Lessons from Sunday

After getting the girls to sleep, Dave and I still had the energy to accomplish something.  We spent most of the day today socializing - the playground and lunch with a neighbor family, the pool in the garden on our own, and exploring the take-out pizza options with another couple.  One could say the day was rejuvenating, leaving the evening ready for getting stuff done.  We cleaned up the downstairs - living room, dining room, kitchen and various spaces for storage.  They're as good as they're going to get, and feel a bit spare right now but perfectly adequate.  The upstairs still needs some work - a den, an office, and 4 bedrooms all in various stages of unpacking.

In our conversations and our unpacking, we learned a few interesting things.

- The grocery stores are fully adequate for cooking, but entirely inadequate for baking.  Sarah and I searched for flour through one shop and couldn't find it.  I missed it in the shop yesterday, possibly because it wasn't there.  We did find vanilla and yeast, but no baking powder or baking soda.  And white sugar has been absent from the shelves for months, apparently.  If we want muffins anytime soon, I'll be putting together an order from the states.  Thank goodness for our DPO address.

- The international school in Caracas is top notch.  This we already knew, but its nice to have it confirmed by everyone we meet.  However, another assumption has proven to be untrue.  We had heard that Caracas held one of the few schools in Latin America populated primarily by international students.  International schools are very expensive, and apparently when the locals attend, they are the very rich locals.  In Asia, the very rich locals are very serious about education and create an intensive academic climate.  In Latin America, the very rich locals are more serious about being very rich and create a cliquish and bullying environment.  So, we were happy to hear that the school was primarily international.  But, the international community in Caracas is changing dramatically with the armed crime increasingly effecting diplomats.  Many embassies have sent their families home or even closed their Caracas embassy entirely.  Even within the U.S. community, very few older children remain.  And so the school has become more local.  At this young age, the cliques have yet to form.  And we have heard no rumors about bullying yet.  But we have heard that Spanish is the language of the playground, and without it many kids feel left out.  Sophia feels confident about starting school and making friends, but Lilly becomes more nervous every day.  My heart breaks for her beginning a new school midyear, and having to face a language barrier as well.  Prayers for a good friend for each of them would be welcome.

- The weird exchange rate situation hurts sometimes and helps sometimes.  The "official" exchange rate is what "official" business must be conducted in.  For instance, health insurance reimbursements are paid by insurance companies using this rate.  The (black) "market" exchange rate is several times higher than this rate, and pretty much everyone can use this rate in one way or another (our method is apparently perfectly legal, thus the parentheses around "black").  Thus, if we go to the doctor, we will convert, say, USD 10 using the market exchange rate.  We will then submit the receipt (which is in bolivars) to the insurance company who will divide the total by the official exchange rate and reimburse us, say, USD 40.  Pretty sweet deal if you're sick a lot.

Could you tell that Dave wrote that paragraph?  The exchange rate nonsense is simply ridiculous to me, and my mental energy is going to other things right now.  But we met someone today who made a tidy profit off of delivering a baby in Caracas!

- Apparently Caracas has a Lebanese community large enough to sustain some really tasty foods at the grocery store.  We snacked on hummus and pita bread this evening, but I've heard that everything from the Lebanese guy's little stand is tasty.

It may be that this is all we learned today, which could be why the day was not particularly exhausting.

My Keychain

Check this out:

This is the number of keys it takes for Dave or I to either enter or leave our apartment.

Well now, that's an exaggeration.  But only slightly.  It takes four keys to go through the doors between our home and the hallway.  That's one key on the steel door and another three on the bars.  There are more keys to get into the building - its not a complex, but a stand-alone condominium we share with probably 7 other families.  There are keys to the storage unit and to the garden and pool, but the rest are to get from the street to our living room.

And with this huge key ring, one would expect that we could at least keep track of our keys.  And yet, this evening Dave and I spent a few heartstopping moments searching the house for my misplaced set.  It was at the bottom of the diaper bag - about the only place something of that size could effectively hide.

My Journal

We haven't had reliable Internet access until now, so I've kept a journal on my iPad. From here on out, you should be able to follow in real-time. But let me catch you up to today...

