Bonjour from Albertville, France!!!

Bonjour Everyone! 

On January 1st 2012 I was seated on a plane with a one way ticket to France!
After all the preparations the day had finally come!

The month leading up to leaving Dayton was a whirlwind of organizing, storing and packing. With my departure date moved from July to January, I was in crunch time. I don't think moving overseas is ever very pretty, and this was certainly no exception. So excuse the mess =) but I thought you'd all enjoy a window into some of the prep to move overseas.

Heavy duty trunks to make the trip...

Vacuum packing...a mover's best friend =)

 

Each cubic foot costs $10 to ship to Gabon, and each of these trunks is a little over 4 cubic feet.

 

 

The night before we packed up the moving truck, we had one final day to move out of my apartment and finish packing up the trunks and furniture for the shipment.

8pm and bringing in all the stuff moved from my apt.

The last 10% of the trunks took the longest to pack up. All those night shifts at the hospital came in handy...went to bed at 7:00 AM. The packing truck came at 9. 
 

3am....and overwhelmed...

 But the sun came up and so did the truck. It was time to pack it all up. Thankfully I had my volunteer packing crew to help pull everything together last minute.

Rob, the morning of.

Rob, doing a great job bolting bundles of hangers and a picture frame to bottom of the desk, then wrapping it up for shipment!

Megan and Jenn typing up the lists last minute...thank you girls! =)

Every item had to be listed with a cost estimate.

Loading up!

Maybe it'll all get done afterall...

Becky, packer extraordinaire.  

Thank goodness for duct tape. Holding the trunks shut so we can seal them up for shipping. 

Finally, the shipment's ready for Gabon!!

 We made it! Then, on 2 hours of sleep, Christopher and I made the 4 hour drive to Cleveland to drop the shipment off at the warehouse. 

My wonderful last minute packing crew.

I thought the rhino was appropriate...=)

Dropping off the shipment at the warehouse...

My bed and furniture all packed down for shipping.

Last trip to Walmart.....hopefully I've remembered everything!

   

Arrival at the Syracuse, NY Airport...the day has come!

Saying "goodbyes"

A final prayer together as a family...

Here we go!

Praise the Lord for how He has provided and brought me this far! 
Thank you all for your prayer and support as I've transitioned this first step overseas: language school in Albertville France. More pictures and updates to come.
In the mean time, pray I have a mind like a sponge =)

Thanks for joining me on this adventure, as I follow God's leading to Gabon.


Love from France,
    ~Amanda