Lots of people have been wondering about what we're doing at this point, so I thought I'd post an update.
Shawn's contract ends officially in Bahrain on April 30th. However, with all the leave he had left over, we packed up and were all together in the States on April 8th. One of the perks that was sort of written into Shawn's contract was the fact that we were able to claim tax-free status while working in Bahrain. The only catch is that you have to live 330 of 365 days overseas in order to enjoy this benefit.
Since Shawn's contract ended a little earlier than expected (not just for him, but for all the guys in his group), that left us 45 days short of our 330 required days.
SO, the IRS said we had to perfectly legal options: 1) Come back to the States and pay all of this year's taxes. That would amount to a substantial portion of the money we were actually able to save this year. Essentially, that would suck big time.
Option 2: Live somewhere overseas for the remaining 45 days and meet the eligibility requirements for tax free status.
It was sort of a no-brainer for us. "Hmm, pay all of our savings to the government OR go on an extended family vacation....?"
Shawn's family has a long history of living in Ecuador. His grandfather is a doctor who spent over 30 year in Ecuador as a medical missionary. Shawn's mother grew up in Ecuador. And now Shawn's uncle, aunt and cousin live in Ecuador. Since living in Ecuador would be less expensive than living in Bahrain, we opted to come here for the remaining time we have, or approximately 7 weeks.
Our scheduled date of departure is June 10th. After that, we don't know where we will be going or what we will be doing. We know God has a plan for us beyond these 7 weeks and we are trying to just relax and enjoy the respite.
I hope to be posting more about our Ecuadorian adventures. Thanks for reading! I hope you're all doing well!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
2009 in Review
I keep what I call "my book." It is essentially a day planner in which I write the usual planner type stuff; appointments, exciting happenings, birthdays, etc. I have saved my books from the last five years. They provide an interesting chronicle of my life in a more palatable, bite-sized, and not-as-intimate-as-a-journal way. I enjoy looking back on major events each year to see what all has transpired. Here is 2009 in review:
January:
1-New Year's Day: Shawn worked an extra EMT shift on New Year's Eve and I ended up watching that TLC show about the Tree Man. Exciting.
7-We went rock climbing for our 3 year anniversary.
12-I started a news "fast" where I didn't watch, listen to, or read any news for 40 days. It was actually quite awesome and taught me a lot about self-discipline and not allowing negativity to distract me from all the good in my life.
20-Barack Obama was inaugurated as president.
21-Shawn began the application process for the Lee's Summit Fire Department.
31-I took a cloth diaper class and began cloth diapering the kids. It was a fairly successful experiment, though we ultimately abandoned it for logistical reasons.
February:
Throughout the month of February, Shawn had several steps to attend in the process of the LSFD hiring process.
8-Claire's first visit to the ER. Turned out to be a double ear infection.
14-Valentine's Day dinner at the Nazarene church in Harrisonville where Shawn and I played the Newlywed Game. Shawn horribly embarassed me by describing our first kiss in front of all the people in attendance. Nice.
17-A "Family Reunion" of sorts in St. Louis.
21-I taught my first childbirth education class at Christian Fellowship Church in Columbia.
23-Our car died. Fortunately, it was a quick fix and didn't cost much.
27-My grandfather passed away.
March:
3-My grandfather's funeral in Little Rock.
6-Shawn had another interview at LSFD.
21-Shawn tried out for a semi-pro football team, the Midwest Titans.
22-Shawn had his 31st birthday.
24-Shawn found out he made the Titans team.
29-Went to a casino for the first time in my life. I was unimpressed and only spent five dollars.
April:
We spent a fair amount of time looking around the Kansas City area for houses as we contemplated buying our first house.
10-Shawn found out that he did not get a job with the LSFD.
20-I taught the obstetrics portion of an EMT-B class in Harrisonville. The birth footage I showed the class made one guy throw up. Otherwise, it went really well.
22-I sat for the Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator exam.
May:
1-My dear sister graduated from college.
6-My mother-in-law was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was a very scary day. We didn't know what to expect.
24-We made an offer on our first ever house. It was a real fixer-upper and a foreclosure, so we bid very, very low on it. The offer was not accepted.
25-Shawn's previous job in Bahrain came open and his former boss asked if he'd like to rejoin the team.
