Justin and Megan couldn’t have asked for a prettier day. It was lovely, not a cloud in the sky. I kept my camera busy. Leah and Kiersten read their Bible verses so perfectly at the ceremony and Hattie was just the most beautiful little flower girl. Her brown eyes were lit up the entire afternoon and evening. And it just made me smile so big that she still calls Justin her fairy godfather after all these years. It was such a special day.
It seems like for years Megan and Justin have talked about their wedding, with Hattie as the flower girl. Well the time has finally come. We’re in Minnesota for the wedding.and of course when I’m Alex…we have to get our fishing in.
Last night was the grooms dinner, and this morning was the rehearsal. Hattie is thrilled to have a special flute with her name on it. She’s so excited about her fancy robe and is having so much fun with the bridal party. More pictures to come.
With girls swimming in both sessions on both days, there was a lot of hours on the pool deck for me as an official. But when your kids are dropping time and kicking butt you don't seem to mind. These girls swam with so much heart. Hattie showed some big improvement and dropped 6 seconds in her 50 breast, 3 seconds in her 100 back and almost 4 seconds in her 100 free. She did so great!
Kiersten was killing it in all of her races. She dropped 4 seconds in her 100 breast, 13 seconds in her 50 fly, 12 seconds in her 100 free, 8 seconds in her 50 breast, and 15 seconds in her 100 back.
Leah really pushed herself this meet. She signed up for the 400 IM again and dropped 3 more seconds in just two weeks time. She swam her first ever 200 breast and back. She dropped 14 seconds in her 100 back, .6 in her 100 breast and over a second in her 100 Free. It was just so much fun to watch. And then during the little kids session she helped coach Lauren getting the kids to the block for their races.
So YMCA State Long Course meet is in 2 weeks and it's just killing us that we can't go. It's the same weekend as Justin and Megan's wedding up in Minnesota, but there is so much joy in just knowing they made it. Leah would have qualified in the 50 free, 100 back, 100 breast and the 200IM. She had solid times in the 200 breast and 200 back as well, but they don't have those races in her age group, only the 15 Open group. She worked so hard!
Kiersten as a new 11 year old, was just killing it. The Bug had a state cut in just about everything but the fly. She qualified in the 50 free, 100 free, 50 back, 100 back, 50 breast, 100 breast and the 200 IM. Girlfriend has a competitive nature that is taking her far. I hope and pray that we find a team that keeps pushing these girls once we arrive in Valencia. Its so fun to watch them in the water!
Sigh...It's just been so very long!!!
Mitch and I committed to the Expatriate program with ADM in November of 2020. But here we are in July of 2021, still waiting. I wonder if things were always this difficult, if they always took this long. Or are we just stuck in a holding pattern due toCovid.
At first we were held up by the US Government. I may as well start from the beginning...
We committed in November. ADM announced it December 11th, even thought I had requested that the information not be shared. Mitch says he passed that information along, but regardless...it didn't happen. I wanted so much to get through the holidays before springing it on our kids, and the rest of our family. But on December 12th, Leah (thankfully) intercepted a message from a fellow ADM Kid on the ipad for Hattie. At that point I knew that we had to start having converstaions.
That day in particular, we were having Christmas with my family in Charleston. Gigi already knew that the relocation was in the works. I don't keep much (if anything) from my mom. But Uncle Matt always goes out to the garage to check out the goods in the gun safes. So when I heard the garage door I followed him out, and spilled the news. Later when the kids were upstairs or downstairs or who knows where, I let Cynthia know what was in the works.
Then the hard part came. after we got home, around 9pm we called the girls down and told them the news. Leah had already been privvy to the information. We talked to her when we were first asked and told her if she didn't want to go we would turn it down immediately. She was so relieved to not have to hold on to the information anymore. The news was met with different reactions. Kiersten was so excited "this is going to be awesome" she shouted ...while Hattie was almost immediately in tears.
In the next week Mitch called his parents, I called my sister and news began to spread. We left for Arizona around Dec. 20th and a few days before Christmas we had our first phone call with our relocation team in Spain, Sebastian and Soledad. First on the agenda was prioritizing what schools we would like to consider for the girls.
