October - the month from h.e.double toothpicks…
January 6, 2010 | Updates
October was a difficult month. We scheduled a trip to ABR for a personal evaluation with the founder, Leonid. The appointment was set in stone since Leonid is no longer doing personal evaluations and we only got one due to specific circumstancs. The appointment was scheduled for October 22nd.
October 6th - I buy our nonrefundable plan tickets.
October 7th - Our office secratary gives us 1 week notice that she is leaving and I find out that due to misunderstandings and scheduling issues, Tom will be out of town from the 15th thru the 20th.
October 8th - I frantically begin interviewing people to fill the secretary position.
October 12th - Wes gets the flu and I beg God to keep us healthy so we can somehow make this trip.
October 15th - I start training our new secretary in a 4 day crash course hoping she can handle the office while we are gone. At the same time, I am left to run the office by myself since Tom is out of town. It is such a juggle to find babysitters for all the kids that I literally have to write the schedule down each day so I don’t accidentally leave one somewhere he isn’t supposed to be.
October 16th - I attend a 2 day girl’s camp 2 hours from our home that I committed to attend long before this whole mess became apparent. It was fun and so worth the trip, but set me back in sleep and time, for sure.
October 20th - Samuel gets the flu and I decide that we are going on this trip no.matter.what. I stay up the entire night packing for the trip and am literally ready just in time to leave for the airport.
October 21st - We fly out towards Montreal. Our flight is late and we only have 30 minutes to make our connection. We make the plane, but our luggage does not. In Montreal, we spend 5 hours in lines for Declarations, Immigration, Customs, lost luggage and finally, a rental car. When we finally arrive at our hotel late that night, we only have with us a diaper bag, a computer bag, my purse and Samuel’s stroller. Missing are all our clothes, coats, Samuel’s crib, Samuel’s food and chargers for nearly everything - including our cell phones. We fall into bed at midnight and Samuel proceeds to scream bloody murder for the next 2 hours. At this point, I hadn’t slept in over 40 hours so in desperation, I strapped Samuel in his stroller and put a movie in my laptop for him to watch. He finally fell asleep and so did we.
(I have to note here that although I brought our GPS with us, it apparently doesn’t work outside of the U.S. When I explained our situation to the salesperson at the rental car counter, I asked him to please give me a good deal on renting one and you know what, he gave us one to use FREE for the whole week. He was most certainly the brightest moment of our day!)
October 22nd - We go for our evaluation at the ABR center after contacting our brand new secretary to let her know that our cell phones are nearly dead and we have no chargers so she is completely on her own. Oh, and we can’t get our voicemail messages because the lady on the other end of the line only speaks French. Ugh. BUT, the evaluation was great and I’ll post more on that later.
October 23rd - Our luggage arrives 30 hours after we did and just after we had returned from buying each of us a new set of clothes because 3 days in the same clothes is really yucky.
October 24th-25th - We complete our ABR training.
October 26th - We fly back home. Again, our first plane is late. Only this time, not only does our luggage miss our connecting flight, but so do we. Four hours in an airport and we are able to board another plane and finally make it home.
Moral of the story…I never, ever, ever want to go back to Montreal. Ever.
But I’ll leave you all with cute pictures from Halloween. We threw together costumes from stuff in our basement because I was fried and completely behind on everything by the time we got back and Tom had to head back out of town for another 5 days - leaving me with the office again. But, the kids had fun and I was just glad to see October on its way out for another year.
I’ll post good stuff from our evaluation with Leonid later.
Love,
The Jewkes
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January 6th, 2010 at 10:45 am, Gramma Jewkes Says:
We knew you had problems in October, but didn’t comprehend how bad it was! You should’ve asked us for more help, Teresa. I feel bad I didn’t help more!
Love you and appreciate you sooo much!
Mom and Dad
January 6th, 2010 at 8:17 pm, Natalie Says:
Really, Teresa! You are beyond amazing. What a stinkin’ trooper everyday. What a nightmare of a flight.
I really wish we lived closer! Thanks for another update. It’s always great to catch up on my favorite boy! I know he knows how wonderful you are. You’re the best mom ever!
January 6th, 2010 at 8:46 pm, Darlene Says:
Oh my gosh! what allot to take on. Wish I would have been there to help out. I fly out this May to North Carolina,to see my nephew/his wife. My first time flying. I hope I have better luck or i will freak. So glad you managed to get through all the extra dilimmas,you are a strong lady thats for sure.