Still waiting...

It's a long story why, but it now looks as though we won't be heading to Belgium until at least the beginning of August.  Maybe it's a good thing I hadn't done much packing yet.  I'm annoyed at the delay but grateful for more time to get stuff done.  My biggest fear is that Ben will still be gone most of the next 6 weeks while I am here.  He is still waiting for his work permit, so I'm enjoying having him here for the time being.

BELGIUM!

Yes, it has been a very long time.  Someone mentioned recently that with this Belgium adventure, I should really keep a blog.  I thought that was a great point.  Rather than start a new one, I decided to get back to this one.

What is going on with Belgium?  Well, to start with, here is the timeline so far:

April 2, 2014:  Ben started a new job with Wynright Corporation.  (If you want to know what they do, here is their website: http://wynright.com/.)  

April 3 or 4, 2014:  Ben received an e-mail asking if he spoke French.  He replied that he didn't, but his wife did.  When he asked why, he learned that the company was looking for a Project Manager at an installation in a client's warehouse in Belgium.  Would he be interested in being considered?

April 4-20ish:  Total limbo.  I was excited but not able to tell very many people what was being considered.  Our kids didn't even know.  I think I told my parents (who told my brothers), and that's about it.  As time went on, we considered that the chances of us moving to Belgium were dropping to about 20%.

April 20ish:  Ben went on a business trip to California where he actually met the people at the office.  (Yes, it was the first time.  Wynright has an employee in Utah with whom Ben had been working for a long time doing data analysis, so they hired him on Jim's recommendation without even meeting him.)  After meeting him, they were very impressed.  Our chances of moving to Belgium increased to about 80%.  We told the kids and everyone else on facebook.

April 30ish:  Ben went to Belgium for the first time.  I was left home scrambling to do passports and start all the paperwork.  We were foolishly optimistic that we could move to Belgium by the beginning of June.  In retrospect, how naive we were.

May 21:  Ben and I both flew to Belgium.  I was shocked and amazed because my dream of spending our 15th anniversary in Europe came true.  Awesome!  Ben worked every day, and I spent time researching houses, cars, schools, and how much things would cost like bikes.

May 31:  I returned home, leaving Ben in Belgium.

June 15:  Ben moved into the house we had selected.

So now what?  Well, in short, paperwork stinks.  In order for Ben to work in Belgium full-time for a year or so, he needs to have a work permit and a long-term visa.  We can't apply for the visa until the work permit is issued.  Ben and I also have to have FBI background checks,which take about a month to process.  I started mine a couple of weeks ago, but Ben only found one place in Belgium to do his fingerprints.  They do them once a week on Monday mornings.  He learned this on Tuesday 2 weeks ago, and the office was closed for holiday the following Monday.  He finally submitted his fingerprints this week.  Ben can't be in Europe when the work permit is submitted for approval, so he is returning home on Sunday, June 22 until his work permit is accepted.  He will then return to Belgium until he needs to appear at the consulate in Los Angeles to apply for the visa.  Once we all have visas, we will be moving.

Meanwhile, the kids and I are cleaning and packing.  We are also doing doctor, optometrist, and dentist visits to make sure everyone is healthy and has new glasses (if necessary) before we leave.  

This near-month of separation has been hard, but I'm so grateful for modern technology!  As I talk to Ben several times a day and video chat frequently, I wonder at the pioneer women who sent their husbands on missions for indeterminate lengths of time with nothing but the possibility of letters to connect them.  Ben and I haven't been separated this long since our own missions.  I have been blessed with extra patience and have acquired a greater admiration for all single parents.  I don't know how they do it.  At least I haven't had to hold down a job this month.  I have had several days of training someone, but that's it.

So that's it!  Stay tuned for updates as we get them, and I'll try to post some pictures soon of our earlier trip and of our awesome house.  (Finding it was a whole story in itself.)

In the meantime, some prayers for fast paperwork would be appreciated.  We can't wait to reunite our family on the other side of the Atlantic.

Summer and Back to School

I started writing a status post on facebook that started getting long.  It made me think about this blog that I haven't used in FOREVER, so I though I'd use it to expand my thoughts.

I am really not ready for school to start Wednesday.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to the structure, routine, and hours of quiet, but I'm not ready to send one to kindergarten and one to middle school for the first time.  I'm not ready to have a very busy three-year-old without any siblings to play with.  I haven't finished school shopping for the kindergartener because he needs uniforms.  Yikes!

