November 5th

It's official.....we have a move date.  We will be flying out of Tanzania on November 5th.  In case you aren't sitting in front of a calendar, that gives us 14 days to pack the house, pack our luggage, sell the remaining things that we can't take with us and say our good byes to some wonderfully amazing people.  Needless to say, it's a little overwhelming in our house right now.

We did finally tell Sadie that we are moving.  Although I'm not sure how much of the concept she actually grasps, she seems excited about a new house and riding on a big airplane.  She is also looking forward to seeing snow and asked if there will be penguins too (um....no).  Cash is as blissfully oblivious as ever about the move situation.  Sadie has even helped with the packing.  She loaded up her little backpack yesterday and announced that she had put all of her "special things" inside so that she could take them to her new home. 

We would greatly appreciate prayers for a smooth transition and calm children (and parents) on the planes (14 hours in the air, almost 48 hours of total travel time).  We are also desperately trying to sell our house in Georgia.  Please pray that a buyer will appear soon.

Colorado....here we come.

When are we moving?

This is a very popular question these days.  The answer is....we have no idea.  We were originally told that we had to wait until funding from Fiscal Year 2013 was released.  The new fiscal year began on October 1st...and funding has yet to be released.  We do know that once the money is available, it will take about 2-3 weeks to complete all the necessary paperwork and make arrangements for us leave (ie. booking plane tickets, coordinating the packing company and shipping company, etc.).  That said, we are now looking at an early to mid-November move date.

We do know that we will go straight from Tanzania to Fort Collins.  Although we had hoped to stop in Atlanta for a few weeks, we could not convince the US Government to send our stuff to Colorado while we were heading to Atlanta.  We do still plan to make a trip to Atlanta as soon as we're settled in Fort Collins.  We promise to keep all of our Atlanta folks updated on that.

Once we arrive in Fort Collins, we will be in temporary housing until we can identify a more permanent place to live.  One big factor in all of this is that we still own 2 houses in Monroe.  One is being leased and the other one is on the market.  It is imperative that we sell at least one house before we can buy a house in Fort Collins.  Please be in prayer that something will work in that direction soon.

Some things.....

Things I will not miss:

• Mosquito nets
• Not having cheese, milk, yogurt or butter in the grocery store (sometimes for months)
• Crazy Tanzanian drivers
• Worrying every time Cash drinks bath water
• That 28 hour plane ride to the US
• Bars on my windows

Things I’m looking forward to:

• Drinking water from the tap
• Taking my kids on walks outside
• Seasons
• Unlimited internet access
• Paved (and maintained) roads
• Police officers who actually pull cars over because they have broken a law (instead of looking for an excuse for bribe money)
• Having a pediatrician for my kids
• Target

Things I’m going to miss:

• Having the ocean 1 mile from my house
• Being surrounded by people from so many different cultures, countries, religions, languages, etc. I love how diverse life is here. Even within Sadie and Cash’s playgroup, their friends are Vietnamese/Lebanese, Finnish/American, British/American, Peruvian/American, Vietnamese/American, Indian, Ethiopian/Ugandan, German/British, South African.
• How patient Tanzanians are with children, especially at restaurants
• Drinking Coke from glass bottles
• Being a diplomat
• The ever-blooming Plumeria tree in my backyard
• Eda and Peter

Things I have learned in Tanzania:

• If the sign says “fresh eggs” it means the eggs will most likely be covered in chicken poop and feathers.
• When you point at a bunch of bananas and ask the road-side Tanzanian fruit vendor “how much for bananas?” he will give you 4 bananas.
• Corn Flour is not the same thing as Cornmeal.  It is, in fact, Corn Starch.  You cannot make corn bread using Corn Flour.