We re alive. The trip across the ocean and the crazy week of vacation in the Balkans has not undone us... We re here and we re doing quite well actually. We have lots of stories. Eric, Brooks and I are in Split, Croatia (at an internet cafe with a horrible Eastern European keyboard that switches z and y... geez!!) and about to crash for the night. We ve loved our trip... pictures and a few stories to come when we re back in London and online permanently... but just wanted you all to know that we re well. Tired, but still kicking.
Tomorrow we re back to London and into our temp housing (canary wharf, rather than nottinghill - not what we were hoping for) and then Wednesday we re searching for our new home. Please pray for us! Thursday we re off to Paris for a few days and then Eric starts work on 3 Sept and our new life will have officially begun... (right now feels like the strange non-life of a wandering homeless family... wonderfully free and yet not, somehow. very weird.)
hugs and kisses to everyone.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
done.
Well, at least with the big stuff. The movers are now gone. Wow. {deep breath}
I've already had a good cry and we've had a fantastic time recounting all the happy memories we've had in this place. It's been a great home for us for the last four years.
One of the crew said as they were leaving that we were their best clients of the summer. I can't tell you how satisfying that was ... Apparently, we were a LOT more organized that I thought.
So now, we're sitting on our empty floor, drinking a celebratory beer/cider and talking about how excited we are to be moving to London and how glad we are to not be moving somewhere scary... Qatar, Bangladesh, and Omaha have all made the list of places we're glad to NOT be moving.
Thank you Lord.... for more things than we can count.
I'm off for a (might I say "well-earned") massage.
I've already had a good cry and we've had a fantastic time recounting all the happy memories we've had in this place. It's been a great home for us for the last four years.
One of the crew said as they were leaving that we were their best clients of the summer. I can't tell you how satisfying that was ... Apparently, we were a LOT more organized that I thought.
So now, we're sitting on our empty floor, drinking a celebratory beer/cider and talking about how excited we are to be moving to London and how glad we are to not be moving somewhere scary... Qatar, Bangladesh, and Omaha have all made the list of places we're glad to NOT be moving.
Thank you Lord.... for more things than we can count.
I'm off for a (might I say "well-earned") massage.
The Chaos Continues...
The movers are here for a second day. Several observations:
~ Sorting all we own into four piles (UK sea, UK air, Chicago storage, TN storage) is exponentially more complicated that just putting stuff in a box and moving it from A to B. Little colored post-it notes are my friends.
~ Ten cubic meters will be plenty of space to bring our stuff from home, including the green nursery chair that we decided at the last moment we couldn't live without.
~ Brooks really is the "perfect angel baby". He quietly slept through six packers ripping apart our house and putting it into cartons just outside his bedroom door. The tape gun sounds echoing through the condo would have woken a coma patient, but not our baby. And he happily flew to TN with grandma yesterday without looking back! Sending Brooks down to his grandparents a few days early was an excellent idea. I can't believe we considered not doing that.
~ There is a huge difference between a 20 year old back and a 32 year old back. I am amazed what these college students can muscle down our stairs.
~ We have great friends who generously came to offer a hand and love on our son... Shel was here Tues for 8 hours and again Thurs for the early morning shift as the movers arrived. Amy came for 8 hours on Wednesday while I had doctor's appointments and ran final errands. Kyler and Linds came Wed night - Kyler doing a ton at the new storage unit with Eric, and Lindsay helping me pack and sort here at home. Their assistance was invaluable and their friendship was just what my heart needed.
~ When choosing a closing attorney, look for one who offices near you, not way out in the burbs. It really does matter.
~ Music makes me move faster. When Eric cranks up the itunes, I almost always get a second wind. Sorting, packing, purging, etc, is better done if you're singing at the top of your lungs.
~ Moving internationally is a good time to decide if you REALLY want something. Knowing that you won't see it for at least two years and that you'll have to pay to keep it in a box really helps ya trim back.
