Falling Into Place

SO, remember when I said that this move seemed SO far away (I think it was about a year ago)… well, it’s this WEEK!  Part of it, anyhow.  We’re doing things very methodically, not rushing haphazardly into the Great Unknown.  Hunny is flying overseas this Sunday (the 5th), on stand-by (so that date might change if he can’t get a seat on the only plane going over that day… but more than likely he’ll be able to get ONE seat) – so it’s really count-down time now.  After he leaves, though we’re not entirely sure when, the Littles and I will be moving closer to our church and friends.  As lovely as it is here, it is also rather isolating.  Much of Canada is like that, unless you are in the  bigger cities… but more even for us as there are no children around at all, least of all English speaking ones.  Back in town, they have their friends, our church family, and we’ll be a lot less isolated.

This will be probably the hardest part about this move… the separation.  I feel so much for those families who have to be apart as they try to build up their financial requirements for Spousal Visas and the likes.  I mean, we are doing this by choice (to give Hunny more freedom of movement that will hopefully mean he’ll find work that much faster), but some people are stuck with their soul-mate on the other side of an ocean for months and months against their choice.  Sometimes even with children waiting too… (((hug))) to each of you as you face this trial.

Hunny’s freedom comes at a price though, a funny one.  We have NO idea WHERE we are moving to.  No, really… as in, what city we’ll be living in in hopefully just a few months.  It makes it hard to plan and research, I have to say.  This causes ME stress… exciting stress, but stress nonetheless.  Will we be in Cardiff, Derby, Devon, York, Glasgow?  No idea… that’s kind of exciting, but also kind of scary.  I can’t plan.  I’m a planner by nature.  LOL!  This is like free-falling.  But I have faith it’ll all work out.

SO, we have our British Passports, as you know.  We have our Canadian Passports for visits back home.  We have Hunny’s travel date.  We have faith.  Sounds like we’re right on track! 🙂

Blessings!

Yay – A Matched Set At Last!

Sorry for the radio silence… We’ve moved to our temporary lodgings, a beautiful waterfront cottage.  But the downside is we have no internet connection.  So things on the WWW are moving at a snail’s pace right now.  As we depend on phone connections to keep us in touch.

Yes!  My passport arrived this week.  This has been my first chance to get online to let anyone know!

And more updates.  Hunny has handed in his resignation at work, and will be flying over the pond at the start of October.  His employers were quite stunned, but very supportive, and have even made it clear that if things do not work out for us, that he should contact them first before looking for work elsewhere in Canada.  Amazing Grace indeed!   They have written him a fantastic reference letter so we’re hoping it helps in securing employment on English soil. 🙂

The beautiful view from the temporary home we’ve been bkessed with… by friends. ❤

Isn’t this spectacular?!?!  Though nothing compared to the lovely views to be found over the pond, it is soothing and peaceful… something we sorely need in this time of adjustment.

Updates:

• Big Girl and Big Boy are happily settled in their respective college towns.  School is going great and both are making friends and building community.  We’re hoping to see both for Christmas over the pond… but if not Christmas, Easter.
• Dog has started her DEFRA Pet Protocol with her microchip installled.  Next week she has her appointment to get her vaccinations.
• Hunny’s overseas job search has started in earnest online, and his travel arrangements have to be made this week.  As of right now, his living arrangements haven’t been finalized, but he hopes to have that sorted by the end of the week.
• All the stuff we put in storage is started to be sorted… Slowly.
• And lastly, our Canadian passports are being applied for tomorrow morning, so they should only take a couple of weeks at most.  Canada is less twitchy about such things. 😉  (It took 3 and a half months for our UK passports to get sorted, and we still don’t have my documents back yet, just the passport.)

I will miss Canada so much, but I look forward to the adventure that lies ahead.

Good things come to…

Ya.  That doesn’t mean the passports are here… but it means FINALLY, through patient perseverance, I finally got through to someone who understood what I was trying to explain about my birth certificate.  I had to load up my Skype account and call all the way to the UK, but it was worth it!  Spoke to a very nice gentleman who seemed genuinely surprised that 1. we’ve been waiting for about three months now, and 2. my full birth certificate was being questioned given the circumstances (that QC didn’t “do” proper birth certificates till 23 years after my birth… they had church records, but that was it.)  He sent a letter off to get clarification on the matter and to light a little fire under Durham’s bottom – and promised to get back to me by Tuesday.  SO… YAY!

It’s Here! It’s Here!

Now when I say the passports aren’t here, I mean, the ALL aren’t here.  My son’s has arrived!!!  I also expect my daughter’s shortly as they were most likely sent out at the same time.  If we don’t get it today, I’ll give them another little shout on Monday as couriers shouldn’t take this long.  I’m hoping the delivery guy was just afraid of braving the torrential downpour we had yesterday afternoon.  LOL!

Family is still not pleased, but I see a fair bit of back-pedalling going on – but really, though forgiveness is within our abilities, trusting might not be for a while.  One bitten, twice shy they say.

I just wanted to note here.  Anyone in Canada who is reading this, and has EVER deal with public officials (civil servant workers) – you need to know, the workers in the UK, though a thousand times vaguer… they are at least a thousand times more pleasant to deal with!!  I have been warned that in person they aren’t as nice, but I don’t know… they are pretty awesomely polite and helpful on the phone.  Even the one who was telling me nonsense about my birth certificate was respectful, friendly, and polite.  Can’t beat that!  One MORE gold star for the UK Side! 😉

Keepin’ y’all updated!  See ya soon, hopefully with more good news!