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Just wanted to let everyone know that we're back in the Lone Star State for good. We had a pretty easy travel day. Both of the girls were just fabulous on both flights and there were no major passport incidences. We got into Houston around 4:30 yesterday afternoon, Texas time, and made it to our temporary apartment by about 6. We sat down to a nice dinner at Jason's Deli, yum yum...missed it, and then went straight to TARGET!

The thing that sucks the most about moving is that you can't take things like cleaners and perishable food items with you. Once we got into our apartment we relized that we really had nothing. No soap, no milk, no basics. We stocked up enough to get us through breakfast today. After having some breakfast and taking daddy to work we hit the ground running. We've got a house to find and a life to get settled.


Our last weekend in St. John's we took a little day trip to a bird sanctuary down on the "south shore"....here are my favorite pics:

and this was on a Russian sail ship that was in the harbor on Saturday morning:

On Moving Back

The last few weeks have just passed by like a dream. My mind has been racing in a hundred different directions making lists and pondering the logistics of this move. There are just so many details involved in a venture such as this that you feel like you're adrift in a sea of priorities and you really wonder how it's all going to get done, but I have faith that it will all get done...it has to.


The movers arrived yesterday morning to begin packing our life into cardboard boxes. They knocked on the door at 8:45am. They weren't supposed to come until 9am and asked if it was too early. They couldn't have known what a loaded question that was so when I burst into tears it seemed to have caught them off guard. I just wanted to scream, no! not yet! I'm not ready! But, I didn't, I let them in and showed them around and let them know that the desk stays, hear that, the desk stays.


About an hour after arriving they asked me to make them some coffee. Really? Coffee? Because I've already cleaned the coffee pot and oh darn, the grinder is packed. Ten minutes later the movers announced that the grinder had been unpacked. Really? Reeeeally? Because I could have sworn that you were being paid to pack things up. Oh, and by the way, the desk stays.

So, they got most of it packed up yesterday. We got checked into the Sheraton downtown after attempting to stay at the Extended Stay Suites. At the Extended Stay we walked into our non-smoking room which reeked of cigarette smoke and sat on the beds which felt like cardboard and immediately turned around and walked back out. I totally didn't want to be that wife that's all like, I can NOT stay here, but seriously, for the children's sake, I could NOT stay there.

We headed back down to the house today to let the movers back in so they could begin loading the truck. I took the head guy on a tour and informed him that the desk was to stay. One hour later I went up to the purple room which serves as our office and found the desk half way disassembled. The desk stays people!!

We went and had lunch with friends for the second day in a row. THANK YOU BETSY!! Our things should ship out tonight. The driver told me that the load will go to Toronto to pick up another two loads and then head to Fort Worth and San Marcos before ending up in Houston. Fine by me, we don't have a place to put everything yet and probably won't before September.

So, we're just chillin' in the hotel right now. Avery is napping, Ryleigh is watching tv and I'm trying to catch up on my blog reading and writing. We hope to get all of our personal business squared away before the weekend so we can just enjoy our final few days in this place that we love so much. The plan is to have dinner at East Side Marios on Sunday night, 6ish if anyone wants to join us. Monday morning we fly out and another chapter begins...

Have Some Pictures

I just dumped a ton of pics off my camera. I'm sort of busy these days, you know, just moving from one country to the other. Enjoy some of the best ones!

Grandma Terri and the girls road trippin'!

Yet, they still love her so much!

Trouble.

Our little athlete.

Sisters Forever.

6 years of marriage, 6 homes to live in

It's official, we are moving back to Texas! Jeramy's company has transferred him back and he is being moved to a new position. It's a lateral move, but it's a move into an area that he has wanted to be in since he started back with the company over three years ago. Really it's the job that he wanted when he quit roughnecking 11 years ago and went back to college. So, I'm really happy and excited for him even if I'm not entirely pleased to be moving back to Texas so soon.


I have really adjusted well to living here. It's not the just the clean air, nice folks and mountains of snow either. I have made some fellow expat friends here that I hope will be a part of my life forever. I have grown attached to their children and look forward to the day when we are all back in Houston or hanging out during a visit to the UK, watching our kids run and play while we reminisce about our time in the Great White North.


