Saying Good-Bye to the "Old".....Hello to the "New"

Well, it will almost be a week now since moving out of our Casa Mejia. I asked Javi last night if he missed our house and he told me he was trying not to think about it much. As for me, I must be really becoming acquainted with change because as much as I haven't thought about it either, I am ready to move on to the "new" with no sad feelings. This past week has been really busy for us with settling into TLF, trying to catch up with friends who are also leaving or are going away for vacation, dealing with my continual complications with my US residency application, and the final means to our out-processing. We took a trip one last time, to Venice in our new family-mobile to meet up with Javier's friend from Colombia and his wife. It was the first time we have ever drove to Venice, as oppose to taking the train, and it led us into a new part of Venice neither of us had explored before....sadly, a part I wish I had more time to wander around in. I love Venice so very much and the fact that each and every time I go, I can get lost and find a new hidden treasure. This time round, it was finding the lead singer from Maroon 5 (Adam Levine) singing for a party of less than 50 in a private courtyard. Even though we missed meeting Javier's friend and his wife at St. Mark's square due to time restraints and lack of communication, we were able to meet up with them at their hotel later that evening, which was so nice, especially for Javier to catch up with a long lost friend who he originally met in the US when he was learning English at a college they both attended. Javier and I decided to have dinner at the Venice Hard Rock Cafe, stroll around some more, stop for drinks along the way, take lots of pictures, and just take in our final moments of Venice.

As for my pregnancy, things seem to be going as they should. My belly is growing, and I can definitely feel the stretching. My short term memory is almost non-exisitent at the moment, my hair had to be cut off do to the obscene thickness, and I am hungry all the time. I am feeling alot better now, however the exhaustion of this past week has started to catch up with me. I still believe I am having a girl, even though we won't find out until my appointment in July. Everyone, including Javier, has been telling me it is a boy, but lately with my belly taking on a new shape, the word is quickly changing amongst my guessers that it is now a girl. I guess we will see! Anyhow, for our last and final week ahead, we will continue to catch up with friends, plan for our road trip to Germany, possibly take one last trip next weekend on a boat cruise in Croatia, and one last doctor's appointment. Hope you enjoy the pictures! Stay tuned....

Into our little temporary house we go!

Today we move into what we call TLF Temporary Lodging Facility. We should be there for the remaining of our time in Italy up until we take off to our new assignment. Allison and I are tired today, moving from this house has been a challenging task, but we made sure that the new tenants will receive the house just as we got it. While sleeping on an air mattress isn't the most confortable way to rest, I am grateful to Allison who has been a trooper by accepting the low standard conditions in which we had to live during the past two days.

The cats are super confused......when the movers left and took everything, we let them out of their room and the expression on their faces was priceless!!! I just hope that they can cope with the long ride that awaits us, especially Fatty who is actually the most spoiled, claustrophobic, and loudest of them both!!! Ohh did i mentioned that he cries, poops, pukes, and pees, or how I'd like to call it, he commits the 3 P's while in the kennel for a 15 minute ride......So we are both crossing our fingers that our 9 hours ride doesn't become a portable litter box.

Ok guys....we will update some pictures on our next post.....Stay tuned!

And It Begins....

We have been living here in Italy for almost three years and it has been surreal...The mountains, the food, the WINE, and the amazing places we had visited so far had to come to a stop.....for the moment that is! We just got orders to move to Germany for the next four years of our lives. Allison and I are static about this news, but what we are most excited about is the

arrival of baby Mejia in November of this year. BOY or GIRL, we have yet to know the gender of our newest family member, but what we do know for certain is that he/she will be loved beyond belief.
Yesterday was a brutal reminder of our short time in Italy as the movers came in and took everything we had collected in our married life. After 10 hours of packing, cleaning, and Allison sleeping on an air mattress right outside our yard, the house was completely cleaned out of all the items that made it a sweet home. I have to say that we are really tired today......we get our new car, I have to do a few more out-processing actions on my "Good-bye Italy Checklist", Allison has to clean up the fridge, microwave and oven for the new tenants arriving this week, and later tonight, we will be going one last time to Venice to meet a long lasting friend of mine from Colombia who I have not seen in many years. His name is Carlos and he is touring Europe by BUS......I think....the 20 days that he will be here in Europe, he can at least say, that 15 of those 20 days were spent in the back of a touring BUS....just JK!

I hope that today goes according to plan and that Allison and I accomplish everything timely so that we can get our stuff together to move to our hotel tomorrow morning. That's all I got for now, stay tuned!

Javier.