Things are not what they seem

It's been a little over two weeks since I have written anything. But, it's hard to write when you feel like you have nothing to say. However, today I am going to do that anyway.

I went to the laiki market and I bought cherries. They were beautiful and perfectly red. I couldn't wait to eat them. I got them out the next day, washed them and popped one in my mouth. You can imagine my surprise and disdain when it was sour!!!!!!!! It was awful. I would never have known by looking at it. We are like that at times. At all outward appearances we look and act fine. But, inside, things are sour or not what they should be. At times, especially in the past few weeks I've been like this. You ask me how I am and I say "fine." Not great, just fine. I realized after a while, that I was depressed. Not like seriously depressed, I don't know, can you be a little depressed?
We have been in transition for months. We've not really had time to adjust to one transition before the next came along. We found out in February that we were moving to Greece. We put the house on the market in March, within two weeks it was sold. We hadn't even adjusted to the reality of a move before I was having to get the house ready for prospective buyers. Then, Matt came home from Baghdad in April. Before we even adjusted to him being home, we had moved into his parents house since ours had sold and the movers were coming to pack up all our stuff.

During the last 6 weeks in the states we were finishing up the school year, finishing up Elijah soccer season, finishing up Bible Quizzing, with a trip to Atlanta for Regionals, finishing up Kayla's violin lessons, with the recital just a week before we left.

Then we get here and we are adjusting to a new culture, new friends, a new apartment,  finding a new church, and still trying to adjust to Matt being back and the kids having two authority figures, not just me and not Matt's parents as well. I was also adjusting to not having a car, having to rely on taxis to get me where to go, figuring out where to do food shopping, and needing to start some kind of plans for school so I could order my curriculum.

Sometimes, things aren't what they seem and you never know what's truly going on inside someone. I want my insides to be just as fine as my appearance (actually better!), but sometimes it's hard.

In the last two weeks, I've been sick, twice, a cold and these past few days struggling with dizziness. We have gotten our sea shipment, which was good, but we have been living in chaos every since. We have an over abundance of furniture, which is a good problem to have, but it's made it hard to get everything organized like we would like. And, Elijah does not thrive in chaos, in all actuality it makes him very difficult to live with. He is easily overwhelmed and there has been many, many fits that he simply can't help (and some he could!), but thankfully we understand his issues. I've also gotten another year older (funny how one day you can get a whole year older!!), and that birthday was nothing to write home about. I was simply glad when it was over. My feelings on it had nothing to do with getting older, I don't mind that, just the events on the day were not great.

We are happy to have our things, and we are happy to be getting settled, but we are still adjusting. It seems like things this time have taken so much longer and affected us so much more. I feel like we need a vacation. The sad thing is, the summer is almost over, I need to be planning for school, yet I don't feel like we've done much fun stuff this summer and I am no where ready for school. I imagine the kids are the same, it will just be another adjustment. Matt has also had a hard time adjusting to work. I think a vacation would do us a world of good, but have no idea when we will get one.

So, in the next week the Embassy housing people should come and pick up our extra furniture and we will finally be able to have all the apartment in order.

 

 

 

 

 Below: Gift from my younger sister :)

Taxi Humor

So, I have learned in our short time in Greece, that you never know what you are going to get when you call a taxi. A week and a half ago, we called one to take us to the Embassy. The guy got here, spoke no English and proceeded to take a different way than we had ever been. He ended up on a dead end street, going the wrong way. He quickly backs up, almost hitting a pedestrian and other cars...He makes several more wrong turns, goes the wrong way down a one-way street, TWICE, then ended up on another road, speeding around a car, only to have to slam on the breaks at the light, making the car he zoomed around slam on their brakes so they wouldn't hit us! Kayla and I easily get car sick, so I pulled out some gum to help with the trip. When we got to the Embassy, I was shaking. I literally felt like we had taken our lives into our own hands. I didn't go anywhere for the next week and a half, I did not want to have to deal with another taxi.