~ A 30th birthday of a dear friend is a GREAT reason to take a break, shower, and forget about the relocation details for a few hours. As is seeing the Indians beat the Sox at Brooks' first American League game!
~ Three nights in a row of going to sleep at 2am and getting up at 6:30 won't kill a healthy mom. Having a newborn is good training for an international move.
When I stop and think about leaving our first home, where we returned after our honeymoon and came home from the hospital with Brooks... so many important life moments! I just can't let myself think of that right now. I sobbed when I moved out of Home & Pleasant four summers ago, even though I was about to marry the man of my dreams and was moving to the city to be near him. I think I tend to get attached to "space" and "home"... maybe that's part of my southern-ness? Anyway, there's too much in front of me to reflect on all of that now. I'm so glad that we'll be back in Chicago next weekend... perhaps I'll sneak over here with Eric and Brooks and take a few snapshots on the front porch - some mirror shots to our homecoming picks with our newborn last November.
Finally, our favorite quotes:
Mine (from one of the movers to his on-site supervisor) - "Wow, these guys are really organized. If I mess this up, you guys definitely should fire me."
Eric's (from one mover to another) - "Dude, you won't believe the cool poster I found out by the dumpster!! It's this horizontal Michael Jordan photo with him palming a basketball. Sweet! It's definitely going in my dorm next month."
~ Sorting all we own into four piles (UK sea, UK air, Chicago storage, TN storage) is exponentially more complicated that just putting stuff in a box and moving it from A to B. Little colored post-it notes are my friends.
~ Ten cubic meters will be plenty of space to bring our stuff from home, including the green nursery chair that we decided at the last moment we couldn't live without.
~ Brooks really is the "perfect angel baby". He quietly slept through six packers ripping apart our house and putting it into cartons just outside his bedroom door. The tape gun sounds echoing through the condo would have woken a coma patient, but not our baby. And he happily flew to TN with grandma yesterday without looking back! Sending Brooks down to his grandparents a few days early was an excellent idea. I can't believe we considered not doing that.
~ There is a huge difference between a 20 year old back and a 32 year old back. I am amazed what these college students can muscle down our stairs.
~ We have great friends who generously came to offer a hand and love on our son... Shel was here Tues for 8 hours and again Thurs for the early morning shift as the movers arrived. Amy came for 8 hours on Wednesday while I had doctor's appointments and ran final errands. Kyler and Linds came Wed night - Kyler doing a ton at the new storage unit with Eric, and Lindsay helping me pack and sort here at home. Their assistance was invaluable and their friendship was just what my heart needed.
~ When choosing a closing attorney, look for one who offices near you, not way out in the burbs. It really does matter.
~ Music makes me move faster. When Eric cranks up the itunes, I almost always get a second wind. Sorting, packing, purging, etc, is better done if you're singing at the top of your lungs.
~ Moving internationally is a good time to decide if you REALLY want something. Knowing that you won't see it for at least two years and that you'll have to pay to keep it in a box really helps ya trim back.
~ A 30th birthday of a dear friend is a GREAT reason to take a break, shower, and forget about the relocation details for a few hours. As is seeing the Indians beat the Sox at Brooks' first American League game!
~ Three nights in a row of going to sleep at 2am and getting up at 6:30 won't kill a healthy mom. Having a newborn is good training for an international move.
When I stop and think about leaving our first home, where we returned after our honeymoon and came home from the hospital with Brooks... so many important life moments! I just can't let myself think of that right now. I sobbed when I moved out of Home & Pleasant four summers ago, even though I was about to marry the man of my dreams and was moving to the city to be near him. I think I tend to get attached to "space" and "home"... maybe that's part of my southern-ness? Anyway, there's too much in front of me to reflect on all of that now. I'm so glad that we'll be back in Chicago next weekend... perhaps I'll sneak over here with Eric and Brooks and take a few snapshots on the front porch - some mirror shots to our homecoming picks with our newborn last November.
