Stretched Thin

The last week or so have been pretty tough on the family.  I debated about whether I should post this or not, but when I started this blog, I wanted to be sure to capture both the great and tough times we went through on this adventure of ours…

There’s a LOT going on.  Much more than both Candace and I thought would fill our plates.  The following list is an attempt to capture a chunk of what we’re trying to juggle right now:

• Housing in Bangkok – working rental finalization
• Visa applications
• Work permit
• Passport for children
• Medical clearance for everyone
• Vaccinations for everyone
• Prepping the house for sale (painting, storing, cleaning, fixing, etc)
• Line item inventory of EVERYTHING for shipping/storage insurance purposes
• Setting up temporary local storage for staging the house for sale
• Sorting out auto purchases in Thailand
• Banking setup/wiring instructions with notaries
• Brazilian visa (for my upcoming work trip)
• International drivers licenses
• US address resolution (PO service or family)
• VOIP porting for calling from Thailand
• Reimbursement paperwork
• Booking family travel with stopover in NW (and associated exception)
• Interim living arrangements
• Cancelling subscriptions
• Changing address EVERYWHERE
• Applying to International School of Bangkok for all 4 kids
• Getting medical and academic records for all kids
• On and on and on

The list seriously goes on and on.  Every night the last week, Candace and I collapse in bed and stare at each other and often wonder what we got ourselves into. 

In addition, I recently transitioned into a new role at work and it’s been the most difficult transition of my career.  There are several issues that were pretty much dumped on me and I’m working hard to resolve.  That’s taken a lot of energy and doesn’t leave a lot left for working the points above.

On top of all of this, our kids have come down with a long-lasting stomach bug…so we’re not getting much sleep at night.  I think it’s fair to say we’re stretched to the limit right now.  We both know things will ease up as time goes on, but for now, we’re pretty exhausted.