We just got word last week that our visas should be ready by the middle of June. Our visas are the last “official” piece of business that needs to be taken care of before we can actually move. In fact, since we have already applied for visas it is actually illegal for us to be in Ireland until we have them.

After we get our visas we will book Jon’s final house-hunting trip (this one will actually be a lease-signing trip!). We want to make sure at least one of us gets to see in person the place that we will be living to make sure it will accommodate our family. Jon will probably travel to Ireland about 3 weeks after we get our visas and we’ll start packing up during those 3 weeks. Once he returns from the lease-signing trip we should be ready to move within a week or 2…so, looks like we should be in Ireland by the end of July or early August!

This is perfect timing because we’ll get to spend time with family who will be visiting in early July and possibly even celebrate Jacob’s first birthday here with the people who already know and love him 🙂 It’s also great because we have been given one trip home per year that we live in Ireland, as long as there are at least 6 months left on Jon’s contract when we travel. Since we’ll be in Ireland until July 2015, that means we will be able to travel home for Christmas each year that we live over there (because if we travel at the end of December we will still have at least 6 months until we move back home in July 2015).

Two other exciting developments have taken place recently. First, we have found wonderful renters for our home here–they are good friends of ours with two children the same ages as our boys. We know they will take good care of our home–and they’re even going to let us use our garage as a storage unit! Secondly, we have found a church in Ireland. A friend and former co-worker of mine has a good friend who moved to Cork 7 years ago to plant a Christian church. His church is one of only a handful of evangelical Christian churches in the city, so it is amazing that we already have a connection there.

Hopefully I’ll have more news to share again soon!