We are now down to less than 3 weeks before we leave D.C. And our “to do” list isn’t done. I think until you’ve actually done it, it’s hard to believe just how many things need to be done before you can move overseas. And thankfully State does so many things for us, like pack us (although we have to sort the shipments), ship our stuff (although we have to meet with the shippers and arrange our shipment), and purchase our plane tickets (although we have to pick the flights).

Not that we’re complaining about any of it, but the list can be overwhelming at times. State provides a suggested list of things to do before you leave. Here are a few examples.

-Put together important papers, like power of attorney, and scan other documents, like tax returns
-Arrange for certain banking transactions, like automatic deductions and ATM cards with international PINs
-Meet with all the doctors you need and get duplicate perscriptions
-Set up automobile shipment
-Send letters to the embassy regarding a variety of matters
-Change of address and absentee voter registration
-Passports and visas

Again, that’s just a sample.  The list they provide is 10 pages long.

The packing company is sending a surveyor on Wednesday to decide how many packers and boxes to bring.  We’ve already sorted most of our belongings so we are well on our way.

Moving is a lot harder with a 7-week old, but he also brings huge smiles to our faces as we bring smiles to his.  Kristen and I have been talking with him about our move so he can be prepared.  I think he’s too young understand so he’s just enjoying the ride and looking forward to meeting Sonia.

Our dear friends in Dallas, Patrick and Christy Lafferty, would greatly appreciate your prayers. In our blog roll you will see a link for Bella Lafferty’s blog.  Bella is Patrick and Christy’s unborn baby girl (23 weeks along). Around 2 weeks ago they discovered a mass in Bella’s chest cavity that could potentially require doctors to remove her from Christy’s tummy, conduct surgery and put her back into the uterus to continue the pregnancy. Bella also has a heart defect which could pose extra complications for an already complicated surgery. As you can imagine, the Lafferty’s are asking their friends to join them in praying for a miracle!  They are currently living temporarily at Ronald McDonald House in Houston with their other 2 little ones, Seamus and Savannah. Please see their blog for more details.

I think when we started this adventure in December we had no idea how long the process would take to get “settled” again. Yesterday we drove 2 1/2 hours to Maryland where all of our worldly belongings have been housed since we last saw them in Dallas 9 months ago.  The warehouse was enormous. Just to give you an idea, an 18-wheeler drove in to the warehouse where we were and it looked like a matchbox car (picture the last scene of “Raiders of Lost Ark”) . When we arrived they had already pulled our 4 crates from the mass of crates. We had to go through the boxes…150 of them to be exact..one by one and say whether we wanted them to go to Bogota, stay in storage or be taken home with us that day. No time for dillydallying! The only things we wanted to bring home with us in our car were our bedspread and Christmas decorations. We will have an air shipment that will join us 2-3 weeks after we arrive in Bogota with a few necessities…ie Christmas decorations(just in case of delay), cookbooks, baby gear, spices, clothes…and the rest of our things will arrive in 2-3 months. Our friends’ shipment of household effects got high jacked on it’s way in to Bogota just last Dec so we are not stressing out about the timing as much as we are praying that it all arrives safely.

I’m sure that this process of witteling down our list of necessities will get easier as the years go by but it is really tough at this stage. I wanted so badly to sneak myself into the 18-wheeler, bribe a few workers with forklifts to grab our 4 crates of memories and drive on out of there. I can’t wait to have our “home” back. For those of you that don’t know we have been living in a furnished apartment which, yes, is very nice for a furnished apartment but any of you that live in a home of your own, or even apt for that matter, know that it is nice to roll over on your own sheets and eat off of your own fork. By November or December it will truly feel like Christmas to unpack everything that we haven’t seen in a whole year.

Jackson had a wonderful play date with my Aunt Carrol yesterday. He enjoyed being held and cuddled all day while we were away from him. We were missing him but when we got home it was apparent that he was great! On the way home from Maryland we had to pull over in a parking lot because Jackson was having a meltdown. He was crying so hard that we feared he would burst a blood vessel in his little bald held. The second we removed him from his car seat to calm him he relaxed and peacefully laid in my arms looking up at me pleasantly. We soon realized he just wanted time with mommy after a long day apart. We ended up having to push him around in his stroller until he fell asleep so that we could just set his car seat in the car and go! This was unusual behavior for Jackson. We have been so blessed with a great baby that has been really patient with all of our business related to our move. I think he was just fed up with all of the running around.  Today he was so content to be home and have some mommy time.  I enjoyed it as well!

Well, as the title says this is only the beginning. I think we thought arriving in Bogota would be the start of the adventure, come to find out it began the day we left Dallas.