A new home tomorrow!

Good evening :-)

We are very excited to be packing up the hotel room and heading out tomorrow morning for our new casa! It will be interesting to see how we get everything crammed into our rental car and likely a taxi to get it all to the house. We have the 7 suitcases, 4 carry-on suitcases, plus various other bags, grocery bags, and new purchases since we've been here. We will be in our house though and then we'll have plenty of space to spread out and not kick a suitcase every time we turn around :-). Our stuff from the air shipment will be delivered on Monday, so for a bit we were wondering how much like camping out this weekend would be - the owner is taking all his sheets, towels, pillows, dishes, pots & pans, etc with him since we had told him we are bringing our own. So we weren't sure what to do - but pretty sure the answer wasn't to stay in the hotel 2 days longer than we have access to the house! So we called some friends we had met at church last week, picking them b/c they live the closest to our house. Well, they happen to have boxes of camping stuff that are very easily accessible, and they were happy to share with us whatever we need. So God provided for us in a big way!

The school situation is still under investigation - I did not (at all) love either of the options I saw this week (one on Wed and one was rescheduled for today). So we are still praying for direction - and I'm trying not to stress as we pray! I think it will be easier once we are close by the schools that are available and once I have constant internet access to be able to find the phone numbers of the schools on my own (our relocation agency has been making the calls thus far).

Jason had a good trip to Paris and Amsterdam this week, and had a good and productive week working with his team. They even closed the 1st deal he had a major input on :-) He finally got his new laptop today and is really getting settled in at work. But still it seems like there are always 2 steps in front of whatever he really needs to do. So we are all learning patience since that seems to describe life in general right now. :-)

We will try to post a picture or 2 soon - just as soon as we find the cord for the camera :-). Who knows where half of our belongings are. :-) I had been unsuccessfully looking for some books the whole time we've been in the hotel (at least since we've had our luggage) - I finally found them today stuffed in a random pocket of a suitcase of Katie's toys. :-) So I'm sure there will be many surprises as we unpack our things tomorrow and Monday :-)

Off to bed now :-)
Becca

Schools

A quick note this evening (on a Spanish keyboard, so excuse any typos!)

Jason is in France today, actually taking the high speed train to Amsterdam this evening! Kinda crazy :-) So I am using the hotel´s computer, which is a bit more difficult. Katie is playing "church" which entails singing and dancing in front of the mirrors in the hotel lobby :-)

I just wanted to ask for prayer for me tomorrow - I am beginning the process of looking at schools for Katie. The trouble seems to be that they start full day school at 3 years old, which doesn´t seem like it will work for us (as in Mon-Fri, 9-4!!). So please pray that I will have wisdom in deciding what is best for her. Also pray for endurance for her - the second meeting is at 7! We´ll see...

Blessings to all of you!
Becca

(L)Immigration, Leasing and Language

Hello!

Well, we successfully got our re-entry permits today - meaning Jason can travel out of the country on business (which is good since that's his job :-) ) and Katie & I can go with him occasionally, even before we get our final official residence ID cards. Jason has a meeting in Rome next Thursday and we're considering making it a long weekend - we'll keep you posted! :-) BTW - I apologize if I mentioned this yesterday - but we were very struck by the horror stories we heard about immigration troubles from the people we met at church - and we are SOOO grateful to God that it is all going so quickly and smoothly! The immigration lady told us that actually us applying for/getting these today will help us get our permanent cards faster b/c they had to log our request for the cards in order to give us the re-entry permits. We did not know that - but it's a nice side effect!

We also signed our lease at our new house - it was great to see it again! I was fairly jet-lagged when I saw it first in December, so we made the decision to rent it primarily on Jason's second impression in January and its closer location to his office. But my impression today was that it was very warm and bigger than I remembered it. I really think it fits us perfectly, and the street that it's on seems full of international families. Katie's favorite part was that her window opens out into the room, which means that Peter Pan can come visit her :-). She also enjoyed playing on the terrace and seeing the pool. She did not want to leave! (actually none of us did :-) I think it made it a bit harder to come back to our hotel... but only for a few more days!)

