Arrival

We arrived at Clay and Brittney’s house on Saturday afternoon. We spent Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday with their family before heading out on Monday morning. On the road again.
So Clay and Brittney and Madison and Jocelyn. A brief background on our relationship with them for all of you who are confused as to who they are.
Clay worked with JB in the residency program on Eglin AFB. He was a year ahead of JB and following residency, life took them to Virginia and Langley AFB. In addition to JB and Clay working together, Clay and Brittney attended the same church as we did (Crossway) while at Eglin. We were also in the same Care Group. Brittney and I both have travelled the infertility road in different ways as well. She now has two girls – one adopted and one biological – and they are just over one year apart. You wouldn’t guess the genetic difference in her girls just the same as our family. Jocelyn looks just like her sister just as Isaac looks like us.
Clay and Brittney treated us to delicious fajitas one night and hamburgers the next. She also made these AMAZING (Joia, you MUST try them) cake poppers. Honestly, it’s one of the best snacks I have ever been fortunate to participate in. The four of us day-dreamed post-dinner about all the different flavors she could try in the future since I loved these so much despite the fact that red velvet and white chocolate wouldn’t be my foods of choice.
They also took us to the Virginia Living Museum on Sunday morning. They have season passes (that include two free guests) so they often take their out-of-town company. What a cool field trip. Since the weather in the Northeast has been particularly brutal (I think it got up to 105 yesterday), an indoor activity was just what we needed. The boys loved it! They got to pet crabs and starfish and go through caves and climb in turtle shells and find dinosaur fossils and see bobcats and foxes and bald eagles. Way fun!
Our family is doing okay. Elijah is a bit whinier than normal. Scrubs is a bit more confused than normal (imagine that!) while Isaac continues to ask many questions about where we are going and who we are seeing and if his toys are coming and when we are leaving for Turkey and that sort of thing. I am feeling ready to be in one place and to just focus on being a mom again.
I’ve learned a lot during the last three months of my life. It was sometime in April when we found out that we were moving to Turkey. And it was around May 1st when everything began to move in the direction of preparing for this trip. That means nearly three months of pre-, during-, and post-moving. One month of that time was spent on the road.
I asked JB last night if he regretted not just flying straight from Eglin to Turkey and avoiding the month we have spent on the road. He doesn’t regret it and either do I. While it was hard to be on the road for a month straight, I don’t regret getting to spend such quality time with the people we love before we left the country. We also killed some time. Our “stuff” probably won’t arrive in Turkey anytime soon so as we see it, we were just able to cut down on the time we will be in Turkey without our “stuff.” We are hopeful that our UB will get there within about 2 weeks of our arrival. But our HHG? It could take another month or more. We aren’t getting our hopes up at all about how quickly things will get there.
It’s like our house in Turkey. We are pretty positive we will get a four bedroom. But we don’t know if it will be one of the luxurious brand new houses or one of the old ones. I feel that preparing myself for the old ones is a safe place to be. I’d rather be surprised than disappointed.
The things I miss most? The boys booster seats. It’s hard to not be able to strap them down while they eat. I miss some of their books. I wish I could read them a few of their favorites that we had to send on. JB also misses the two road atlases that I accidentally sent in UB instead of in our van. That’s been a pain. I also miss them having their cribs. I wish they could sleep in their own beds. Isaac misses his “whale shark.” He asks about it a lot. And his “fire engine” – the one I bought at a yard sale for 25 cents before we left. He’s going to be excited to see both of those.
But otherwise, there really isn’t much I feel like we are doing without. You really need very little to live your life. “Stuff” really is just “stuff.” If you have a camera and your health and some clean underwear, and some deodorant and a toothbrush, I’m not really sure you need much more.
I’ve learned that to be picky about what you eat, worried about germs or cleanliness, or just uptight about anything in particular … well, that would complicate living on the road and big travelling. You have to be very flexible and go with the flow when you are sleeping and living in different places.
Our routine is that we currently have no routine. We try to get the boys sleep when we can. We hope Elijah takes his morning nap (which he hasn’t dropped yet.) We also do our best to get them some downtime in the afternoon after lunch. Elijah will doze in the car but Isaac has yet to knock out while we are driving. Yesterday’s nap included about one hour of playing and yelling at each other and one hour of sleeping. Not ideal, but you go with it. You can’t be picky or get frustrated. It isn’t their fault that they don’t have a schedule. It’s not really our fault wither. It just is what it is at the moment.
You forgive yourself for mistakes that you make. Yesterday we drove 3.5 hours without stopping, and when we got to Clay & Brittney’s we discovered that both boys had thoroughly soaked through their diapers and clothes. Mistake. Ooops. We also found out that Isaac was able to open the front door at Hershal and Michelle’s. We had no idea he could do this, and when we found him standing on the front porch, our stomachs dropped instantly. Bad mistake. Won’t happen again. Learn from it. Do your best.
We try to feed the boys the best we can. Neither of them have seemed as interested in eating as much as they usually do. Scrubs included. But truth be told, either have I. Either has JB. Stress and the craziness of life takes precedent. We try to pick healthy foods, but we also keep reminding ourselves that we can revert back to a schedule for food and sleep and everything once we arrive. You have to roll with it and take things in stride.
I look forward to be just being a mom again. I feel like so much of my day right now involves packing and unpacking and organizing and laundry and food and wearing Scrubs out so he isn’t annoying inside the house. The boys are getting to watch more movies then they ever have. We aren’t reading books as frequently as I would like or they would like.
But we are doing the best we can. Kids are resilient. People are resilient. We aren’t the first ones to move halfway across the world with two toddlers and a dog and we won’t be the last.
Thank you for your prayers. Please, if you don’t mind, keep our little family in your prayers. Pray for sleep and rest and peace and patience and, well, heck, just pray all the fruit of the spirit if you don’t mind.

