Why do I always think that I’ll have more time in January? After a busy fall and fun filled Christmas I was anxious for calm and quiet. No vacations, no visitors... just getting back into a normal routine. But I should know better… and this January was anything but calm and normal. In fact, it has been quite life changing. We are moving… to Germany... in five months.
Let me start at the beginning... On December 28th, (yes, only a month ago) Chris received a text from Jared, our good friend in Las Vegas, saying "What do you think about us both moving to Germany?"
We have always thought it would be a great experience to live overseas. Countless friends have talked about how much they loved it, but I thought... "Yes that would be an amazing opportunity for YOU. But I would like to live in a big house near a Target and give birth in America." But now everything has changed... My last baby will be a year old soon and I am envisioning myself with more energy than I've had in a decade. I have LOVED my big house and my Target, but for some reason I feel willing to leave them. My friend Jamie said, "You don't need a Target, you'll have Cobblestone streets!" Yes, I agree.
Chris read the text to me and I immediately and enthusiastically said "YES, Let's go!" We talked about it excitedly over dinner and then casually over the next few days. A couple days later I said to Chris, "You know... maybe we should stay here another year and then request Germany next year." Without hesitation Chris said, "Why wait till next year? Why not this year?" This year seemed near impossible. The army was already supposed to have the lists out... it was too late… I thought.
A day or two later, (Tuesday, January 12th), my friend Missy, called to talk about cameras. She is now in the States after three years in England. I asked her a few questions about living overseas. She said, "If you don't do it, you'll think 'it would have been a great experience but life is good here' , but if you do do it, you'll look back and think 'That was the best decision we ever made for our family.' " I'm not sure she knows how much her words impacted me. Already on the edge, Missy's words threw me over the top. I walked into our bedroom, sat down and said to Chris, 'We need to move to Germany." I guess I said those words with conviction, because Chris, who was busy at the computer, turned from what he was doing, looked at me and said, "I'm interesting in your thoughts." The kids were already asleep. Chris and I sat in our family room and spent two hours talking about it. We made pro and con lists, we pulled out our family time line and Chris' patriarchal blessing. While we spoke we felt excited, nervous, anxious, and scared but more than all of that we felt overwhelming peace… like a blanket that settled over us and subdued all of our fears. At the end of the night we felt like it was the right thing for our family. In my journal that night I wrote, "Chris and I talked about moving to Germany tonight. I feel we must do it. It would be an amazing experience... I have a good feeling about it."
The next day (Wednesday, January 13th) Chris went to work with the intention of writing an email to find out information of availabilities in Germany. A letter to the same person he had previously written about our desires to "live closer to family" would now say something about "moving as far away from family as possible". At 1:00 in the afternoon he called and said, "I haven't done anything yet... are we sure about this?" We decided we were. Chris emailed and got a response 45 minutes later. Yes, there is one Radiology spot open in Heidelberg, Germany this summer. The quick response shocked us. Chris called home, read me the email and said, 'We ARE moving this summer'.
Chris had Thursday (January 14th) off and we spent the entire day researching and talking about Germany. We called a family in our ward who came here from Heidelberg last summer. They answered our every question including what the hardest parts about living there are. Chris emailed the Radiologist who works there back and forth several times and then called to learn about the job. We checked out maps and flights and housing. We called our parents. And with every new piece of information and advice we felt excited, nervous and then peaceful. Always peaceful.
On Friday (January 15th) we submitted our request to the army. We wanted that one spot in Heidelberg.
Over the next four days we talked of nothing else. We rehashed the events of the last 10 days with Geneva, who was visiting for a day, and who was quite shocked at what her husbands initial text had started. We called our siblings.
On Wednesday (January 20th) Chris went in to work and called home almost immediately with news. An email saying "Please begin the process for orders for Major Johnson for Heidleberg, Germany.” It's official… and it all happened so fast. A month ago we had every intention of enjoying a nice empty January. The quick process has seemed to be another confirmation that this is meant to be.
The kids are mostly thrilled. Ryan is sad to leave his middle school and our friends, the Starbuck family, but is anxious to visit Italy and wants us to only speak German in our house. (Ya, right.) Katie is sad to leave our friends, the Starbuck family, but is dying to visit Paris and is easily up for any adventure that Mom thinks will be fun. Emily is especially excited for a possible 2nd grade English/German immersion class on base. She has already replaced the word ‘please’ with it’s German counterpart ‘Bitta’ whenever she speaks and counts to five with perfect German pronunciation (according to Chris’ high school German). Megan is happy to go to Germany because of the castles, but sad to leave her ‘fwends in Pwe-K’. We’ve had so many great great talks… about the need to stick together as a family, about Patriarchal blessings, about the hard parts of moving, and the amazing places we’ll visit. We are excited… and nervous… but mostly peaceful. Germany, here we come. We’ll be there June 18th.
