Home

It may be a bit beside the point to say at this point, but we are home.

We arrived back in Texas on Wednesday, January 13; Katie started her new school on Wednesday January 20; we moved back into our house on Sunday January 31. The air shipment came on Tuesday February 2. The sea shipment came on Wednesday February 17. So the first several weeks were a bit of a blur :-)

People keep asking me if we are settled in. I usually answer "not completely". I think this is the wrong thing to say because it always produces a strong surprised reaction. :-) It is true that physically we have long been settled in: you can only find a handful of boxes left unpacked around the house. Katie has thrived in her new class. Jason is well into the new job and reconnected with IBM USA. I have most of the big to-dos checked off my list.

But mentally, emotionally... that is definitely going to take some more time.

We are so so glad to be back in Texas - life is so easy here and we know what to do and what to expect. We know the language :-) and the nuance in every conversation. We have loved reconnecting with our family and friends. We enjoy the sense of permanence that this life holds for us.

And we are glad for more trivial things as well :-): Laundry doesn't take me more than 1 day a week. My weekly grocery run takes 45 minutes instead of 2+ hours. We can run the water downstairs to wash dishes AND upstairs for Katie to take a bath - at the same time!! We have all our worldly possessions back together under 1 roof and the logistics are simpler once again.

But we miss life in Spain too. We miss our friends very much. Life was foreign there, but we got used to it. And - though I won't say this too loudly - we grew to like some things better.

So now our task is to sort out these two sides of ourselves. To take the best of our life here and the best of our life there and meld them into something good and cohesive. We don't want to just go back to business as normal. That would be easier. But we were given an amazing opportunity to see life in a different way. We want to put into practice some of the things we saw and learned these past 2 years. We want to live differently here because we lived there.

What an experience it was. What a gift we were given. We are thankful we got to go. And we are thankful we are home.

People vs Tasks

Well... today we fly home. Jason writing. I woke up at just before 4am today and couldn't sleep. Many things on my mind, but the theme that keeps coming back is how thankful I am for my amazing (and beautiful, but that's a different post :-) wife, Becca.

As I was laying in bed, I was thinking back a few years about when a great friend of mine was moving from Dallas to the East Coast. He had a to-do list as long as my arm... but kept taking time out of his days to visit friends and genuinely hang out to say a proper goodbye. I spent a full Saturday with him and this was stressing me out! I'm wired to get my tasks done and THEN relax and see people. He is wired the other way... and I know it created some long days/nights for him as he worked to get the tasks done too.

All this brings me to Becca. Yesterday, we were picking Katie up from school together and saying some goodbyes to the school staff, etc. Given the Holidays, there are some friends Becca hasn't had the chance to see and say goodbye with. One of her dear, dear Italian friends Roberta came through the door and all the sadness of leaving without time left for a visit just came bursting out. Becca started crying and so did Roberta and it was a sweet and beautiful moment of them expressing how they'd wished they could've spent time together prior to leaving, will miss one another, etc etc. Such a sweet and sad moment.

I'm thankful to glad to share with you that there are few on Bec's list that didn't enjoy her time in these past weeks. In the midst of a complex and crazy foreign move, Bec made time for people. Just like my friend Brian... she drank the cafe con leche (we'll miss it!) ... shared the tapas/vino and kept people as a top priority. This resulted in a few long days and late nights finishing those lists... but it was very clearly worth it.

Well done Bec. You finished well. I love you... along with so many others here in Spain.

P.S. I could write 3 or 4 or 5 posts on the amazing Becca and how she's managed the logistics of this move. In the midst of ending/starting jobs (and saying a few goodbye's of my own) I've only helped a little here... Bec has done the lion's share of the work and done it WELL. The complexity is almost impossible to describe...

Take your Katie to work day!

It occurred to me recently that when we return to the US, I'll office from home and won't have an official space in the IBM building in Dallas. One thing my Mom and Dad used to do for me when I was young was to take me to work with them. I plan to do this with Katie... but it's not terribly exciting to come to my office in our house.

So...

On December 29^th, I took Katie to work with me to the IBM Madrid office! As we are preparing to move home... this had the additional benefit of giving Becca some kid-free time to get work done on our logistics, etc. We started our day with my 1.1 mile walk to the office. It was the same as every (non-travel) day for me... but longer than she expected! On the way, we discussed proper behavior in an office setting. That we don't act super silly when we feel uncomfortable... but instead it's best to sit quietly, breathe and wait until we feel better about whatever is making us uncomfortable. That we introduce ourselves clearly and say our name “more loudly than you think you need to” while looking directly at the person we're meeting. That we don't run down the halls (unless you're my current manager who does everything at 78 rpms!). Etc etc. :-)

We arrived and got our space all setup. Katie had her own desk, chair and computer. Big times ahead!

Katie started out by sharing confident greetings and kisses with several of the ladies who sit near my office and then meeting the “big boss” (my manager's manager) who is an American recently arriving to Madrid from Austin, Texas. He was genuinely glad to meet her and she did a great job chatting with him about school and our move back to Texas soon.

After getting a coffee and apple juice/water... we got down to work. Katie brought her Thank You notes to complete from her recent 6^th Birthday party. It's quarter close, so I genuinely had several items to complete and I was able to focus on those tasks while she did her work.

After completing thank you's, Katie did some of her reading/learning games online. She loves these and they are actually pretty hard. It's amazing how fast she is learning to read.