I wanted to mention our Spanish speaking experience - overall people seem to understand us fairly well and I am understanding most of what others say to us. (the new vocab for car shopping, bank loans and cell phone plans is getting me, but I guess that will come) It's funny tho - some people seem to understand us perfectly and others don't really at all. It seems especially when we speak Spanish to people who know English, they seem to be amused at our attempts. :-) We don't know if it has to do with our abilities/confidence, or others' expectations of our abilities given that they know we're Americans. Maybe that's just how life is - some people just don't click with where you are coming from. Or maybe everyone else is just being really nice b/c they're surprised we have any Spanish. :-) Another striking thing from the people we met yesterday - most of them don't feel comfortable with Spanish at all - and in some cases they've lived here for years! Yet another thing we are grateful for - that we have a big head start in the language department!

Well, it's bedtime (at least here in Spain!). I hope you all have a nice evening!
Love,
Becca

Church!!

Wow - it was a good day!!

I cried through the last Sunday at IBC and I cried as we sang the 1st song at Mountainview today. It was very sweet to be among other believers and to sing (familiar!) praise songs in English. One of the ladies met us at the door, said "Just a minute, I'll be back" and brought back 2 girls who were similar ages to Katie for her to play with. Katie went down to sit at the front of the church with them and never looked back for us! (the kids stay in the service for the 1st songs) She didn't want to leave when it was time to go!! Several of them commented on Katie's confidence that she was so comfortable running around like she'd been there forever. We met many nice people, Americans and all nationalities. There is even a fellow IBMer who attends this church, so that was cool to meet him and his wife.

The pastor's wife invited us over for lunch and we did not get home until 6 PM! It was a wonderful afternoon, having a chance to talk with some established members of the church and some newbies like us. (one of whom was a professional rugby player :-) ) The group at the table was fascinating - The pastor is British, his wife is Dutch, then there were some Canadians, a couple from New Zealand, a man from Boston, a lady from Brazil, and a family from Kansas. Truly an international gathering! At one point we started talking about the various sports from our various countries - quite entertaining.

Katie's impressions:
"I had fun playing with the girls." "I just love church." "See, there are people in Madrid who love God!"

It was a wonderful day and certainly a great first impression of this body of believers. We had high expectations, but feel they really were met today. It was a great day! (and we are exhausted - except for Katie who took a nap in the car on the way home :-) )

Becca for us 3

UPDATE 3/5: These are Katie's new friends, Mary-Claire and Valerie (at a play group, not so much at church :-) )

Cellphone, Car and Comida

It's Saturday night...

We had a good Friday. I worked in our downtown office and met with a couple reps. Made some good progress on both relationships and a couple deals. Good stuff. Friday night we went to a mobile phone store and the Honda dealership to look at cars. It's hard to call it a dealership when there are 4 (not kidding) cars in the place and no cars anywhere else to be found. Real estate is expensive here and car space is precious!! We like the Accord, which is the same car as the Acura TSX in the US. It's a nice car and (surprisingly) not too popular and therefore not very expensive here. We're needing a car by next weekend and we are big fans of Honda/Acura... so we're likely to buy this "Accord" soon.

Saturday...

We got Becca a mobile phone! :-) Her new number is 011 34 608 560 913. (Her number is really only the last 9 digits but you need the 011 for international and the 34 is the country code for Spain. Confusing? Yes.. phonecalls here can be a real challenge. It seems you need to have a secret decoder ring for each new place and phonetype. Challenging.

IBM provides me with a Blackberry phone (soon) so we'll publish my number sometime in the future.

By the way... our Vonage telephone number is not yet functional. This hotel is wireless... so there's nowhere available to plug it into.

Then we went to a nice lunch (we had wandered into the Ritzy side of town) and stopped by the Renault dealership. It was 4pm and the dealership was CLOSED. Crazy! They are only open from 9-1pm on Saturdays. We are starting to see that "business" is conducted during the week... and only during the week... interesting. I guess the weekends are for fun here!!

We came back to the hotel to refresh a bit... and then we went to the Heart of Madrid. Puerta del Sol. It's the literal center of the entire country of Spain and a crazy place on a Saturday night. Lots of street performers and people (tourists and locals!) going around taking pictures and such. You could feel the pickpockets watching your every move.

