Headless Chicken Mode

Egads! We are moving out of the country in 5 weeks. You would think that by now we would be fully aware of this fact but it seems to have escaped us until now.

I have finally said good-bye to my job of the last 9 years which is a HUGE weight off of my shoulders ( having been ready to leave for about the last 5 years or so). Mike's folks are visiting from Georgia and entertained us in Bend for a few days. We have a steady stream of dinners and outings planned over the next few weeks. And our "to do" list keeps getting longer and longer. This has been partly complicated by the fact that we have chosen to ship a small amount of stuff so that we are a little lighter on the other end when we step off the plane. And not to mention, the two little people in our lives who demand every ounce of our attention while we try to tick off items on this ever-growing list.

So, wish us luck in the coming weeks as we wrap up our life here in Oregon.

Holding Pattern

Not much happening with our move at the moment. I have 36 hours of work left (who's counting?) and Mike continues to work. We are trying to see friends and family and be as social as we can be in these next few weeks. A few vacations are coming up. We debate about shipping a few boxes or just lugging everything on to the plane (the later is the current winner in this on-going debate). But overall, it does not seem real that we will be stepping on a plane headed to our new life in New Zealand in just 45 days. I suspect that panic mode will hit sometime soon. I have already shed a few tears with dear friends just thinking about our departure.

In the meantime, I present you with another video. May I point out that there is no censorship of expletives in New Zealand? It will be refreshing to not hear that damn "bleep!" on the TV everytime someone utters a curse word.

Just call us....

PERMANENT RESIDENTS OF NEW ZEALAND!

Once again, miracles abound. Our case officer has already decided our application and has granted us permanent residency.

We are thrilled.

On the subject of case officers and togs

Got word that our application arrived at Immigration New Zealand (INZ) yesterday and that as of today, we have a case officer who is assessing our application. This has to be nothing short of a miracle being the large bureaucracy that INZ is known to be. We were also told that "a decision (on our application for permanent residency)will be made in the next few days". Bring on the blueys!!!!

And for your viewing enjoyment, a little kiwi sense of humor....

Cheers!

Fush and Chups

The New Zealand accent explained

So the adventure begins

At least it looks that way. Our immigration packet for our Invitation to Apply has been mailed to New Zealand Immigration in London and once there it should be moved to the front of the line pretty quickly as Cara, the nurse and grand poobah of this outfit, has a job offer from the Canterbury District Health Board. From all of our research (quite extensive, thank you) we should have our permanent resident stickers in about a month or two. So with today being Sunday, June 21 that gets us to the middle of July or August. And since we have already bought our plane tickets for an August 23 departure, we sure hope it works out this way or we have really screwed the pooch! It has been a very long time coming but sometime very soon all of our giddiness, nervousness, apprehension and everything else that comes with moving a family of four across the globe should be condensed down into four tiny blue stickers within the folds of our passports. How did this happen? Why did we decide to uproot ourselves and two young children and move to the middle of the South Pacific? When we figure it out, we'll be sure to let you know. Until then.....stay tuned.