 4:15am, Wednesday

Holy crap!
We left Chicago at 2:45 yesterday afternoon, right in the midst of the family Christmas festivities.  We skipped Aunt Jane's Christmas dinner in favor of salads and happy meals at McDonald's.  We all did well through Indiana, and we traversed Ohio quickly. But after about 10:00pm, things fell apart.  Between then and now, poor Annika has spent well over half the time screaming. Her voice grew hoarse just a few hours in.  She would wake Sophia, who would join the chorus, making everyone crazier.  Somehow, sleepy Lilly kept her head through all of this and remained quiet and peaceful in the back row. Hyped on caffeine, I managed the drive just fine.  Not hyped on caffeine, Dave still got no sleep and both of us expect very little patience with anything tomorrow.  Happily, everyone fell quickly into the room and to bed. We are all in close quarters, but the room has black out curtains and no neighbors on either side.  Hoping for a late, late morning.

 8:30am - The phone rings at full volume in a room full of very sleepy children.  Dave reaches for it and misses.  He stumbles, grabs it and drops it. It's still ringing at full volume.  Blessedly, the children are still sleeping.  He carries on the entire conversation inside the room of children, because where else would he go? The conversation begins soft and business-like, switches to strong surprise and then drops into an angry tone. It finishes frustratingly resigned.  Lilly is stirring. The rest of the girls remain asleep. The company who will ship our car to Venezuela has called. For them, this is the start of the first business day since they became our shippers. For us, they have held our contact information for at least 5 days, have left calls unreturned and emails unanswered while we tried multiple times to be in touch.  So far, Dave's voice is quiet and professional. They tell Dave that they'll be here in 2 hours, and want to know where "here" is.  Here, his voice has taken on a strong note of shock.  We've been expecting them in the late afternoon.  We have a to do list which is more than 2 hours long. Dave now takes on a firm tone, reminding the caller that we have done our due diligence and more, and stating that the car won't be ready for them until 4. Dave's really not a firm tone kind of guy, though, and he soon sounds resignedly conciliatory. They never told you? I understand. The closer to noon, the better. 11:30 will be fine. Dave dresses quickly, asks if I've seen the email from the landlord, then disappears to the garage to empty the car.  Lilly tries to assert perkiness, but falls back to sleep when I tell her to. Dave returns with a cart full of Christmas road trip detritus, and then heads to the house to pick up our last few things and drop off the keys.  The girls stay asleep. I can't check email on my iPad because my library book will disappear if I connect to the hotels wifi. It was due yesterday - such a lovely, if slightly unethical, little benefit of e-reading. The benefit no doubt extends to my not being able to see the note from our landlord right now.  Betty has never shown herself to be a nice person, and stood us up for our walk through, claiming the holidays and a sick family member precluded her from visiting while we were able to join her.  Not surprisingly, I'm afraid, once we left town the impending holiday stopped being a hindrance.  She is apparently nickel and dimming us on our security deposit and I'm dong my best to adjust to that fact before learning the details. After all, I'm still stuck in a dark hotel room with three sleeping children.  I need that library book.

9:15am - Lilly is awake, but willing to play quietly on daddy's iPad.

10:45am- Dave is back from the house, so leaving the keys is done. Our luggage is now filling the room in a rather humorous way. Fia and Annie are stirring, but not yet fully awake. Lilly is still quite content on her iPad.  The tasks ahead of us today are to feed our kids and keep them entertained while repacking all of our luggage, all from an airport hotel with no car. It sounds much more difficult than it is. Sleeping until nearly noon should provide us with chipper kids, open to the adventure of our hotel room. And we fly out of Reagan national airport, so we have plenty of restaurants within walking distance.  I think neither Dave nor I will complain about the early bedtime necessitated by sharing a room with young children. Not this evening.

 11am - The car people have arrived, 30 minutes early. Such is life. Sophia is still asleep, and Annika is still happy to feign sleep, so I have more time to remain quiet in the room. Dave may not do so well with that task, so I suspect everyone will be up within half an hour. It feels rather exciting, really. Crystal City, Virginia may not be a typical vacation spot, but I've no doubt we'll make an adventure out of the day.

