The actual move over the past week has presented a new series of obstacles.

First if all, our second daughter, E, is not with us. Something happened with her visa and passport, and according to the shipping label, it hasn’t even left the offices. Marga has been calling every day, distraught and frustrated, trying to find out what has happened, and all we’ve been able to learn is that a decision was made more than a week ago regarding her visa. More than that–if information was missing or even what that decision was–nobody seems to know. Our fear is that they lost the thing between somebody’s desk and the outgoing mail.

Yet another challenge we are facing is that our biometric identification cards have not come in yet. These are necessary for us to stay long-term in Scotland, and without them, we can’t get a bank account, car insurance, etc. We are supposed to call the post office in Fort William on Monday to see if they have arrived.

And if that wasn’t enough, despite precautions and vaccinations, our family has finally caught Covid. Marga got it first, tested negative, and then probably passed it on to A (our son) and myself. Yesterday was rough, but today I’m feeling much better. A is still under the weather, and he’s had to shuffle locations several times as our house is in the midst of selling in the United States. He had to retreat from our home to a vehicle in the church parking lot while inspections and appraisals took place, and all this in the humid summer heat of Michigan!

We are still looking at moving our remaining three dogs (the others have found good, new homes), but kennel requirements have complicated this. J’s puppy has grown too long for the airlines to approve his crate and we can’t purchase one big enough for Sapphire. We may end up with two dogs in Scotland instead of three, and I am sad to hear that my husky-shepherd friend of the last eight years will probably not be able to join us–just the rambunctious little rescues.

Despite all these challenges, we are settling into our temporary home rather well. It is a gracious gift to have an affordable roof over our heads as we look to resuming the house hunt as early as next week.