I also have an electronic rfid key for our vending machines that allows me to buy things without having change at that moment. I just hold it near the sensor and it shows me my credit, etc. I brought all the euro dimes that we'd been collecting in the house, and Katie helped me by reloading my key. Well done! I have 6Euro's now!

After playing some games, we went and made scan's of our Passports and Residence cards. These were needed for our moving paperwork. While there, we trimmed up her Thank You's on the paper cutter. Nice!

We returned to my desk and I joined a telephone conference call. While I was on the phone, Katie did more online fun and drew me several new pictures to hang around my desk.

It was now 1pm and time for lunch! We met Mom a

t a nearby Italian restaurant and had a great lunch of pasta. Yum. She and Becca then went home for an afternoon siesta. :-)

I must say that Katie was impressive in our day at work. She did an excellent job and was (with the exception of running to the bathroom once!!) nearly a miniature professional office worker. It was a side of her I hadn't seen, honestly. Normally, I get home and she's tired and I'm tired and we either are just silly together or a bit quiet/grouchy and ready for bedtimes. She was impressive. I wish I had an office in Dallas so we could go do it again next year! Perhaps we'll find a way...

Best part? He question to me when leaving was, “Dad... can I PLEASE PLEASE work with you this afternoon? Or tomorrow?? PLEASE??” :-) Mission accomplished!

Christmas

We enjoyed Christmas fun in December, in between the birthday and moving preparations :-).

We had a fun treat of a snowfall the week of Christmas. Sadly, it didn't stick around for us to enjoy a white Christmas like they had in DFW this year, but it was great! We really enjoyed the chance to go sledding and throw snowballs. Daisy LOVED the snow and ran around like a crazy dog the whole time we were playing outside! (see her in the background of this picture?)


Katie had a nice Christmas program at school - here she is with her sweet friend Anna Sophie. They sang songs in Spanish and English, with a Hanukkah song partly in Hebrew thrown in there too. The program ended with an older class doing Indian dancing - I think these occasions highlight the international-ness of life here the most! It was quite a cultural range!


Christmas was definitely different this year because we were completely alone! We are moving home 3 weeks after Christmas, so it just didn't make sense to go home or for anyone to come here. It was definitely a little sad on Christmas day and on the days when our families were gathering to celebrate together. But we had a nice quiet day with just us 3. Some of our family sent us gifts to open on Christmas Day which was so thoughtful and made the day special. And some of our family is waiting to celebrate with us until we get home. Next year we look forward to again celebrating Christmas with all the parts of our family.

The big hit of Christmas was definitely Katie's electronic keyboard. She was soooo excited! She has been asking for a piano or a guitar for 6 months, so it was just what she wanted. (here's her reaction when she realized what was under the tree!) She didn't think she would really get a piano because she thought we wouldn't be able to take it back to TX. (and the next picture is her reaction when we assured her it would be coming back to TX with us - she said "yes!" :-) ) She has said this several times about several things - I'm not sure if she is only thinking of the suitcases or if that's just some underlying anxiety she has about the move. It was fun to completely surprise her even with something she has asked for so much!




Here's one more pic of Daisy - she even got to be festive for Christmas :-)

Katie turns 6!

On 23 December Katie turned 6! We can hardly believe how big she is getting. Sometimes it seems we have a grown up girl suddenly before our eyes. She is growing in thoughtfulness and responsibility. She has music in her bones and is always singing and making up songs, usually praise songs to God. It is so fun to see her personality and talents develop!





We started off the festivities early, with Katie's birthday party on 12 December. She wanted a puppy party this year and I have to say it was one of the easiest, most fun parties!! Of course, Mimi & Poppi helped quite a bit with the party planning, sending us gobs of supplies from TX. It was a great theme as well since half the party guests were boys - I think they liked puppies more than princesses :-).

The party began with each guest receiving their own puppy ears and tail so they could get into the theme. They enjoyed showing us how they panted and wagged their tails too. Some were reluctant... but eventually all were changed into puppies for a couple of hours!

We played Musical Puppies (like musical chairs with stuffed puppies instead of chairs), Pin the Paw on the Puppy, Dance Freeze to puppy music - they were all big hits! Each guest also got to paint bone and puppy ornaments to hang on their Christmas trees. We ate bone shaped sandwiches and paw print cupcakes. I felt like I was misrepresenting myself to the parents who stayed for the party - I do NOT do parties like this!! (i.e. all themed and creative) But with a few minutes of searching on the internet I found so many easy and fun activities! So hooray for my 10 minutes of Martha Stewart glory :-) I would highly recommend this party theme!










Katie enjoyed the day of her birthday as well. I think she gets more excited about her birthday than Christmas! :-) When she was a little baby, I was concerned about being sure that the 2 are always separate; basically that her birthday doesn't get lost in Christmas. But for her, her birthday is totally connected to Christmas - it's all just one big happy celebration :-). Jason & I snuck into Katie's room the night before to decorate with balloons and streamers so she would wake up to a fun surprise. What I didn't count on was that she would wake up so early that it would still be too dark to see the decorations :-). When she went back into her room and turned the light on she was suitably impressed :-).

On her birthday, Katie enjoyed opening presents and riding her new bike. We finished the day with a "movie night" by watching Snow White, complete with popcorn and pizza - one of her favorite things right now!

Happy Birthday to our sweet girl!!