When Your "Delegado" is on Vacation: California Cabin Time

When we heard we would be staying an extra week and a half until the guy ("delegado") who needed to sign our papers got back from vacation, Ben looked for a cabin in the mountains where it was a good 20 degrees cooler than Calexico. The week and a half spent in the mountain community of Running Springs, California was an interesting look into a part of the States I had never visited before: mountains, beautiful views, hiking trails, and really friendly people. 

Everyone we met here was super friendly! People walk around the neighborhood ALL the time and you might even see a random group of walkers all meet and start a neighborhood conversation. Our host said it had been too cold a few weeks previously, so perhaps this is a seasonal thing. In Texas, it's hot and everything is built very spread out, so walking happens, but not like I've seen everywhere else in the world. 

Another "Unscripted" Part of Our Saga: Goodbye for now Guatemala...

When we moved to Guatemala, we weren't sure if it would be a permanent move or not. We knew we wanted to continue to live abroad after our contract ended, but Guatemala, specifically, was not our end destination. We value 3 main things for our family:
1) Our faith.
2) Our own little family and the values that hold it together and,
3) Freedom; in many things- including the ability to be flexible in deciding where our next destination will be.

Because of #3, my husband has been building his online businesses for awhile, and when our contract was up with the international school in Guatemala, we could stay or leave, whichever. We had a wonderful midwife in Guatemala who we were looking forward to delivering with in December. However, Guatemalan bureaucracy and the uncertainty of the length of time it would take to get the paperwork to leave the country after the baby were born really made our decision, since it limited flexibility in choosing our next step.

We decided to have the baby in the States, where paperwork is a bit more reliable and citizenship not so tricky. I have another amazing midwife here. And, we are excited about figuring out the next step in our family saga, with our new addition! Who knows which country we'll end up in next, but I know we'll learn just as much or more as Guatemala taught us! I plan to continue posting things I learned from Guatemala, or find interesting and, when we make our next move, posting about all of the new things we are sure to learn there.

I suppose the part of this transition that makes it feel more "unscripted" than others is the amazing blessing of flexibility and choices we have available. We're so blessed to be able to move quickly when we need to. It was a hectic couple of weeks, but a successful transition.

Here's to adventure and the next step in our saga, which, at the moment, is still "unscripted."

Pre-moving, Spain, unpacking, re-packing, and general rambling

I'm starting to feel like the Clampetts!  See first post for our travel song :)   In the last week, we've managed to move OUT of our apartment INTO the in-laws' house for the just over six weeks that we have left until we move to Guatemala.  Muchas gracias!!! to Adina's parents for letting us crash at their place and disrupt their empty nest for a few weeks.  Of course, I think they've been liking having the little munchkin around a little more, but she does tend to get into stuff, as little ones are prone to do.  So, we are finally all the way at their house, anyway, with stuff sort of organized.  I love my wife...she's been working really hard to keep it somewhat normal around the house.  Things were sort of hectic last week, from moving, to a final Spain trip meeting to someone attempting to pass me on the left while I was turning left!  Anyway, dents resulted, but at least I wasn't at fault.

Spain trip coming up - Adina is probably sick of hearing about it, but since Febrary 2008, I've been planning a trip with about 10 middle-school students and assorted parents (since I am the Spanish teacher, it made sense to go, and it didn't hurt that I didn't have to pay).   We started this long before we thought about moving to Guatemala, so imagine how hectic it is.  Anyway, we're with EF Tours and are doing a 10-day trip to Madrid and Andalucia, with a side trip to Morocco.  I'm really looking forward to it.  When we decided to move to Guatemala, I briefly thought about handing the trip off to someone else, but I'd already done 90% of the paperwork, so I figured I may as well enjoy the fruits of my labor.   We leave next Monday.  I don't really have all that much left to do, but what is left to do is important  What good is planning a trip if you don't get everyone to the airport on time? A plus was that for new group leaders, which I am, we could choose with our "global points" to get a free trip to Paris, which I did last July.  It was basically a mini-tour so we'd know what to expect on a "real" tour.  Didn't have to pay for that either....I love travelling for free!  I think Adina is going to hit me over the head with a skillet, hard, if I don't take her to Europe next time I go.  Three times, and have managed to somehow earn the trip instead of pay each time.  Once was part of a government-funded international business course (two weeks in Europe), and twice with EF.  Maybe I should review airlines or something...hmmm.  I will say that Lufthansa is much better than some others.  I flew to Paris with them, and our group is going with them this time, as well.  Very nice.  If you're interested in travelling with EF, let me know so I can refer you (I get $1000 bucks after you travel if I refer you!)

Anyway, when I get back from Spain, I've got one last college class to finish up for my Master's in English (lots of paperwork, apostilles, etc, in the meantime), a quick visit with family in Jackson, Mississippi, then I leave to drive to Guatemala.  Still looking for a riding companion...any takers?  At least the ride will be more comfortable than the chicken buses this time.

We are very much excited about this adventure.  I think we're going into it with our eyes open as much as possible.  Enthusiasm and idealism are both great, but they have to be tempered with a dose of "nothing's perfect, so just enjoy it for what it is."  I can deal with things much better that way.  

Some plugs along the way to a couple of people whose blogs, advice, and general cantankerousness have proved useful:  Mark at Guateliving.com for his informative posts and crankiness, Genesis at ExpatMom for a realistic look at family life in Guatemala, and Mexico Mike for his detailed, annotated driving maps of most of the Gulf Coast of Mexico.  Check them out (especially if you're coming to see us in Guate)!

Next steps...

Done with the papers for college...now I can proceed to the REST of the moving steps. The good thing about doing all sort of paperwork now, is that if we move again to a different country (just saying! don't have a heart attack! :)) it will already be done.

A major part of the paperwork process is getting documents apostilled. Definition: Apostille: A certificate that is attached to foreign-bound documents to certify that the notary's signature and seal were valid at the time of notarization. It is obtained from the Office of the Secretary of State.

This mainly involves getting things like multiple copies of degrees, birth certificates, etc, and sending them to the Secretary of State's office where they can say, "Yep, it is what you say it is." Sort of like a notary, just more important :) this has to be done to get work visas and stuff.