I've been to the Mountaintop. And I've looked over.

I don't know why Mark is on a Martin Luther King kick - but he is in charge of all titles so I won't question him.

We had a fabulous Christmas at the Dowler house. It was great to spend time with everyone and it was so good to spend time with the kids. Pictures are forthcoming but I can't find the digital camera cord so it may not be soon, as it could be in the container :-)

Emily loved all of her gifts, both from Santa and others and jumped on a plane yesterday morning to get more gifts from Gaga (who she says spoils her the most). It was her first time flying alone and she did wonderfully. The whole process was very simple and speedy. She was quite miffed that she wasn't allowed to board on her own and had to board ahead of time, "I can walk on myself!" she said. She thinks that they must have thought she was younger than 9 as they kept reminding her to do silly things that she already knew, like buckle her seatbelt.

Mark and I took a trip to the warehouse yesterday where all of our stuff has been unloaded. They are really taking care of things. Apparently the whole thing was very badly packed and they had to re-pack and wrap almost the entire shipment. They also prepared a full physical inventory (which is something the first company did not do) which we will need to clear customs both in the States and in the Bahamas. It looks like even if our shipment had gone with the first company we may have had problems with customs anyway(?). She did tell us that our shipment could be a little while longer (maximum 8 weeks... eek! Although we think it will be a lot less) so we are preparing to camp out in Water's Edge. Apparently the freight forwarder they were going to use decided last week that they were no longer going to ship to Nassau. What is wrong with this industry?!!?! Since they have our car we are thinking of purchasing some scooters (which we were going to buy anyway) as soon as we get there so that we have transportation until our stuff arrives.

I think Mark picked the above title because even though this whole experience has been extremely stressful we must remember how fortunate we are to be able to do this move at all. Things could be a lot worse in our lives and we should be thankful for everything that we do have. My biggest concern is Emily and she thinks this is the greatest adventure in the world. We would do well to relax and take her perspective.

My friend Tony in California sent out this wonderful New Year's advice which Mark thought belonged on the blog as it was good advice to share with you all:

"Being the Christmas Season, thought I would pass onsome Holiday cheer. I am sending this on to you because it definitely works and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives. The key to feeling good:"The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished."So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's IrishCream, a bottle of Kalhua, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now. Please pass this on to those whom you think might be in need of inner peace."

There are 3 days until life at Water's Edge.