel - When did the gym membership get canceled? Did we order the kids' medical records? Now we know who did what and when. The most helpful tab in the document
• Tab 5 - Bring With - as I go through the the different rooms I'm listing the things we need to take with use. Remembering the toolbox is not the first thing I think of when packing for London. I did think of it whilst waiting for Oldest Kiddo to get done at Spanish class and added it to the doc via the app
• Tab 6 - Outstanding Schools - finding a school is not fun, so I've made a list of ones that I think look good. Hopefully it helps narrow our housing search
• Tab 7 - Relocation Questions/Wants for when we speak with the relocation company. If it's not written down it won't be asked.

Together we will tick the boxes on our list to make the process of moving manageable.  At least that’s what we think.  

*The news shared in this blog posts was originally written many months ago.  We were not ready to share the news with the world at that time, so I added the original date the post was written at the top.

If the government of the United Kingdom lets us in the country...

Originally written 6/3/2013

Oldest Kiddo continues to process the move.  We have told her the steps Matt’s employer must take to get a visa so we legally move to the country, the search steps to get a place to live, and what we have to do to enroll in school. When she wants to ask a question about the potential move, she starts each question the same way, "If the government of the United Kingdom lets us in the country....." 

She has very valid questions such as can we live near a park?  Will we be able to check out books from their library? Can we still go out to eat? Her questions remind us that we need to take time to think about the little things, too.  

*The news shared in this blog posts was originally written many months ago.  We were not ready to share the news with the world at that time, so I added the original date the post was written at the top.