Slow down! You're moving too fast...

Happy Last Day of September to all who celebrate!

In our family we apparently celebrate by...moving...because today was the day we moved out of the hotel (more or less) and into our apartment and today was the day that Rachel moved into the MTC (missionary training center).

What did you do to celebrate? (If you didn't move, it doesn't count.)

Andrew, Miriam, and I stayed up far too late packing up virtually everything in our hotel room and getting it ready to cart downstairs. Here's a shot Miriam took of our things in the hotel room:

Shifting and walking scientists

Shifting, as they call it here, is no joke! Moving across the city is certainly easier than trying to plan an international move...but there are still a lot of moving parts.

And I'm one of them!

I have maxed out my metro card three days running (each card is charged for a maximum of three rides per day—anything after that is free...and I have certainly been taking advantage of that this week). 

Yesterday Miriam and I carried big IKEA bags full of sheets and duvet inserts from the hotel to the apartment...while also dragging Phoebe along. It was...exhausting. 

And then today I packed up a big IKEA bag full of towels to take to the apartment (because we sure wished we'd have thought of bringing towels to the apartment yesterday). The towels were actually far lighter and much fluffier than the sheets and duvet inserts (which were packed rather tightly), so it felt much better to be carrying that through the metro. 

But then I also had on my backpack so I could do some work at the apartment (I have a proposal due tomorrow and a review due soon and homework due...all over the place). And the kids each had a backpack on. Only Phoebe didn't have a backpack—she carried her stuffed puppy Titus.

And still I wound up carrying her half the time. 

Moving In, Membership Station, and Personal Storytime

We got the keys to our apartment yesterday and to celebrate we went and got gelato. Both Benjamin and Alexander chose the black vanilla flavour (coloured with activated charcoal). It was rather horrifying to watch them eat it, but they said it tasted just fine (and, in fact, I think most of us sampled a little bit from their dishes).

One week

We have now been in Qatar for a week—and what a wild week it's been! 

On the one hand it's quite the relief to be here—to have all the waiting and preparation work over and done with. It's shiny and new and exciting and everything feels full of potential. We look out the windows at the twinkling skyscrapers surrounding us and think, "Wow! We did it! We're here!" 

But on the other hand, we (or at least I) find ourselves asking, "What. Have. We. Done?!" We used to know what life was like—it was a patterned, predictable, stable. And now...let's just say that I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed. 

So I thought perhaps was a good day to share pictures of our old home (as we contemplate what we need in a new home, which has so far been a rather major stressor for me). I still can't believe we managed to empty this house. 

Here's Benjamin in his room upstairs. Several children also have claim in this bedroom. I think Benjamin, Alexander, Zoë, and Phoebe all were in this room at some point, in various configurations:

ATL to IST to DOH

We sent several pictures of ourselves at the airport to our families, but for some reason couldn't manage to satisfy Oaklyn and Ireland. I sent a picture of the boys and they wanted to know where Zoë was. I sent a picture of me with all the kids and they wanted to know where Andrew was. I sent a picture of Andrew and they wanted to know if he was traveling alone or whether we were still with him. So we tried to get everyone in this selfie:

A truncated account of our journey across the planet

We left for the airport shortly after 3:00 on Thursday afternoon, with all of our stuff loaded into our neighbour's suburban and all of our people loaded into our minivan. Our neighbour's son purchased our minivan, so it made good sense (and was so helpful) to have them drive us to the airport and take possession of our vehicle there.

6 people. 18 checked bags. 6 carry-on bags. 6 backpacks.

Doha Departure Day

The day began with doughnuts.

And then we made the kids clean the bathrooms and throw out everything we hadn't yet thrown out and gather up 100% of everything else that was left in the house.

Doha Eve: The Chattahoochee

When we first moved here, I was quite excited about living so close to the river and we really did enjoy going to Jones Bridge Park and splashing around and walking the trails. But then COVID happened and the park was shut down and then tore up "Paradise" (a big bush the kids used as a fort) and then they closed the whole creek area for "conservation" (and turned a natural creek into what frankly appears to be a manmade disaster) and then they closed the bridge that makes the park be so close to us (quadrupling the time it takes to get there). But we decided we should go today and it was beautiful...but we were a little annoyed to see that the sewer project from last summer (which also closed a large area of the park again) meant that they also shut down half the trail. So the entire hiking trail is now about 200 feet long. 

Perhaps one day the park will be better again, but it has been a bit of a disappointment every time we've gone these last few years. 

That said, the river really was beautiful:

Alhamdulillah

We depart for the airport in approximately 29 hours. 

There was a...delay...in getting Andrew's work visa so up until this very moment, our instructions were to simply move our entire family and all our earthly belongings to the other side of the planet and...ask for a tourist visa upon arrival. 

Which...felt...a little bit like walking into an abyss. 

Like, "Hello there! We'd like one them thar tourist visas..."

I just...need...a little bit more...stability...than that...

But I'm a woman of faith, so...whatever...we were ready to just go. 

Andrew went out to run a few last minute errands this morning and when he came home he presented me a printout of a shiny new work permit—just arrived today.

So...phew!

The night before school starts

We enforce curfew for the first time all summer,

say no to kick-the-can, and drag the children

inside for baths at 8:30. They don't want to

say goodbye.

It's the night 

before the night

before we move halfway 

around the world. The children organize

a hugging ceremony. They huddle up, 

strategize ways not to

say goodbye. 

