Getting Closer...

Our house is officially up for sale, we ship our contents in 10 days and move into temporary housing until it's time for us to go.  Seeing our house on "show" has made this all the more real for me.  No longer is it our home, full of family pictures, memories, and life; now it is clean, generic, with no hint of the personality or lives of the people that have been living in it.  Now it is spotless with crisp white towels and flowers adorning the empty spaces, hopeful that someone new will see its potential and want to make it home.

What is it that makes someplace home?
The definition of home is:

1. a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household.

2. the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.  

3. any place of residence or refuge.

4. a person's native place or own country.

So... other than Canada being our heritage and citizenship, we can really make anywhere home.  I have been thinking of the girls being these nomadic children, with no real sense of "home", and reading these brief definitions, I've realized that anywhere they consider to be their place of comfort and refuge is their home, and anywhere we happen to be in the world can be "home" to them.  I still think we need to make sure they are aware of their Canadian culture and our values, etc.... but we don't need to be in our little house in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in order for them to feel the love and security of  home.  In thinking about all of the different homes I've lived in during my life, I realize it's not so much the homes I remember, it's the memories that were made in those homes that stay with me and I am so looking forward to creating some new ones with our family.  For the next ten days, home is the house we brought them to after they were born; then we'll have a new address for a couple of months, and then home will be found in Balikpapan, Indonesia.  I am so excited about being finished work in 4 more working days (I can hardly believe it's almost here!), and then my sole responsibility is to our family, and fostering our growth and bonds with each other. 

Every day I find Sofia packing up another bag full of her "stuff", and when I ask her what she's doing, she answers with things like "I'm packing for the airplane mommy, I'm going to Balikpapan", or "I need my dolls in Indonesia, mommy".  Last night, she asked me with huge frown lines, "our TV is too big to go, mommy?" and I said "no, Sofia, we'll bring our TV to Balikpapan with us", to which those huge frown lines disappeared and all was right with the world once again.  The magic of your biggest concern being whether or not you'll be able to see Buzz Lightyear and "the cowboy" again is amazingly refreshing and cute.

When the Ball Starts Rolling....

Note to self - once the ball is in your court, you better be running!

We started getting emails fast and furious Dec.23 (yes, that's right, 2 days before Christmas), listing all of the paperwork, medicals, and other items we needed to provide the company, movers, HR as soon as possible.  My first reaction was - "Do they not know it's Christmas in 2 days?"  I was lined up at the passport office that day applying for our passports, Jeff was lined up the next day re-applying for our passports (because of course there were complications when I went), we lined up our medicals for the first week of January, and then we were off to Boyle for one last Christmas up there.  Fast forward to Dec.27 - emails start arriving asking "Have you got your medicals done?  Have you sent in your passport copies?  Have you taken an inventory of your home contents yet?"  I'm not even joking - Dec.27th.  Fast forward again to January 5, 11:30pm - passport copies sent, visa photos sent, complete home inventory sent, medicals done and being sent from the doctor's office.

I think in my head I was planning on enjoying the holidays and then really kicking things into gear in January for this move - when I spent 80% of or holidays sorting our house into "sea shipment, air shipment, store, sell, garbage", my stress levels started creeping up and I was not the happiest person to live with.  Let's be honest, who can count how many dolls in the house when there are two beautiful toddlers walking off with them as soon as you turn around?  As Jeff so lovingly told me "Monica - you just need to RELAX.  We'll get it done as soon as we can, and they can just wait for it".

The beauty of trying to fast track getting our things moved early, is that once they're gone (hopefully by February), that's it.  I'm done working at the end of January, and all we'll have left to do is spend time together, visit with our family and friends, and be able to say goodbye without a list of things to do and pack weighing on our minds.  I'm thinking of it as short term pain for long term gain, hopefully.

We have also started to notice some changes in Sofia in the past week or so... she keeps talking about her two friends "Sarah and Hannah", who live in "Indonesia" - I think she's picking up on the changes going on at home, and is reassuring herself that she'll have friends when we get there.  Complex for a 3 year old?  Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I think that's what it is.  She's also started to have an "accident" every day or so, which I think is also directly related to this moving business.  She has been potty-trained since before she was two, and maybe wet the bed at night twice in her whole life, and all of a sudden it happened last night again - I think she senses the upheaval that's happening around her and is having some issues with it.  I caught her peeking out of her bedroom last night watching us as we were doing the kitchen inventory.... it must be hard for both of them.  They know "something" is happening, but not really sure what "moving to Indonesia" means for them, and they're not sure how to react.  We're really trying to make sure we have extra patience with both of them, spend a lot of family time together, and reassure them at every step along the way that we love them and everything's okay.  I'm also preparing myself for a few months of chaos once we get there :)  I'm sure we'll have behavioural issues, a lot of melt-downs and tears while we adjust to our new surroundings.  One of the greatest things is that the girls have each other to spend time with and lean on while we're getting our bearings over there.  I'm trying to think of some great "comfort" items to put in the air shipment that they'll be so excited to see once we get there that'll make it a little easier on them.  I think seeing a pool in the backyard will be so exciting for them it'll definitely help the situation!!!! :)