Feeling Kind of Lucky...

Ok, so we finally got in our new home- Hooray!! Its beautiful, its amazing, and yes- I feel pretty lucky. (pictures soon)

Two days before we left our temporary house...I ran out of pull-ups for Chase.  They have diapers here- yes, but pull-ups...No.  I was curious what I would do and then just decided- go for it, just put him in the darn underwear, send him to his pre-school with a few changes of clothes and just see what happens.  He did great!  My extra pull-ups I ordered on Amazon three weeks prior, came the next day.  Am I still feeling pretty lucky? Oh yes, but still I decided to keep him in the underwear and pretty much, just like that, my little boy is finally Potty Trained!! It took about a week, he has had just a few accidents and dry diapers at night. Yes, feeling exceptionally lucky. Way to go Chase!!

Our HHE (Household Effects) from Atlanta should arrive within the next week or two.  Im thankful for this as some people here have said it could take up to 4 MONTHS! For us, it would just be a little over two months. So for this - extremely thankful, but its not here yet. Ha Ha

The transition into the new house has made all the difference for us. It was nice to finally know where we were living, set up the kids rooms, put things away where we actually want them to go...and relax.  Its a nice feeling after having so much being unsettled. Its been a rough year of feeling half settled without Tom and finally things are flowing as they should again, and it is feeling wonderful.  Im just waiting on a few of those staples that every American household needs...my new Vitamix blender, my quisinart and Kitchen Aid, some normal spices, my flat iron (which I somehow forgot to put in my suitcase), our normal soft comforter for our bed (instead of the hard polyester blanket that itches my face at night- yuck) and a few more clothes. But honestly, other than that...we are doing ok. 

The kids have started their schools. Chase seems to really enjoy it and although fights going to school in the morning, he is happy to get there, has no tears and seems to have lots of fun.  Hannah is learning her ABCs and numbers from 1 - 20.  She can write all her letters, upper and lowercase and can even recognize some words.  I practice at night with Hannah. Chase also gets in on the learning "fun"(ha ha) and seems to know quite a few letters himself at 3 years old.  This seems to bother his sister a good bit. But you cant blame the boy for wanting to learn. :) I think its great!

In order to make everything complete, we just need our sweet Piper. More on her soon, but we hope to have her in our big yard running around in less than a month!!!

Oh, and Internet should be within the next few weeks too. Yes, Internet at our house means...PICTURES!! I know all the Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles are going crazy to see the kids sweet and growing little faces. So, I promise they will come ... SOON!!!

Missing all of you so very much ....

We are here, we are here!

Well, we made it to Zim (as they call it). We finally made it.  We arrived only a little over a week ago and it feels like its been months.  It may be that we are in Africa again and there are no real culture shocks for me. Maybe I'm used to it.  It may be that we have now moved six times in almost seven years, and it probably just doesn't phase me anymore- who knows?  But the point is, we are here and we are all doing great. 

After being in country only 3 days, we went to Hannah's new school, met her new teacher and the next day Hannah started Kindergarten...in Zimbabwe! She has now been in school almost a full week and is loving every minute of it.  If you can believe it, we aleady attended a birthday party this past weekend with her classmates.  She enjoyed playing with some new friends, jumping on the bouncy castle, playing on the playground and Riding The Bull.  Yes, they had a mechanical bull in the middle of a bouncy pit for the kids to ride. Hilarious!  The only downside to the party was finding a present.  They seem to have two toy stores in town (that I know of). Stocked very well and with plenty of items you would find in the US.  However, they are TRIPLE the cost!!  Soccer Ball - $65, Box of 5 matchbox cars - $30 and Leapster Explorer- its here and its $265.  It the US its $70 (at the most).  You can see the problem. Needless to say, it was a little frustrating. Luckily quite a few people told me to ship kid's toys ahead of time for this particular reason.  Lucky for me, I have quite a few $5 - 5 car matchbox sets coming soon and much more. Ha

So, where are we living?  Well, we are living in a temporary house at the moment.  Our new house, which we just saw a few days ago is beautiful.  They yard is amazing and like most of the yards here, pretty big and spacious.  The house on the other hand needs a bit of work.  So, we may have to wait a few months (at the most- we hope) in our temporary quarters until the other house has been upgraded and fixed up a bit.  But don't feel too bad for us. We have a beautiful home with four bedrooms, a huge yard and a swimming pool. See, its not that bad.  And we already got our air shipment, that's around 500 lbs, of the kids bikes, toys, some spices, diapers and a little food to hold us over. It was quite the surprise and the first time in our overseas moves to get our air shipment so quickly. 

Today is the first day I was able to go on the Internet, so I apologize for the delay.  I also just got my cell phone this past Sunday, so I apologize for no phone calls.  I know you all understand, but like I said, it feels like months since I have been gone and communicated with anyone.  It is hard when you go from an iPhone with constant access to the internet to no access to the outside world (but I still have my Iphone). Ha 

The experience so far has been great. We have already seen Zebra on the side of the road near our house if you can believe it. I have no idea where they came from or why they are there, but we saw them. We are in a busy area people...we don't live out in the wild. Ha  Speaking of busy, this place actually has traffic lights- unlike Kenya.  At times, I wonder why, but other times, I am grateful.  I have been driving for almost the whole week and luckily the right side of the car left side of the road thing was not too difficult a transition. 

This past week we have been to TWO welcome to Zimbabwe parties, a birthday party and a cookout. Its been a busy week and so nice to feel welcomed. 

Oh and by the way, the kids are adjusting great to the jet lag and have basically been sleeping through the night since the night we arrived. Lucky us!  But the 6 am wake-up call for Hannah's early school day starting at 7:30 am is throwing everyone off.  Chase has his school interview this week and will be starting his pre-school in just a few weeks. He is weary of going back to school, but I think he will like it.

I am now off to write more emails, pay some bills and then enjoy this BEAUTIFUL weather...oh and check to see who won Food Network Star. :)  Please keep in touch and know we are so thankful to have all of you checking on us and making sure we are all OK.  We have loved getting all your messages and sweet emails you have all sent.  And thanks to all who also called right before we left, but I never got a chance to call back.

Oh and one more exciting thing that we just found out about two days ago...

Tom Got PROMOTED!!!

I am absolutely thrilled for him and could not be more proud of all that he has accomplished. 

Way to go sweetie!!!!! You deserve it! :)

More soon..and hopefully pictures soon too!