two crises averted (& other updates)

Crisis #1 — The USDA-approved vet who we needed to fill out a form (which then needed to be driven an hour and a half to a USDA office to get stamped) didn’t have a clue what was going on and didn’t want to fill it out. Luckily Andy told him what was what and finally — after an hour of bickering — got what we needed. Phew. Abbey’s good to go.

Crisis #2 — A 101.7 fever earned Flynn a hospital visit Wednesday. Diagnosis: virus and minor ear infection. Wait, what? An ear infection? How’s that going to work with 14 hours of flying? “It’s not,” said the doctor. Just our luck. At first we thought I’d still go to Benin as planned and Andy would stay behind with Flynn, which would be annoying but doable. Well, apparently that wouldn’t work: new babies must travel to post with their mothers, said the Med unit. So I’d have to not only delay my start date and re-do a bunch of administrative stuff (including the whole USDA bit with Abbey), but also forgo the student loan repayment benefit for the year, because I’d arrive at post too late. Super annoying. But thankfully a follow-up visit Friday showed zero signs of ear infection. Phew. Flynn’s good to go too.

What else is going on?

Well, the big news is we’ve seen pictures of our future home! Because I’m not sure about the security rules for posting house photos online, you’re going to have to wait until we get there to see for yourself. But it has four bedrooms, five bathrooms and a big courtyard. We’re fairly sure all our former apartments could fit into this one single house, so we can’t complain. (Except about the horrendous Drexel Heritage furniture. Seriously, someone needs work on a new government contract.)  We’re especially excited about the huge upstairs balcony and the location near both the big grocery store and the big swimming pool where all the ex-pats hang out.

Also, because we’re heading overseas Andy called to officially defer his spot on the Management Register. He learned that he’s currently #2 out of 110, which is a) amazingly impressive in my humble albeit biased opinion and b) a great sign for the future, meaning that as long as State doesn’t freeze hiring completely (which is unlikely) he should have zero problem getting an A-100 invite when we’re ready.

Things are coming together. After a few more hard goodbyes we’ll be back in DC to ship off our car, collect some things from storage and somehow squeeze both that and all the awesome presents Flynn received into our six allotted suitcases.

Five days to go!

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