There was no easing back into the swing of things and we had no time for jet lag. Unfortunately, jetlag didn’t get that memo and Billy and I both trudged through the week like a hot, heavy blanket was weighing us down. Billy had to be at work for 7am Monday morning and was on call to boot. I had to prepare for the kids to start school on Wednesday as well as help my mom and sister prepare for and hold a garage sale for my grandmother.
For the past nine years, Gram had been residing in a retirement community in Somerset where I could take her to doctors’ appointments and run various errands for her. I had never considered moving from Somerset, even to Corbin, an option. Billy had mentioned the New Zealand idea to Gram some months ago and she decided that she would take this opportunity to move in with my sister, Jenn, and my nephew, Sam. By Gram moving in with them, Sam would have someone with him at night and Gram would nearly always have someone home with her, as Jenn sleeps days and works nights as a nurse. What we hadn’t anticipated was Gram selling her house so quickly! While Billy and I were in New Zealand, Gram sold her home, just barely four weeks after listing it. This was such a blessing because Gram, being a worrier by nature, fretted over the sale of her house day and night. She closed on her house the Tuesday after our return, we went through her house and held a garage sale that following weekend, movers came and packed her house on Sunday and she was sleeping in her own bed in her new house with Jenn and Sam Tuesday night. Wow! God’s hand was in that one all the way! And we praise Him for it!
Immigrations was another issue. Physicals on the eight of us were completed, most of the paperwork was done. We just had to organize it and go through the check list one last time… or so we thought. One jetlagged sleepless night, Billy got up at 3am and began going over things. To his shock and horror, he had misunderstood that we needed the children’s passports for the application, not simply for traveling when we actually moved. His work schedule, however, would not allow for him to go with us to sign for the passports. Plus the kids were now back in school. He managed to have someone cover for him Friday afternoon, so at 4 o’clock there we were, all at the post office in Somerset, with 5 passport applications (all to be expedited) and 6 children all hyped up after school. I’m sure the staff there were LOVING us!
Now, we lacked only 3 things- the letter from Graham’s pediatric cardiologist, Graham’s birth certificate and his passport. The letter had been requested one month prior at his annual cardiology exam. Graham has a congenital heart defect and had valve repair surgery at age two. He’s great now, perfectly health with no restrictions. Sometime, likely in his late teens, he will need another repair. His doctor simply needed to send a letter stating his current condition, the monitoring he requires and future prognosis. We had expected the letter to have arrived while we were in NZ but upon our return, it had still not come. I called the cardiologist’s office to inquire about it and was informed she was out of the country! Panic set in. Our deadline for having our application in was rapidly approaching!
Meanwhile… we had decisions to make about a house. I strongly feel that moving directly into “our new house” will help the children as well as myself adjust most smoothly. Winging it with six kids is really not feasible. Finding a place to rent that would accommodate the 8 of us was looking sketchy. But most importantly, we BOTH really liked the Glen Almond house! Since we were in a holding pattern with our immigration application, we shifted our focus on buying our home in New Zealand. After struggling over the legalese of the purchase agreement (guess some things are the same in whatever country you may be in), we submitted an offer…
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