Holy Moly

The amount of anxiety I feel at this very moment is unreal. We picked the kids up yesterday and were so happy to see them. However, this morning it is apparent that we all need some time to transition...from being apart, to seeing our house 1/2 empty, to knowing that most of our stuff will be packed up and not seen for a month or so, to knowing that we only have one more week in a house we love, in a town we love, with friends we love, one more week at a lake we love with grandparents and an uncle we love, and one more week in our old home town we loved, with our other grandparents we love, and old friends we love...AND then moving to the other side of the world where we know nobody, and don't speak the language, and the culture, food, climate, political system is completely foreign to us.

I know that this is a great opportunity and a wonderful adventure, but I think we all felt all of this at the same time this morning. And wow, we all totally lost it at the same time this morning.

I know that I feel better getting this out. I hope I am giving the kids ample opportunity to get their fears and anxieties out as well. I never imagined that Max would be attending 3 school in 3 years and 2 for Izzy in 2 years. They are amazing children who have handled all of the recent change so well.

Shorty, you’re my angel, you’re my darling angel...

I want to start off by saying a huge thank you to my parents, Nathaniel's mom, and Nathaniel's brother. Because of you guys, we were able to get so much done. I know that the kids have had a great time with all of you. And, while I missed the kids tremendously, Nathaniel and I had a great time too! It is amazing how much more energy I have when I don't have to keep up with Max and Isabel.

Speaking of Max and Izzy, I got there acceptance letter for school. I am so glad to have this done. Now we just have to light a fire under the people working on Nathaniel's visa so we can start our expat life. Nathaniel is in the process of getting our plane tickets booked. I have started packing our suitcases and I sure hope I get the right stuff in there because we will get to China a couple of weeks before the rest of the stuff we ship gets there.

On a completely different note, I got to meet on of Nathaniel's Chinese coworkers, George. He is in town for a meeting and last night we took him out to dinner. I really enjoyed meeting him. I can tell that he and Nathaniel will work well together.

The best part about meeting George was seeing how excited Nathaniel got talking about what they will be taking on in China. While Nathaniel's career as an accountant has provided very well for our family, I have always wondered how someone like Nathaniel, who is such a people person, could stand to sit at desk all day and look at numbers. Listening to Nathaniel and George talk about all the changes the plan to make in all areas of the Chinese plant, I saw a twinkle in Nathaniel's eyes that I have never seen while talking about work! I am so excited for him. I am proud of him too. This has been his goal since before he graduated from school, and in just over8 years he was able to make it happen.

One last note about meeting George.... He is like 6 inches taller than Nathaniel! Don't assume that everyone in China is small....

Catch Up

I intended to do a much better job at updating this blog. It has been so long since I posted something that I don't really know where to begin! We have started saying goodbye to our friends both in Bloomington and Charlotte. Once I get all of the pictures up on Flickr, I will share those with you.

Our timeline has changed a little, and we won't get to Hangzhou until about August 15. Unfortunately, the kids will miss a few days of school, but there isn't much we can do about it. Nathaniel went to China this week to get some work done and speed up the visa process a little bit. He had quite a few interesting experiences and I am hoping to get him to share them himself.

The kids are staying in Charlotte this week with my parents while I am here in Bloomington getting ready for the move. The movers will be here July 29.

Now that the dates are set and I am really excited.