Carey Jane Clark

What’s in YOUR Carry-On?

March 13, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

The big day has come and gone. If you’re reading this shortly after it posts, we are already in the air, making our way toward our new home. The packing is done. What made it in the final round made it. The rest is sitting in a drawer awaiting the next trip this way over the ocean or a compassionate friend who feels like carrying a little extra luggage when they visit.

In the end, we left what went into our kids’ carry-ons mostly up to them. It was our way of limiting the toys they brought along, and giving them some control over the process. Whatever fit in the carry-on was fair game. The only stipulation, aside from those placed by the airlines, was that I wanted a little room in the front pocket to stuff some of the surprises I like to give them for the trip.

We’ll be in the air for 15 hours, and then have a 12-hour layover in the Hong Kong airport before journey’s end. Some friends in Hong Kong may take us out for a few hours, so that should help with the boredom factor, but we’re hoping some of the items in our personal luggage will keep us busy as well.

So here are the contents of our carry-ons.

This is Pumpkin’s:

Pumpkin's Carry-on

And here are the things I snuck in the front pocket:

Here is Sweetpea’s carry-on (only essential items, of course):

Here’s what I snuck in:

Sprout’s case started out the lightest when we moved into Grandma’s a few weeks ago. Somehow over the last few weeks, we’ve managed to discover more items that just had to be crammed in:

And here’s what I’ve stashed away for her:

So what’s in Mommy’s carry-on?

Some games; crayons; vitamins for the kids; my knitting (dolly underwear) on bamboo circular needles, which I’m assured won’t be confiscated for their potential deadly properties; a homeopathic for jetlag and my neck pillow. I’ll tuck my eReader and some books into my laptop case, and the remaining room in the carry-on may have to be reserved for Sprout’s shrink-wrapped quilt, which I almost forgot had to be packed!

No surprises for me. I’m just hoping to stay on top of things for the flight and layover. Can’t wait to see JavaMan Wednesday night!

- Carey Clark

Today is the Day!

March 12, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Today is the day! There is no more countdown. Tonight at 9:00 or so, we’ll be getting into a van (our stuff will be in another) and heading to the airport. What a way to begin a day, with so much expectancy. But any day can begin that way. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to wake up every morning and think “something good is going to happen to me today?”

In a way, that’s what recognizing one’s blessings does. You start to see that every day holds hidden surprises. God’s smiles wait around every corner. Every day holds something we can receive with joy and know that we are blessed.

This week, along with many others who count their gifts to 1000 at Ann Voskamp’s beautiful blog, I am particularly thankful for these gifts:

160. Today is the day!
161. On Wednesday, I will see JavaMan again!
162. Our kitchen items and bedding arrived at safely at our new apartment today/last night from the south of the country.
163. A friend helped my husband get good deals on all the moving, and we are under budget for all our moving expenses, even with one or two extra bins arriving from Canada.
164. Our children as excited about today as I am.
165. I finally fit everything in the bins!
166. I did not have to stay up all night on our final sleep in Canada. I had a good rest going into this trip
167. It seems like every trip I have a last-minute project or two to finish up. They’re almost all done. The binding on Sprout’s quilt is finished, shrink-wrapped in a Space Bag and crammed into our luggage. (It distressed her a little to see it squished like that, so we had to demonstrate the re-inflation process. It’s always fun to watch that anyway.)
168. Another last-minute project is complete: I had been knitting a purse for Sprout (she didn’t want a scarf and hat like the other two). It’s ready for the trip, and I have something new on my knitting needles to keep me busy on the plane.
169. I am holding on to my optimism. I still think there’s actually a chance I’ll have time to do knitting on the plane.
170. Sweetpea spotted the first of the robins here the other day. I love spring in Canada, but I am just as excited to be spending it in China.

