Update: The Times, They are A-Changin

So the time to leave has finally come! As of Wednesday, June 30th, we’ll be leaving on our great adventure. I think Jim and I are both a bit in denial that this is all really happening. That we are not just on a mini vacation, that we are not just going to simply get back in the car and drive to Lansing to return to our normal day to day routine on Wednesday. But at the same time, with the amount of change we have gone through in the past 2 weeks, its hard for reality not to sink in at least partially.
Here’s a quick recap of all the changes we’ve been through these past two weeks.

1. Jim finished his summer classes and cleaned out his grad school desk
2. Joye left her job as a lab tech at MSU.
3. We packed all our stuff in boxes and moved out of our apartment
4. All of our earthly belongings that we are not taking with us are now in a storage facility. Everything else needs to fit in 2 suitcases /person and be less than 80 lbs. Still working on that.
5. We traveled to Jim’s hometown of Harbor Springs and bid farewell to friends.
6. We spent 4 great days with Jim’s family hiking around Pictured Rocks National Seashore and soaking in the beauty of Michigan’s Great Lakes, waterfalls, and sunsets.
7. We said goodbye to the Honda Accord that M&D Allen lent us for the year
8. We spent 4 days with the Kallgrens in Trenton: celebrated the 4th of July, had a BBQ with family & friends, and Joye cut off about 7 inches of hair and donated it (Talk about Change!)!
9. We finished off our time with a great trip to Cedar Point where we got to hang with Hope and sit next to Dave on his first big roller coaster (Millennium Force).

So now everyone keeps asking us, “Are you excited? Nervous?” Well, we are excited, nervous, anxious, nostalgic, hopeful, melancholy, enthusiastic and everything in between. Really, it’s exhausting! One thing that has really made it difficult to leave is the love and support we have received from our family, friends, and coworkers during our final days here in the States. It seems that we finally made relationships a huge priority (as it should have been all along!) and although we didn’t get to say goodbye to everyone, we have had such a blast this past month and we are certainly going to miss you. (Well , at least a FEW of you…  ).
Final Note: Since this is our main form of contact with everyone, we want to emphasize again that we LOVE comments. It assures us that people are actually reading and encourages us to update the blog more often! So please leave your comments, questions, etc!