It's only been a week..

Mark had to be in Australia so soon; we barely got the minimum done in order to pull it off. We have to sell 2 houses, sell 2 cars, find homes for 2 cats, get Merlin squared away to join us, sell 80% of our stuff, arrange for movers to come with no notice, sort through what we were going to throw away, give away, sell, take with us to survive for 3 months and send with the movers to arrive in 3 months, visit family back in Virginia. My passport was 5 months, 26 days away from expiring--4 days too many to travel on. Makena's American passport was to expire in June. She could travel on her Australian passport but because she's a minor, her American passport could not be renewed in a foreign country. Kessler needed his Australian passport; he could travel on his American passport, but he would have to leave the country and reenter on his Australian passport in order to stay in Australia. It wasn't pretty, but we did it.

We finally had a second to breathe once we got on the plane--if only we it had been relaxing because as soon as we landed it all started again, only on the flip side. We had a place to stay for 6 nights and Mark had a job which he started in 1 1/2 days. And, that was it. The hotel was great, but it was a hotel. Makena threw up every hour the first night. She is an amazing little girl because Mark and I were so exhausted we couldn't take care of her like we should. At times she got up and took herself to the bathroom and threw up on her own. Then went back to bed, without saying a word. The next day she woke up from her nap with a fever and an ear infection. We hauled the kids up hill several blocks to the doctor. Then there was the normal hotel stuff like having to round the kids up to get out of the room in hopes that it would be cleaned when we were gone. Sometimes that worked. Breakfast was $75-that's with the kids eating for free. We mistakenly did that once--then it was cereal in coffee cups for the remainder of the time.

I attempted to house hunt online, but quickly got discouraged knowing that in 4 days we'd have no place to live. By discouraged I mean Mark got "The Call". Actually, it was more of the pre "The Call"--an extra courtesy I've given Mark so he doesn't have to suffer through my wrath without plenty of warning. It went something like this, "Mark.." continuing with an extremely shaky voice, "I can't do this. Heed the warning." We had already hired the relocation specialist who is beyond amazing, but the clock was ticking. Last Thursday was our last night in the hotel. They held our 18 bags while the relo specialist took Mark, the kids and me on a desperate hunt for a semi-permanent house and short term accommodation. We bombed on the first front, but found a furnished apartment in a great little town called Hampton. Of course, when you have 18 bags you don't realize when a couple are missing, at least not for a few days. So, we carried ourselves back to the city to retrieve them, not that it's far, but I'm feeling dramatic at the moment. Lucky enough we were able to catch up with Mark's uncle, aunt and some cousins who just happened to be in town.

The immediate pressure is off now. Though, we really would like to be settled where we are going to be. I really want to get Makena in school and Kessler in preschool. I'd like to find a gym as well so I can burn off the 2 months worth of anxiety that has been accumulating. And I need to sort through the differences of things I've taken for granted--like limited cell phone data plans and internet service! It seems like we have so much left to do, and we do.. but it's only been a week!