Todd has been very busy this week booking tickets and reserving rooms on all the legs of our journey. He has such a knack for finding the unusual, memorable out of the way places and I look forward to sharing them with you, but in another post. As Todd was firming up plans for some parts of our trip, we had some bad news about another part.
If you will remember from our itinerary, we were planning to stay in Iowa with my uncle and his family, whom Todd has never met. My mother has booked her tickets to join us for this part of the journey to show the kids the farm where she was raised including the house her father built. Whereas the Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, etc. were to be great "re-connecting to America" moments, the Iowa visit was to be a more personal, connect with the family history moment and I was really looking forward to it.
However, on Sunday, a tornado blew through the area killing at least 7 people and destroying many, many homes. President Bush has declared the county a disaster area and the Iowa National Guard has been sent in to help clean up. You can read in more detail and see photos here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080527/NEWS/80527022
Fortunately, none of our extended family were physically harmed. My uncle's house, where we had planned on staying, has suffered some damage. My cousin's house, however, was completely destroyed. His boat, which was stored half a mile west of my uncle's home was later found east of my uncle's home. No word yet on the status of the house my grandfather built.
Now, lest I scare off any of our other gracious hosts along the way, I would like to point out that this devastation PRECEDED our family's arrival by more than six weeks and our kids are in NO WAY responsible for this kind of destruction!
So, unless the hotels are still booked with storm refugees six weeks from now, we still plan on coming through New Hartford to see the family, and hopefully the farm. If you could, in the meantime, pray for my cousin Brett and his family as they deal with the complete loss of their home. Even in the midst of our moving chaos, I can only imagine how completely overwhelming it must all be for them.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Balance Sheet
Things I will NOT miss about Russia:
1. Having the hot water shut off for maintenance for 3 weeks in May, when there are still snow flurries outside
2. Snow flurries in May
3. Wrestling small children into 12 separate articles of clothing each, every morning before school and every afternoon to come home.
4. Sometimes unpredictable and always unavoidable traffic jams
5. Traffic police
6. Finding parking among 50 places around a building with 200 apartments
7. Crowded sidewalks, crowded streets, crowded buses, crowded metro
_________________________________________________
Things I WILL miss about Moscow: (hint: there is music to this slide show, so you may want to pause the playlist if you haven't already)
1. Having the hot water shut off for maintenance for 3 weeks in May, when there are still snow flurries outside
2. Snow flurries in May
3. Wrestling small children into 12 separate articles of clothing each, every morning before school and every afternoon to come home.
4. Sometimes unpredictable and always unavoidable traffic jams
5. Traffic police
6. Finding parking among 50 places around a building with 200 apartments
7. Crowded sidewalks, crowded streets, crowded buses, crowded metro
_________________________________________________
Things I WILL miss about Moscow: (hint: there is music to this slide show, so you may want to pause the playlist if you haven't already)
Friday, May 16, 2008
Avalanche
The momentum is building! Friends of ours who are moving into a bigger place have agreed to buy a large selection of our furniture. It is a great help to us to have all the bulky, hard to place items already claimed and we are truly grateful. Because they are moving today they were hoping to have their moving company stop by and pick up our stuff as well on the way. It seems worth it to us to live out of suitcases for a few extra weeks in exchange for finding such a great buyer for our stuff. It has also been great incentive for me to actually get down to the hard work of packing.
So Wednesday Andrew, Katie and I rolled up our sleeves and started scraping stickers off the wardrobes. Andrew swears that he will never again put stickers on furniture now that he knows how hard they are to get off. Then I caught him putting a sticker on a table at McDonald's last night. Not that I was surprised. I managed to pry a few more books from Katie to add to the give away pile. Christopher and I spent yesterday going through his desk distilling all his various projects into what will fit into a small box. It was surprisingly easy and I caught him several times rolling his eyes at the junk that he had stuffed away in every corner. I am REALLY enjoying this part of the packing process and I have so far resisted the urge to sing and dance around the apartment with giddy enthusiasm at finally seeing my own children willingly put trash in the proper place.
