I've been bloggin' in my mind a lot.

Now, to just get it written out!
I don't really know where to begin...
And I want it to be interesting reads---
Maybe some of you would like to propose questions to me or Mira & that will get the ball rolling & the writing to flow.


I guess I should start at the very beginning (a very good place to start!) .
We spent from May 2006 until June 2009 living in Dunedin, New Zealand while Rob worked on his PhD there at the Uni of Otago on the south island. NZ is amazingly beautiful & friendly & safe & childhood seems to last so much longer there & I could go on & on about all the pluses about living there! Before moving there, I had never left the USA, minus a spring break in Mexico with my oldest brother.  Never in my life did I think I would see as much of the world as I have thus far, and although remote & exotic, I haven't seen much still.


We missed family, sure. But it was a great experience for all of us.  Mira started school there just 2 months after arriving. In NZ you start school on your actual 5th birthday no matter when it falls in the year.  Camilla went to a wonderful kindy for about a year which she still talks about. And of course, our biggest souvenir from kiwi-land was our now almost 3 year old son, Noah!  Having a baby there was ideal.  I was able to have the birth I wanted (in the comfort of my home) with the best midwife around!


 About the time that Rob was finishing up his dissertation & getting ready to submit it ( & our funding would end, a big motivator for him to finish in just 3 years!) my Dad was getting very ill.  He had congestive heart failure & was deteriorating fast.  Rob had sent out many job applications all over the world, from Australia to South Africa, and all over the USA & in between! (about 30 in total)
 Lots of rejections which got him down, of course.  Who would've thought that the year he would be job-hunting the economy would plummet?!

One day in April he got a job offer!  "How do you feel about living in the Middle East?" he asked me.
"You applied  where??" (I can admit that I had no clue as to the location of Oman!)
 Well, if this is where the work is, then we will go...we decided together.  I remember telling my Dad the news on the phone during the few days Rob had to decide to give the Uni. of Nizwa here in Oman, a definite decision whether or not he would be coming to work as an English teacher by mid-August 2009.  He said TAKE IT.  Without any hesitation, TAKE IT.  I was fully prepared to hear him say how much he wished we were stateside & to hold out for any other offers that might come soon.  None did.


Our plan was to move to Oman from NZ in August but on June 4th I got word that hospice was coming in to help with my Dad's care.  I knew what that meant.  On June 6th we got tickets for our family of 5 to fly back to the USA so we could hopefully spend some time with him before he passed away, not knowing how much time he had left.  We gave away 3 years of belongings & packed 6 bags to take to the USA/Oman and got on a plane to Kansas City on the 10 June.  Clearing out a house in just 3 days and saying quick goodbyes to wonderful friends there was hard but...best decision ever!! Amazing friends (shout outs to RH & CS)  helped tie up the loose ends there in NZ.  These incredible ladies cleaned our house for us as we were renting & turned in keys, got our mail forwarded...etc.

We arrived in KC on the 10th still --yep, flew back in time, so surreal! And drove to Minnesota the very next morning.  We broke the trip up staying in Iowa for 1 night & when we arrived at my Dad's house on Friday the 12 June, that was the start of an unforgettable week.  My sisters were both there.  My oldest brother had just been there.  We got to talk to Dad.  Reminisce.  Let him know how much we loved him.  Say our goodbyes.
He died on the 19th .

We stayed in the USA visiting my family & Rob's family in NC until 15 August when we took off for our next adventure....OMAN!

And if you have read this far without falling asleep and want to hear anymore, I will continue with our story later today. Well, I will continue anyway! Am finding that I needed to start writing this all out a long time ago,  this is very therapeutic and healing for me.