Wrap Your Brain Around This. I Can't.

A couple of weeks ago, Bruce came home and asked if I would ever consider moving somewhere else for a few months if it meant an incredible work opportunity for him. At the time, it seemed like a fantasy and I was all for it. Little did I know how quickly fantasy could become reality.

Ten days ago we got our passports.

Kiki, in particular, is thrilled by the prospect of international travel.

After too many days of having my guts in knots, we received the final word on Monday.

We are moving.

To the Philippines.

Only for six months. Geography is not my strong point- I had to pull out a map to find out that the Philippines is an Asian country. It's in the same neighborhood as China, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Also, it turns out that my whole life I have been misspelling "Philippines."

The nitty gritty: We are leaving when our passports and visas arrive. Bruce's company wants us there no later than October 1. He will be running an entire office for his company. (They sell software to call centers.) We will be in the Manila area, which is huge and made up of six different cities. The girls will be home-schooled, mainly due to differences in the school year calendar and my lack of desire to home school notwithstanding. (Don't worry...I always rally when it counts and I won't scar my kids for life by grading on the curve. "Sorry, girls, since there's only two of you, one of you is getting an A and the other is getting an F. Rules are rules.") My piano students are stuck. I feel really bad about that. My step-bro and sister-in-law will be house/dog sitting, for which we are extremely grateful. We aren't planning any visits home, barring a medical emergency of some kind. We aren't allowed to drive, so we will be provided a driver, and the apartment hunt began today. It's all happening very fast.

My apologies if you are a personal friend getting this news via the blog. I am completely emotionally drained after calling my various immediate family members, then 27 piano students, then all of our various financial institutions, doctors, insurance companies, teachers, and whatnot. It's nothing personal, but I can't handle any more phone calls today. I'm sure I will feel better tomorrow but my nerves are shot as of right now.

Know what's fascinating about the Philippines?

I will tell you in my report on the Philippines.

The Philippines has two official languages: Filippino (Tagalog) and English. (Thank you, Jesus.) It is made up of over 7100 individual islands. Most of the islands are covered in tropical rainforests and have incredible biodiversity. There are 3 seasons: the hot and dry, the rainy, and the cool and dry. The temperature range is 70-90 degrees. (Back to school shopping is going to be a snap: so far we've purchased only shorts and swimsuits.) Manila, where we will be living, has 11 million people and is the most densely populated city in the entire world. 24 million people live in Manila and its surrounding suburbs. My mother will be relieved to know that the Philippines has earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones, and typhoons. Almost everyone is Catholic.

So, it's a lot like here. We're going to fit right in.

From the very start of this process, I have had a peaceful feeling about this. My gut feeling was that we would wind up moving, so the most frustrating times were dealing with the slow cogs of corporate America to finalize the details when I already knew we were going and was dying to move forward. We have made this decision thoughtfully and prayerfully and feel like it is the right thing for us and our family. This experience has many advantages for us. First, it is an incredible career move for Bruce. The requirements of the job are right up his alley and I've no doubt that he will be successful. Second, this is a opportunity for us to have some amazing family experiences. I'm not deluding myself that this is going to be a vacation- there will be a lot of hard work, frustration, and loneliness, but at the end of the day, I think we are going to be a lot closer as a family. Third, one of Bruce's and my biggest reservations about raising kids in Utah County has been that we would inadvertently raise children who believe that the world is populated entirely by white Mormons. I'm thrilled for all of us to see how big and diverse the world is.

Having made almost a hundred phone calls in the last two days, I am already sick of a few platitudes. Spare me the following:

"What about your house/dog/piano students?"

What sort of response is anticipated here? "Holy S***! I completely forgot that I had a house/dog/30 people depending on me for their musical education! What am I going to do?" Folks, this is all we've been thinking about lately. The house will be here in 6 months. The dog may or may not be here; whatever God decides. The matter of the piano students was a tricky one, but at the end of the day, while I know this is an inconvenience for those families, I had to consider first my own family.

"Well, that's one way for Bruce to get released."

Yes, he is in the bishopric. Yes, it is time-consuming. But, there's lots of ways to get released that don't include picking up and moving to the other side of the world. He actually doesn't want to be released and has been heartsick about it. He has loved the calling and loved serving. Don't joke about it. Thanks.

"Now you will learn to appreciate your life here."

I would have to be a complete moron to not appreciate the life I have here. Those who've known me less than a decade are perhaps not aware of the complete chaos I created for myself from 1994-1999. I swore that if I ever straightened my life out I would not let a day go by without be grateful for it. I recognize that I live a life of relative ease and stability, and I have kept my word- I feel grateful every single day for my life and regret only that I haven't made that completely plain before now. Admittedly, while I'm as grateful as I can be, the possibility exists that we will see poverty and pain unlike anything we have been exposed to here. To insinuate that just because I am ensconced in American suburbia I'm not grateful is starting to feel hurtful.

I'm not trying to be a jerk. I know that those who have said these things didn't mean any harm, but after hearing it non-stop for three days I'm putting my cyber-foot down. If someone says this stuff, I'm still going to be nice and not freak out. But inside, I'll probably be thinking, 'ENOUGH!'

So, that's our big news for today. We'll be keeping you in the loop as things develop.