And Obstacles are Presenting Themselves

We officially moved out of The TreeHouse on Saturday. We handled ourselves fabulously for the past week. We were fast, efficient, captains of industry! We packed and moved like we've done it dozens of times. Best of all, it didn't even affect us emotionally. We were able to leave our first home, our home of a year, skillfully, with indifference and cold hard apathy. Not one tear was shed for our sold furniture. Not one sniffle was sniffed for our absent albino bunny. I wasn't sad standing in the empty spot where we slept during our first year of marriage. I didn't weep on my wife's shoulder during our last sweep of the apartment, thinking of all of our happy memories, all of the trademarks of The TreeHouse and all of the good times we were leaving behind us...not at all.

In truth, it was hard. I didn't realize going into it that it would be that difficult. It really didn't hit me until that last walk through the halls, but hit me it did. It was tough for Ferial, too. We both cried silent tears half way to her parents place. Then slowly, the tears subsided. We began to laugh again, excited for this next leg in our lives together. Living at her parents place will surely be difficult at times. However, for the most part, I know we will relish this opportunity to save money on rent, bills and food. We will very much enjoy the chance to spend time with her family. (It is sad that we won't be able to see my family before we leave the country, but it's different for me. I left home a decade ago. This will be Ferial's first time. I am quite glad that we will all have this chance to get good and sick of one another before we finally leave the country.)

We are excited about this next month or so. The downtime will give us the chance to rest - mind, body and spirits - before we head off into the land of kimchi and culture-shock. We look forward to spending a lot of time outdoors, enjoying the scenery wine country has to offer. We look forward to being able to just vegitate - blog, journal, read, watch movies, play games - stuff we've been too busy for for too long.

There are some obstacles, however. It now turns out Korean Immigration wants a copy of Ferial's new passport (still two weeks away) before they will give her a visa confirmation number. We cannot even begin the immigration process from our end, without that number. We will not leave the country seperately. I don't even want to have to drive to San Francisco for separate interviews...it's just too much trouble. So, we wait. We wait for the passport, we wait for the confirmation number, we wait for the visas. This is an exercise in patience. We just want to go! Some may ask why, if God truly wants us going, would we be hitting so many hurdles? This is a question I have been tempted to ask, myself. However, I am reminded of something my pastor said to Ferial and I at coffee one day. He said, "no work of God will come about without opposition. We can't base our decisions on which leads down the path of least resistance. That's not how God works." Neither will the Devil let us follow the path God has set out for us, without setting up hurdles in our way. We just have to pray for the strength and endurance to jump when we need to...

Good thing we're in a Rocket.