5 Suitcases, 5 Checked Bags, 5 Jackets, 3 Children, 5 Carry Ons, 2 Purses, and 3 kids

a kindle and the Ipad, 5 boarding passes and 5 passports and 1 baggage claim ticket. That is my day. Period enough said! I counted everything all day, Steve got mad at me a few times for this but in my mind I saved the day, no one lost anything and left anything anywhere. This includes going from our house to our car to the airport, through security 2 times, on a bus to get to the plane in Munich, on the plane, off that plane to get on another bus when plane #1 was "not safe", onto plane #2 and through the did not exist customs at Vienna. All kids still awake to be tucked in promptly at 7 local time with melatonin given! 0 real fights! Saweeettt, my kids are AMAZING!

Weighing our Options

We are down to the wire. I just stood on a bathroom scale to weigh our bags. Two problems have emerged. First, 2 of our bags are 1-2 pounds over. Second, I'm about 15 pounds overweight. I think we will spend some time tonight re-packing some bags while I run on a treadmill.

Blog Authors

Some of these blogs will be written by Steve, some by Annamae. I think you can tell the difference but we will try to sign them!

50 pound dilemma

Our bags are packed and sit collectively in our front foyer. I cannot help but wonder whether any of the bags exceed the 50 pound limit imposed by the airlines. A couple of summers ago we were bringing suitcases full of shoes to donate to various organizations in Nicaragua. Some of the bags were over the limit and the airlines made us jettison (sorry, Annamae, but you know how much I like this word) weight before we could check the bags. It was really depressing to glance garbage cans overflowing with shoes that would never meet the feet of Nicaraguan children who played bare foot in garbage dumps full of needles, dung, and other disease-causing debris.

For our current trip we won't be discarding donations, but our own clothes. We've vacuum packed most of our stuff, which could make for an especially problematic situation. If we have to open any of those bags they will swell like a high school zit before a big dance, leaving us with no chance of fitting them back in the suitcase (unless, of course, the airlines loans us a vacuum!).

All of this begs the question, "How much does 50 pounds feel like?" I really am a bad judge of weight because I tend to dramatically underestimate my own strength. I may not look the part, but within my unremarkable frame lives an orchestra of muscles, tissues, ligaments, cartilage, bones and other anatomical ingredients that when firing in unison can propel small aircraft and produce energy for 100's of homes.

So what does 50 pounds compare to? A tube TV? My head? Weigh in here (yes, pun intended).

T-45 Hours Until Departure . . .

Today was unexpectedly emotional for the Giles family. Our last service at Redeemer Church included a number of teary-eyed farewells with good friends, teachers, and Annamae's father (Charlie) and his wife (Linda). These goodbyes left an indelible mark on all of us and a reassurance that we are loved and cared for by a truly Godly family.

One thing I haven't anticipated is the emotional reaction of our children. Call me an out-of-touch, non-affective father. That would probably be fair. But over the past month a number of friends have asked me, "How are your kids dealing with you guys leaving for 4.5 months?" My response has been consistent: "Great. They cannot wait to go! They are very excited!" I believe that is true, but I have underestimated how difficult this trip will be on them. They are leaving behind friends, school, and all that is familiar for them to venture to a land most profoundly depicted for them in the Sound of Music. Perhaps the beauty in all of this is just realizing that our kids' hearts are still tender and moldable and in need of parental nurturance.

Thanks to the generosity of friends who were willing to watch our kids today, Annamae and I were able to spend some time packing. I cannot say that we are handling the stress of preparing 5 people for a semester-long trip in a very health way. We (or at least, I) snap at each other and get irritated with very slight provocations. We are hoping that our arrival in Vienna will usher in a new chapter in our lives, one in which we can look at each other with eyes that DON'T suggest we should be working on something to prepare for the trip!

Expectations are a funny thing. We are very excited about leaving, and expect our trip to be a life-changing experience. But we also know there will be hardships and unfulfilled expectations. We take comfort in knowing that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the God of the Giles family. He will never leave nor forsake us. And we can head to Vienna with that unshakeable confidence and with every reasonable expectation that he will be glorified in, through, by, and in spite of us!

We love all of you and will write frequently!

Steve

Trying to put in some pictures....

Okay so that didn't work so well!

I am going to try this again! haha. Public humiliation on you Steve and me for starting something and not finishing it or contributing to it or making it happen. No worries. I am back at it and seeing these pictures make me sad that I haven't kept this up. Matthew is now 5 and in school...we continue to homeschool and Steve still works at Wake. If you know me you know all this of course and who else would read this drivel unless you knew us. SO I am writing that because it will help me remember stuff later. I have noticed little details falling out of my brain lately so I am going to take this opportunity to remind myself later of my charmed life.

In about 45 days we embark on the adventure of a lifetime to live in Vienna Austria for 119 days. Flight out Charlotte to Munich then on to Vienna on Jan 4th and flight back Rome to Munich to Charlotte. What will we do when we are supposed to be gone from the house in Vienna May 5th and have to return from Rome on May 17th you ask? We dunno and will figure that out later! Love to any poor soul to reads this. Not such a good writer but am working on it!

In this picture note the cool stance of the kids and their fun nephew Ryan. Photo by Lisa, production, Annamae.

Another cool picture of Emmalee my sister Nancy's daughter. Great gal.