Singapore Update March 2009

Plans are well underway for our move across the ocean in June. We’ve been thinking, dreaming and planning about this for almost a year now. It’s all becoming a reality. We’ve had our long list of things to do and buy before we leave and now we are at the place where things are finally getting checked off. The list, however, continues to grow like a bad weed.

The school issue is settled. We’ll have things to purchase and do once we’re there like placement tests, purchase uniform (the kids are real excited about that) and buy Jakeb a Macbook. This is required for high schoolers. That offsets the uniform issues for Jakeb! Getting school taken care of was a huge relief.

We’ve found a realtor there and have been communicating with her via email. We think we’ll like working with her. The economy is being affected there too so many expats are having to leave so we shouldn’t have a problem finding something, it’s just a matter of location.

We’d love to sell our house here. We’ve had a few bites but no real offers. One offer came in but you couldn’t call it real at all. We’re selling our house, not giving it away! We know that God wants us to go so He’ll do the right thing with our house we just hope we notice what that right thing is and that it happens fast.

We’ve also been packing up stuff that’s not going with us, finding homes for a few things we won’t need to keep but don’t want to store, getting Tori ready for college and figuring out exactly what is necessary to take with us. Like my dishes. I love my dishes but I don’t want them to get tossed into the ocean and I think they may be too big for the cabinets there so do I take them or just buy some there. Do I take my Kitchen Aid or will it blow up if I try to use it even with a transformer? How much deodorant and medicine should we take/can we take? We hear the deodorant there is not as good (which makes me wonder if everyone smells bad) so we need to take our own among other things that aren’t readily available or are just super expensive. These are the types of things we think through on a daily basis.

Larger sized clothing and shoes are not available there so we’re stocking up on running shoes for the guys and pants and jeans, etc. It’s just money, right??? We’re also buying some things that will get us through the first few months, like make up, toiletries, etc. This will give us time to find out what’s there and make it a smoother transition.

We’ve also been gathering copies of all of our medical records, making all the dr. appointments we will need to get everything in check for about a year.

I think what I’m finding most difficult right now is balancing all that there is to do with keeping my family together, doing things that the we want to do before we go (we call it our Singapore bucket list), getting enough rest, spending the time we need to/want to with friends and family and keeping some margin. If we have disappointed you, it was completely unintentional and if/when we do, it is still unintentional. Please give us grace and understanding as we walk through this unchartered territory. We’re trying…

In all of our correspondence with those who are there and those who have been, someone ended their email to me by saying, “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.” This is not easy by any stretch of the imagination but we know it’s what we’re supposed to do and we are super excited about this adventure God is blessing us with. So I hope this didn’t sound like I was whining. I’m definitely not whining. This is exciting to us! My goal was to just post an update on where we’re at.

Tomorrow, we go to get physicals and shots. That will not be exciting at all…