Answering some questions

In the wake of my announcement, there's been a decent volume of questions and it seemed useful to answer them here. So here goes, in no particular order:

• The job bringing us to Astana is mine. I'm the ELO/JO/FAST (over the last howevermany years we've been called Junior Officers, Entry Level Officers, and now First And Second Tour officers) so Terry gets to "follow" me. There are positions appropriate for him that would start next summer, so we're in good shape as far as bidding goes (I think/hope). Yes it does mean he gets to be primary on the parenting front. It will be good for him and them (I think/hope).
• We're not sure yet when we'll leave but it won't be before the end of August. And I will definitely be gone before Thanksgiving. I am excited to get in line with my CDO to ask this most pressing question.
• I'll be a Pol/Econ officer. This is exciting as I'm Consular coned so this may be the one and only time I'll get a chance to try out something else. 
• There was a comment about me being relieved that it wasn't Tashkent. My friend, I believe you are thinking of Ashgabat. Tashkent is awesome, and spent a lot of time rivaling Astana as our #1 pick. 
• Thank you to everyone for your good wishes. I have no idea how big our apartment will be, but it will be open to visitors. And yes, anyone within a few timezones may get hit up for a visit, or a "Who wants to meet up somewhere in western Europe, or wherever I can get to in a nonstop flight?"

A little more detail

So yes, we're going to Kazakhstan. Astana, to be exact, as there is also a post in Almaty. Yes, we're happy about this. My head is still swimming and I stayed up way too late last night looking at post information. We'll be here through the summer - I need more Russian language training before we go as I didn't test high enough (I knew that was going to happen, my abilities are nowhere near where they had been after a year back in the USA). Other than that, I am eager to be paneled so I can reach out to post with my thousand questions. That poor CLO has no idea what's coming :-)

New Assignment

Flag Day

... is tomorrow. Bet you thought I was going to tell you where I'm going. Ha! Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away ....

Wordless Wednesday

Play Ball!

Back in the fall, Terry's dad brought us a T-ball stand and bat he found somewhere. Zoltan took to it and it turns out there's 4-6 year old T-ball in the spring. Their first practice was rained out and he finally got to try it out last Friday. He loved it!

Here's a pic of the family playing in the back yard.

Our budding artist

On Tuesday we had a note in Alex's folder that she had a piece of art that was selected to be in a county-wide "Art Fair" at a local shopping mall. Of course, her school being as disorganized as it is, the show is from Tuesday until Sunday. So we scrambled to rearrange schedules to make it happen, and we got to see her art (it's the crayon box second row left from where she's standing)!

A dedication

Yesterday's Wordless Wednesday was a photo of our freezer. You can see the ironing board on one side, and a folding chair folded up on the other. We hope that's enough to get a sense of the size of the thing.

Ida, we dedicate this post to you, and hope to make it to Berlin one day.

Wordless Wednesday

Religious education

Our friends held their son's birthday party at their church this weekend. This led to a conversation with the kids on the car ride home about what a church is, who/what is God, what is a religion and what different religions teach/people believe. I had been largely stalling on this version of "the talk" as I have been very unsure what I want to teach my kids. Thus, such spontaneous conversations occur and I can't be sure I'm actually giving them the information I want them to have.

After some thought at the end of the conversation, Alex reveals:  "I think Leprechauns and flying horses are real, and God is not."  Terry was so proud.