Ghana on Vashon

The heat around here is getting us acclimated to Ghana! About 100 degrees today on the island. We lost power for over 2 hours....all things we'll have to get used to.

And, Ghana is a very communal place - people help each other out. Today, I experienced that on Vashon as well. I spent much of the day with amazing friends helping me get mobilized. When Colleen & Sue showed up this morning to help me pack, I was a deer in the headlights, standing in my kitchen with not a clue as to where to start. Within a couple of hours, they had stuff packed up and separated out between "give" and "storage". Then, Carol & Jeff came by and got the beds taken apart and more stuff done. More friends are coming later in the week, wrapped up by my brother & sister-in-law coming to do the final move-out on the 9th. And, none of this would have been possible without my mom doing the 3 rounds of slowly cleaning out the kids' rooms over the past couple of months & Anna coming over to organize the office & pretty much just get stuff in some sort of logical order.

It feels strange and freeing to be scaling down so much. After all I've been through in the past few years, I realize very few "things" matter. I'm healthy, the kids are healthy and we seem to always end up having everything we need (even when I have no idea how it will manifest!) and are surrounded by lots of love. I feel like this adventure isn't just mine, but everyone that's been such a part of our lives. Thank you & I love you all!!!

Ashes, Adenoids and Airplanes

I haven't really blogged much. In the past 6 weeks, in this order: my dad died (on Sophie's 10th birthday), I headed off to Ghana and Uganda for a "getting ready to move" mission, we had my Dad's memorial, Sophie had her tonsils & adenoids removed and now, finally, I'm thinking perhaps I'll be able to focus on getting packed up.

I am trying to enjoy the moments - smelling the sea air, the extreme low tides only summer brings, hanging out in bed on a Sunday morning (right now!) with 2 blond cuties (my kids) and seeing everyone I love. But, I have to admit, panic sets in at least once a day when it seems that every little task ends up having 8 more steps than I had anticipated (canceling utilities, Ghanaian visa application, international driver's license, paying bills, registering the kids for school in Ghana, finding a home for the cats, plotting out the move logistics, filling out insurance forms). Well you get the idea. It daunting. Such an amazing lesson in taking things one moment at a time and trusting everything will get done. Oh, and it's also a good lesson in the thing I'm worst at - asking for help!!!!!!