26-We decided that we were on our way back to Bahrain.
31-My neice and nephew arrived and stayed with us for a week while their parents were out of town. It was crazy with five kids for an entire week!
June:
1-Shawn got the Big V. Weird how it coincided with us having five kids under our roof, huh?
9-12-Packing and preparing for our move back to Bahrain.
13-Garage sale to offload the items we had acquired in the year we lived back in the States. Amazing how much we Americans and store up when we put our minds to it.
15-We left Harrisonville, MO to go visit family before we left for Bahrain.
17-Went to Indiana to visit my family.
18-I received notification that I passed the Lamaze exam and was an LCCE!
20-We left the States, bound for Bahrain....again.
21-Arrived in Amman, Jordan and ended up staying overnight after we missed our connection.
22-Arrived in Bahrain...again.
23-Shawn started his first day in Bahrain.
24-We moved into our villa in Hidd.
July:
I began teaching a three-sibling group of Arab children who live in our neighborhood. They began coming over to my house for tutoring in English and have since become regular fixtures at our house.
4-We hosted a get-together for the 4th with Shawn's co-workers.
16-My mother-in-law had successful surgery to remove the brain tumor she found out about in May. We were very grateful that things went so well.
18-My sister found out she was pregnant with her third baby, due in April 2010.
27-Claire turned 1 year old!
30-I ended up having surprise surgery for a hernia repair. The doctor informed me that I would have to refrain from lifting anything over 10 pounds for a month! Yeah, right!
August:
I spent most of the month of August being pampered by my mother while recovering. It was so nice to have her here.
2-My mother arrived to stay with me for a month while I recovered from surgery. God bless her!
22-Ramadan began.
22-We attempted (again) to potty train Quinn.
September:
1-My mom left to head back to the States.
2-Shawn taught a rock climbing safety class on the Base. I got to go and help.
3-I hit a construction worker who was sleeping in my driveway. It was a very unpleasant experience, but thankfully he was given a reasonably clean bill of health after a trip to the ER.
20-Eid Al-Fitr.
October:
4-I started a scuba class to get my PADI certification.
6-I enrolled in a midwifery program.
7-My brother-in-law, Matt, shipped off to Iraq with the Navy.
30-My first ever open water dive. It was awesome and scary at the same time.
November:
2-Kai started his first day at Arabic school.
4-My 28th birthday. My dad also ended up in the hospital for swine flu and pneumonia. :(
14-I finished my open water dive certification!
15-Kai turned 5 years old!
22-We took Quinn and Kai to the Wahoo water park in Manama for the kids' birthdays. Quinn hated it and Shawn had to take her home while I stayed with Kai. He came back after dropping her off with Nanny Theresa and we ended up having a blast.
26-We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house.
December:
8-Quinn turned 3 years old!
15-I taught an infant massage class on the Base.
25-We had a very, very quiet Christmas with just our little family. It wasn't the same without everybody around!
31-We went out on the town with some friends on New Year's Eve and had a blast dancing the night away.
January:
1-New Year's Day: Shawn worked an extra EMT shift on New Year's Eve and I ended up watching that TLC show about the Tree Man. Exciting.
7-We went rock climbing for our 3 year anniversary.
12-I started a news "fast" where I didn't watch, listen to, or read any news for 40 days. It was actually quite awesome and taught me a lot about self-discipline and not allowing negativity to distract me from all the good in my life.
20-Barack Obama was inaugurated as president.
21-Shawn began the application process for the Lee's Summit Fire Department.
31-I took a cloth diaper class and began cloth diapering the kids. It was a fairly successful experiment, though we ultimately abandoned it for logistical reasons.
February:
Throughout the month of February, Shawn had several steps to attend in the process of the LSFD hiring process.
8-Claire's first visit to the ER. Turned out to be a double ear infection.
14-Valentine's Day dinner at the Nazarene church in Harrisonville where Shawn and I played the Newlywed Game. Shawn horribly embarassed me by describing our first kiss in front of all the people in attendance. Nice.
17-A "Family Reunion" of sorts in St. Louis.
21-I taught my first childbirth education class at Christian Fellowship Church in Columbia.
23-Our car died. Fortunately, it was a quick fix and didn't cost much.