Finally, our favorite quotes:
Mine (from one of the movers to his on-site supervisor) - "Wow, these guys are really organized. If I mess this up, you guys definitely should fire me."
Eric's (from one mover to another) - "Dude, you won't believe the cool poster I found out by the dumpster!! It's this horizontal Michael Jordan photo with him palming a basketball. Sweet! It's definitely going in my dorm next month."
Friday, August 3, 2007
Real Problems
We actually don't have any... I mean, yes, we are definitely stressed at times and regularly a bit overwhelmed by the process of packing up our lives, saying goodbye to friends and family and starting a new stage of life in the UK. But when we stop to really look at our lives, we realize that we are blessed beyond our wildest dreams:
We are healthy. We have a darling baby boy who's developing on schedule.
We are not poor. God has provided for us through PWC and we will be fine, even living on one income in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
We sold our house. We won't have to cover mortgage and rent at the same time.
We are well-loved. These last few visits with friends and trips to see our families remind us that we're a part of a community that we treasure who loves us back.
We chose this assignment. Whenever I'm frustrated by some logistical set-back, I remind myself - this is not being forced upon us, we're going because we want to go.
We know many folks who would love to trade places with us. We are aware of the challenges of those around us and see many of our "issues" as blessings by comparison. We recognize that our issues are temporary set-backs at worst and opportunities for God to show up and display His greatness at best!
We aren't dying, we're just moving. And better still, it's not forever.
100 weekends, that's all. We'll be back after about 100 weekends.
Amazing, really, how a shift in perspective can make everything easier.
We are healthy. We have a darling baby boy who's developing on schedule.
We are not poor. God has provided for us through PWC and we will be fine, even living on one income in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
We sold our house. We won't have to cover mortgage and rent at the same time.
We are well-loved. These last few visits with friends and trips to see our families remind us that we're a part of a community that we treasure who loves us back.
We chose this assignment. Whenever I'm frustrated by some logistical set-back, I remind myself - this is not being forced upon us, we're going because we want to go.
We know many folks who would love to trade places with us. We are aware of the challenges of those around us and see many of our "issues" as blessings by comparison. We recognize that our issues are temporary set-backs at worst and opportunities for God to show up and display His greatness at best!
We aren't dying, we're just moving. And better still, it's not forever.
100 weekends, that's all. We'll be back after about 100 weekends.
Amazing, really, how a shift in perspective can make everything easier.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Sliced Bread
has nothing to this!!!
Tuesday night our friends K and L came over for supper (our last supper guests before we start packing!) and he told us about a web radio site named Pandora. Oh my goodness! This is the coolest website ever, an online music radio database with a wide variety of musical selections in every genre based on the "music genome" project. Not exactly your typical online station, here's their description of the project:
Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.
I LOVE IT! I'm already filling up with my first "station" and am really enjoying several new artists that I haven't heard before. It's incredibly easy to use, and it's fun to be able to vote songs off my little station and to see what's coming next. How often do they repeat songs? And how can they pay for their tech and music licenses with just advertising space?! Amazing! Am I the only person in America who didn't know about this site?! Anyway, I'm loving it. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Tuesday night our friends K and L came over for supper (our last supper guests before we start packing!) and he told us about a web radio site named Pandora. Oh my goodness! This is the coolest website ever, an online music radio database with a wide variety of musical selections in every genre based on the "music genome" project. Not exactly your typical online station, here's their description of the project:
Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.
I LOVE IT! I'm already filling up with my first "station" and am really enjoying several new artists that I haven't heard before. It's incredibly easy to use, and it's fun to be able to vote songs off my little station and to see what's coming next. How often do they repeat songs? And how can they pay for their tech and music licenses with just advertising space?! Amazing! Am I the only person in America who didn't know about this site?! Anyway, I'm loving it. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)