It's All About Who You Know

I met a woman tonight at a Tastefully Simple party who lived for six years in Hong Kong, working for a relocation company. She and her husband raised a daughter there, just over the border from where we'll be living. This woman, Kathy, is just chock-full of information for us; she's going to have to write me a book. I told her I was going to hound her for the next four months, and she said "go for it. I wish I'd had somebody to help me way back when." She is amazing, knowledgeable, and full of common sense ideas for the trip and getting set up in our new country. The most important thing she said was "It will be a great, big adventure. Just go with it and enjoy it. That's how you have to look at it" Very cool. My friend, Barb, told me about her a while ago but I never knew what to ask. She, on the other hand, knows what to tell me because she's been there. I am very thankful for my wonderful friend, Barb, for introducing us and for the all the awesome food at the T.S. party, too! God is great, blessing us with such wonderful people in our lives!

Tim checked out apartments again today; it looks like we're going to be living a ways from the school, just because we both really like the feel of the neighborhood our friends live in. We are probably going to be there for a few months while we furnish a more permanent apartment. Today I told a few more people - it is really so very nice to be able to TELL people and not be in the closet about this anymore.

Still waiting to receive acceptance from the school...this is getting more and more real, and I realize I'm going to miss everything more and more. I really feel at home here, and I really enjoy the network we're creating. My friend Marilyn today told me that the one thing that came out of their living abroad while her kids were young, was that it really pulls the family together. I've been wondering about the very same thing. It seems to be one of the biggest "pluses" for the move, in addition to the expanded worldview of everyone once we adjust to our new lives.

Our house went up for sale today. It's really sad to see the signs in the yard...see, I love this house. I love our neighbors and our neighborhood and our view of the mountains and my kitchen...well, don't get me started. I love it. BUT, I also think that trying to maintain it for 2-5 years from the other side of the world will NOT be worth the hassle. So, off it goes. We've been getting lots of nice comments from the neighbors today since the signs went up, about how our friends don't want us to go. How blessed we are with the people we've met here!! Now we get to clean frantically whenever an agent calls us. Yippee, always fun to clean with three little kids : ) Always a work in process, I guess.

They also announced it at Tim's work today - YIPPEE!!! We are no longer closet relocators. We can tell the world! : ) Yee-hah, what a relief!