The movers come to pack our things on July 20th and on the 21st everything gets loaded up and heads out for the trip south. We plan to stick around here in a hotel for about another week and then fly to Houston on July 27th. We spent some time during our visit home last week looking for a house, but nothing really jumped out and grabbed us. This will be our 6th residence since we got married and Ryleigh's 5th home to live in. Maybe this will be the one that we stay in for more than just a few years, maybe not since we plan to jump at the next opportunity to move abroad. To know us it to love us!


So, if you're here in St. John's, make sure we get together before we leave! And if you're down in Texas waiting on us to return, we'll see you soon y'all!

Three Cups of Tea

I just finished reading an amazing book. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.


This book has completely changed every idea I've ever had about volunteerism, service to others and giving back to my community in a very real and wonderful way. Greg Mortenson started out his life growing up in Tanzania as the son of missionary parents. At a very young age he became addicted to mountain climbing, an addiction that led him to attempt hiking K2 in Pakistan. His attempt failed and while coming off the mountain, lost and his health deteriorating, he stumbled upon a village that would set the course for the rest of his life. In Korphe, Pakistan he found hosts that nursed him backed to health and children scratching multiplication tables into the dirt. In appreciation for the village's hospitality he promised to build them a school.


Mortenson wasn't a professional fundraiser and though he had watched his father build a hospital in Tanzania, he didn't have any experience raising funds for and overseeing a major construction project.

So he just did...that simple, he just did.

He came back home and wrote over 500 letters to celebrities and the like, soliciting funds for his school. He received one $100 check. He eventually found a donor willing to finance the whole school which he estimated to cost $12,000. With the cash in his bag he flew to Pakistan and for the rest of the story you just have to read the book, it's truly unbelievable. Over a decade later Mortenson continues to build multiple schools every year in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

This book will make you say "What can I do TODAY to help someone else...someone who has had far fewer opportunities in life than I have?" This book will make you realize that it doesn't take a huge fundraising effort to make good things happen, if your heart is set on it and your mind believes in it, it can and will happen.

The book also touches on the horrible side effects of war, especially modern war, and the severe lack of cross-cultural understanding that is prevalent in our society today. His life is proof that so many international conflicts could be solved through open and receptive talk...over a few cups of tea.


Mortenson's Fundraising Organizations:

Central Asia Institute
Pennies for Peace

Time in Arlington

We've been hanging out at my sister's house all week and it's been a real blast making her home look like mine. It's so much fun to see her come home from work and look around in disgust then spend the next hour cleaning up after my kids. It kind of reminds me of when we used to share a room as children and she would get pissed at me for leaving my clothes on the floor and I would just leave them there because it pissed her off and then she would do my laundry. Good Times.


On Sunday we had a great visit with the Wallaces. Karen and Jeremy met at our wedding and have since gotten married and produced an adorable little symbol of my best matchmaking skills to date. Their little girl was so sweet and adorable and it was awesome to finally be able to meet her. On Monday the girls and I drove out to Granbury to see Jeramy's grandparents. Ryleigh got to show Nana her recording of the year end show at Early Achievers and go riding on Grandads golf cart. Tuesday we went to the Fort Worth Zoo and then met up with our former stepmom (one of them) at PF Changs for dinner. Yesterday the girls and I met up with Emily and her daughters for some playtime and Chick Fil A (I've been very much deprived of fried chicken and polynesian sauce) and last night my friend Cindy came over and hung out on the back porch. Today we might head down to the mall for a little shopping, but mostly we'll be preparing for our 7 hour drive to Amarillo tomorrow. We'll be in Amarillo until Sunday at which time we'll head to Monahans for a week of desertness before heading to Houston.


Here are a few pics from the Ft. Worth Zoo...enjoy!

The Next Time I Decide To Fly Three Airplanes in Two Countries with Two Children in One Day, Someone Please Just Throw A Shoe Directly At My Forehead

When I was preparing for my trip to Texas the thing I was most concerned about was getting through customs in Newark with two children, a stroller, a car seat on my back and all our luggage in tow. In actuality, this part of our trip went surprisingly well. I'm sure I looked like a freak show, but hey, we made it through. Things really started getting interesting when we went to board our plane in Newark.