Turns out the movers will not manage to get here until Monday, but we have already managed to pick up some speed here and it is hard to stop. It is helping the kids to have 2 big boxes set up in the hallway that are destined for Florida. It is comforting for them to know that not everything is going to be sold or donated but that some of their treasures are being carefully stowed away and they will see it again in a few months. Meanwhile we have made our own arrangements with the moving company and fixed a time and place for delivery in Florida in August. We hope that they will drop off boxes soon so we have a place to put all the stuff we have to take out of the wardrobes and off of the shelves. We have a lead on a car to buy in the US. We have all our ferry tickets for the trip, though not the train tickets.
Next week it only gets crazier. In one week Andrew will have graduated from Detsky Sad, Christopher will have finished off scouts for the year and completed a re-entry seminar offered for kids returning to the US, Katie will have had a ballet recital, all the kids should be done with homeschool, all of our wardrobes and bookshelves will be gone so we will be living in boxland, and reinforcements will arrive in the form of Grandma Dee. Many friends are also on stand-by ready to help pack as soon as the boxes get here, or watch the kids while I pack.
The avalanche has begun and I don't expect the momentum will let up at all until we slide into Orlando mid-August. Except, of course, for that wonderful 5-day break on the Atlantic in the middle of it all!
So Wednesday Andrew, Katie and I rolled up our sleeves and started scraping stickers off the wardrobes. Andrew swears that he will never again put stickers on furniture now that he knows how hard they are to get off. Then I caught him putting a sticker on a table at McDonald's last night. Not that I was surprised. I managed to pry a few more books from Katie to add to the give away pile. Christopher and I spent yesterday going through his desk distilling all his various projects into what will fit into a small box. It was surprisingly easy and I caught him several times rolling his eyes at the junk that he had stuffed away in every corner. I am REALLY enjoying this part of the packing process and I have so far resisted the urge to sing and dance around the apartment with giddy enthusiasm at finally seeing my own children willingly put trash in the proper place.
Turns out the movers will not manage to get here until Monday, but we have already managed to pick up some speed here and it is hard to stop. It is helping the kids to have 2 big boxes set up in the hallway that are destined for Florida. It is comforting for them to know that not everything is going to be sold or donated but that some of their treasures are being carefully stowed away and they will see it again in a few months. Meanwhile we have made our own arrangements with the moving company and fixed a time and place for delivery in Florida in August. We hope that they will drop off boxes soon so we have a place to put all the stuff we have to take out of the wardrobes and off of the shelves. We have a lead on a car to buy in the US. We have all our ferry tickets for the trip, though not the train tickets.
Next week it only gets crazier. In one week Andrew will have graduated from Detsky Sad, Christopher will have finished off scouts for the year and completed a re-entry seminar offered for kids returning to the US, Katie will have had a ballet recital, all the kids should be done with homeschool, all of our wardrobes and bookshelves will be gone so we will be living in boxland, and reinforcements will arrive in the form of Grandma Dee. Many friends are also on stand-by ready to help pack as soon as the boxes get here, or watch the kids while I pack.
The avalanche has begun and I don't expect the momentum will let up at all until we slide into Orlando mid-August. Except, of course, for that wonderful 5-day break on the Atlantic in the middle of it all!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Project Mueshka Part The Second
The vets finally called back and scheduled an appointment to give the cat the vaccinations he needs to travel. Not that he needs these vaccinations to enter the US. Part of the great mystery of international borders: a potentially rabies infested cat can enter the US with no problem but he can't leave Russia. Wouldn't the Russians WANT to get rid of the disease ridden cats? I don't get it, but like visa and tax laws, they do not operate by the normal rules of logic. Sometimes 2 plus 2 is 5 and it's just best not to think about it too hard.