We had a simple dinner in a small restaurant recommended in our guidebook (great fish!) and then we walked around a little on our way to the taxi for "home".

It was a good day and we're headed to bed soon.

We try out a BIG church in Madrid tomorrow morning. It has 100+ people in it, which is HUGE for Spain and Western Europe in general. We have read everything on their website and found several blogs of church members. It's a church supported by Missionaries who home base from a good church in Lancaster, PA that we know well. We really hope we like it. Specificly, we're praying that Katie has a good experience. She's not enjoying all this Spanish talk around her. She wants to find some kids that she can communicate with. I prayed tonight with her before bed that God would start showing her the friends that He has for her. She put her hand on my cheek and said, "don't worry Daddy... I'll make some new friends." Sweet girl. I guess we're really worried about her and she knows it too!

Well, seriously. Off to bed. Jetlag effect are nearly gone, which is great... so I'm actually genuinely tired. :-)

Much love,
Jason and the sleeping beauties

The Bags!!!

Yes, it's true!! We finally have all 7 of our bags in our possession!! It's a great day indeed :-). Nothing was damaged or missing - they seem to be just as we left them on Saturday in Dallas.

I got a call first thing this morning from someone from American who said our bags were in the customs area in the international terminal. (a different terminal than we flew into) She was speaking Spanish, of course, and I think I asked her 3 times to clarify that she meant ALL of the bags and that they actually were right there with her! She said she just came into work today and they were there. So we went down to the airport shortly before lunch. We talked to the customs agent who did not have them, but he suggested we try the American counter for baggage. On our way over there, we came across our bags, sitting all by themselves in a corner near a baggage belt. It was a little strange to see them just sitting there - and we were very glad that no one else claimed them before we could get there! I honestly didn't know whether to laugh, shout, dance or cry - it was such a happy moment!

So we had to take 2 taxis to get all the bags back to the hotel (they don't exactly have SUV taxis here) and now we are trying to rearrange our small hotel room to accomodate all the stuff. A very nice problem to have, we think! Katie was very happy to have her toys to play with - and we all wanted to change clothes just because we can. :-)

God took such good care of us this week - at many moments along the way, He gave us just what we needed to keep our spirits up or to remember to trust Him. I can't help but feel like this is a good object lesson to remember all through our time here in Europe. I think that no matter how much we prepare or try to keep things all together ourselves, we need God's help because He is in control and we are not.

Thank you for your prayers for our wandering luggage - God heard and answered!
We love you!
Becca

We have 1 bag!

Hello sweet friends and family!

Well, we do have 1 bag - Katie & I went downstairs for 15 minutes for a coffee, and when we came back up, 1 bag had magically appeared in our room!! What a sweet thing! I was very grateful to see this sign of hope that someone is doing something toward getting our bags. It was not a clothes bag... so only minimally useful :-). But there were a couple of sweaters for me which helps (I've been wearing the same sweater most days, then one of the shirts Jason bought for himself yesterday - not the height of style :-) ). And it was the bag that had Katie's baby scrapbook in it, which is about the only thing that is truly irreplaceable. So we are grateful!

I did speak to an AA representative last night who was very encouraging - he is the 1st one I've talked to who seemed to understand what had likely happened to the bags. He said usually bags travel on the original itinerary when they are separated from their owners (i.e. American still has them- a good thing, I think!). He said they are likely in Miami waiting for space on a plane coming here. So we are praying that even today there will be space for the other bags and we will have more deliveries in the morning. So there's more info than you wanted to know about the baggage situation :-).

Jason was able to go into work today for the whole day - hoorah! I'm sure his boss appreciates that :-) (actually his boss has been extremely sympathetic and is very worried about how all this drama has affected my opinion of Madrid and this whole move!) But still it was good for Jason to actually be able to do his job. Katie & I basically stayed here all day - she hasn't had much play time and needed a break. So it was a very nice day. It was sunny and warmer than yesterday as well which is good for us coatless ones. :-)

We love you all and appreciate your prayers! God is taking care of us!
Becca for us 3

Hello...we're still here...

Hey there. I'm at work and things are busy, so will keep this short.