The girls had a fabulous opportunity these last two weeks.  They were part of a whirlwind theatrical production of Annie, jr with the Spotlight Childrens Theater.  In just two weeks (10 rehearsals), this troupe pulled together a truly amazing production.  Kandy was Pepper, Missy was Mrs. Roosevelt, and Sunny was a maid and a New Yorker.  When I stopped by to pick up the girls on Wednesday and watched some of the rehearsal, I never thought they'd pull it off.  But they did!!!  Performances were Friday and Saturday nights.

So with rehearsals 3-4 hours a day for 2 weeks, is it any wonder I didn't think much about preparing for school?  Not really!


Other fun things we have done this summer:
Season passes to Seven Peaks
Family reunion at Bear Lake
Camping with friends for 5 days
Lots of fun with cousins from both sides of the family

And that's all I can remember for now.  I have worked hard on bookkeeping and real estate.

I Love YNAB!

The other really big news is that Ben has stopped working for New Horizons and has gone into business for himself as a consultant.  He has been spending lots of long hours crunching data for various clients, and we feel so blessed.  I have also been working with 3 clients on real estate deals, which I have never tried to balance before.

Some of these blessings must be because we have been trying so hard to get a handle on our finances.  When we sold our first house several years ago, we used the proceeds to pay off all our debt.  Unfortunately, Ben lost his job shortly thereafter, and we spiraled back into debt again.  We have been struggling ever since.

While I was laid up with my bad leg, I spent lots and lots of time in front of the computer researching different budget and finance programs.  I finally settled on a program called YNAB, which stands for You Need A Budget.  It was developed as a spreadsheet by a student at BYU several years ago, and at one point, he decided it was so helpful that he should develop it more and spread it farther.

It is so fabulous!!!  One of our friends had told us about Dave Ramsey, and I learned a lot from his book.   The physical envelopes just didn't work for me.  YNAB creates virtual envelopes, and it even has a great app for my phone so I can enter transactions as we go.

I was pretty sure it has been saving us money, but today was a very noticeable milestone.  We have made the budget for the month (pretty stretched with all the medical expenses since we don't have insurance), and I feel like I can spend what I need but that I can't just throw money around.  I logged into our bank account, and I was astonished to see over $1,000 in our account!  I double-checked, and almost all of the bills are paid for this month.  The coolest thing though, is that I still feel checked by the budget.  I'm not going to just go on a spending spree just because it's in my checking account.  It must be spoken for somewhere because my budget says so!

I LOVE YNAB!!! 

It cost $70 to put on my computer, my phone, and Ben's tablet, but it has definitely saved us that and more by just raising my awareness and accountability of what happens with our money.

If you need a budgeting helper, this might be the answer for you.

Spring and Summer So Far

I haven't done too well at blogging this spring and summer so far.  I have a few reasons or excuses, but they're not worth putting down! 

This season will go down in our history as the year of injured left lower appendages.  I broke or severely strained several ligaments or tendons in my left foot, Sunny broke the growth plate on her left leg, and Kandy broke her left big toe (we think).

I did mine by running with the dog in the dark and tripping in a big hole.  I'm so grateful for cell phones and that Kandy was old enough to stay up alone while Ben came to get me.  I don't know how I ever would have made it home otherwise.  I was on crutches for a week until I went to the doctor.  He prescribed a walking boot that I wore for 3 or 4 more weeks.

Sunny was just running through the house and tripped.  The crazy thing is that her injury is the kid version of mine.  Kids break the growth plate; adults, whose growth plate has sealed, just strain tendons and ligaments.  She is still wearing her walking boot.  It has hardly slowed her down at all, and she is very glad she can take it off to swim.  She is anxiously awaiting her appointment next week when she gets clearance to take it off for good!

Kandy was just doing the can-can and kicked the wall really hard.  We didn't actually get x-rays because last year when she broke her right toe, they basically said, "Yes, she broke her toe."  They did nothing.  We found a cast shoe in her size and she wore that for a week or two until it didn't hurt so bad.

In spite of all this, we have had a lot of fun.  We have gone to the zoo, to the Liberty Park fountains with cousins, had Sunny's 7th birthday party, swimming in Bountiful with other cousins, and lots of fun times at home as a family.

My injuries have helped develop independence in the kids because I just couldn't do as much for them.  (I also burned my hand on the 4th of July grabbing a sparkler from Abel before he could burn himself.)  It's almost healed.  I can't do dishes, but I have managed to make six batches of apricot jam.  The kids have picked and sold about 20-25 lbs. of apricots on the street corner near our house.