Pack Out

Pack Out

I am frantically trying to organize all of our belongings for pack out. We basically need to figure out what to take on the plane, what will be shipped and arrive to us in about 2 weeks, and what will come by boat and take 2-3 months to arrive. Of course, something is wrong with the water in our building today of all days. I have a pile of laundry a mile high with towels & bedding that has to be finished when the movers arrive in the morning. It is exciting though and every day I am getting more excited about the move back to the US. I can't wait to catch up with friends and family!! I am off to continue packing. It is in the upper 80s today - yikes!

Comments

Kevin, Kari and kids... said…

You can't possibly know who I am, but I'm a fellow Taylor alum from '95 and saw your prayer request on Taylor's alumni enewsletter. I was heartbroken to hear about your children's diagnosis, but we are praying for your family and are following your blog if that's alright.

I also have to say you inspire me in the midst of your entire move! Trying to organize, pack and move four people across the ocean within hours, the waters not working and your daughter's sick on top of it - I think I would just be sitting in the middle of my floor and having a good cry, but you didn't complain once!

Anyway, please know that we're praying for your entire family and are glad that you will be able to see stateside friends and family soon!

July 31, 2008 at 10:09 AM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.