Bitter Sweet (mostly sweet) move

Our movers are here today.  Our stuff is getting shipped back to the states in two shipments: one slow (boat) and one fast (plane).  We've been keeping ourselves quite busy the last few days separating everything and securing the fast shipment in an area where it wouldn't accidentally get packed yet.  (It will be picked up in a few weeks.)  We have mixed feelings about leaving, but I think we mostly feel ready.

A few things we will miss:

--Living in a beautiful area and hardly ever running into traffic; to get to church we drive 25 minutes through beautiful countryside and only have one traffic light.  Even though it can be a hassle to live so far from stores, it's also a nice break to not be surrounded by commercialism.
--US holiday schedule; When Hyrum has days off because of a US holiday, Germans are still working.  We don't have to fight crowds at restaurants or sight-seeing.
--COLA; we get extra money in our paycheck while we live here because the cost of living is higher.  I'll be sad to see that go!
-Gelato.  No need to say more.

But here are the reasons I'm excited to get back to the states:

--I'm SO ready to buy a van!
--I'm SO ready to live in a bigger apartment (or house, hopefully soon!)  We need some outdoor space for the kids to play.  And I'm sick of living on the second floor and carrying the kids and the groceries up and down.
--The trash situation here is frustrating; we have a tiny trash can that gets picked up every 2 weeks.  It can't even handle the diapers, let alone everything else.  Plus, as much as I love the earth, I'm sick of this forced recycling.  I hate cleaning all my plastic food containers just to throw them away.
--Our apartment doesn't have a garbage disposal.  I'd really like one.
--I haven't been able to use a lot of my appliances in Germany because our kitchen storage space is small and any 100v appliances require a transformer.  I've missed my KitchenAid!
--It will be convenient to live in a similar time zone as our families-- not 8 hours ahead.
--Every time I pump gas here I have to drag all three kids inside to pay.  I'm really looking forward to pay-at-the-pump gas.
--I can't wait for Amazon 2-day shipping, right to my door.  Here, I have to pick up all packages and letters at the on-post post office.  And like the gas station, I have to get all my kids out of the car and bring them inside two separate buildings.
--Flights home to see family won't cost over $800 per person.


I just wish that another few days of movers, selling a car, shipping a car, 12 nights in a hotel and 24+ hours of international travel didn't stand between us and the USA!