Thursday, 2:10pm We finished our day in Arlington uneventfully, without ever even stepping outside into the rainy, cold weather. We made our flight this morning with no trouble and with all our luggage, and it looks as if we'll be spending the afternoon in the Miami airport.  We checked 4 pieces of luggage and 6 boxes, all packed to remain unopened until Caracas.  At check-in we learned that all Latin American flights hold a temporary embargo on boxes as luggage.   We intend to leave all of the checked luggage here at the airport, because the girls and I will be on our own tomorrow.  So we need to repack from here. The airport. We pushed through to baggage claim, gathered each of our 50 pound bags, and then looked around hungry. As it turns out, Miami is not an airport with a big food court outside of security.  Dave discovered the lone Burger King in another concourse and is on his way.  He has not yet discovered a luggage store.  Next steps still up in the air.

9:38pm - A few hours later, and we are the proud owners of new luggage.  We bought a nice combination of high quality luggage and cheap-duffels-we-used-to-cover-our-boxes.  Upon checking them into the storage room, we learned that the change added a few pounds and we now have a few bags which are over the baggage weight limit for American Airlines. Not sure what that's going to look like.  Annika's fever has returned and she spent most of the day asleep - although she did perk up tremendously each time we rode a shuttle bus. Riding a bus is the ideal pastime for our 2 year old. She was briefly in heaven.

Outlook for tomorrow: Dave has work and will meet us at the airport at 3.  I am wimping out, and plan to stay at the hotel until then. We have a large suite where annika can sleep late and also nap. The hotel has a pool, a Starbucks and 3 restaurants. We have some new Christmas toys in our bags. I have a book I want to finish. We are taking a lazy day, and will just have to explore Miami Beach on our next trip. We will land in Venezuela around 8pm, gather our belongings, and still be over an hour from home. I expect to get there around 11pm, with some very tired kids.

Saturday, 12:32am - We pulled up in front of our building at 10:02 pm. We turned out the lights for the big girls at around 11:30.  They slept until 9am this morning. I am hoping for a repeat performance. The apartment is easily twice the size of our last place and has loads of funny quirks.  I wish our things would arrive soon, so we could fully settle in, but we will make due with what we've got.  Hard to sleep tonight - I'm itching to organize and unpack. And the sheets are scratchy, too. 10:06pm - We spent most of the day exploring the quirks of the house, and unpacking our luggage.  We have loads of storage in ths house, which is disappearing surprisingly quickly. Still, the size is quite comfortable and the layout is pleasant. We don't have a balcony, but the airflow through the first floor makes you feel as if you are outside. We have a small garden below with a rickety playground, a place to grill and ride trikes, and a small pool. This has the girls quite excited.  They've cheered many times today that they love our new home and especially the pool, and hope we can live in Venezuela forever. This after tears yesterday, crying out I hate moving; I miss my friends. I hate Venezuela.

Our neighbor, two houses down, took me to the grocery store this afternoon. We did a quick driving tour, in which I learned where we live in relation to the embassy and the mall, I determined that driving in Caracas will not be scary, and I felt carsick from the ups and downs and twists and turns of driving up and down our hill. Our neighborhood is lovely and hilly, but only very walkable for the truly strong of heart. I am afraid I was a poor conversationalist the entire time. There was simply do much to take in. I made the poor man walk every aisle of this grocery just so I could feel the place out. I came out with an odd hodgepodge of groceries, a fairly large bill, and the confidence that we can live off of the stores here without too much trouble.  Notwithstanding the empty shelves due to shortages on sugar and the like, I found the store to be better stocked and with more western goods at more reasonable prices than City Shop in Shanghai. But do note - I probably felt the best about City Shop on my first trip there.  One interesting difference, though - Shanghai's City Shop was an expat grocery, and this place was not.

We are exploring this new world slowly, in concentric circles. Today, as a family, we explored our home and our building. Tomorrow we will venture into our neighborhood - a circular drive with a guard at the entrance. We hear there is a park with a small playground.  Baby steps. We have plenty of time.