Five more minutes, we say—

then proceed to talk for ten

while mosquitos feast and the 

children's feet collect more magic 

cul-de-sac dust. 

Even I don't know how to

say goodbye

so I end up ugly crying with my mom

friends under the streetlight

while we imagine how to raise our children

without each other.

*****

Anyway, here's a picture of the hugging ceremony huddle:

Doha Adam

It's the day before the day before we leave. 

The kids had a water fight at John's house this morning and then we went to the pool for the very last time—so we have time to wash, dry and pack everything we got wet today. 

Rehoming the pets

I must have forgotten to write about Waffles. 

We rehomed her back in April, thinking it would be better for her stability and mental health to avoid the stress of packing up a home. That way she would have one big adjustment to make rather than a million little adjustments to make as we took away favourite hiding place after favourite hiding place...and so forth. 

The woman who gave us Waffles helped us find a new family for her and from what I hear she's quite happy there (with fewer little people about (she really didn't like children all that much, as it turns out)). 

Here are a few pictures of the kids saying goodbye to her before she made her journey to her new home:

A few good lasts: Church, swim friends, PTC bridge

Sunday was our last Sunday in our ward (and our last Sunday at church for a while since our ward in Doha will meet on Fridays). Nothing too far out of the normal happened, except our primary children were each gifted a rather large bag of leftover Easter candy (which they were thrilled about).

A gripping tale

"Oh, dear!" Phoebe cried, barreling up the stairs and crash-landing, completely out of breath, in my bedroom doorway. "This baby's family got on the boat to Qatar and left her behind! I just found her in the basement all alone! She is so scared! What do we do?!"

This story has all the trappings of a very dramatic novel.

Killing time in an empty house: rain walks, nature wreaths, and craft dates

We have been blessed with a very wet summer, filled with plenty of thunderstorms. It's sometimes made our walks a little difficult to take, but it's been lovely to literally soak in all the rain while we can.

I took Alexander and Phoebe for a walk last week after a storm and they enjoyed exploring their wet world. Here's Alexander pointing to a little herd of deer wandering through our neighbourhood (they've eaten everything in my garden that we would have liked to eat—such a nuisance).

Miriam's last day (last week) and giving away the last of our food storage

Miriam had Andie and McKenna over on Thursday night (July 16) to play a few games and say goodbye. Tonight the kids are having a sleepover down there because that room is 100% empty (except for all the stuff the kids just dragged into it, I guess). After this picture was taken I made Andie and McKenna fill a box of food to take home to their families.

Thoughts two days out from swim team and two weeks out from moving

My brother recently sent a video of "bedtime" at his house, which was really of his 4-year-old and 2-year-old running in circles around him and jumping on the bed while declaring that they were not going to go to sleep. 

I don't know why he thought they'd go to bed.

It's late July in Southern Alberta. The sun even doesn't think about setting until around 9:45 PM so those children had no indication from the universe that it should be bedtime (and why should they trust their father about a thing like that?). Soon enough (like in December) the universe will be telling them it's bedtime by 4:00 in the afternoon...perhaps he'll have an easier time then. 

On the other hand, I'll bet he didn't take them to the pool for four hours in the middle of the day (like I did today). That somehow doesn't guarantee my kids will be worn out at the end of the day, but it sometimes works to shorten bedtime shenanigans. 

I didn't tell him anything, though. 

I just "laughed" at his video—the kids are cute even if they're driving him crazy. 

My mom, though, simply told him that parenting is...hard... 

And that is absolutely true. 

*****

We lasted two days without swim team to keep us busy before I threw in the towel and told the kids to get started on their math curriculum.

All Along...It was Hamnet

Approximately six weeks ago, Andrew ever so lightly smashed his toe (his words, not mine) and has been in abject agony ever since (my observation, not his). Last week it was so very sore and swollen and he decided to clip his toenail to see if that would release any pressure. He was unprepared when pus started streaming out from under his nail after he disturbed it. 

It felt glorious...but it was also rather concerning and finally convinced Andrew to go to the doctor—urgent care, of course, it being the weekend.

The doctor prescribed a course of antibiotics and suggested that the toenail might spontaneously fall off in the future. They also asked Andrew to come back in and have a physical exam during normal business hours (since Andrew hadn't had one since before his mission...in the year 2003). 

So Andrew went back for a physical. And that doctor looked at his toe and said that the nail probably wouldn't fall off, but recommended that he see a podiatrist anyway. 

Andrew put off that for a few days, but eventually did call to make an appointment because his toe was still dreadfully swollen and throbbing. 

He went in to the podiatrist yesterday and the podiatrist was like, "That's never going to heal. Let's rip that sucker off!"

And that's precisely what they did. 

Andrew was not thrilled. His toe still hurts. But it also now feels like it might one day get better. 

Meanwhile...

I recently finished reading Hamnet. 

Adventures in Buying Nothing

I have given away so much stuff on the Buy Nothing Group (and though other avenues). Here's a compilation of the strangest (to me) interactions and exchanges...

The Utah Shipment

On Tuesday morning three wonderful young people (from Miriam's seminary class...not from our ward) showed up to help us haul our Utah-bound stuff up to our U-haul moving pods. Our driveway is steep so this was rather a herculean task, but we managed to have the job done in a little under an hour (which felt pretty incredible). 

Here's Benjamin walking down the driveway with the two young men who showed up (we also had a wonderful young woman show up):