Ah, where to start.
So life for the last 6 months has been rather insane, in both good and bad ways.
1. Lu is officially ours!! After two years, we have finally finished the adoption process.
2. We are moving to the South Pacific for about two years.
Aaaand the back story.
About a year ago we saw an add in the local paper for a scholarship opportunity for Belizeans. Daniel hadn't really been considering a Master's degree, but this scholarship was too good to pass up. So we thought, eh, let's just try. Can't hurt. We sent in the application, and then heard nothing for 6 months, so we thought he didn't get it.
[Aside: the scholarship is to promote inter- Caribbean relationships, and somehow the South Pacific got included because ??. When applying for the scholarship, there were only 2 schools offering the degree Daniel wanted. He applied for a school in the Caribbean, but when applying online was required to checkbox a second choice school. The only other school offering the degree he wants is in the South Pacific.... and we can see where this is going.]
At the end of July, Daniel got the amazing, out of the blue news that he won the scholarship! So exciting. And then we read it again, and saw he had been accepted to the University of the South Pacific..... and then much Google-ing commenced. We learned that the agriculture campus is in Samoa, and Samoa is really really far away (Samoa actually exists in the future! There is about a 20 hour time difference from Belize).
Once we got over the excitement, we realized we had a ton of work and stress to go through. Although Lu had been with us for a year and a half, she was still a foster child, and we needed to get her adoption done. With Miss M, that process took a year and a half. With Lu, we had under 6 months before we were expected to be on the other side of the world.
Well, we did it. As of last friday, Lu is officially ours. The story is long (and I will probably write about it just to give others an idea what the Belize adoption process is like). I wish there was more excitement but honestly every single step has been a huge fight and so much stress that thinking about it still makes me nauseous. But we did it. Daniel's semester is scheduled to start next week, and we will be a tiny bit late, but we are officially, legally all a family and can leave the country together for the first time since we started to foster in 2012.
So YAY. BUT WAIT. In a new and exciting (HAHAHA) twist we learned this week that we probably will be going to Fiji instead of Samoa. Turns out no one thought to mention that the first semester of classes for Daniel's degree are held in a different country (which means different visas and different, you know, plane tickets). Fortunately (notice the sarcasm indicated by italics) even though Daniel's semester is starting in 5 days, due to the phenomenon that can only be classified as "island time," we did not have plane tickets or accommodations lined up for Samoa. This, surprisingly, doesn't really bother me, which gives you an idea of how incredibly stressful the last few months have been. Small potatoes compared to adoption in this country with a time deadline. Dealing with four separate tropical countries (Belize, Trinidad where the scholarship is based, Fiji, and Samoa) is a whole new experience of laid back island time, but it will get figured out. We will get there. We will find somewhere to stay.
The goats have mostly been sold, my car is sold, we have not been able to catch the guinea hens so I guess they are staying. We are slowly packing up and trying to figure out what to bring with us in our 4 suitcases. 4 suitcases for 4 people for the next two years. (It's a good thing capsule wardrobes are so popular right now).
In summary: We are going somewhere in the South Pacific! At some point in the future! And we are incredibly excited!