Sunday, 10:15am - Lilly is melting down. She misses her friends and her school.no doubt she misses familiarity and a regular routine. We are sleeping until we wake up and eating when we realize we are hungry - usually right after blowing up at someone. We still have holiday for the next few days, but I promised a homeschool routine starting the day daddy goes back to work.  Sophia seems to be happy, after having a short fuse for the past few days.  Annika is staying close to us, preferring to be held nearly all the time. Her fever has disappeared, but she is still behind on sleep and clearly overwhelmed. Bringing boxes full of new Christmas toys has proven to be a blessing, the girls can spend hours having their new fairies and ponies explore the living room and it's surrounds. Dave and I tire quickly, but remain in good spirits. Our bed and sheets are uncomfortable, but the breeze in through the windows and the view out of them makes it hard to stay grumpy.

Limited Access

Just a quick note, as Internet access is not easily available to me right now. What's this about having to pay for wifi inside a hotel room? Nonsense. We beat the winter storm to Virginia - saw no sign if it, although I believe our entire route was pounded with snow within a few hours of our passing. Annika screamed the majority of the time between 9pm and our hotel check-in at 4am, so we did very little the rest of the day. Caught our flight just fine this morning and the girls are asleep in Miami right now, while I'm in search of some Cuban food for Dave and I. Annika's fever returned, Lilly is dangerously low on sleep and Dave and I carried headaches all day. Prayers for fresh, healthy bodies tomorrow would be wonderful.

The Christmas Letter

It's Christmas morning, by just a few minutes.  Santa has come and gone and I've finished watching Its a Wonderful Life.  The house is quiet and I ought to get to sleep myself, as the girls will be awake with the first light of morning, I have no doubt.  Still, a quick moment for an annual Christmas message.

This December must go on record as being the most stressful for our family.  Dave studied for his Spanish exam, worried over it, and passed it.  Immediately thereafter, we began to tear down the house and quickly ship it to Venezuela.  We've been in hotels and families' homes for over a week now.  We've said too many good-byes, gotten too little sleep and eaten precious little vegetables this month.  Sophia and Annika have both had fevers over the past few days, and little Annika woke up with night terrors this evening.  Dave still can't kick the cough and exhaustion that he's been carrying since before his exam.  Lilly is acting out in her own way, although the presence of her extended family has calmed her considerably.  Over the past 5 days, we've logged about 1,200 miles.  Over the next 4 days we expect to log another 2,000 more.  It has been and continues to be a stressful month.

But the blessings surrounding us continue to astound me.  We have already been connected to 6 people at our new home - four of whom have been assigned as volunteers to help us out, meeting us at the airport, taking us to the grocery store, introducing us around.  Another two people we already have some level of relationship with and will feel as if we're meeting up with friends when we see them again.  Such a blessing!  Our home is being set up, and we hear its lovely with all new furniture.  The weather in Caracas is always pleasant and the vistas are said to be beautiful.  The school has a very strong reputation and the embassy community seems happy and vibrant.  We have so much to look forward to.

And thank goodness for that, because the blessings from this past 18 months in Arlington make it hard to leave.  Dave enjoyed his job working on Human Rights and Democracy issues with China for his first position with the State Department.  The girls and I enjoyed his hours once he began studying Spanish full-time.  We benefited from fabulous schools, teachers and friends.  We were lucky enough to land on a lovely block, and to feel at home amongst our neighbors right away.  We were blessed to land immediately at a truly incredible church, and to build relationships that we look forward to extending when we eventually return.  Lilly and Sophia played soccer, sang in the church choir and spent a lot of time swimming in the backyard or climbing trees in the front.  Annika spent most of her time charming the socks off of everyone she met, and tagging along with her sisters.  Dave and I get so much joy out of watching them interact with each other and their peers, and seeing them learn and grow - each of them astound me.  And watching their resilience and positive attitudes through the changes of the past month has been truly inspiring.

Rampant crime and gun usage make us nervous about moving to Caracas, and the popularity of express kidnappings terrify us.  But the recent events in Newtown, Connecticut remind us that our safety has never been guaranteed and the only true resource we have is prayer.  I've been praying the common benediction from Numbers over my children every night lately,

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
and give you peace.

