Where has the time gone?

Six more days and we will be leaving Switzerland. It became more real when we went to de-register from the country and they kept our Swiss permits. I all of a sudden felt powerless and in a strange in between of worlds. The prominent Swiss ID that struck my eye when I opened my wallet was replaced with a foreign looking Michigan drivers license.

I'm currently on my way to the second 'farewell' hang out. I keep getting so excited to see and hang with these people, but then in the same breath, tears well up inside my eyes when I realize there will be last hugs and 'see you laterz' exchanged.

While I'm hanging with some ladies who have been very instrumental and great mentors in my life, Will is holding down the fort, or more like selling the fort. Today is a big pick up day and part of me thinks it's better I'm not there watching all our items walk out the door. It will be strange to walk in the door tonight to an almost empty flat. With the sadness of these items leaving though I rejoice in the Lord for providing buyers. We were getting nervous a week and a half ago because of how many big items we had left, started praying more (as well as others, thank you) and within the last week the Lord sent people. What a blessing. The thing we are struggling with now is the little things we have left. Trying to weigh the benefits of packing them, paying for them and bringing them back or just getting rid of them. Some little things I would like to put on the sidewalk in our neighborhood for free, but we tried that already and got in trouble for trying to be 'giving'.

In between all the hours of sending emails and SMS's to buyers or potential buyers (this has been an extremely draining project) and packing boxes, and sending letters to inform insurance companies of our planned exit and meeting the buyers in the city, and letting strangers in our flat who have bought things...we had Mayla's last cardio appointment at the children's hospital.

On the way to the appointment we walked by the 'milk room'. If you kept up with our updates, you remember the milk room was where all the mothers brought their 'goods'. I jokingly said to Will,' I wonder if my milk is still there.' We both chuckled and kept walking. Later I had to use the bathroom and walked back by the milk room and my curiosity was getting the best of me, I just had to enter and check. I opened the big stainless steel door and sure enough taking up the entire top shelf of the freezer was 'milk for Mayla Ellis'. Four months they had kept that Gold for me. I had to take a picture, I was in shock. 

After Mayla made friends in the waiting room we were called back for them to check our little miracle  baby out. They first checked pulse, blood pressure and her heart rhythms. As they were putting the sensors on her, she was smiling and giggling, it brought joy to my heart and reminded me about 'child like faith''. Our daughter was laying there just 3.5 short (but long) months after having open heart surgery and she had a deep peace about her. Each day I see Jesus in my daughter, but for some reason I see Him more when she lays on the big medical table. He shines right through her and the look of peace that flows out her eyes is absorbed, and I experience that 'faith like a child.' I can only look at her and believe,  and can only look at her and have hope.

After each of those tests, the nurse uttered, 'wonderful'. And my heart leapt with joy. On the outside Mayla looks fantastic, but you really never know what's happening deep within, and I'm always so eager to hear the report. We were then off to the ultrasound room where we were greeted by the ever so friendly doctor. She has been with us and Mayla from the beginning (in fact she met with Will the day Mayla was born and explained everything that was wrong and everything that had to happen, even gave him a picture to color...) and is so nice and good with Mayla. The whole time she was examining her it was hard not to keep thinking how much I'm going to miss that doctor lady. Mayla was fascinated with the ultrasound screen and when a bit of fussyness crept in, the doctor would play the sound of her heartbeat outloud, it was beautiful to hear it and so cute to see it soothing our daughter. And then she confirmed everything looks perfect. All Glory to God, continuous thanks abounding to the Lord Almighty!

We discussed with the doctor what further steps would be taken if we would be living here and it broke my heart to be having this conversation. Part of me just wanted to get up, walk out and say see you next time and pretend this was not happening. Up till this point I was doing okay with the move, but at that moment I was really struggling with leaving the children's hospital and the decision to leave Switzerland. We walked out of that building where we had spent countless hours, tears, prayers, good moments, sad moments and big moments and I lost it. My continual prayer is that Jesus molds and makes me more like Him and its in these weak moments I see there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Will asked me a simple question as the tears were streaming down my face and that was, 'do you trust man or do you trust God?' I was walking away from the people that worked on Mayla but God is the one who saved her. It will be hard to leave the people and place behind, and that's okay, but I have to go forward with confidence that Mayla continues to be held in the palm of the Lords hands and that no matter where we live, He will provide what's needed for her, all of us. So next up is for her to a have another check up in three months, and then see from there what the interval needs to be and then when she is one year old go through an extensive developmental check. They say it's a good idea to do with babies that have had a rough start to life like our little bundle. So we were mailed part of her file (in German), and got a little update letter in English to take with us.

Packing....and organizing and more of those two things has been consuming us, but the majority of the main packing is over. We shipped 17 boxes back to the states so far and have 3 more to follow that we have been adding to daily. It's cheaper for us to ship boxes as opposed to taking them on the plane, so we are trying to figure out what 'needs' to be with us on the plane for when we arrive and ship the rest.

As of today Will has 28 applications out that he has not heard back from. Our words for the year, well a word taken from last year and a new one for this year are TRUST and HOPE. We are stepping out and taking a leap of faith and putting our trust and hope in the Lord, HE will provide! And we submit to HIS timing!

And due to time restraints, meaning we still have too many things to list in the short time that remains, i'm going to list a few So Sads, So Glads.

So Sad: Leaving my gyno office, I know, most ladies are thinking WHY is that sad and it's because of the relationship I have with my doctor there and the receptionist. We have been through a lot together and she has been a wonderful person offering me her cell phone number whenever I needed to call her and her going out of the way to help us. She really was a wonderful person and I will miss her dearly. The other sad thing to leave behind is my general doctor and his office. I'm not ready to go to a place where you are 'just a patient number'. Things work differently here and the receptionists are usually also the nurses. They know me when I call, and they know me when I walk in. It's a very welcoming feeling that I will miss dearly.  Another big one is calling big companies and the wait time being very limited. Will and I had a lot of phone calls to make at the beginning of the week and I was amazed at how little I had to be placed on hold until I spoke to an agent. I know it's NOT that way in the USA. I even called my insurance company and got to someone in just a matter of a minute, that will be greatly missed, and the last one for today, I'm sad to be leaving the super efficient swiss flushing toilets!!!!!

So glad: for a garbage disposal, washer and dryer that i'm not sharing with ten strangers, and one that I won't have to sign up to use and go up and down 3 flights of stairs to get to. And so glad I won't have to make sure I have a coin with me to get a shopping cart (they are locked together and you only get one by inserting a coin or a 'fake' coin that you get back once you return the cart) and remember to bring my own bags or pay for them at the store (unless we shop at Aldi in America as well).

So that's it for now. Just six days from now we'll be seeing our families and introducing them all to Mayla, most of them for the first time, we are super excited about that! We will be sure to share all our fun as we move back and readjust to life 'abroad' or 'home' or whatever it is now. You can now sign up to receive email notifications of our updates, so take a minute and check that out, it's on the right of the screen.


Until next time, viel spass!

PS: We are seriously praising God because Mayla's Passport and International Birth Record have arrived. She still does not have a social security number but we are good with that because we figure then she doesn't have to pay taxes...

This is what happens when Daddy babysits...

And Mayla's first concert.