A Blessing and a Curse

Our family's first post in the Foreign Service will be to the State Department in Washington, D.C. Dave's seen a small blurb of a job description, and feels pretty excited about the kind of work he expects to do. He's having dinner with a future co-worker tonight, checking into the office on Thursday afternoon, and reports to work bright and early Monday morning. He gets sworn in on Friday afternoon, and will be an official diplomat within a week.

The job is certainly a blessing.

A number of other blessings come along with this DC posting.

Blessing #1: We have lived in China for the past 4 years, and I love the opportunity for our family to live in the states for a bit. Lilly and Sophia feel fully American, but have no memory of living here. All three girls have spent more of their lives in China than in America. We've been far away from family, and the easy bits of American life have been difficult. We're looking forward to living in America for a while.

Blessing #2: Sophia had a rough year in school last year. After less than 2 weeks in her new school here in Virginia, we're seeing confidence return and a happier child than I saw the entire time we lived in Shenzhen. Her teachers love her. She's making friends. She learning and growing, and feels at home. She's in a wonderful place.

Blessing #3: Before we arrived in D.C., we already had good friends here. Dave's cousin lives in town, and his girls are nearly the same ages as ours. They hit it off right away. Friends from Shanghai live in town, and our kids played together at The Wonder Center. Sparks reignited as if they've never been apart - and certainly not been apart for nearly two years. Dave's classmate and our neighbor has girls nearly the same age as ours, and they all get along smashingly. And where girls play together happily, there the mothers and fathers are able to talk and enjoy each other. We have friends in town - all of us.

Blessing #4: On his first Sunday here, Dave popped into the church across the street. Since then, we've gone every weekend. We frequently see people we know. We enjoy the preaching and the worship. And best of all - the girls love the Sunday School, so much that they ask to go back each week. Finally, we are in a family friendly church.

Blessing #5: Our temporary housing is lovely. We've landed in a new complex, in a 2 bedroom apartment with a den and a large, new kitchen. The space is great, and the location couldn't be better. Across the street from the church, in an amazing school district, and within walking distance of most of the city's selling points - the library, the restaurants, the toy store, the farmer's market, the parks.

But the blessings come complete with a curse.

Housing here is stinking expensive. And not only expensive, but it also moves quickly. Things available at the beginning of the week have already disappeared. We lose our temporary housing in 17 days. That is, we need to be entirely moved into our new home in less than 3 weeks.

Its overwhelming.