It has been particularly apt for us during this season, but seems the right way to end this post as well.  We covet your prayers, we miss each of you, and we look forward to the journey ahead of us.

And today, we celebrate Christmas together with our family.  Truly it is a Merry Christmas!

The Last Day of School

Today was the end of our time in Arlington, and the girls left for school with heavy hearts.  They each got a quick pep-talk about how its okay to be sad, but its also okay to push the sad thoughts out of your heart with happy thoughts instead.  Neither of them ate much breakfast.  Sophia came home two hours later, after throwing up in class.  Its been a stressful week, with too little sleep and practically no fruits or vegetables.  The poor child is beyond exhausted.

We scheduled farewell parties for each of the girls this afternoon, and Lilly made us proud.  We arrived at 2:00 and her teacher shared that Lilly had been pretty quiet and somber all morning.  She ate her cookies quietly and didn't smile at us much.  But when the snacks were finished, she stepped up.  She handed out good-bye cards personally to everyone in the class, and she took the seat of honor to answer questions about Venezuela.  She knew more than I expected her to, and had great answers to questions like Why do you have to leave?  When we finished, her classmates attacked her with hugs and she left in high spirits.

Sophia recovered from the morning by spending much of the day on the hotel couch watching cartoons, but her party was still off due to school puking rules.  She walked to the door and waved good-bye to everyone. The other kindergarteners sent virtual hugs and called out their good-byes.  Honestly, I think she prefered it this way.  Her stress was physical, and hug attacks would have been difficult.  She preferred to curl up in a ball.

Each teacher made a lovely parting gift for the girls, of a notebook filled with letters and pictures from their classmates.  The highlight of Sophia's is the friend who says I will miss you because you are going away.  The highlight of Lilly's is the many different ways to a second grader could write Venezuela:

• Vaniswala
• VenesWhaleA
• Venoswala
• Veneswala
• Beniswela
• Weniswela

Portable Christmas

December has been a month of celebrations.  We celebrated Sophia's birthday the day before Dave took his test.  We celebrated that he passed that very night.  Most of the rest of the month has been consumed by packing and cleaning and shopping and making arrangements.  But last night, we took a break from moving to celebrate Christmas as a family.

We have been out of our house since Friday, when the movers packed everything up and shipped it to Venezuela.  But we had a small tree in the house, and we now have a small tree in our hotel, along with some of our other Christmas decorations.  Our efforts were rewarded when Sophia walked into the hotel room for the first time and pronounced It feels just like home! 

And last night, that little tree stood surrounded by gifts. 

Family Christmas began right after school, when Dave and I met the girls on the playground and rounded them into the car.  We headed straight toward Merrifield Garden Center, to meet what was rumored to be the real Santa.  We arrived at 4:30 and didn't meet him until 6:45, but I heard very few complaints from the girls.  Santa had his own little house, decorated with a nativity, an advent calendar and plenty of lights and stuffed Santas to keep their eyes busy.  The free popcorn probably helped to pass the time as well.

 I believe the girls doubted this would be the real Santa Claus all the way up until they met him.  But after leaving his lap, everyone became convinced.  This year, we met the true Santa Claus.  He knew that Lilly is the smartest kid in her class.  He knew that Sophia loves to paint and draw.  He knew they were not going to get a real live puppy dog, although we were surprised to hear him promise an American Girl Doll!  We had some conversations afterward about Santa and his memory.  Either way, the visit was magical and the girls were in awe.

Back to the hotel for presents, and then flashing lights came in from the parking lot and we ran out to meet the Santamobile.  We didn't snap any pictures because we were in such a hurry just to catch them - we had to toss the girls over a fairly tall fence in their stocking feet so they could catch up!  The Fire Departments in this area have a holiday tradition of sending out decorated fire trucks with Santa Claus riding on top - although my girls informed me that last night, it was simply a stand-in on the truck.  They hand out candy canes and fire safety information and generally add an air of magic to the neighborhood.  Their magic topped off a fabulous Christmas - and I don't think anyone felt any less at home in the hotel last night.