27-My grandfather passed away.
March:
3-My grandfather's funeral in Little Rock.
6-Shawn had another interview at LSFD.
21-Shawn tried out for a semi-pro football team, the Midwest Titans.
22-Shawn had his 31st birthday.
24-Shawn found out he made the Titans team.
29-Went to a casino for the first time in my life. I was unimpressed and only spent five dollars.
April:
We spent a fair amount of time looking around the Kansas City area for houses as we contemplated buying our first house.
10-Shawn found out that he did not get a job with the LSFD.
20-I taught the obstetrics portion of an EMT-B class in Harrisonville. The birth footage I showed the class made one guy throw up. Otherwise, it went really well.
22-I sat for the Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator exam.
May:
1-My dear sister graduated from college.
6-My mother-in-law was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was a very scary day. We didn't know what to expect.
24-We made an offer on our first ever house. It was a real fixer-upper and a foreclosure, so we bid very, very low on it. The offer was not accepted.
25-Shawn's previous job in Bahrain came open and his former boss asked if he'd like to rejoin the team.
26-We decided that we were on our way back to Bahrain.
31-My neice and nephew arrived and stayed with us for a week while their parents were out of town. It was crazy with five kids for an entire week!
June:
1-Shawn got the Big V. Weird how it coincided with us having five kids under our roof, huh?
9-12-Packing and preparing for our move back to Bahrain.
13-Garage sale to offload the items we had acquired in the year we lived back in the States. Amazing how much we Americans and store up when we put our minds to it.
15-We left Harrisonville, MO to go visit family before we left for Bahrain.
17-Went to Indiana to visit my family.
18-I received notification that I passed the Lamaze exam and was an LCCE!
20-We left the States, bound for Bahrain....again.
21-Arrived in Amman, Jordan and ended up staying overnight after we missed our connection.
22-Arrived in Bahrain...again.
23-Shawn started his first day in Bahrain.
24-We moved into our villa in Hidd.
July:
I began teaching a three-sibling group of Arab children who live in our neighborhood. They began coming over to my house for tutoring in English and have since become regular fixtures at our house.
4-We hosted a get-together for the 4th with Shawn's co-workers.
16-My mother-in-law had successful surgery to remove the brain tumor she found out about in May. We were very grateful that things went so well.
18-My sister found out she was pregnant with her third baby, due in April 2010.
27-Claire turned 1 year old!
30-I ended up having surprise surgery for a hernia repair. The doctor informed me that I would have to refrain from lifting anything over 10 pounds for a month! Yeah, right!
August:
I spent most of the month of August being pampered by my mother while recovering. It was so nice to have her here.
2-My mother arrived to stay with me for a month while I recovered from surgery. God bless her!
22-Ramadan began.
22-We attempted (again) to potty train Quinn.
September:
1-My mom left to head back to the States.
2-Shawn taught a rock climbing safety class on the Base. I got to go and help.
3-I hit a construction worker who was sleeping in my driveway. It was a very unpleasant experience, but thankfully he was given a reasonably clean bill of health after a trip to the ER.
20-Eid Al-Fitr.
October:
4-I started a scuba class to get my PADI certification.
6-I enrolled in a midwifery program.
7-My brother-in-law, Matt, shipped off to Iraq with the Navy.
30-My first ever open water dive. It was awesome and scary at the same time.
November:
2-Kai started his first day at Arabic school.
4-My 28th birthday. My dad also ended up in the hospital for swine flu and pneumonia. :(
14-I finished my open water dive certification!
15-Kai turned 5 years old!
22-We took Quinn and Kai to the Wahoo water park in Manama for the kids' birthdays. Quinn hated it and Shawn had to take her home while I stayed with Kai. He came back after dropping her off with Nanny Theresa and we ended up having a blast.
26-We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house.
December:
8-Quinn turned 3 years old!
15-I taught an infant massage class on the Base.
25-We had a very, very quiet Christmas with just our little family. It wasn't the same without everybody around!
31-We went out on the town with some friends on New Year's Eve and had a blast dancing the night away.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
I Wanna Blog
It's ironic that my most recent post, entitled "Two Months" is pretty much the exact same state we're in right now. Things are up in the air with jobs, living arrangements, etc.
