Our lives as a yo-yo...

Square peg – Rectangular hole
Or maybe our lives as a yo-yo!

Moving internationally is a real trip – literally… physically and mentally! There are so many little variables and inevitably it all gets tripped up by one little bit and then the cascade of “we’re on hold” descends… because of a couple of different little bits, the residence visa is still “in process” (good, at least it is “in process” – I think) but not complete.
One funny thing is the little (and I mean little) photo they need for the paperwork – it is NOT a passport sized 2 inx2 in photo – of course, we have lots of those!! It is a little 25 cm x 35 cm photo – can’t even shrink that little square one into a rectangle – well you can, but I’m not certain it represents an approximate likeness of the man I married. That’s not even the bit holding up the whole process (and it was relatively easy to remedy – thanks to a hole in the wall on Brazos!) The other bits holding up the process are being remedied but take that extra bit of time...our deadline is actually August 3rd-ish but there are a couple of things that need to happen between now and then, like pack, clean, visit, pack again, fly...
So I’m the one who like calendars, maps and plans. I can always come up with a plan and usually flexible enough to come up with plan A, B & C. I had to laugh when we were in Russia when my friend noticed that I could come up with the plan but not always the complete implementation of the plan (most notably I had packed a bunch of activities and such in one suitcase then switched suitcases but left the fun stuff in the outside pocket of the original suitcase – it became the joke of the trip – “where is ___?” “In that outside pocket!” ah, I digress…) So our plan and calendar are on hold – we thought the packers were arriving bright and early on Monday – well, they might, and pack up all of our worldly possessions – to take it ALL to storage because of the aforementioned visa thingy, leaving us in temp housing. Well, no thank you - I’ll wait in limbo with my own junk in my own house. So now EVERYTHING we had penciled in is really pushed back (thus the pencil) No problem actually, gives us time to focus on Joey’s projects at school and a better job of tossing and sorting … an more time to visit and make summer plans… and take a breath as we ride the yo-yo back to the top….