Today, we called another taxi. We get in and he is watching us closely as we put on our seatbelts. We get started down the road and he starts saying something in Greek about the seatbelts, which I didn't understand (and we all had them on!). So, he looks back at us again and says "No, no no!" and pulls the taxi over. He then starts saying something (in Greek) about the seatbelt and pointing toward the bottom of Kayla's chair. So we of course think we have plugged the seatbelt into the wrong place and Kayla unbuckles her seatbelt and we start looking. He proceeds to get out of the cab and goes around to Kayla's side of the taxi and starts pressing some button that is between her legs. She gets out of the cab and he pulls the seat up a bit...it's a booster seat!!!!!!!!!! I start laughing, I couldn't help it. He motions her to get back in the cab and she looks at me and says with all the preteen anguish she can "Really!?" I'm like "Shh." I didn't want to offend him, but I seriously thought it was sooooo funny!!! My child, who is almost as tall as me (literally!), and he starts with her and puts her in a booster seat! She has not been in a booster in years!

 

Then, he says the other side is the same. I tell Elijah "Quick, trade places with me!"(He was in the middle seat) before the driver decided I needed a booster too. He helped Elijah do his seat too and then started driving again. He also went the wrong way and ended up on the dead end street, and he  ended up having to turn around and go back the way we had come. Once he got going in the right direction, he started talking to me again (in Greek) about the seatbelts and how some people couldn't wear them and how if they were not high up enough in the seat it would cut off their necks (he made the motion with his hands), and I'm like "Uh-huh, yeah, I see." Kayla's like "What's he saying?" And I'm like "You have to sit up higher so the seatbelt doesn't cut off your neck."

I really wish you could have seen Kayla's face. She said "I hate this!" And I said "It's very sweet, he just wants you to be safe." And she said "I can touch the floor with me feet, even from up here." I'm like "Yep, you are tall." and she said "This is very uncomfortable and I hate this!" and I said "Please try to see the humor in this situation, because I am so amused and happy!" she looked at me and grinned.

 

This has provided me with countless chuckles today and I hope you find it amusing too. I totally get where Kayla is coming from, she was embarrassed. But, sometimes you just have to go with the flow. I was not going to waste time and money (the meter was running) arguing with the cab driver. I just found it so funny that he started with her (and not Elijah), since she is about as tall as me. Elijah wasn't too thrilled either, but he is still in a booster seat and will be until he is tall enough and weighs enough to safely be out of it. But, usually in a cab he gets a break from it.

 

So, for anyone in Greece with small children, know that the cabs have built in booster seats! I had been in at least 5 before today and no one had bothered to mention it.

Counting my blessings

This post is a little bit overdue. I have vented a lot of my frustrations, but have failed to take the time to acknowledge my blessings. So, in no particular order, the things that I am thankful for (so far) here in Greece..

• that we are all together as a family
• that we have found a Church to call "home"
• that the people in the Church are very welcoming
• that we are surrounded by beautiful mountains
• that we are surrounded by beautiful beaches
• that Matt has a job where he is home nights and weekends
• that we have made some friends
• that Matt has had a work car since the first week, allowing us to get around easily in the evenings and on the weekends
• that we have access to a pool at the embassy (we had to pay for it, but at least we have access to one)
• that we have a small American commissary
• that we have access to mail services (incoming and outgoing)
• that we are able to order things online and get them easily (that goes along with the one above this)
• that the kids schooling is paid for, up to a certain amount
• that the kids are excited already about some of the curriculum we have gotten in (Elijah is watching some of our Science videos and Kayla is playing with the Legos!)
• that I met a person today who is going to connect me to who I need to be connected with in order to continue Kayla's music lessons (that was a mouth full!)
• that I currently have a lot of free time
• that our air shipment is here and that our sea shipment should be here within the next two weeks
• that even though I feel like I am in a "waiting" season, this too shall pass

You are probably thankful that this sentence doesn't start with "that we."

A verse that was in my devotions this morning and then mentioned at Church this morning "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

I am working on considering it Joy when I go through trails, and not just complaining bitterly. I know that God is working on me, and if I had to wager a guess as to which character He is working on, I would say it is patience.