Such a Week!

I last posted on Tuesday, and oh so much has happened since then!  Allow me to catch you up - and my apologies for not posting sooner!

wednesday:  Dave took, and passed, his Spanish test.  He walked out of the exam room with no confidence, and was surprised when they told him he passed.  He went through some check-out procedures in the afternoon, visited with the doctor who pronounced his shoulder fully healed, and then met us at a happy hour to celebrate all of the recently diploma-ed Spanish speakers.  The conversation was entirely in English, and I enjoyed the chance to meet many of Dave's colleagues and see him as the social one while I minded the kids.

thursday:  Life entered warp speed.  Done with class, Dave is also done with work until his first day of work in Caracas.  We both spent the day tearing apart the house, and running last minute errands.  We sorted and packed and stuffed into Ziplok bags.  We made last minute runs to Target.  We went to bed at 2am, about 3 hours short of being finished.

friday:  Expecting the movers to arrive at 10am, we awoke at 7:30 to find them already parked outside the house.  I almost threw up.  We were not ready.  However, the movers were both kind and helpful.  They went about their business without any of my help while I finished organizing the upstairs.  They packed our air shipment, our sea shipment and our consumables shipment.  Hence the organizational mess.  We are allowed 800 pounds in air shipment, and we expect to receive this in early February.  We did not come anywhere near meeting our sea shipment allotment - this is everything else, and it will arrive somewhere between mid-March and early May.  Our consumables are basically an extra shipment of groceries, and this will arrive alongside the sea shipment.  We are also storing things at my parents' house in St. Louis, and giving things to my niece in Chicago as well as carrying over 500 pounds of luggage onto the airplane.  The logistics were incredible, and the morning was stressful.  However, at some point I gave up the idea of being in control of my move and simply trusted the movers to get everything there well.  Within each shipment, nothing is organized so unpacking will be messy.  And I believe I shipped most of our socks on the slow boat.  Otherwise, everything went just fine.

saturday: Compared to the previous three days, Saturday was a breeze.  The logistics of packing for the next few weeks are complicated as well, but seemed quite simple when compared to the day before.  We organized, we cleaned, and we cried for the families in Connecticut.  The children who died at Sandy Hook on Friday were 6 and 7 years old - the same age as Sophia and Lilly, respectively.  We could picture all too clearly the scene in each classroom, and could not begin to imagine the pain felt within those walls.  We stayed close to each other all day. 

The girls spent the afternoon and evening at a good-bye party hosted by our neighbors and their best friend.  All the neighbor kids were there, and the girls had a fabulous time and left feeling loved and valued. 

sunday:  We went to church this morning.  We cried some more for the families in Connecticut, and felt the loss of this our church home.  We prayed together with friends, prayed together with the pastor, and hugged the girls' Sunday School teachers good-bye.  We felt comfort that although we may never return to our home, our block or even the girls' school, we will be back in Virginia and we will return to our church.

Dave and I spent the afternoon packing again, while the girls both enjoyed a last playdate with a best friend.  The day was good, but the evening was hard.  It seems that a weekend of last playdates will wear on a 6 or 7 year old, and the girls both melted down once we reached the hotel.  Our family has a Sunday night ritual of watching a movie and eating pizza together.  We have this ritual precisely because of times like these - our surroundings, our friends and our home may change, but our family and our Sunday nights will always remain the same.  We picked up a pizza and came back to the hotel to watch our movie.  Except I forgot to pack the movie.  And we picked up a fancy pizza, which the girls didn't like at all.  An hour of Nickelodeon and a few oranges simply didn't fill that comfort zone that Movie Night usually holds.  We had a lot of tears, a lot of hugs and an early bedtime.

this week:  The movers return tomorrow to pack the things going to storage.  This is most of our furniture, all of our outside stuff (bikes, patio furniture... sniff, sniff, sniff) and any cold weather items.  The landlord hopes to do her walk-through on Tuesday afternoon, so we will be spending the rest of tomorrow and most of Tuesday cleaning the house.