So after many MORE months of neglecting my blog, I've decided I want to try to blog more. With any luck I'll do a better job this time around.
So after many MORE months of neglecting my blog, I've decided I want to try to blog more. With any luck I'll do a better job this time around.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Two Months
Two months. That's how long it's been since I've written on my blog. And for good reason.
The last two months have been another turning point in our journey of life. There were so many things going on that were uncertain that I didn't feel like blogging about things that may never come to pass.
First and foremost, Shawn applied for a job with a nearby fire department. They had a crazy series of several interviews, each about two weeks apart. So the entire process lasted nearly the entire two months. Shawn really wanted the job, but he did not make it to the final round of interviews. Instead, he was placed on a hiring eligibility list for the next year. Out of 750 applicants, he made it into the top 41 somewhere (he doesn't know what his official "ranking" is). In theory, if another job became available with that department, they would look at their hiring list to find qualified applicants. In reality, it is extremely unlikely.
So, a closed door there.
The second major event was that there was a tax levy that the City was trying to get passed by the H'ville voters that would change the fire staffing from an 8-4:30 schedule to the regular 24 hour schedule that most fire departments have. Shawn was hoping it would pass and spent the last couple months trying to do things to promote the ballot measure and to educate members of the community. It was a very stressful time, but the measure did pass, so H'ville will go to a 24 hour schedule beginning June 15th. So that means Shawn will work in 24 hours shifts on rotating days. He will work one day ON, one OFF, then one ON, one OFF, one ON, then four days OFF. That will be his work cycle.
Because it looks like at least for a little while we will be staying with H'ville, we have considered buying a house in a nearby town. We've spent lots of time looking at it and dreaming of what we would do if we bought it. It is a foreclosure and a fixer-upper. By fixer upper, I mean just that. It needs a lot of work. Fortunately, the price is very low, but it would cost many thousands of dollars to get it up to par. We were looking at it for the last two months, but could not put in an offer on it until we found out if they were going to lift the requirement that all H'ville firefighters live within city limits. Last night the council agreed to lift the requirement. As these kinds of things go, the house we're interested in is now up for auction instead of just being on the market. We are still waiting to find out what that means.
There are so many things going on and it has given us a roller coaster ride of emotions. Shawn and I have both been wrestling a lot with the question of where we want to live, how long we want to live there, what we want for our lives as a family, couple and individually. I go back and forth between wanting to buy that house we're interested in and wanting to move somewhere else and embark on a new adventure.
To make matters even more emotionally complex, last week we found out that Shawn's mom has a tumor inside her skull that is pushing on her brain stem. The doctor is fairly certain that it is a benign growth, but that it would still require surgery to remove. We don't know at all what to expect and that unknown is very scary. We are still waiting to hear all the details from the neurosurgeon. It makes us question whether we should stay in the area, or whether moving somewhere else would be possible.
We are still at this turning point. Should we look for another job and place to live? Or should we sit tight here? Ultimately we know that we really just want the best for our family and we are waiting until we have a more definite idea of what the best thing is going to be. It's the waiting and not knowing that is the hard part.
The last two months have been another turning point in our journey of life. There were so many things going on that were uncertain that I didn't feel like blogging about things that may never come to pass.
First and foremost, Shawn applied for a job with a nearby fire department. They had a crazy series of several interviews, each about two weeks apart. So the entire process lasted nearly the entire two months. Shawn really wanted the job, but he did not make it to the final round of interviews. Instead, he was placed on a hiring eligibility list for the next year. Out of 750 applicants, he made it into the top 41 somewhere (he doesn't know what his official "ranking" is). In theory, if another job became available with that department, they would look at their hiring list to find qualified applicants. In reality, it is extremely unlikely.
So, a closed door there.
The second major event was that there was a tax levy that the City was trying to get passed by the H'ville voters that would change the fire staffing from an 8-4:30 schedule to the regular 24 hour schedule that most fire departments have. Shawn was hoping it would pass and spent the last couple months trying to do things to promote the ballot measure and to educate members of the community. It was a very stressful time, but the measure did pass, so H'ville will go to a 24 hour schedule beginning June 15th. So that means Shawn will work in 24 hours shifts on rotating days. He will work one day ON, one OFF, then one ON, one OFF, one ON, then four days OFF. That will be his work cycle.
