6 month reflection:

Wait... What happened?

The short story is after 40 resumes sent out last spring/summer the only bonifide job offer Brad got was through an old Wheaton college connection he had renewed when the guy moved to Portland.  Through Dave's contacts we learned of a faith based community development organization in the Philippines that works through the local protestant pastors. ICM is 20 years old, started by local Filipino's, and financed almost exclusively through Hong Kong's wealthy.  There are strong supporters in each of the home countries of the board members, Philippines, US, UK and Aus.

The HK board (specifically the board chair) wanted to find an American style leader to tighten the org up administratively.  The cool thing is those out in the field bases are pastors, so they wanted someone who is specifically suited to shepherd, not just administrate.  Brad is a great match.

Here is a retrospective of events, August to the first of the year, 2012

July
July 20th-ish Brad, "I am considering the job in Manila, You, I and Andy need to travel there in two weeks to candidate."
Great flurry of activity...to include the arrival of my daughter-in-law to be  and her mother on August 1st for an Aug. 21st wedding.


August
Aug 4-16 Brad, Lynn and Andy flying to, around and from the Philippines AMAZING group of people and very exciting work.  The rest of the family was in shock and/or working like dogs prepping for the wedding.

21st Lee and Kit's gorgeous wedding in the orchard and garden of our home

Aug 22nd rest

August-September
Brad flew to HK then Manila to begin work Sept. 1st.

Aug 23-Sept 25 I start packing and did so until the day I flew out.
We reduced 10 years of farm life, 3 buildings down to one double long storage garage, it took a village of friends and family to sort, sell, toss, give away and store 24 years of accumulation.  Thank goodness for the move 10 years earlier or I think I'd still be there...:D


Oct 1st delayed arrival in the Philippines due to back to back typhoons, what a welcome!

Oct 1st -Nov 4th.  two weeks of recovery under the care of a staff of 4 at our host home, starting online schooling for Andy and I (OHSU-PH Cert). During that month I started work, located a new home (bless Daphne) and moved in, our 17 shipped boxes all showed up by moving day.

Nov 4th -25th  3 weeks to settle in to our new home and continue schooling, working and adjusting, make that ADJUSTING.

Thanksgiving Day, flew out to Chicago and spent the weekend with most of our kids (David was still in England studying abroad for the semester)

Nov 30th -Dec 6th  Spent in Washington DC for fundraising events, sightseeing and doing online school for Andy and finishing my final...fun times!

Dec 6-Dec31 Returned to Portland, completely fell apart.  Note to self do not return to previous home for an extended stay only 7 weeks after making an international move. It's too hard on everyone.

9:30pm New Years Eve landed back in Manila! We were home!

We have settled in nicely, it's taken the first two months of 2012 to recover from the first 5 months of this adventure.


Wellness tips for International travelers:

• Sleep 8 hrs at night take naps if needed, 
• eat regular meals & keep hydrated, 
• walk briskly and 
• allow yourself time to grieve change. Even good change is accompanied by loss.  
• Be kind to yourself and others, 
• set boundaries with others who may not relate

1. More to follow on our early work with ICM in 2012.