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06 May 2014

Sorting the Details

Leave it to the French to eschew the manila envelope for an understated brown-wrap envelope. It was addressed to M. et Mme, as well. (Monsieur and Madame ... I feel so fancy.)

Of course, as soon as I opened this package from the children's école, regarding their classes in the fall, I had to yank out the dictionaries and chat with my good friend Google Translate to help decipher the directives.

I am so proud of the children to be willing to dive in like this, but also nervous, as well. The language takes everything to a whole new level of intimidating. Choosing to pray instead of worry, however, knowing God is capable of redirecting our path (homeschooling is always an option) or equipping us for the challenge.

In other news, we also purchased our plane tickets! Visa appointments are next week and we have to come with tickets in hand. Tickets to Paris from the northwest are expensive and require lengthy flights, so we decided to get clever. Turns out two flight legs is cheaper and appealing! We will first fly to New York and spend a few nights there. We'll sight see a little, adjust to the time zone by 3 hours, and break up the journey! We were not looking forward to a 22 hour hop across the globe with three children and all of our baggage. Even though we will just be bringing clothes, computers, and some other random pieces ... this will not be a light pack like last time. After a little Manhattan whirlwind, we'll take off once more for Paris via Reykjavik. I know it's just the airport, but how great is it that we get to stop in Iceland? I've always wanted to go.
 
As for now, we are prepping the house for sale and Pops is on his second day of remote-work for his new company. It will be new and different and fun to have him at home so much. I am sure we'll have to work out rhythms that foster productivity and sanity for us both, but I think having him around, even if he is busy working, will be such a blessing once we are in France.

And on the docket for this month? Cramming all of the doctor's appointments and procedures in before our insurance coverage ceases at the end of the month. We will only have catastrophic coverage until we leave. For a mama with three kids and a slew of her own health issues, this is a whole new opportunity to turn things over to the Lord!

Tips? Encouragement? Words of wisdom? Send them over. I need them all!

4 comments:

  1. No words of wisdom but I'm praying for you, and for everyone. It's amazing how everything is unfolding. I'm excited for you but I will really miss you, too! I will be such a blog-stalker while you are there! xoxo

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    1. D. - You need to get on "airfarewatchdog.com" and get alerts for cheap tickets. I'll bribe you with French chocolat et baguettes.

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  2. For jet lag preventative, we have used melatonine on two separate trips to Europe and it worked splendidly. My husband wrote a detailed post about how it works if you'd like to read more about it: http://ordinaryandbeyond.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/after-hearing-how-awful-jet-lag-is-i-tried-to-cheat-it-the-method-is-easier-than-you-might-guess/

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    1. Thanks for the tip, Janel! We use melatonin too, but have not tried it on an hourly schedule like that.

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