We still don't have any baggage (at least as of last night... I haven't talked with Becca today as she has no cell and I'm in the IBM office). My colleagues tell me that the bags from Air France can take 5/6 days, typically. So that's encouraging that we're not the only people who have experienced something like this!

We had a good day on Tuesday with the highlights being completing the application for our permanent VISA's, my ability to go to the office for a few hours and get some work done, and afterwards we met and walked by our new home!

Katie was excited to see the house (it's a Townhome) and when she saw it, she exclaimed, "Hey... I saw this in the picture and now I'm here!" It was cool. We plan to move in on March 1st.

Well... lots of work to do and then a 15 minute walk and 20 mins on the Subway to our hotel... so I should go for now.

love to you all,
Jason

Some progress - still no ropa (clothes)

Hello friends from Madrid... day 2!!

Good things about the day:
- We spent it together. :-) That is a very, very good thing. It was a good day.
- We didn't spend 3 hours in the airport like yesterday with 200 lbs of carryon luggage. (Becca was laughing at this exaggeration until we did the math and realized it was true!)
- We slept in till 10:30am (yes, Jason too!!)
- We bought some cool new European clothes that (we found out AFTER we bought them) that Air France will pay for them. :-)
- We learned how to do laundry in a hotel sink
- The entry point into the European Union via France and not Spain caused a little complexity with Immigration. We resolved that with a trip to the police station and all is now OK. No one even had to wear handcuffs! (though Katie was close at one point)
- We are learning that life overseas can't be well managed sometimes. No matter how hard you work and prepare, one must be flexible...

Not so good things:
- We still have no baggage and no idea where they are. Air France and American Airlines join us in this cluelessness
- We are surrounded by wet laundry in our hotel. It smells nice, but it's not what we had in mind for our hotel decor!
- Work continues to wait for Jason. I'll likely spend a couple hours at the office tomorrow afternoon to hit the critical stuff.

Pray:
- Seriously... please pray that all 7 of our bags get here soon. It's a major stressor for all 3 of us
- That when I'm working, I'm super productive and that things go quickly
- That Becca and Katie will be ok taking the metro around Madrid without me
- That we'll be a good witness in all of this. I'm reminded that our time here (and everywhere) is meant to be a light in a dark place. Pray we do that through the frustrations and struggles we are facing.

We love and miss you all. I was putting Katie to bed tonight and she didn't want to talk about Spain b/c it was making her miss home.

Jason for we 3

We are here!!

Hello from SPAIN!

We had some weather related travel changes (we were flying DFW to Miami to Madrid) that ended up taking us through Paris instead. The flight was GREAT. Katie and I shared a 3 seat row and she slept at least 5 hours. Becca had 2 seats on a window all to herself and she rested well too. I can sleep pretty much anywhere, anytime... so I rested fine. (somehow) We got upgraded to 1st class on Air France from Paris to Madrid, so we had a really nice flight into town. :-)

However, the flight change caused a few wrinkles...

The main one is that we have NONE of our 7 checked bags. OUCH. It's cold here and we don't have jackets or many, many other necessary things (like... um... clothes!). The main prayer is that they will be found. We have a few keepsakes in the bags that we really want to see again. Neither Air France nor American Airlines seems to have an idea where they may be... but I know bags rarely disappear for good.

So... please pray that our bags come tomorrow. We need our stuff! I just spoke with my boss and he promises me that we'll be laughing about this very soon. He's very accomodating, so no worries that I'm not able to get going tomorrow with the meetings I had planned. :-) oh well!

Our favorite quote from Katie today comes from a conversation in the taxi to the hotel. We were discussing that Madrid is different than home, but that the Sun, Moon, Stars (all of which she loves) are the same. We quickly moved to rocks, trees, etc. and then the "grass". I told her the grass here was much softer than our scratchy St. Augustine grass at home. To which she replied, "We I like Spain much better than Texas Daddy. The grass here is softer." :-) She's a peach.

We're doing well. We are in a great suite hotel with a separate bedroom for sleeping. It's quiet and nice. We are good. Now... if I get some clean socks for tomorrow... I'll be in GREAT shape.

