Here’s what we’ve been up to since we found out about this crazy move.
Tuesday, December 27-
Jonathan’s boss told him about a sudden and very unexpected problem with the team in the Philippines. The problem would require a more long-term presence. Would he and his family be willing and able to temporarily relocate to the Philippines? And so we took Tuesday to freak out, and pray, and freak out, and do lots and lots of googling and go to the temple, and freak out.
Wednesday, December 28-
I didn’t sleep much in the night. My brain wouldn’t shut down. Still feeling good about things though. We told Jonathan’s boss that we are in. And we were going to begin the process…. but everyone is out of the office this week because, between Christmas and New Year’s it is a bit of a wash. So, there isn’t much that we can do to get started on any of the things that are causing me the most concern. (Namely: Visas and housing). I must admit this is a little maddening.
So. We decided to work on the things that we do have control over. So. We took passport photos of the kids, rounded up all the necessary documents and went to the post office to get the kids’ passports going. That was a terrible trip. The children were horrible. Honestly. They were awful. And the line was so long. And in the end, it was all for nothing. Because apparently the post office is still in the stone age and doesn’t accept a credit card. We came home and questioned all of our life decisions. And we were all just in kind of bad moods.
Fortunately, my mission companion and her family were in town and we’d set up a hang out, and so, after an evening spent with friends we felt a little better about life. Shout-out to the Tolmans 🙂 Thank you for helping us regain our sanity.
Thursday, December 29-
Another poor night of sleep, but despite that, we went back to the post office and successfully got the passport thing going. And actually it turned out to be a good thing that we had to go back, because it turned out that the worker bee had forgotten to give us our driver’s licenses back….that would’ve been a problem. After that, we went and got our storage unit upgraded. Then I acquired boxes from a couple of different grocery stores and moved everything from the smaller storage unit into the larger storage unit and I swept that sucker out real nice.
Also. Happy Anniversary! We have been married 7 wonderful years. We made this REALLY official, by posting it on Facebook
Between lack of sleep and the stress of getting everything going, I have been kind of losing my mind. Plus I’ve been getting a lot of headaches. (For the last week or so I’ve woken up most days with a headache) And with a huge new stressor, I was just a terrible human being, wife, and mother. I was impatient and snappy, and I was just wound super tight. And when My mom called and offered to come out to help me and I just lost it. I bawled my stupid eyes out.There is no way that I am going to survive this move without some divine intervention. So, I asked for a blessing. And it was so good. How lucky I am to have access to the power of heaven through Priesthood blessings. One of the cool things that the blessing mentioned was that this experience is a pioneering experience for us. And that if we handle it well it will be a jumping off point for us. I was also blessed to be relieved from these stupid headaches and with a greater portion of patience and spirituality. I desperately need this right now. And I have already seen the fulfillment of these things. Especially in that I feel I have been given patience for my kids beyond my own.
Friday, December 30-
No headache! Hooray Priesthood blessings!! Worked on a freezer inventory. Cause we need to use up all our food in our freezers!! Jonathan had to work and so I had to figure out a way of doing this. So, I pulled everything out of the freezers and organized it all by type of food (meat/produce/etc.) And then as I was putting it back in the freezer, I recorded a voice memo and just dictated the list. After it was all put away, I replayed my voice memos and just transcribed it. I felt so very clever.
Saturday, December 31-
Because of the holiday, we didn’t do much. Except acquire a few packing supplies.
Sunday, January 1-
Happy New Year! Day of Rest! Didn’t do anything to get ready to go.
Monday, January 2-
Happy Birthday Clara! We went and did Color Me Mine, and it was a lot of fun. Didn’t do much packing or preparation of any kind.
I’m interested to see how these turn out. I mean. We are obviously a very artistic family.
The master at work.
Poor neglected baby. Left on the floor while the rest of us play with paint.
Happy Birthday, my girl!! I love so many things about you!! I can’t believe you are already 5!! Thanks for being patient while your parents lose their minds….