First off, I hate the Newark airport, always have. The people there are so rude, the planes are never on time and the place is just generally dirty. It seems that everytime I board a plane in Newark passengers always crowd around gate way before they are called, which is a pain for me because as a traveller with small children, I usually get to board right after first class. This is so I can get my small children and car seat situated without having to work around a packed plane. I was not allowed to board early yesterday. When I did get up to the gate things were just crazy with so many people impatiently waiting to get on and then they had to tag my stroller since they check it at the door. And of course they had to question my car seat backpack, what's in there?...should I have checked it? oh it's going in the seat? did you buy a seat for you baby m'am? because the flight is full....arrrrrrgggggghhhhh, just let me on the plane before I prompt one of my children to throw up right here at the gate.

So once I step on the plane I realize that the passports I had in my hand at the gate are no longer in my hand and thus must have been dropped somewhere along the last 20 feet that I just walked. I quickly approach a flight attendant and let her know what I just so stupidly did to which she replies, "Federal regulations do not allow me to get off this plane, m'am." Really?? Do federal regulations allow to call someone at the gate and ask them to look down at the floor and pick up my passports? To which she replies, "Do you have your boarding pass?"

I dig out my boarding pass as she disappears and when she comes back by she totally forgets what I had asked her before. I remind her and hand off my boarding pass. Ten minutes later, the door to the plane is shut and she tells me that no one saw anything...sorry.

At this point I try to take myself to a good place, a place where I tell myself my passports will find me somehow. I will not be stuck in Texas forever, I will be able to get back to Canada.

Then...

"This is your captain speaking, we just found out as we were pulling away from the gate that there is some sort of delay along our route, probably weather. We'll be sitting here for a little bit until we find out more information which we will pass along to you. Feel free to turn on your electronic devices and thank you for your patience."

Did I mention that we only had a one hour layover in Houston? Happy Place, Happy Place, go to my happy place. We will make our flight, the passports will come back to me. I am willing it so.

We took off about 25 minutes delayed. When we landed in Houston and I got our stroller back, there was Avery's passport sitting in the top, but mine and Ryleigh's were not anywhere to be seen and we had 20 minutes to make our connecting flight which is at gate 29, we are at 19. Time to run. So we run, all the way to the other side of the terminal, only to find out that our gate had been changed to gate 22, right next to the gate that we just landed at.

Really God, Really??

So, we run back and get there just in time. I'm sweaty, the girls are not happy, but we made our flight, now I just have to get the car seat set out and....what? excuse me? you need to what?

Some douchebag male flight attendent informs me that he needs to inspect my car seat to make sure it is rated for airplane use. I have to admit, I quickly morphed into THAT passenger. THAT passenger that is not happy and is letting the wonderful folks that keep us safe in the air know that I am NOT happy. I WILL be using this car seat whether it's rated for whatever or whatever. I paid for my daughter to have her own seat and federal regulations (to quote a previous douchebag flight attendent) allow me to hold her in my lap so if I want to strap her to a coffee can in her own seat, I damn sure will. I have been flying with this carseat and a baby for four years and I have NEVER had my carseat inspected by some douchebag male flight attendent!

Oh god, I'm not going to make it. I just don't think DFW is within my sights anymore. They're going to take my children away and throw me in a cell with the shoe bomber.

Scared, he turns and heads to the front of the plane as I strap my approved car seat into the plane seat, sit down with my girls on either side and work on holding back the tears. I lost my passport, my husband is going to kill me. I don't have our birth certificates, I'm going to have to drive to Austin on Monday to get new birth certificates and pay out the butt to have passports made in two weeks.

Now a new flight attendent is stopping at our aisle with some paper in her hand. She's eyeing Avery and as I prepare to inform her that I did pay for my baby to have her own seat she asks for our last name. I say Montgomery and she hands me what she has in her hand and asks "Did you lose these?"

Oh my god, my passports! Thank you, thank you, thank you! She tells me that they were found in the hallway where we boarded our last plane and I told her my story about how I knew that's where they were and the flight attendent on the last flight wouldn't help me and THANK YOU!

She walked away, the plane took off and one hour last we were welcomed by Aunt Becca at DFW. She took us straight to have some Mexican food and then home for some much needed showers and rest.

As we were driving away from the airport Ryleigh spotted a plane taking off and said "Airplane! Airplane!" "Yeah Honey, Airplane." "Mom, I'm really tired of airplanes today. I don't think I ever want to fly three airplanes in one day again."

Me neither baby, me neither.