Status Update

We bought a computer yesterday, and this morning we got it connected to the internet.

I'm building a list of things to write about, but this morning I lack the brain power or stable emotions to do it well.  Also, my kids are all awake and itching to get out of the hotel room - possibly why I lack at least the brain power.

But here's a quick status update for everyone in the family, starting at the bottom.

Annika is struggling.  She is of an age where family is of primal importance, so comfort comes from simply sitting with one of us.  But she has no understanding of the changes swirling around her, and it makes her pretty upset.  Right now, she is walking around the hotel room singing, "I wanna go back to Caracas!  I wanna go back to Caracas!"  Our upset 3-year-old will feel much better once we stabilize.

Sophia is cruising.  When we told her we would leave Caracas, she asked if she could have the window seat on the airplane.  She got the window seat and she enjoyed the flight.  She recognized things in Virginia and is enjoying the company of her grandparents (who hopped in their car and drove from Chicago on Thursday to meet us here and help out).  She feels like she is on vacation.

Lilly has recovered.  She was sad to leave her friends in Caracas, but she feels at home in Virginia.  We had dinner with her best friend's family last night.  Every show on the television is in English.  We're eating at good restaurants and hanging out in parks.  She gets to sleep on a rollaway bed.  She is happy.

Dave is under a lot of stress.  He is trying to manage his career under rather unmanageable circumstances.  People in the State Department are being wonderfully supportive, and promising to take care of him in his next tour.  But one very friendly bureaucrat is enforcing a few rules which really ought to be waved under the circumstances.  She seems to be the person in control of his next position, and she refuses to think outside of the box.  She has provided of list of only 5 options for the next post.  Professionally, each one of them is disappointing.  Geographically, each one of them is in a hard-to-staff city.  He is essentially being offered the very bottom of the barrel in terms of entry-level positions.

I'm having trouble describing how I'm doing.  Maybe because how I'm doing seems to change dramatically by the hour.  When doors begin closing for me, I sink pretty fast.  When things work out for us, I feel like I'm leading a charmed life.

Things will stabilize a little bit this week.  Dave will be in the office beginning Monday.  We will move into a serviced apartment at the end of the week.  But this will leave me by myself more often, or trying to accomplish something with the constant company of three lonely, bored and stressed children.

Please keep praying for us.  I should be able to post more regularly now, so y'all can follow the story more closely from now on.