Loving and missing you all,
Jason and the sleeping girls (it's 11pm here, 4pm in Texas)

BTW,
BIG thanks to my neighbor Ty Maddox who came over yesterday and helped fix a problem with my Slingbox. As a result, I'm watching the Daytona 500 LIVE as I write this. Gotta love technology. If your not familiar with Sling, it give you the ability to watch your Tivo/DVR from anywhere in the world. It's AMAZING. A little piece of home that really will help us stay connected to home!

It's all GONE!!

Howdy,

The movers came today and our house is empty! It was a GREAT experience. 6 guys that were funny and a real joy to have in our home. They kept us laughing and did a great job packing us up for Spain. We spent a quiet evening at home eating PF Changs with our friends Kevin and Tracy Fortsch. It's late and we're tired. Off to bed soon.

Thanks for keeping today in your prayers. It went off without a hitch and was a truly enjoyable day. :-) We are thankful and after we hit the Post Office tomorrow am, we'll be ready to go.

To bed we go...

Jason for we 3

Tomorrow = Movers

Jason here.  Yes, it's true.  They come to move us tomorrow.  We are close to being ready for them.  Another 30 minutes and we'll be in bed.  I hope.

Today we:

- sold both our cars (for 5% less than what I was hoping to get for the pair!  I'm happy.)

- completed all the paperwork for our new place

- delivered Rusty (our dog) to the Fiorello Family who are graciously caring for him while we're in Spain.  Sara Beth, we appreciate YOU and the loving care you'll give Rusty.  :-)

- installed a new smoke alarm downstairs (ok, it was a small thing, but needed to get done!)

- packed,packed,packed up more of of our stuff that's not going to Spain.  

- a dozen other small things too!

Again, we're close.  It seems manageable from here.  Pray that the movers are able to pack and move us out tomorrow.  We have a lot more stuff than when they first assessed things.  Hopefully it's a one day job.  If not... we... well... we aren't sure!  It'll all work out...

Thanks for praying for us.  We can feel it (and the Advil). 

Jason (the car guy who owns no cars but is renting a nice new Ford Edge)

Visas - in hand!

It's wild to see... but we are now Residents of Spain. The VISA (temporary 90 day deal) is a sticker in our passports. Exciting times! I was in Houston yesterday and there were no problems at all. :-) The people at the Consulate in Houston are great!!

On the flight home, I made a "to-do" list that is a good 30 items long. Checked off a few of them last night, but I have miles to go! Pray that we are extra productive these next 2 days and also find time to relax and enjoy the process too.

Keep our families in your prayers. It's hard to move so far away from our families... and it seems especially hard right now. We're thankful that we'll be seeing some our family in Madrid soon!

OK.... where's that to-do list??? I'm off...

Jason

Sick

I'm writing with a prayer request - we are all 3 sick to one degree or another! Katie and Jason have bad colds and I have the flu - super yuck! I've spent the day in bed except for a trip to the doctor to get some Tamiflu. So hopefully it will work quickly - and mainly we hope that Jason & Katie will not get it too. I had the vaccine in October, but there was an article in the paper today about how the vaccine this year doesn't match up very well with the flu types going around. Bummer!! It's lovely when you see yourself in the news!

So please pray for health to return to the Risley household - we appreciate it!

All else with the move is going smoothly - we heard today that our visas have been approved! We also got the last translations from Spain that we need to take down to Houston when we pick up the visas. Jason booked our flights for Sat at 1:50 as well as the hotel that will be home for a couple of weeks. We spent a loooong day yesterday finishing up sorting and inventorying what we are taking in each shipment - and I was glad that it was finished yesterday before I was confined to my bed! So hopefully I'll be back to normal tomorrow (or soon anyway) so we can get the rest of the chores done before Friday.

Thanks for praying!
Becca for us 3.

Brief Update

Buenas Noches,

Things continued to progress today.  The police clearance was translated and DHL'd from Madrid to us today.  They should arrive on Tuesday.  I plan to go to the Consulate in Houston on Wednesday to pick up our VISA's.  :-)  

then...

The movers come on Friday, the 15th.  We'll likely fly over on the 16th (on those "one way" tickets), assuming all goes well with the move.  We are CLOSE.  

