We are still in Austin! I know this has confused more than a few of our friends this week, so I’m here to clarify our status. I hope.

According to Not-Helpful Nora*, the person in charge of submitting and (hopefully?) notifying us when we’ve gotten through the first hoop of the immigration process, our paperwork was submitted to Belgian Immigration on December 31. This part of the process takes 4-6 weeks. Once that is completed, we will need to present ourselves in person at the Belgian consulate in New York City. Nora didn’t mention the need for a trip to New York until I specifically asked her when we could move. I asked whether February 10 would be a reasonable date, to which she replied that would be “ambitious” and then wrote that we would need to go to NYC. Every encounter with Nora seems to involve her throwing up her hands as though she’s surprised we have a question and is then followed by a new hoop we need to pass through in order to proceed. The hoops have been getting progressively larger up to this point. She’s not my favorite.

Today, I emailed Nora, who is out of the office. Thankfully, our ACTUALLY helpful Human Resources person at Todd’s office sent me the following message:

Since [Nora] is in the UK she might not respond until tomorrow.   I can give a little bit of information on your email.  As the application was filed on Dec 31^st they attorneys feel like we will have the approval between January 31^st and February 15^th.  Once it has been approved it will take a few days to get in the system so at this time we are targeting mid February.

Below is the list of items that you will take with you to the appointment in NY.  Several of the items the attorneys have and they will be sending back to you.  My understanding is there is a link to make the appointment but you can do that until you have the approval.

Okay, back to Heather’s voice. I am hoping we’ll have most of this resolved by February 15. That is the date I’m bearing in mind as I try to sit on my hands and wait patiently.

This week, the kids have gone back to Treehouse. They need some routine and they’ve missed their friends. It’s good to have them back there and walking back in there Tuesday morning felt like a giant hug. Yesterday, we hosted our monthly book club party at our house. The party was exactly what my soul needed. And tomorrow we have a field trip with our Treehouse friends. Frankly, while I’m waiting to leave, I am deeply enjoying the relationships we have with friends here in Austin.

I promise to let you know more as soon as I know what’s happening!

* Not her real name…

Todd & I leave for Belgium on Friday. The purpose for this trip is house-hunting. Unfortunately, we learned this morning that the place which looked to be the best fit for us is now under contract until April. In a perfect world, we’ll find a furnished 3-bedroom space with a reasonable commute for Todd. We had hoped to find corporate housing, but there are only a couple of places in Leuven which offer that.

We had our first contact with our realtor this morning. We will meet him in person on Monday and see what we can find. The realtor has told us that a couple of hours Monday afternoon will be plenty of time to see all of the options because there will likely only be 1 or 2. Fun fact: a “short” lease in Leuven is 3 years long!! People don’t tend to move as often, apparently.

The realtor also suggested we consider looking for a place in Brussels. This is less than ideal because it will mean a longer commute for Todd, but Brussels also looks beautiful, so that may be what has to work for us. We’d like to find something furnished with at least 3 bedrooms so we have room to homeschool without climbing on top of each other at every turn. Laine would also like us to live in a castle. I’ll keep you posted on how that works out…

Todd’s parents are going to stay with the kids in Austin while we’re gone. I am sure they will all have a great time while we’re gone, but I’m still a little nervous leaving my babies behind while I travel across the globe without them. We’ll be back next Wednesday and I am sure we’ll all have grown and learned new things in the interim.

Meanwhile, I recommend that you brace yourselves. I will be arriving in Leuven (and maybe Brussels) for the first time this weekend. I am sure I will be posting alllllll the pictures on social media and will try to blog about some of my first impressions.

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From my previous post:

I *think* all of the paperwork we need to file has been completed and turned over to the people who are working through the immigration process on our behalf. We’ve been reviewed by the FBI, examined by our doctors, and met with the surveyor to review what we can air-ship. (They think the 2 crates will weigh less than 200 pounds. I think they don’t understand how many books and games we use for homeschooling).