So the vets came to our house on Wednesday to give Mueshka his shots and to give him a once over to declare him fit for travel. Yes, you read that right. The vets came to our house. There are some aspects of living in this country that I will deeply miss and vets who make house calls is just one of them.
The kids stayed home from school Wednesday morning as we had had a late night on Tuesday and we all opted to sleep in. All day they were asking, "When is the vet coming? When is the vet coming? Poor Mueshka! He's going to be shot!" Mueshka was blissfully ignorant of the mounting tension throughout the day. Finally, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Yuri and Valeria arrived, doctors' bags in hand. As they got settled on the sofa and ready for the exam, the kids gathered round ready to comfort poor Mueshka, who was actually rather enjoying the visit so far. I am SO sorry not to have the camera at the ready for this, so you will just have to imagine a video of the following:
Yuri pulls the still happy cat onto his lap and then pulls out a syringe with an inch and a half long needle. He holds it up to the light and gives a little squirt, just like the evil scientists do in the movies. At this moment, all three kids, who are supposed to be comforting the cat, lock their hands over their eyes and start howling "AHHHH! Tell me when it's over!" Valeria, who is vet assistant/translator and wife to Yuri looks at me with a puzzled look. I explain that they are not big fans of shots and are feeling great sympathy for Mueshka. Yuri quickly gives Mueshka the shot and Mueshka hardly notices. If anything, he looks particularly happy to have all this attention from this unusually cat-friendly visitor. Yuri then proceeds to check Mueshka's eyes and mouth, etc. Christopher still with his hands over his eyes, yells "Tell me when it's over!" He doesn't believe me when I tell him the the shot was long over and every move the vet makes is questioned by at least one of the kids. "What's he doing now? Why is he doing that to our cat!" Pretty soon the boys get bored and run off to play. Katie lingers awhile longer and then joins them. I am thinking, if I get really sick, I better not count on these three for much in the way of moral support.
In the end, Mueshka was given a clean bill of health and his very own passport (no it doesn't have his picture in it). And we have made a tangible step toward moving. Yea! Progress! Makes me feel better about all the clutter that still litters this place and needs to be sorted through.
So the vets came to our house on Wednesday to give Mueshka his shots and to give him a once over to declare him fit for travel. Yes, you read that right. The vets came to our house. There are some aspects of living in this country that I will deeply miss and vets who make house calls is just one of them.
The kids stayed home from school Wednesday morning as we had had a late night on Tuesday and we all opted to sleep in. All day they were asking, "When is the vet coming? When is the vet coming? Poor Mueshka! He's going to be shot!" Mueshka was blissfully ignorant of the mounting tension throughout the day. Finally, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Yuri and Valeria arrived, doctors' bags in hand. As they got settled on the sofa and ready for the exam, the kids gathered round ready to comfort poor Mueshka, who was actually rather enjoying the visit so far. I am SO sorry not to have the camera at the ready for this, so you will just have to imagine a video of the following:
Yuri pulls the still happy cat onto his lap and then pulls out a syringe with an inch and a half long needle. He holds it up to the light and gives a little squirt, just like the evil scientists do in the movies. At this moment, all three kids, who are supposed to be comforting the cat, lock their hands over their eyes and start howling "AHHHH! Tell me when it's over!" Valeria, who is vet assistant/translator and wife to Yuri looks at me with a puzzled look. I explain that they are not big fans of shots and are feeling great sympathy for Mueshka. Yuri quickly gives Mueshka the shot and Mueshka hardly notices. If anything, he looks particularly happy to have all this attention from this unusually cat-friendly visitor. Yuri then proceeds to check Mueshka's eyes and mouth, etc. Christopher still with his hands over his eyes, yells "Tell me when it's over!" He doesn't believe me when I tell him the the shot was long over and every move the vet makes is questioned by at least one of the kids. "What's he doing now? Why is he doing that to our cat!" Pretty soon the boys get bored and run off to play. Katie lingers awhile longer and then joins them. I am thinking, if I get really sick, I better not count on these three for much in the way of moral support.
