How did we get here?

Many of you reading this blog are probably asking yourself, how does a family go from living in Iowa for the past 6 years to moving halfway around the world to Tianjin, China. I suppose it all started long ago when Dan mentioned that he would eventually like to take an international assignment. Of course, I was a bit reluctant at first to agree, but I did eventually. A few months ago, Dan started to talk again about going overseas for his next assignment at work. My first thought was, of course we'll go to Europe and take all sorts of fantastic trips and learn a ton!! I was looking on the internet trying to see what housing options we would have, what types of food we could eat, etc. Then one Friday afternoon I got a call from Dan. I'm pretty sure he said sit down. These are not the words you want to hear from your husband on a Friday afternoon!

I sat down and received the news that there was a position for Dan in China. Shock occurred first, then the tears started to flow. How could I leave my family and friends? How could I possibly take three children away from their family and friends? What about schools, medical, church, housing, driving? But the biggest question of all was, how do I pass up a wonderful opportunity for my husband and for our family to experience part of our culture? The answer was that I couldn't. I had to dig pretty deep to accept that this was the path we were about to take.

Of course, since all of this was happening on a Friday afternoon, we were only told that the position was in China. Where in China, we had no idea! We spent the weekend googling expatriots living in China and bought books about China. By the end of the weekend, I felt much better about the situation and was anxious for Monday when Dan would find out the scope of the job and most importantly, where it was located within China!

Although I had prepared myself all weekend for the details of the assignment, when Dan called me and told me everything, I cried again. I don't think all of the tears were because I didn't want to go, I think they were more out of fear of the unknown. My dear friend Jenny called right as I was hanging up and she knew without even asking that we were moving. I'm pretty sure I went through a box of tissues as I called my family. Everyone knew pretty much the moment they heard my shaking voice that we were moving and we were going to China. After I said it and explained everything a few times it began to get easier and I reminded myself that no matter where in the world we are, my family is still my family!

Dan and I talked about the position and the move for the next several weeks while we waited for our Visas to process so we could go visit and make sure that the whole family would be comfortable! We learned more about Tianjin and we talked to other employees that were living there or had lived there. I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful review China was receiving, I was excited to go and see for myself!

It took a lot of persuading and planning, but we finally were able to book our trip to China, while the kids stayed back home. Thankfully my sister T, her husband Chris, my sweet niece Grace, and my lovable nephew Jackson came to help see us off. It was wonderful knowing that the kids would be occupied for the first day we were gone. Dan's parents came in for the next shift and did a fantastic job with the little munchkins. Then my mom came for the final few days when the kids had had enough. Thank goodness she is as patient as she is. She looks a lot like me too, so I think she uses that to her advantage! The kids even got an extra day with grandma when we were delayed for 24 hours!

Knowing the kids were safe and loved at home, Dan and I set off on our big adventure. We flew into Beijing on the direct flight from Chicago. We spent the first night in Beijing. We were exhausted, but excited! The next day we spent time at Deere Headquarters in Beijing and then we got to drive to Tianjin, which is between 1 1/2 and 2 hours from Beijing. The drive was so interesting and of course sad at times when I saw some of the villages and the conditions that people lived in. It was very different than in the city, but you could tell that the people had the same work ethic everywhere. They are proud and work hard at what they do. Sometime during that drive I knew, before even arriving in Tianjin, that we were going to be just fine!! When we arrived in Tianjin we went to eat at TGIF - a little taste of home!! Tianjin is a very industrial city, but it does have a water park and zoo in the middle of the city. There was a ton of construction going on, so to this day I have no idea what streets we were on! We spent the next few days exploring and searching for the ways we could make this our home. I was able to visit 3 international schools and knew the minute I walked into the International School of Tianjin that my children would thrive there. I found the medical facility quickly because there is only one international site in town. That decision was easy!!! We found out that there was one Christian church in the city where sermons are done in English, so again, another easy decision!! The hardest decision we had left to make was finding appropriate housing. It is funny that the house we finally decided on after looking at close to 20 different places was in the backyard of the Sheraton where we were staying! God has a funny way of putting things right in front of your face! We quickly decided that living behind the Sheraton would be great for our family. The pros were that the medical facility is in the Sheraton (pretty much my backyard, although I'm hoping I don't have to spend too much time there, but with three kids, I am realistic and know they will probably know all of our names sooner rather than later!), we have access to the health club and pool in the hotel, we get a discount on the awesome breakfast at the restaurant, church is a couple blocks up the road, and Dan's office is only about 15 minutes away. The cons were that it is small, there is not a lot of storage, no garage, and the kids will be about 25 minutes from their school. The pros definitely outweighed the cons and I think we will enjoy living in our cozy little home. I keep telling myself that a home is really the people inside of it, not the structure or the number of rooms it has! After our whirlwind time in Tianjin, we headed back to Beijing and were able to explore some of the tourist sights! We went to the Temple of Heaven, the pearl market, the silk market and the Forbidden City. There were so many things we were unable to experience, that we look forward to seeing with the kids!! Dan and I had a ton of fun and were very comfortable with our decisions when we returned home!

Once home, the planning began. We had no idea at the time how turned upside down our lives were about to become!