First Shots

And here it is the end of July already! Funny how time moved so slowly while we waited for approvals, referrals, court dates, and then that dang visa... and now time is speeding past like it's making up for, uh... lost time? The figure of speech loses something when you're actually talking about time, doesn't it? Well, you know what I mean. Every day Grace does something new. It seemed like there were weeks in the RMI where she was pretty much doing the same things - sleep, eat, poop, gurgle, repeat - and now, that rattle that she couldn't care less about yesterday is the very thing she's seeking it out today. The next day she's grabbing it with both hands... then the next it's going in her mouth... then the next she's growling at it and able to pick it up when it drops next to her. Really, is this what it's going to be like?

Adjusting - First Week Back

As I said in my last pseudo-post, Jeff returned to work on July 12th. I still have a handful of weeks of FMLA left before returning to work half-time for an additional 8 weeks. I have to say I feel very disconnected from friends and family here after being gone so long. I guess my ability to compartmentalize and focus on one specific thing at a time has worked against me. I'm slowly starting to mesh the different parts of my life back together but it's taking time.

Days 49, 50 and 51, July 8 & 9

Isn't coffee an amazing thing? I sometimes wonder how these things were discovered and then, like now, really don't care as long as it results in something that sustains me and is sorely needed... Coffee, you have the sincere appreciation and undying loyalty of this new mom!

Day 48: Thursday, 7/7

Very, very good news people! Of course, as with everything else, I had to wait... and wait... and wait. I was up with Grace at 4:00 and even on the best days when I wasn't expecting news, it's been difficult for me to fall asleep since it's, oh... 11:00 am back home. Even after 48 days, my internal clock is not fully adjusted to the different time zone. So I refreshed the DHL tracking page 439 times – no change. When I was cyber stalking Stacy's package it actually did give pretty good information throughout the delivery process. Not so much on ours. But finally the magic time of 8:30 rolled around... so I waited until 8:45 to call. A slight adjustment for island time.

Day 47: Wednesday, 7/6

As I figured, it was a bit too much to expect that the package made its way with magical speed to the Embassy here in the RMI. We heard back from our lawyer late last night and he suggested we call Ken at the DHL office to see if he had better information than was available from the tracking tool online. While it said that the package finished processing in Guam, there was no further information. After breakfast (the ham and cheese omelet was delicious, btw) we drove to the DHL office to ask. Ken said that his system shows our package is on the flight arriving tonight, however, the manifest he has does not list it. This isn't uncommon... sometimes a package is thrown onto a flight but not noted so there's a good chance it'll be here tonight... around 8 or 9 pm. Guess when our original flight leaves? 8:45 pm.

Day 46: Tuesday, 7/5

Ah, Tuesday. The day I've been waiting for. I figured that after the holidays we'd finally receive some information and, honestly, was holding out hope that the package would be sitting at the Embassy waiting for their rubber stamp and for us to come pick it up. Well, I'll tell you right now, that didn't happen. But all is not lost... you just have to wait until a little later in the post.

Days 43, 44 & 45: Saturday, Sunday & Monday, 7/2-4

Another 3-day post... sorry about that! I'm sure everyone reading is, like us, only waiting for one thing so I'll get that out of the way first. As we expected, we don't know anything more about our visa or when we're returning home. The Embassy here was closed from Friday through Monday so even if something was delivered last week or during the weekend, there would have been no information shared and certainly no paperwork signed and given to us so we busied ourselves with other things to pass the time. Everything considered, it was a nice weekend... here's the short story (and I mean short for a 3-day post):

Day 42: Friday, 7/1

Well, hello July. Didn't imagine seeing you here... or more precisely, seeing you while I was here. Nevertheless, here we both are. Happy Fisherman's Day everyone! A Marshallese holiday that's sort of like fishing home opener back home but everyone hops on someone's boat and head out to try their hand. Of course, their hand is much more skilled than ours and the kind of fish they get, well, it would put even the best northern to shame :)