We have a great friend lined up to house-sit in our absence. This is a huge answer to prayer – for her and for us!

I finished Laine’s quilt and I’m cutting the fabric for Isaac’s. No pressure there…

It appears Alexa will work in Belgium.

Hello and welcome to my first post under the new title of the blog. If you’re not already aware of this exciting new chapter for the Walter family, we are moving to Leuven, Belgium for about 6 months. Todd is going to be the integration manager at a branch of National Instruments in Belgium. We leave January 28 and expect to be back here in time for the kids to return to our beloved Treehouse Learning Community in September 2019. 

We are so excited to be going on this grand adventure! Hopefully these blog posts will help you keep up with us. I will also post plenty of photos and updates on social media. This blog should give you more depth about life in Leuven and the many travels we hope to take while we’re living in Europe.

If you haven’t heard about what we’ve been doing, well… that’s because we’ve been so busy doing the things that we haven’t had much time for other things. Belgian immigration is no joke. There are a lot of hoops to jump through! So far:

1. We’ve asked Todd’s parents to take care of our sweet Jackson while we’re gone. Leaving our 11-year-old “baby” behind is definitely the hardest part of this entire process. I met with the vet last week and she assured me that leaving him with people who love him is the right thing to do. 16+ hours of travel, potentially both to move there AND to move back, in addition to quarantines is going to be too much for our little old man.

2. Todd and I have both had medical exams and gotten officially signed documents from our doctors that we’re safe to travel (or allow into Belgium). 

3. We’ve been fingerprinted by Williamson County Sheriff’s Department and submitted those fingerprints to the FBI for background checks. The fun part of this is that the FBI is going to mail us the results of these checks, but we’re not allowed to open the envelopes before submitting to Belgian immigration. I sincerely hope the return address label says “Federal Bureau of Investigation” so we don’t make a mistake.

4. Requested (and, thankfully, received) new copies of both kids’ birth certificates as well as our marriage license. Here’s a fun fact! They needed birth certificates to have been printed within the last five years and the marriage license had to have been printed within the last one year. Huh?

5. Scheduled an appointment with the kids’ pediatrician and a notary to get their official medical approval to move to Belgium. That should happen this afternoon.

6. Met with a moving surveyor to discuss what things we can send in a “small air shipment” in addition to what we can fit in our suitcases. I think we’re going to need bigger suitcases AND those nifty vacuum-sealing bags for our clothes. And possibly a temporary gym membership so we can haul a bunch of stuff through the airport. I’m hoping we can ship most of the homeschool books, however, so we aren’t carrying those.

7. Booked flights for Todd and me to travel to Belgium in early January so we can house-hunt. The kids are going to stay home with Grandma and Grandpa.

8. Discussed travel to about 1,000 different places! On the list of possible options: Poland, Macedonia, Denmark, Ireland, Croatia, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. Places we’ll definitely go: Bruges (in Belgium), The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and Germany.

9. The kids and I have started Dutch classes through Pimsleur audiobooks. I understand that nearly everyone can speak English, but I’d like to try to learn the language of the place we’ll be living. I am also considering trying to find Flemish (Dutch) classes for us once we’ve moved.

Todd’s in Belgium this week so he could be there for the signing of the documents that will allow us to move. It’s official! The documents have been signed and we will soon be on our way.

A few things are still in the hopper:

1. Figure out who is going to live in the house while we are gone. There are a couple of people who’ve asked us about it. I hope we find the right arrangement. We don’t want to leave the house sitting empty for half of a year.

2. I am making new quilts for both kids so they’ll have them in their new rooms. And I haven’t finished either one. This seemed pretty easy until I realized that I won’t be home for much of the month of January… If you see me on social media in the next few weeks, feel free to remind me of this. LOL!

3. Find out whether Alexa works in Belgium.

4. Setting up new bank accounts, finding jiu jitsu classes for the kids, and learning where eggs and milk are stored in the grocery stores. 🙂 And maybe a few other things…

5. Scheduling our itinerary for your visit to see us.