Because it looks like at least for a little while we will be staying with H'ville, we have considered buying a house in a nearby town. We've spent lots of time looking at it and dreaming of what we would do if we bought it. It is a foreclosure and a fixer-upper. By fixer upper, I mean just that. It needs a lot of work. Fortunately, the price is very low, but it would cost many thousands of dollars to get it up to par. We were looking at it for the last two months, but could not put in an offer on it until we found out if they were going to lift the requirement that all H'ville firefighters live within city limits. Last night the council agreed to lift the requirement. As these kinds of things go, the house we're interested in is now up for auction instead of just being on the market. We are still waiting to find out what that means.
There are so many things going on and it has given us a roller coaster ride of emotions. Shawn and I have both been wrestling a lot with the question of where we want to live, how long we want to live there, what we want for our lives as a family, couple and individually. I go back and forth between wanting to buy that house we're interested in and wanting to move somewhere else and embark on a new adventure.
To make matters even more emotionally complex, last week we found out that Shawn's mom has a tumor inside her skull that is pushing on her brain stem. The doctor is fairly certain that it is a benign growth, but that it would still require surgery to remove. We don't know at all what to expect and that unknown is very scary. We are still waiting to hear all the details from the neurosurgeon. It makes us question whether we should stay in the area, or whether moving somewhere else would be possible.
We are still at this turning point. Should we look for another job and place to live? Or should we sit tight here? Ultimately we know that we really just want the best for our family and we are waiting until we have a more definite idea of what the best thing is going to be. It's the waiting and not knowing that is the hard part.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Trip to Little Rock
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Chuck E. Cheese Outing
Chuck E. Cheese Outing
Last weekend, I went down to visit my family. The grandparents decided they wanted to take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese's in Springfield. All I can say is one word: chaos. It was total sensory overload. It was packed!
Walking into the place was traumatic. Somebody had puked all over the lobby and the outside area. It seemed completely impossible to me that all that puke could have come from one person! It was crazy! Whatever the case, it was really gross and there was a line out the door to get in. So, that left my little family standing basically in somebody else's puke. Not appetizing and not a good start to the outing.
However, once we got inside, things got better. We had lots of pizza and ended up winning lots of tickets. The kids really enjoyed it, but of course it ended with a group meltdown from all the kids (Kai, Quinn, Claire, Elle and Luke). Fun. Good times.
Quinn wasn't satisfied with just one piece of pizza at a time.Walking into the place was traumatic. Somebody had puked all over the lobby and the outside area. It seemed completely impossible to me that all that puke could have come from one person! It was crazy! Whatever the case, it was really gross and there was a line out the door to get in. So, that left my little family standing basically in somebody else's puke. Not appetizing and not a good start to the outing.
However, once we got inside, things got better. We had lots of pizza and ended up winning lots of tickets. The kids really enjoyed it, but of course it ended with a group meltdown from all the kids (Kai, Quinn, Claire, Elle and Luke). Fun. Good times.
We Miss Football
That's right. Football season is over. And in our house, that is a very sad thing. So one evening recently, we decided to take the kids to the H'ville football field to run around with the football. We thought the kids might want to get out. We had fun for about ten minutes, then the kids all three had a total meltdown at one time. It was comical, yet not comical.
Kai outside the stadium.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
More of the Kids
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Lesson of the Day
Here is Shawn with Quinn less than an hour after she was born.
The lesson I want to impart to you is this--BACK UP your pictures.
We had a separate hard drive for all of our pictures and I never backed them up. Well, that hard drive crashed and we lost two years worth of pictures--almost all of our pictures from Bahrain. It was devastating, because they were pictures of Quinn right after she was born and when she was infant, as well as all of our Middle Eastern adventures.
A few weeks ago, my mom called and gave me very good news--she had some of our pictures backed up to her computer from when she came to visit right after Quinn was born. So, though we do not have all of our pictures, at least we have a few months worth. I am posting some of my favorites from that time period......
More Bahrain Pictures
More Bahrain Pictures
Showing how Shawn and Quinn's feet are nearly identical.
More Bahrain Pictures
More Bahrain Pictures
More Bahrain Pictures
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