Here are some pictures from our time with this fantastic family. Thank you guys for putting up with us for two days!

These are pictures from the Virginia Living Museum:

Me and Elijah on the Boardwalk outside. We hit this at about 10:30 -- just in time before the 105 degree heat would have melted us away.

Here is Jocelyn. What a beauty. This kid has some spunk!
Clay with big sister Madison who has really come out of her shell since we last saw her.

The sea otters were way cool. This picture really isn't staged. We were that excited -- all of us!

Here is an aquarium. Elijah was infatuated with them on this trip.

There was so much to touch. Here are the boys with a horseshoe crab. Isaac wanted to ouch everything, but we had to make sure Elijah didn't smash everything.

Here is Isaac dusting off some dinosaur fossils.

Elijah and JB dusting away.

More dinosaur fossils.

This turtle was quite popular. Isaac would have played on it most of the day. That, and, ride the elevator and go up and down the stairs.

Outside the Museum. Apparently this is a tradition. They take this picture with all their guests. Jocelyn and Madison went to climb up as soon as they got there.

Here are some other photos of our time with Brittney, Clay, and their girls:

Madison took a turn walking Scrubs.

We walked to a little marina down the street. The boys loved the wagon.

Our family. Man was it hot!

Elijah on the swing. We waited to go outside until it was nearing dusk. And it was still quite hot outside. Whew! Poor JB keeps having to unload and reload our car int his heat.

Elijah in a hand-me-down shirt from big cousin Nate.

Love this picture.

Isaac and Elijah had never been on a teeter-totter before. Isaac thought the point was to get to the top and then jump off. He loved doing this (until he landed on his shoe and hurt himself.)

Here I am trying to help them get the hang of this new game. Isaac is already preparing to launch himself off the side which makes it hard for Elijah to actually "teeter."

Going down the slide. Thanks Brittney for all these great photos.

The girls had these way cool scooters. The boys loved climbing on them. However, the 2.5 mph ride was a bit overwhelming when they took them outside. Climbing on them stationary was much preferred.

Here I am trying to teach Madison how to throw the Frisbee. Scrubs was a good sport going and retrieving the Frisbee even though it was only about five feet away after a kid threw it.

The girls LOVED hanging out with the Scrubster.

Here is Madison with the gifts we got from the family -- nice and luggage friendly!!