Learning to live with uncertainty and being patient.

If Andrew's job experiences over the last two years have taught me anything, it's that patience is key. That's a particularly troublesome life lesson for me because I am extremely impatient. I like things decided and known so I can plan my response. But that's not how this works. And by this, I mean the process of moving with the government...and life. It's all a good opportunity to practice dealing with uncertainty and unknowns and taking life as it presents itself to you.

Yesterday we learned in the morning that our move back to LA was not going to be covered (paid for) as we had been thinking and planning for all along. But by the afternoon, it was back on with guarantees that Andrew's old department was going to pick up the tab. That's just one example of the ups and downs of working through the process.

This morning Andrew has spent hours completing another form online. I'm not even sure what it's all about. But he's exasperated and it's not done.

The big decisions facing us now are related to the move back to LA and the subsequent move to SA. What do we keep? What do we sell? What is going into storage in LA? What is coming with us to SA? Can we lease a car in SA or get a loan? Or do we have to consider selling our Prius now to have cash to buy a good used car when we get there? How do we set up Vonage or some other VOIP to allow people to use a local LA number that will ring in South Africa?

You get the idea. Many of these things don't necessarily need to be decided today. So we are starting to pack up books. That's one thing we can do now.

It's officially official.

It's been a week now since Andrew's job offer for a position South Africa became officially official. I say 'officially official' because as we've been learning, nothing is really ever a done deal until you get more than two (or three) people to verify the story. It's kind of like being a reporter.

Anyway, last Monday was a blur of paperwork that had to be completed that day in order to kick start the entire process. Andrew has to get a new security clearance. We both have to get physicals. Punk has to get cleared from his vet. Inventory must be taken on anything and everything we plan to take with us to South Africa. Guess who is taking the lead on that? :-) Anyway, it all amounts to a huge pile of paperwork. Not to mention that we are first moving back to LA. There is so much to coordinate.

Now that we've had a week to let the news sink in that we will be living in South Africa, it's finally starting to feel more real...and overwhelming. But we are taking things in stages. That's all we can do.