Walking on Sunshine...

Yesterday was moving day for us... we finally have a house that we think will be our home for many years to come.  And we are thrilled to be living and walking on Sunshine street!  

time to unpack

Our street is named after a Mayan city... you can read about it here: http://www.southernbelize.com/lubaantun.html

We have two suitcases, a duffle bag and two back packs...

just taking a break after all of the running around we have been doing trying to get settled in here.

Time to fill up the closets and drawers in our bedroom!


We are so grateful to have a place to call home.  And we have two empty bedrooms ready and waiting for guests!!!

customs...

We just heard news yesterday that our belongings have finally been released from customs in Moscow and should be getting shipped out to us soon.  It will be interesting to see what is in our boxes and what may have gotten "lost" in the process.

learning about Belmopan

Found a website today that has some great info about Belize and about the city we are moving to... Belize.  Here is the link for you to check it out for your self:   http://belizex.com/belmopan.htm

never a dull moment

Yesterday we had a leak in the bathroom that caused a flood.  The electricity went out.   The plumber showed up last night just after midnight.  The electrician came early this afternoon.  Just after he left then people showed up to get the rest of the furniture and appliances that they had purchased.  During that same time our neighbors came over and brought us lunch and some goodbye gifts. 

I am ready for a nap!!

20 days...

Today is the 8th and we leave here on the 28th... this time is going by much faster than we anticipated.

The TV was picked up today, most of our baking pans are gone, and all of the clocks in the house have been sold. I still find myself glancing at where the clocks used to be.

I know it will all come together but it feels as if there is so much yet to do and so little time to get it done!

thought for today

Folks always say, "You come in this world alone, and you must leave it alone."  They ought to know better.  Because it isn't so.  It's not that way at all.  The child comes to life very much attached and stays attached and is mired all its life in a soup of relations.

River, Cross My Heart

by Breena Clarke

As we pack to move this soup of relations we are in feels warm, savory and comforting. Five years of building friendships and making connections seems like such a short time.  But, I am sure there will be much grieving ahead once we fully realize how much life and relationships here have impacted us.

why?

As our Russian friends read in the papers or hear on the news that their government is working to make things easier for people to come to Russia and do business or study they are struggling with the fact that our family and two others have been denied work visas.  We keep being asked why?

Maybe it is just a problem here in Krasnodar Krai, all of the workers at the OVIR's office are new and the contacts that people relied on before are all gone.  Maybe, what is said in the news and what happens here in reality are two different things.  So to answer the question Why? all we can say is 'we don't know'.

We know that we are being called to Belize.  Why?  Time will tell.

keep, trash, sell or give away

We finished another week of packing, saying goodbyes and retelling our story about how difficult it was to get this current visa. Tom was able to buy our plane tickets this week so now we know that our time here in Krasnodar ends on the 28th of June.

Just as we have been deciding what to keep, trash, sell or give away of our belongings we are also processing what we have learned here, what we will miss and what we will be glad to leave behind. In the midst of all of the change we are going through I, for one, am grateful for the things in our life that won't change.  

We know that our faith, the prayers of the faithful and our ties to one another have given us the strength to endure all that we have lived through and will carry us through this life no matter where in the world we live.

packing up our paintings

Tom and I love to get at least one piece of art work each time we travel to a new country. We have ended up with a small collection of pieces from Cyprus, Ukraine, Italy, Turkey and Russia. Tom also painted a few things that we want to ship to America. To be able to take all of these items with us we have to photograph each piece, write a description, tell the value and where it was purchased. Then the photos have to be taken to the city historian to verify that they are not Russian artifacts so that they can legally be taken out of the country. Once he certifies them they have to be taken to at least two more offices for approval.

Tom has the photos done and will go to see the city historian next week. Hopefully this process will be uneventful!

all good things must come to an end

For the past five years we have lived happily here in Krasnodar, Russia. We would still love to live here but it is clear to us that it is time to move on.

During this last round of visa troubles while we were sitting in Turkey waiting, Tom was asked to run a rehab center in Belmopan, Belize.

We only have until July 1st on our visa so we have a lot to get done in just 6 weeks time. It is amazing to us how God has worked out all of the details to make this move. All of our big things already have a buyer including our apartment. This is further reassurance to us of God's hand not just in our life but in the lives of our friends as well. Those who needed a fridge are getting one, those who needed a larger place to live are getting one and so on. Blessings are being felt all around and we are so grateful to be a part of the process!

packing and cleaning

Today was not much fun... we were cleaning and packing and packing and cleaning. Goar and Katya are coming over on Saturday to check out the apartment. They will live here and take care of the place while we are gone for a few months. Goar is one of our teachers and Katya is the former roommate of another teacher... plus she is a househelper for Tim and Joy so it feels safe to us to have these young women stay in our home. They need to learn things like; how to use the washing machine and how to turn on the TV and DVD player.

Spencer's room is all cleaned out. He has changed his furniture around and it looks a lot bigger than before. Nathan gave a piece of furniture from his room over to Spencer and now Nathan's room looks bigger too.

Tom and I have Nathan's boxes in our room. The guys worked again today to pack and weigh boxes. The plan is to pack his boxes in our suitcases to bring Nathan's stuff back to America.

The reality is setting in for each of us that we are actually leaving next week and it feels as if there is so much to be done!