We had zoom calls in January and started the process of selecting what would be a good fit. The girls were taking entrance exams and we were moving right along. Most schools already had a wait list and we were getting a little uneasy about finding a school that would have a spot for all three girls. They passed their exams for American School and Iale. But unfortunately neither had openings for all three. We committed to Iale for Leah and Kiersten but were still on the hunt for Hattie.
Come February everything came to a screeching hault. Spain is one of very few countries that requires a certain document from the US Social Security Office...and due to covid this division of Social Security was closed, and set to reopen the Monday after Easter, April 5th. And did I mention that they said it would take 6 months to process said paperwork?!?! Ugh...this isn't looking good. So we suspended relocation efforts while we waited...and waited and waited.
We flew home from Arizona on Easter Sunday. From the airport Mitch sent an email to make sure that we were ready to hit the ground running with social security, only to get an automated response that previously mentioned division of social Security was now closed until July 6th. NOOOOOO!!! That's it...time to call it off. We can't be in limbo this long.
But then, just a few short weeks later...Friday, April 30th to be exact, Mitch got an IM on his work computer at clovese to 5PM that relocation had our paperwork. Talk about a stressful weekend...waiting for Monday morning to get some answers. But we did get answers. We were told everything would move quickly, we were told me needed to get background checks and documents submitted ASAP. So that we did. I took that Wednesday off from work and Mitch and I went to Indianapolis for FBI background checks. We had all our paperwork ready to go a week later. Towards the end of May they were telling us we'd have our embassy appointment within two weeks and our visas within two weeks after that.
I'm feeling good, I'm optimistic. This puts us in Spain by mid-July. The schools have summer enrichment programs that can get the girls a head start on speaking the language. Yes...finally making progress! We get word that the borders are opening and Mitch may be able to go on a work trip. He even packs an extra suitcase for while we are in Arizona in case he gets the go ahead to travel. Spains borders open on June 6th...yes! Our paper work gets submitted on June 7th...yes!
June 9th...the Spanish Embassy has a Cyber security attack, and we're stopped dead in our tracks.
You can't make this stuff up!!! For weeks Mitch and I are waiting, asking for guidance, trying to figure out our course of action. July 6th, I can't take it anymore, my nerves are shot. At this point are we even going to be there in time for the girls to start school?!?! What about school here?!?! Do I have them start the year?!?! And what about my job!?!? I was granted a one year leave of absence. We're more devastated. And even more so, this is just so unfair to the girls. They don't deserve this, they need some stability. And on July 7th they tell us that the embassy is up and running. They have processed everything that came in throught June 4th, our paperwork came in June 7th so we should know something in a few days.
Our movers are scheduled for July 12th?!?! Surely we can't let movers pacak up our home while we have no visas...not even appointments to get our visas. So relocation reschedules our movers for August 2nd.Sigh...I don't know how much more I can take. Please pray with us that we have a visa appointment soon. Mitch isn't sleeping, the girls are anxious and unsettled. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I keep telling myself it will all be worth it in the end. I sure hope I'm not wrong.
Update July 13th: residency approved...still waiting on visas.
I think we've gone five straight years of spending the 4th with family...either in Arizona or with the Arizona family in Illinois. Our celebrations aren't spectacular but they sure are cozy. It's nice to just be with family and enjoy our time together. This year was no different and it was really a beautiful day. The sun was shining but it wasn't too hot.
We opted to pass on the fireworks on the 4th, but we watched them in Mt. Zion on the 3rd. Instead Aunt Laura and Uncle Jeff took the kids to the pool for a bit and then we grilled out at Gigi and Papa's house. There were burgers and corn on the cob, a lettuce salad and dessert. Kiersten had been wanting to make a watermelon cake for quite some time. And you have to have Watermelon on the 4th of July so she got to work. She even pureed watermelon because that is what the instructions said to do. She colored the frosting...homemade frosting, I might add, and used chocolate chips for the watermelon seeds.
Gigi had a new backyard jenga set, so Mitch and Leah put on a good show and then Leah taught Natalie how to play. Afterwards there was lots of basketball in the driveway on Deerfield. Did you know that Jerry Myerscough is STILL the Free throw record holder at Charleston Junior High School...we laugh when he shares that fun fact with us. But Papa can still shoot hoops...or a bank shot anyway. The girls had so much fun playing HORSE with Papa, Uncle Jeff and their dad. These are the nights I hope they remember years from now.
