2 months ago I posted my final post from Peru and what I figured would be our last post until the Summer was over - see, I knew we had tickets to fly to Caracas, Venezuela, on August 13th, and that until then our lives would be in a constant state of flux leaving little time for blogging - but, I didn't count on those plans being derailed to the degree that they have been. In fact, we are not yet in Caracas, we are in Washington, DC, waiting for the Venezuelan government to approve our visas. So far we have waited just 3 days, but we've been told there is no reason why the visas are delayed and that some very unlucky folks have waited months, that's right MONTHS!!, for theirs to come through. The waiting isn't terrible, it's just that mentally I was prepared to enjoy or US vacation only so long - that time has now passed and I fear that when we finally do leave the sense of loss will be harder to cope with. Right now, instead of waiting I should be:
Unpacking suitcases into Department of State provided furniture instead of living out of them.
Teaching Caleb the joys of sleeping in a big boy bed instead of having his feet in my stomach and head all night because he refuses the hotel crib.
Wandering around our new 3 bedroom 4.5 bathroom apartment with a terrace, great views of the city and full-size kitchen instead of trying to fit comfortably in a 2 bedroom hotel "suite" with miniature appliances.
Reviewing applicants for a live-in maid.
Getting to know the city of Caracas instead of the city of Falls Church, VA.
Standing in the grocery store wondering how we will ever cope for 2 years with food shortages instead of standing in the grocery store and drooling over all the food I know I'll miss.
Lamenting the fact that it takes an inexplicably long time to get internet access set up everywhere in the world.
Learning how to make my own baby food since I can't just run down to the corner store when we run out.
Saving money instead of spending it as I think, "I might need this some time in the next two years and what if no one is willing to ship it to an APO address, or it's too big and will be rejected due to size restrictions, or etc., etc., etc.,." I am getting very good at justifying ridiculous purchases.
Reviving my dormant Spanish instead of reveling in the joys of being able to say just exactly what I mean.
Anxiously waiting for the cable guy to show up so I don't have to miss one more second of Olympic coverage than is absolutely necessary.
Enrolling Caleb in preschool.
Meeting with our ecclesiastical leaders to find out what assignments they will have for us in our church congregation and wailing about the fact that my Spanish isn't good enough to perform at the expected level.
Recovering from a protracted flight from Washington, DC, to Caracas with a 2.5 year-old and a 6 month-old instead of dreading said impending flight.
Above all else, I should be blogging and commenting on other blogs instead of putting off our "this is where we've been this summer" post complete with oodles of pictures that I have been planning in my head for 2 months.
Today we are waiting, like yesterday and the day before that, for the phone to ring at 3:00 pm to tell us if our visas are ready so we can then re-book our flights (assuming there are seats), cancel our hotel and car rental reservations, pack our 8 pieces of checked luggage, say one last round of goodbyes to our dear DC friends and bustle off to our next foreign destination. If they haven't come through, we'll be here until at least Tuesday and beyond that, who knows? On the bright side, we are tourists in our favorite city and are spending time with friends we thought we wouldn't see this time around and are getting our fill of American food, drivers who obey traffic laws, Target, bookstores, Olympics, NPR, and a host of other things that make America feel like home.