We Got The Call

This is another pre-written post that I'm just getting posted. I'm tryin' folks.

We understood that we had to get our residency paperwork in order with the embassy before our things would be cleared through customs. We’ve been waiting patiently to get the call to go to the French Embassy in DC. It never came. Then we learned we had to schedule an appointment online. The first available appointment was a week before school starts.

Let’s put this in perspective….

That means I would have 7 days to leave DC, pack up kids and take them on their second plane flight (it’s an 8 hr flight…chew on that for a while), move everything into the house, unpack and start school. Topped off with the drama that the kids don’t want to move. Yeah, right.

Oh, and did I mention once we leave the embassy we may still have to provide additional paperwork to get the visa’s we need?

But, because I’m adopting a go-with-the-flow attitude that 4 kids force you to adopt or you become a raving lunatic, I figured that I could take on the challenge. Ok, so that’s what I said on the outside. Inside I was a baby blubbering “no, no, no….I don’t wanna do it.”

But, we got the call. Saturday morning we found out our household goods did make it through customs before we go to DC. How? Why? We don’t ask these sorts of questions when the moving gods smile on us. My family and TC’s family are taking on the role of Team Cunningham Kid Care and we jumped on a flight on Monday. I spent the weekend scrambling to get caught up with laundry (still thinking about instituting mandatory “naked days” just so no additional laundry is made as I try to get the clothes washed) and figuring out what to take with TC and me so we would have less to deal with when we travel with the kids. And on top of everything, I forgot to call my magnificent PA neighbor to tell her I wouldn’t be able to attend her baby shower on Sunday. I’m such a heel!

So, I’m on a flight writing this on the way to a house that I saw last November for about 15 minutes (although I loved it in those 15 minutes). Because TC has spent most of the year on an airplane, he is now a Super-Premium-This-Airline-Stock-Is-Up-30-Points-Because-Of-What-I-Pay-For-A-Ticket member we got a coveted exit row, next to the bathroom even. Whoo Hoo!

Since we are going now to unpack and set up the house (we have 4 days to get everything done) we will still go to DC next week for our papers. Then we’ll be able to take the kids to the house set up and ready to live. I just hope I can find all the backpacks because we’ll probably arrive in France a day or two before school starts. Maybe it will work out that we’ll get there and jump into school so no one has time to whine about moving. There I go again, trying to look on the bright side. Darn me!

And just to keep things interesting, we got a bit of an “Oh, By The Way” comment from our moving company. Remember when I said that we had 5’ to spare on the 40’ container? Well, the moving company casually mentioned that the brace broke that the movers built to hold everything in place so there will be “some damage.” Stay tuned.