Lilly and Sophia will return to their regular routine, with school most of the day, playground in the afternoon, and supper and homework until bedtime.  Hopefully this will help to stabilize the household.  Good-bye parties on Thursday, and we will take off straight from the school for Christmas in the Midwest - and who can be sad about that?

Last Day of School

This is the last day of Spanish School.

I finish my correspondence course this afternoon, with one final phone call with mi mentora.  Then I will have either a 1 or a 0+ in Spanish; this is on a 0-5 scale, where 5 is a native speaker.  Its not much, but at least I'm on the scale.

Dave's last day of class is today as well.  He tests tomorrow morning.  Assuming he passes his test, he'll be done with work for a few weeks at that point.  Prayers for good rest and a calm mind tomorrow for him.

Will keep you posted!

News!

So much has happened this weekend!

The top story, of course, is that Hugo Chavez is dying of cancer and has named his successor.  Big news!  This speaks volumes about the stability in Venezuela over the next few years.  That he will likely not be the president is a little scary - although the possibility has been there all along.  That he has named a successor and voiced support for the democratic process and the constitution's protocol could actually lead toward a calm transition.  Such interesting times!

In much lesser news, Dave and I got an insane amount done this weekend.  My in-laws swooped in for a quick weekend visit, cared for our kids all day yesterday, and we were reminded how much two adults can accomplish in a day without any children.  We crossed everything off of our to do list, enjoyed a tasty lunch and a delicious dinner out, and neither of us got a headache in the process.  Such fun!

We purchased all of our Consumables yesterday, in a massive buy at the warehouse store nearby.  We filled up 3 carts and the entire back of our mini-van.  We overspent our budget.  And we do not plan on buying paper towels again for the next 2 years.

Dave tests on Wednesday.  Should he fail the test, we won't pack out on Friday.  So, he's spending the next few days thinking, eating and breathing in Spanish.  I'm spending the next few days organizing and cleaning the things in my house, and putting bottles of shampoo into Ziplok bags for safe shipping.  We'll also be celebrating Sophia's 6th birthday - but this year, I bought the birthday cake.

I look at my weekly calendar, and I can't believe we're already here.  Within the week, total craziness begins.  And I've got to admit - I'm really excited.

News of the Day

Dave found this in the Washington Post this morning:

Norway Closes Diplomatic Mission in Venezuela, Citing Rampant Violent Crime

Its not much of a picker-upper, so if you'd prefer to skip reading the entire article, I've give you the highlights:

"Norway will close its embassy in Venezuela because of rampant crime in the South American country."

"The government of President Hugo Chavez estimates that more than 14,000 people were killed in Venezuela last year. That gave the country a homicide rate of 50 per 100,000 people and made it one of the most violent countries in Latin America and the world."

"Kidnappings for ransom have grown rapidly over the past decade, with abductions reported to police rising from 52 in 1998, when Chavez was first elected, to 618 in 2009. Security experts say the real number of kidnappings is much higher because most cases aren’t reported to authorities."

Also worth noting today is Psalm 4:8:

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Santa Claus

In the midst of this upcoming move, our family is also fully enjoying Advent and the Christmas season.  We have a small tree in the living room, covered with disposable decorations and one small string of lights.  It will move to the hotel with us when we begin pack-out.  We're reading the Advent calendar every night and we're playing lots of Christmas music around the house.

Annika, who is 2 1/2, feels that she is experiencing everything for the first time - and such a magical month this is for her!  I recently sang the song Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  She interrupted me to ask:

She:  What is Santa?

Me:  Santa is the man who brings presents on Christmas.
(you really should have seen the wonder on her face as she took this in)
She:  Is he going to bring presents to me?

Me:  Sure.  He brings presents to all the good little boys and girls all over the world.

She:  I want Santa to come right now.

Me:  He's coming soon.  He'll come on Christmas.

She:  I want Santa to come right now.  I want to play with him.  He will be my friend.

Ever since, she has been justifiably enamored with this Santa who will bring her presents on Christmas.  She frequently asks if she can go to Christmas now?  Yesterday, she wore a red dress with a white fur collar to church.  We told her she looked like Santa.  She took it to heart, and didn't allow any of us - including the ladies in Sunday School - to call her by her name.  No, I'm Santa.  I'm going to bring you presents, she would reply.

