We need to thank a few people

The acknowledgements section of anything is rarely an interesting read, but when you have people like ours, you gotta give a shout out. So, here goes, in no particular order (and for anyone I left out, I promise I'll kick myself for you and then edit you in):

Mom and Don: you took excellent care of our kids (they had all their fingers and toes when we arrived, which was really our only request)! You didn't take one look at all the stuff we brought with us and make us turn around. You let us have our mail forwarded to you, and you're still shipping our stuff to us and sending care packages. Thank you for letting us turn your lives upside down for so long. We love you and miss you.

Lisa, Tom, Joel and David: if you ever doubt how awesome you are, give us a call and we'll fill you in. Tom, thank you for the excellent nightly dinners and conversation, and for letting us borrow your wife for so many hours. Lisa, you are the queen of price stickers, and amazingly tireless. Thank you for the wine and chocolates, the conversation, the elbow grease, and for hauling some of our stuff away. Joel and David, the last thing we would have wanted to do when we were teenagers was help somebody clean stuff and move. It meant a lot to us that you were willing helpers and great company. These people are also the reason we had a tidy yard before we left.

Kirsten: you stored and sold all the kid stuff we couldn't sell, and for charity to boot! You and your family were wonderful friends and neighbors and we will miss all of the conversations we could have had.

Lori: you dropped by and made things more interesting with helping hands and fun talks. We will miss you and your family.

Vince and Hiedi: you helped us pack, showed me how to really prep stuff for charity, and bought our late-model car! And the surprise birthday party still makes me feel a warm, happy glow.

Fred, Linda, Brandon and Alaina: your financial help could not have come at a better time. It's no surprise that moving to a foreign country is expensive, but thanks to you it didn't hit us as hard as it would have. That saved us from a lot of stress, and we are very grateful.

Dad: you swooped down like Superman when we were in a bind with the car that needed to be sold. There we were with a moving truck ready to go, and a car that we couldn't take with us. I honestly don't have a clue what we would have done if it weren't for you.

Laura, Sam, Ken and Jack: we would still probably be storing half of our stuff if it weren't for you guys; *and* you took all of our "what the heck do we do with all this" pantry stuff off of our hands! We didn't get to know you guys nearly well enough, and we will miss watching the kids play and grow together. Every so often, we are fortunate enough to find people that we just click with. The fact that it wasn't just the grownups, but the kids, too, makes it that much more rare and precious.

All of our friends at Kennewick First Lutheran Church: thank you for the blessing on the day we drove off. We felt so special and loved and surrounded by good wishes and thoughts. If ever there were a perfect send-off, that was one. Wherever we go in this world, you will always be a spiritual home for us.