Open hands, open plans.

The framework is in place but the materials for our plan seems to be ever changing. There have been so many twists and turns that the only approach that has kept us sane has been to hold to things loosely and press on allowing plans to change as needed. Instead of taking my already signed contract in Seattle for our last few months in the states, I am working a contract here in Nashville until May. Our house, now twice under contract, has finally sold. We find ourselves preparing to live in a small rental in town for a couple months so we can pack up and sell all our belongings. We are living in the in between that I lovingly call limbo. Limbo has never been a place that I thrive. I am an organizer, a planner, and this is requiring a lot of faith that we are on the right path for our family. Normally I would be working through school enrollment applications and planning our child care for after the summer. I would be having coffee and discussing our summer game plan for kiddo care and play time with Kim. Instead I find myself in this hazy unknown, not enrolling our kids because we are not supposed to be here after June, but also not having our visa’s or a firm work contract because this is the earliest we could apply in our timeline. I am breathing a prayer that all the small and large pieces begin to click into place over the next 90 days. I exhale holding my hands open and palms up as there really isn’t anything solid I can hold tightly too. Each next thing that needs to be done is in a queue that has to go in order, we need tickets, but can’t buy tickets until we have our Visa’s confirmed. I need a job, but the job depends on the visa, and the visa also depends on the job. It feels like all the next steps need to be taken in one final giant leap that has to be timed just right.

The logistical things I am doing to prepare, applying for jobs through my travel contracts as well as independently. Collecting all of our kids physicals and forms from pediatricians and doctors. Making sure everyone has had teeth cleanings and up to date appointments with therapists and any specialists (with four kids this includes orthopedics, orthodontists, psychiatrists, cardiologists, and speech pathologists) because we need to arrive with 90 days of any prescriptions we take as well as up to date treatment plans so we can schedule and continue speech therapy and mental health therapy when we get settled. I will also need to collect each kids end of the year school records so we can enroll in school when we arrive. One of our kids needs her passport renewed, appointment is scheduled for the 8th with hopes that it will arrive in time to leave. We all need Visa’s, so we are collecting all the documents to prove ancestry in the UK. Did you know if you have a grandparent born in the UK, you may have a path to an ancestry visa that allows you to live and work abroad! I have been diligently looking for housing and checking the school tracker for a perfect place that is located near a primary school for the little ones and a college for Hank (he’s not that advanced, anything after 6th grade there is listed as college). Thank goodness for the app Right Move, you can check for rentals as well as look at the school rankings in proximity to each neighborhood. I am packing painfully slow, cleaning out clothing and home goods, trying to save space by packing in vacuum cubes bags the things we will want when we arrive, including linen, some dishes and cookware, and of course every single stuffed animal my 7 year old cannot fathom parting with. The list of things I wish to take is long, and the space in which to take them is small. We are not taking any furniture, but we are taking records and hockey gear as well as sheets, blankets, maybe towels? Art and books for sure. Mostly, for each item we sell I move the money to our UK account in hopes that it will add up to the $10,000 list of furniture I have in my Ikea cart for when we arrive. My current plan, to purchase all the essentials in one huge order at ikea and then spend our two weeks in quarantine when we arrive putting together bed after bed, which reminds me, I should pack a few essential tools. In one of the best little tips, we were told we could ship a vehicle packed full of our things for just $1600. So, instead of shipping over a pallet like we had planned, we are shipping over our Toyota hatch back filled with our boxes and home goods. If we plan it right, hopefully it will arrive shortly after we do. Just in case it is delayed each kid will have a set of sheets and a towel in their suitcase. I will talk more in the next few weeks about what we have done over this year to prepare our kids for this big leap we are about to take. For now, I have a night shift to work and only a short amount of time to catch a nap before I need to go pick up all my kids. Here’s to plans unfolding as they should and finding solid footing when we take this next big leap of faith.