I'm sad to hear that Eric's wife died, I could certainly understand him having a backlog in such a situation.
Still, being he is so well recommended I've decided I will put this camera back together and send it off to him. If he can get it done by Christmas, then perfect! If not, then no big deal - I'll just wrap up the case with the lenses and put a picture of the camera in there as a placeholder until it comes back. The gf will still love it!
Thanks again to everyone for all your help/advice. I'll try to post back my results from working with Eric.