It's been an exhausting few weeks, but we are so thankful for God's leading and provision.  When we felt overwhelmed, somehow we were able to take a step back and gain perspective.  The details, while important, really are just details.  We are sure this is the step God has for us next and even in the busyness, we have a surprising peace about this move.  Thanks to the many of you who are praying for us.  

We appreciate your love and care for us!

Jason for the tired Risley 3

P.S.  (a housekeeping note)

I am trying to make the blog more readable.  I increased the font size on a few things and darkened the text.  Maybe my eyes are getting old... but it wasn't easy to read.  Hope this is better.  ALSO, I removed the requirement to log in for leaving comments.  So... you can share your thoughts and remain anonymous... you know who you are...

Rejoicing!!

Hello!!

We are rejoicing as we have seen so many pieces fall into place yesterday and today. God has been so good and we give Him all the glory for the way things have gone so quickly and smoothly throughout this whole complicated process!! Here's a list of the news :-)

1. We have a new home to live in - very close to Jason's work, great shopping, and neat parks. They agreed to put A/C in the bedrooms for no additional rent. (this had been one of our only hesitations :-) ) It has a lovely guest room so we reissue our invitation to come visit us!! :-)
2. We went to Houston yesterday to the Spanish consulate to apply for our visas. We did not have quite all our paperwork, but decided to go anyway and pray that it would not slow their approvals. They were very nice and did not seem at all concerned that we were missing 1 thing. They think the visas will be approved tomorrow!! It was kind of funny that we had to drive all the way to Houston only to stay at the consulate for about 15 minutes :-).
3. The paperwork we were lacking finally arrived today (Woo Hoo!!), so after getting it translated we will be able to take it back to Houston and collect our visas. We are hoping this can be done Tuesday or Wednesday next week.
4. Jason asked you all to pray about the issue of getting our stuff over there - our relocation coordinator had a very creative solution and we now will be able to air ship 2500 lb and ocean ship up to 12500 more. Yes, it seems crazy to us too :-). So now we plan to take our bed and 2 recliners :-). And we are breathing easy about avoiding those outrageously expensive overages!!
5. The movers are scheduled to come on Friday next week and we plan to fly out on Saturday for Madrid!!

It occurs to me that these posts may seem a bit redundant - all along we've been saying the movers will come next week so we could leave on the 16th. But that has just been our hope and plan - nothing has been nailed down to make it a reality that it could happen this way. And there have been many ups and downs to make that plan seem more or less likely. But now everything is really falling into place and the details are nailed down - this is really happening and on our timetable! We are learning so much about trusting God - mainly as we've seen how easily our emotions can sway us. But crazy emotions and upheaval in our lives doesn't change the fact that God is in control and can work anything out! We thank you for praying for us and supporting us along the way!

For we 3,
Becca

Work Permit! (we are bad bloggers)

Hey... sorry it's been a bit since our last news filled post.  Life has been a little crazy.

We need to catch everyone up on some news.  The work permit came in on schedule on Friday and I flew home Saturday from Madrid to Dallas.  We had hoped to go to the Spanish Consulate on Monday (today), but it's now going to be Wednesday b/c of some translations that weren't quite complete.  

The schedule is essentially the same.  Apply for the Visa's on Wednesday, get them hopefully by the 11th.  The movers come on the 13th and we fly to Spain on the 15th.  It's crazy, but we essentially have 10 days left in the U.S. of A.  

Key things to pray for:

- more weight to ship things.  We are over the limit and it's big money.  We're trying to both reduce our shipment and negotiate for a greater allotment.  We'll see what happens.

- housing.  We have picked the house, now just need for the lease details and such to wrap up for us to move in on March 1st.  We'll be in a suites hotel for a couple weeks.

- all the little details.  There are many, many of them.  Pray that we'll stay organized and that it'll all wrap up without too much drama or missed details.

- sleep.  Our minds and hands are working overtime.  Pray that we get good rest in the midst of the busyness.  

We appreciate you keeping up with us!  God has a real adventure planned for us these next 2 years.  Come and visit!!

Jason..

   for the packing Becca

              and sleeping Katie