Catching Up on our Eventful Summer

Here it is, the beginning of September, and I'm finally starting to get settled in our new home in Thetford. Most of the boxes are unpacked (but not everything is put away), but we're making progress. We plan on starting school next week, a little late, but we have been able to squeeze in a few holidays to France, Belgium, and a few places here around England, which can be counted as education, I suppose. I just wanted to catch up on all the events this summer. Since there have been many, it may take me a few days to catch up. First of all, our summer started with Sam's graduation. I can't express how proud I am of my husband on his accomplishments. I also can't express the great relief I felt that the long residency was finally over.

SAM'S GRADUATION

At his graduation, a small ensemble played patriotic songs, and it took all my strength to keep from crying. Songs like "This is My Country" and "God Bless America." Patriotic songs usually stir up emotion in me, but knowing that we would shortly be moving to another country, really caused a whirlwind of emotions, and made it difficult for me to fight back the tears. I especially loved that the band played the theme from "MASH;" . . . only at a military medical graduation.

THE MOVE

We didn't get our orders for the UK until about the 2nd week of June. Shortly after our orders, everything fell into place. The first set of movers came on Thursday, June 18th They packed up the household goods that would stay in the US and not be shipped to the UK. Friday, the quick shipment was taken. All the necessary items we would need until the rest of our stuff arrived was included in that shipment: bedding, dishes, towels, computer, etc. . . On Saturday Dupont had a yard sale. We sold most of our big stuff, but by noon, I was done. I just wanted to get rid of everything. So I told the "yardsalers" that everything was free, and they quickly snatched up most of the rest of our stuff. The rest I took to the Goodwill truck.

FLYING TO UTAH

On Sunday, I said goodbye to my home in Dupont. It was decided that Sam would stay behind for the last shipment of our household goods, and I would fly to Utah to surprise my mom. She thought I wouldn't be in Utah until the following Tuesday, but I knew she was sad about me moving so far away, so I wanted to surprise her for her birthday (Sunday, June 21st), and fly out early. Roger and I flew to SLC and arrived a little after lunch time. My mom was in church, and my dad left early (much to the dismay of my mother, but it was a birthday surprise!) to pick us up. He took us straight to the church. My mom was in Relief Society, so I had one of the nursery leaders take Roger in to RS. Roger walked in to the RS room, and saw his grandma sitting there. He yelled, "HI!" and jumped onto her lap and gave her a big hug. You can imagine the emotions that followed. I ran in, whispered, "Happy Birthday!" and then ran out and waited for church to end. I took her to lunch on Tuesday where we had a delicious meal and visited without interruption.

CAMPING

My parents have a trailer, and we thought it would be fun to take me, my kids, and my niece and nephews to a camping place outside of Nephi, UT. It was a great way for my kids to spend time with their cousins and grandparents before our big move. In the meantime, the packers were boxing up our house and loading everything into crates to be shipped. They finished on Thursday, and Sam left shortly thereafter to drive to Utah to meet us. He arrived shortly before we got back from our camping trip. We met him in Provo, and we got our international drivers license, and bought a few things for our trip to Brazil the following Sunday. . . . to be continued. . .