171. I am continually thankful for my parents, who helped me solve the bin puzzle over the weekend. I was starting to kind of lose it with the pressure, but they stood by to help me. If nothing else, it was good to have the company.
172. I am also thankful that my parents are on hand to take us to the airport. They will be departing shortly thereafter for the sunny south, and they will be taking a rest that’s probably much-needed after the longer-than-anticipated invasion and occupation of the Clark family.
173. It feels so good to be at the beginning of something. I have high hopes for my husband’s business efforts in China, and for our language learning as a family. We are truly on an adventure.
174. I am and thrilled for my husband that he has been so successful already. I’m especially thankful that he feels that his language-learning efforts are paying off, and he is understanding far more of what’s going on around him.
175. I am starting to see results for my efforts at getting back to exercise.
176. JavaMan tells me the new apartment is at the top of a hill, and of course, it is on the fourth floor and there are no elevators. We also have no car while there. So my efforts at keeping fit are about to have help!
177. Had a chance to connect with friends this week and follow up with other people’s blessings.
178. My wonderful mother made up two batches of homemade gluten-free bread mix for me to get started on when we arrive in China, saving me a lot of work, once I locate my bread pans!
179. I think I remembered just about everything. Almost all of my to-do list has little checkmarks.

What are you expecting today?

Multitudes on Monday

- Carey Clark

March 3 in 30 Update

March 11, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

We arrive in our new home [fergcorp_cdt_single date=”March 14, 2012″] (or so–the countdown timer isn’t perfect–it doesn’t allow me to enter the time). Everyone is getting really excited. Every day on Skype, Sprout has said to her dad, “When are you coming back to Canada?” and every day, he’s said to her, “I’m not coming back. You’re coming here.” Then she says, “I know. I just like to hear you say it.”

Sleep well before the move and beat jet lag as quickly as possible after – Doing not too badly with this. There is one more sleep before we leave. I think I’m going to be ready for this, and I won’t have to stay up all night for the last sleep in Canada.
Maintain a healthy exercise schedule coming into the move so I can get back at it as quickly as possible afterward. Staying more or less on top of this. I’m loving my new exercise video: Tracey Mallett: Get Your Body Back. I fit three days of exercise in this week. Hoping to get another workout in Monday before the hours of sitting on the plane.
Finish packing before the move, unpack and organize the kitchen, bathrooms and homeschool room after the move to get things up and rolling ASAP. I’ve decided on some realistic goals we can accomplish prior to the arrival of the furniture, such as putting our books into piles for subject areas so that when the shelves arrive, the job is quicker. But we’re going to take some time to discover our new neighbourhood. I’m going to have the kids help me with a scavenger hunt to find some of the local essentials, like a market, a place to buy milk and eggs, where to get meat ground, and where to buy stationery supplies, that kind of thing. We’re going to enjoy this stage for all it’s worth!

How are you doing with this month’s goals?

- Carey Clark

Five Minute Friday: Empty

March 9, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

I’ve been lurking for some time at The Gypsy Mama and considering participating in her 5-Minute Fridays. The idea is that you write, unfettered and unfiltered, for five minutes. Each week, The Gypsy Mama provides a different theme. Figures I’d have decided to participate this week when the theme is “Empty.”

All week long, I’ve been concerned about full–how full the bins are getting–how cluttered things are. I felt we were holding to things lightly. After all, didn’t we sell everything we had when we decided to move to China almost four years ago? And yet here I am, cramming things into bins. I realize, a lot of it is vitamins–a year’s supply for five people–and we have four seasons’ worth of clothes and shoes, and books, books, books.

If we didn’t homeschool, it really wouldn’t be a problem. But how could I consider not homeschooling? Homeschooling has become not just what we do, but a part of who we are. It’s part of the core values of our family.

Where in all of this is empty? Lately, it has been easy to start to stress out. My son yesterday expressed some concern we wouldn’t get everything ready in time. My mother is troubled by the state of chaos in the room I’m occupying until we leave in , a.k.a. Packing Central. Every morning I’ve awakened with a sense of urgency about something unfinished. I haven’t slept much with the late night and early morning conversations with my husband during hours when he’s available to catch up with me in China.

In the midst of all of this, it’s my soul that has been tipping near the empty point. I felt it yesterday–the temptation to become easily annoyed, the exhaustion creeping in, the despair at all the clutter.

So I finally took the time I’ve been needing to restore my spirit, to refresh and renew in the presence of the One who faithfully fills me. And I’m no longer empty. I am filled.

Now to see about those bins.

STOP.

- Carey Clark

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