The Move

Whew!! So tonight is March 26, and the last six weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. Over the course of the last month and a half, I have...gotten a passport for myself, visited the Netherlands for a week long preview trip, researched the Netherland's schools and houses, applied for all three children to get into the American School of the Hague, applied for passports for all three children, received confirmation for all three to be accepted into the school, received all three children's passports, cleaned out all three children's closets, prepared items for consignment sale number 1, have begun preparing items for consignment sale number 2, dealt with two bouts of strep throat, dealt with one round of rash, had one child tested for TB to get into a zoo class for this summer, and just celebrated one child's birthday with a fun old fashioned sleepover last night. I have also managed to deal with the normal "life" with three children with my husband having only been in town for three of the last six weeks. Who wouldn't want to be me right now? Anyway, all that to say...hello, blog friends...hopefully I can begin to update a bit on all these crazy move details that so many people want to know.

Our story is so incredibly long that it really will take several posts to catch everyone up, so let's just start from the beginning...

Back on Sunday, October 31, 2010, Chris received an email from a "guy at work" at about 9:00 that night. All it said was, "I'd like to talk to you tomorrow after your meeting. Good topic, no worries." Chris knew immediately that something was up. We speculated all kinds of things that night trying to figure out what it was that needed to be discussed. Chris had been telling me over the course of the summer that some things had been said at work that had made him wonder if he was going to be offered a transfer position. Of course, we assumed that the transfer position would be in Bloomington, Illinois, or Des Moines, Iowa...neither of which sounded inviting to me. So, when this strange email popped up, we immediately began to wonder if we were about to be offered a new job opportunity.

So...Chris had a meeting the following day that was to be over around 10:30. I was supposed to start my new seasonal job at Ray Hines and Co. on the square in Murfreesboro the following day, too. But, all I could think about was wondering what in the world Tim needed to talk to Chris about. I emailed and called a few times, but "the meeting" kept geting delayed thoughout the day until they finally had to reschedule it for the next day. Good grief! We had to go another day in suspense!!

So, Tuesday, November 2 came and Chris finally met with Tim that morning. I received an email from Chris giving me the highlights..."transfer offer to the Netherlands." He then tried to put a positive spin on it by including how close it was to Paris, Brussels, and Germany. After I got the email, I immediately called him, of course. He thought I was at work that morning, which is why he sent the email instead of calling. (Just for the record, I still think a move of that magnitude deserves a call instead of an email...I'm just sayin'.) Of course after the initial, "WHAT?!?!," Chris gave me what few details he knew...which were few. I believe all he knew at this point was that it was a temporary move, possibly 3 years, but not certain. Then, he said, "Now, don't tell ANYBODY." WHAT?! You can't possibly give me THAT kind of news and expect me to just hold it in!! So, I immediately got off the phone and called my parents, my sister and my best friends, Melissa and April. After I had gotten off the phone, I eventually got on the computer and googled "The Netherlands." I had no idea even where it was! For the next couple of days, Chris and I were CONSUMED with researching as much of that country as we could. I can't even begin to tell you how many millions and millions of details that went through my mind during those couple of days...Where is this country? What do they speak? How would the children transition? Who will cut my hair? Do they have Target? Do they have peanut butter? Do they have doctors there?...on and on and on. There were several points during those few days that I literally thought I was going to hyperventilate, because I just couldn't handle all the thoughts.

Then, it finally occurred to me. "Christi, there is no reason for you to make this kind of decision by yourself! In fact, why are you even trying to carry this on your own? If this is part of God's plan, HE will work out EVERY single detail of this situation! If this not part of HIS plan, HE will close the door. Give it up, girl!"

And, I did.

And, I had an immediate, unusual peace.

And, in the back of my mind, I thought..."There are SOOOO many details that are going to have to fall into place that this will NEVER happen."

Boy, was I wrong. As I have learned in my BSF class this year...NOTHING can thwart God's plan.

Stay tuned for the DETAILS!!☺