Gagarina Street

When you move to a new house make sure you know your address, phone number and the cross street to your house. We keep getting asked those questions. They are common sense questions and we should know the answers. Last night Dennis called a taxi & we had to get out the map to look up the name of our cross street. Our house is on Gagarina. We have been told that Gagarin was the first Russian in space. Put the emphasis on the first ‘Ga’ when you say it! Our cross street is Gertsena . I am trying to give the English spelling of Russian words. This is not how they look on street signs here!

In about an hour we will be at a birthday party for Alexei Parkhomenko. He and his wife Lena (my language helper) are our partners in recovery work. Tom went to an AA meeting with Alexei. There were ten people there. This is a city of 1.2 million. And there is only 1 meeting right now. There used to be 2. But they have trouble getting to a meeting during the week because of their jobs. They don’t have enough time. By the time you get home from work and make dinner….. Almost sounds like California! We have our work cut out for us. We want to see if we can get an Al-Anon meeting going where the AA meeting is at. The answer would be to provide childcare and dinner.

Right now we are still in the stage of meeting people and developing relationships. That, along with language acquisition has been set as the priority for us.

It’s about time to get ready for the party. After saving money all this week on public transportation we are in agreement about taking a taxi to the party. We don’t have time to for adventure tonight!

Furniture being set up from SBS

Finally Here

We are celebrating Easter today with the Watsons. It is Orthodox Easter. We were in church for two and a half hours.

The traveling went well. We flew from LAX to Seattle.

At the airport in LA: Spencer and I took the dogs to potty before we put them in their kennels. Domo peed on the tree and everywhere he saw grass. He had lots of fun peeing. Then we walked back to the terminal and right as we got to the door of the Alaska terminal he pooped on the cement in front of the door. Just as a policeman was driving by. So I had to dig through the trash to find something to clean it up with! Gee thanks Domo...

At the airport in Seattle: Erin came to see us!!!! She brought Rhianna with her. It was such a blessing to get to see them one last time before we took off. We were there from 8:45 until 4:15! It was a long day.

The dogs kept barking at people walking by. We figured out later that Domo does not like it when people don't stay in line. That's a Border Collie for yah! He has to keep the herd together.

At the airport in Moscow: We missed our connecting flight to Krasnodar. We had to wait until 11:30 for the next flight. We were supposed to leave at 5:30. Nathan and I were dropped off and the driver went back to get Tom and Spencer. We had all the bags and the dogs with us and it started to rain we were in the middle of the median. Nathan moved everything all by himself! I stayed with the dogs while he moved the luggage. He was such a trooper. I was so proud of him.

I had to pay a bribe to get our things on the plane in Moscow. 7000 rubles. About 250 dollars. Tom wanted to argue with the guy but I just wanted to get on the plane we were all tired and I just took out the money. After that the guy would only talk to me. He ignored Tom!

Finally in Krasnodar: We were met by our friends and driven to our new home....

I will write more later I am being called to dinner!

Leaving

We are leaving for the airport in 2 hours. Tom is still packing. I am wearing a money belt to get used to the funds that I am transporting. It feels weird. I keep wondering if anyone will notice or if I will set off the security system with my jewelry and they have to search me will they try to take my money? What if's can drive a person mad. I will stop before I get too outlandish. I think I'll take off my earrings just in case....

Final 32

What we did today:

Church
Movies
PetSmart
Barnes & Noble

Now all we have left is 32 hours in the U.S. Should we be on a mission to do all the important things in life? Rather than daily, mundane errands. Little things are the things that will be missed. Books in English, movies in English, menus at restaurants in English... just some little things!

Visas and Passports Arrived!

Whew!

We can relax and know that we are leaving on Tuesday. Spencer got to sign for the package when it came. He was excited and came in to wake us up. I got up right away but Tom was not impressed. It was 9 am. He turned over and went back to sleep. Now I will finish packing my second suitcase. We only have a few days left. We had pizza tonight for dinner. Tom said it was most likely the last time so we should enjoy it. Poor Nathan... Saturday Night Live is a re-run. But we do get one more Desperate Housewives before we go!

Weather Pixie

I am enjoying having the Weather Pixie on my blog. Her clothes change with the weather! I set the temperature for Farenheit for my American friends. I wanted it to be clear what the weather was like...

We are counting down the days again. As far as we know we are still on to leave Tuesday at 6am... Guess who booked those tickets?

I don't think Tom will sleep that night.

He likes the quiet... shhhhhh!

Crocheting, Test results, & Bloggers

I have finished two tube tops and one halter! I wore one today. A blue tube top that looked cute with my jeans. I used 100%mercerized cotton. It was a simple pattern of two rows of single crochet and two rows of double crochet. I chained the vertical length I wanted. Then crocheted until the desired width and sewed the ends together. I'll post pictures when we get settled and I can download the software I need! It's been fun to make something other than a poncho or a baby blanket. I looked at the weather in Krasnodar today. It is 73 degrees F right now.

As I am typing it is 2am here in Ca but only 1pm in Krasnodar! Tom and I have a Russian sleep cycle going on. We should be ok and not have jet lag next week when we get there.

We should have our visas on Saturday. Our tests results came from the lab and were faxed to Rita right away. She called to verify if we wanted our travel documents to arrive on Saturday or Monday. Tom was gone to run more errands so I made the executive decision for Saturday!

I have looked at a lot of blogs today it was fun to see what is out there.

Click Here to see a blog from another Amercian living in Russia. Her Pizza Hut story is priceless!