Gramz Goes to Holland: Well, buckle up and enjoy the Jouney

This is a true story about Allan & Paula and there
two little stowaways, ladybug and frogy, alias
Alie and Spencer.

And what do you
two think
you are doing?

You tell her Spencer!

"Dad Spencer and Alie want to come with us to
Amsterdam."

"Ok... you can come. But no eating each other."

This story began more than one year ago, when

Morningstar announced they were going to open an office

in Europe and transfer some analysts there. Allan expressed interest, but with the caveat that Granny was living with us and he couldn't go as long as she was alive.

Granny 1926-2013

Initially, discussions were more of an office being located
in London or Paris. I told Allan, "I'd love to go to Amsterdam." In the end, Morningstar chose Amsterdam.

Allan emailed his old missionary companion, Sam Ray, about connecting with his daughter Millie, who lived in the Netherlands just in case it happened. After Granny passed, Allan reiterated his interest and discussions became more serious. Finally, a formal offer was made in February.

Who knew we would actually live here!

Things then just began to fall in place. I had worried about what to do with our house, but the spirit said, "relax, it will be ok." Then Sam Ray, emailed that his son Luke had accepted a job offer in Chicago and could we talk to him about places he might live. Who knew, he would end up renting our house. Not only that, but we found out that the Bishop in Amsterdam was Millie's husband's uncle.

On March 24th Allan was notified his paperwork was

close to being approved and we needed to contact the

Dutch consulate in Chicago.

Allan went to their website and it said the first available appointment was April 24.

We had already bought tickets to fly out on April 14.
Allan called a number and was told he could send an email to an address they gave him that would go directly to the Chicago consulate and try and get some help.

They responded that they had just had one cancellation on Saturday March 29 when Allan was supposed to have joined me in Virginia to bless Amy. He looked at the possibility of our flying early Saturday morning to Chicago, going to the appointment, and flying back that night.

It would have been a couple of thousand dollars. He asked what other choices he had and they said try another consulate. He checked Washington DC and they had one on Friday April 4, 2 days after we were supposed to leave.

He also asked if DC had any openings that weren't on the schedule. The man said he'd check and that we should continue checking the schedule for a cancellation. On Monday, Allan received an email from DC that they could meet us on Monday April 1 at 9:30. We cancelled the appointment on Friday and showed up on Monday.

The Dutch Consulate in Washington D. C.

We arrived early, a little after 9. We went in and talked to the security guard and told him we had an appointment at 9:30. He informed us that they don't open until 10.

We showed him the email and he told us to take a seat. At 9:30 he said, you're right, they're here and ready for you.

They had come in early just for us. This was so amazing.
They never do any thing like that.

They asked for our papers and as we went through them, they said you're missing your approval paper.

She said, this paper says it's been sent for review,
but needs to be approved.

Allan said he was told the prior week that it should be approved that week. She said she'd check with Amsterdam.

She came back awhile later and said they had been unable to reach Amsterdam and to continue waiting.

A bit later she came back and said, we've contacted Amsterdam, you've been approved and they've sent the paperwork. Relief....

They asked if we'd like it mailed and we said, we live in Chicago and we're leaving in 2 weeks.

She said, oh,..... can you come back in a couple of hours.

We said yes, we had planned to go to the zoo,
and could come back later.
Huge relief once again.

So off we went to the Zoo with Alie and the family

Big fun at the Zoo. John, Amy under the pink blanket and David. Hi kids

Little Amy

Originally, we were to move to Amsterdam on April 1,

which would be after Alie had her baby.

However, Sharma then got engaged and we were
able to postpone it until April 15 after her wedding
on April 12.

On April 6,

the ward had a farewell party for us hosted by the

Palmers, Hackings and Thomas'. I didn't think

many people would come, but was surprised

and delighted by a great turnout. Thanks everybody.

We then drove to Boise for Sharma's wedding

and had a wonderful time.

You got to love the shoe shot!

We then drove to Salt Lake where we were able to meet my brothers at Elysian Gardens and view our mother's tombstone and then go to Mark's and spend some time together. We then met with Allan's siblings for ice cream at his brother Lynn's house.

We then flew from Salt Lake on April 14 and

arrived in Amsterdam on April 15.

We went on the scenic tour:

Salt Lake to Seattle to Reykjavík,

Iceland to Amsterdam.

Let's watch Dad use those incredible packing skills of his.

We had
to
readjust
the
weight of
our luggage.

I had a slight accident with a grater at security.
But then we were off.

Luckily Allan remembered that he left his coat
on the plane. He was able to go back and
retrieve it. Unfortunately you can't see the
sigh of relief on his face.