Its going to be a fun December!

Prayer Requests

Our family attends The Falls Church Anglican here in Virginia, and we enjoy it very much.  The teaching is strong, the preaching makes us think and the worship strengthens us.  We walked into this church on our first Sunday in Virginia, making the decision not to "church shop" but simply to stick the first decent place we stopped.  Happily, God placed us in a very convenient place and we've been attending nearly every Sunday since.

At the end of the service this morning, the worship team began singing one of my favorite songs.  It made me sad to realize that we won't have this community, this worship, these sermons in our lives for the next few years.  But sadness just couldn't get a good grasp this morning, because the words of the song made me think of how God's provided an amazing community for us each placed we have lived.  How can I but believe that He has another one prepared for us in Venezuela?

It humbles me to know that people from all of our past communities are following us and praying for us at this time.  Thank-you!  As this move continues to ramp up, our family covets your prayers.  Here are our specific prayer requests:

•  Dave takes his Spanish test on Dec. 12th.  If he fails, all motions toward Venezuela will freeze and we will remain in Virginia for another few months.  This would be fine, but certainly not preferable; at least because we have no confidence that the landlord would allow us to stay!  Please pray for calm and peace while Dave studies, and that God's will prevail during the exam.
• Lilly feels very sad to leave her school and her friends.  Please pray for a smooth transition for each of the girls.  We pray that God is preparing a perfect place for each of them, with a wonderful new teacher and classroom and some fabulous new friends.
• We are sad to leave our church.  We pray that God provides us a strong Christian community in Venezuela, where we can make good friends and continue to grow.
• We have a lot to do over the next few weeks.  Simple prayers for peace, patience and extra energy will get us through smoothly!
• We will drive to the Midwest and back again in a very short span of time, and then fly on to Miami and then Caracas.  Prayers for safe and smooth travel will carry us all the way.
• And lastly, feel free to begin praying now for our safety while we live in Venezuela.  Caracas has an extremely high crime rate, with gunned robberies commonplace and kidnappings all too real a part of life.  Uncle Sam will control our lives in many ways, in attempts to keep us safe - and for that we are grateful.  But adjusting to the safety conditions and the controls around us will be difficult, and keeping all of the members of our family from harm will require constant vigilance. 

Etiquette and Protocol 101

Dave and I reversed roles today.  He stayed home with the girls while I attended a class at FSI.  When I came home, the house was clean, the chores were done and the girls were pleasant.  I walked into the house with a head aching from so much new information.  So, clearly, Dave wins as the stay-at-home parent.

I must admit - I was not expecting to learn much today.  I thought I knew most of the rules of etiquette, and I thought that protocol was essentially the same thing.  So much to learn!  For example:

- Never call the Ambassador by his or her first name.  Never.  Like, even if he's at a BBQ in your own backyard.  Like, even if she's sitting next to you in the bleachers watching your kids play basketball on the same middle school team.  Like, even if you're playing squash together.  Never.  Should he ask you to call him by his first name, you should reply, "Yes, Mr. Ambassador."

- Always stand up when the Ambassador and/or their spouse enter the room.

- Ambassador must be a very lonely job.

Of course, we discussed much more than just how to treat an ambassador with respect.  Table manners took up over half of our day.  I learned that I hold my fork as if it were a shovel rather than a dining utensil.  Also, I learned how to eat escargot.  I learned that changing name cards at a dinner party can result in international catastrophes, offending a country by not properly recognizing the rank of their representatives.  I learned that there is an internationally recognized ranking of diplomats, and that the ambassador who has been in the country the longest will always sit to the right of the host at a dinner party - this is Protocol.

The nicest lesson, though, is one that comes reinforced more and more often as I get older.  We learn rules of etiquette so that we know how to behave when invited to a formal dinner party.  Should we choose to entertain, we essentially set our own rules.  It is not necessary to have multiple forks and sherry glasses on the table - an American BBQ with plastic plates is perfectly acceptable.  Bring your personality forward, and pull off whatever you choose.  Without offending the French Ambassador and causing an international calamity, of course.