In the end, Mueshka was given a clean bill of health and his very own passport (no it doesn't have his picture in it). And we have made a tangible step toward moving. Yea! Progress! Makes me feel better about all the clutter that still litters this place and needs to be sorted through.
Monday, May 5, 2008
All part of the package
It's official. I am a certifiable emotional wreck. As time winds down and we enter the good-bye party season, I have been pretty much in emotional denial. "Just hunker down, finish the Awana stuff, finish out the school year, one more week to make soup for the Bible Study. There is still time to pack and say good-bye." If I can just pack all the emotional stuff in a box under the Polly Pockets and the winter clothes, then I can unpack it all later when I have more time to deal with it. Sitting by the pool in Orlando seems like a pretty good time to process it all. The problem is today, the box sprung a leak and I found myself standing in the grocery store blinking back tears for absolutely no reason.
Well, there is actually a reason. One month from today we move out of this apartment to house-sit for friends before we leave Moscow entirely. The people who have come to look at the apartment have hardly looked. They stand in the living room and peer around and it dawns on me, they are going to gut the place entirely. Don't they want to look at my beautiful kitchen where I learned to love cooking? Don't they want to see our beautiful tile floors that match the tile backsplash even though they were bought at different stores, on different days, with only my memory to serve as a purchasing guide? Don't they want to see our beautiful master bath with the bamboo ceiling? How can they not love the kid's rooms with the stenciled walls and the adjoining door so they can have one huge play space with tons of room to run? We put our heart and soul into this place and it's bad enough to leave it, but to think that in a year it won't exist anymore is more than I can bear, so I stuff it all into the box labeled "Emotions: Open carefully"
And that's just the apartment. I can't even write about the friends, yet. Christopher is also a total wreck. He came home from a good-bye picnic in tears about saying good-bye to his friend, Victor. He'll still see Victor at school and scouts and we will be sure to get some fun time together as well, but for Christopher, the saying good-bye is feeling very tangible now. He hasn't stuffed his emotions in a box and so I find myself consoling him, which means consoling myself, as well. As we snuggled on the couch we talked about the pain of saying good-bye and how it's good that it hurts. If it didn't hurt, it would mean that our time in Moscow hasn't meant very much at all. Wouldn't it be pathetic if we left without any twinges of sadness at all? Life here has been good and so we embrace those tears with great gratitude. It's all part of the package and what a wonderful package it has been.
Well, there is actually a reason. One month from today we move out of this apartment to house-sit for friends before we leave Moscow entirely. The people who have come to look at the apartment have hardly looked. They stand in the living room and peer around and it dawns on me, they are going to gut the place entirely. Don't they want to look at my beautiful kitchen where I learned to love cooking? Don't they want to see our beautiful tile floors that match the tile backsplash even though they were bought at different stores, on different days, with only my memory to serve as a purchasing guide? Don't they want to see our beautiful master bath with the bamboo ceiling? How can they not love the kid's rooms with the stenciled walls and the adjoining door so they can have one huge play space with tons of room to run? We put our heart and soul into this place and it's bad enough to leave it, but to think that in a year it won't exist anymore is more than I can bear, so I stuff it all into the box labeled "Emotions: Open carefully"
And that's just the apartment. I can't even write about the friends, yet. Christopher is also a total wreck. He came home from a good-bye picnic in tears about saying good-bye to his friend, Victor. He'll still see Victor at school and scouts and we will be sure to get some fun time together as well, but for Christopher, the saying good-bye is feeling very tangible now. He hasn't stuffed his emotions in a box and so I find myself consoling him, which means consoling myself, as well. As we snuggled on the couch we talked about the pain of saying good-bye and how it's good that it hurts. If it didn't hurt, it would mean that our time in Moscow hasn't meant very much at all. Wouldn't it be pathetic if we left without any twinges of sadness at all? Life here has been good and so we embrace those tears with great gratitude. It's all part of the package and what a wonderful package it has been.
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