Repatriation: Team Jansen Moves Back to the U.S.A.

Heyo Family and Friends,

As most of you know, after 5.5 years abroad, Team Jansen is moving back to the U.S. These years abroad have changed us and our lives immensely. We’ve been pushed outside our comfort zones constantly, experienced wondrous travel adventures, identified and grew our spirituality, had a baby in Singapore and another in Philippines (both during the pandemic), and learned so much about ourselves.

We’ve befriended incredible people from around the world, who have become framily. They are certainly what we’ll miss the most. Being away from your family back home is hard, especially when it’s half a world away, but our Singapore and Philippines crews stepped up big time. They were there for everything… the birth of our babies, holidays, birthdays, the backyard BBQ, joint-family vacations, navigating a pandemic, and more. Thank you for loving us and for always being there. We love you so deeply.

To say we’re drowning in repatriation logistics is an understatement. Travis is working two jobs on opposite ends of the world and Samantha is doing her best to coordinate the move logistics, run the PH household, and set up the U.S. household. There is not enough time in the day to complete everything and we’re scrambling with late nights on the few in-between weeks we’re together to finish things. Here is a simplified recap of what we’ve been doing these last three months in preparation for our move… and we’re likely leaving out some things because our brains are running on fumes.

• 13 JUL – Puppers’ rabies titer test; Followed by two months of seemingly endless paperwork for pet import
• 16 JUL to 23 JUL – Solo one-week Mom and Dad home finding trip to the U.S.; Successful trip acquiring a home two vehicles, daycare/school for the kiddos, met the neighbors, and more [reference mission log at end of post for a full debrief]
• All of AUG and SEPT – Samantha purges household items for online sale; Works on securing new employment for household staff; Coordinates support on U.S. side upon arrival (thank you, Moms and Ali!)
• 01 AUG to 08 AUG – Team Jansen one-week trip to U.S. for 909 Reunion and signing/closing on our new Washington home
• 13 AUG to 19 AUG – U.S. work trip #1 (Travis starts 50% travel between Philippines and Washington, U.S. and somehow takes on two executive-level positions on separate timezones simultaneously); Travis picked up keys to the house and both vehicles from the dealership; Samantha takes on two kids with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease
• 25 AUG – Luna and Vince’s CDC Import Permits approved with an error; Reissued on 29 AUG
• 27 AUG to 02 SEPT – U.S. work trip #2; Acquired Samantha’s U.S. phone and transported carseats from PH to home vehicles; Arden starts walking; Travis’s credit card cancelled due to fraudulent charges; Samantha prepares as much as possible for sea shipment
• 03 SEPT – Samantha and Travis spend 13 hours sorting and labeling the household goods for sea shipment
• 04 SEPT to 08 SEPT – Samantha supervises sea shipment packing and loading. Two issues: stolen money and explosive tiles due to pressure in the living room (23 tiles broken in the end); Slept on air mattresses
• 09 SEPT – Home rental furniture delivered
• 10 SEPT to 16 SEPT – U.S. work trip #3 including a company-wide involuntary separation; Merrick starts school (13 SEPT); Samantha coordinates all service provider set-ups and payments for U.S. home; Sea shipment departure delayed (original 18 SEPT to new 23 SEPT – difficult to watch all your coordinating go down the drain with one change)
• 18 SEPT to 22 SEPT – Travis’s replacement in Philippines for an introductory week; Samantha creates memory books for Charity and Marg as going away keepsakes (to gift later)

The remainder of our time is a little more bittersweet fun than the last three months.

• 23 SEPT – Sea shipment departs
• 24 SEPT to 30 SEPT – U.S. work trip #4; Samantha to take girls’ trip to South Korea 29 SEPT to 01 OCT; Travis has guy’s day/night 30 SEPT
• 02 OCT – Mom and Dad dive day in Anilao, Batangas
• 03 OCT – Pre-inspection of home for repairs
• 04 OCT – Air pack/shipment day; Family down to their final flight bags for next 20 days
• 04 OCT evening to 06 OCT – Work trip/family trip and going away party with colleagues in Subic Bay, Philippines
• 07 OCT – Going away party with friends at our house
• 08 OCT to 14 OCT – U.S. work trip #5 (final)
• 14 OCT to 16 OCT – Family trip to Siargao Island, Philippines
• 17 OCT or 18 OCT – Puppers’ health check for final flight; Family moves to temp living
• 19 OCT – Rental furniture picked up; Final clean of the house; Going away dinner with household staff
• 20 OCT – Final inspection/handover of home
• 21 OCT – Dinner and Hamilton with friends
• 23 OCT – Pupper’s flights to U.S.; Final farewell to Marg
• 24 OCT – Family flights to U.S.; Final farewell to Frank and Charity
• 26 OCT to 04 NOV – Grandma Kim support week
• 02 NOV – Sea shipment arrives to port for 2-3 week import inspection
• 04 NOV to 10 NOV – Grandma Sherry support week (departs 08 NOV); Himalayan Trek trip postponed to next year
• 12 NOV to 17 NOV – Ali support week

As you can see, it’s an overwhelming process and emotions are high. We have decision fatigue every single day. This is definitely the hardest thing our family has done together. We’re all excited one minute and devastated the next. While it’s going to be incredible to be closer to family and we’re very thankful for that, there is much we’re leaving here. The most difficult part has been seeing Merrick go through this move. He’s gutted to be leaving Charity and he’s very much aware of it. We as adults find these emotions difficult and we’re asking our little 3-year-old to navigate the same emotions. He’s currently going through a fear of abandonment stage, has had night terrors, is biting/hitting to try to regulate these intense emotions, and cries everyday about leaving Charity. His sleep regresses every other week when Daddy is on a work trip. Likewise, Marg and Charity are really struggling with the inevitable departure. Charity’s been with our family our entire time abroad and she and Merrick have such a special bond. It’s so hard to see them hurting. Add in dealing with our own emotions, while trying to save some sort of effort to put into our marriage at the end of the day… it’s a lot. Although we’re in the thick of it right now, there is one thing for certain… we will forever be grateful for our experiences abroad and we will do this again in the future.

We’re excited to reconnect with family and friends back home. We’re looking forward to what our new home in the Pacific Northwest has to offer… cooler weather, gorgeous terrain/hiking, coastal living, and so much more. We hope to host you there soon.

For fun, we selected one or two photos from every trip we’ve taken while living in Asia and put them at the end of this post in chronological order. In the 66 months we lived in Asia, we took 45 trips (give or take) for fun. Even wilder to think the pandemic shut everything down for 24+ months of that time. We’re filled with so much gratitude when reflecting on this. Enjoy reliving the memories with us.

Please note, we’ll likely be distant in the coming weeks as we say “goodbye” to our life here.

All our love,

xo Team Jansen

Home finding week mission log

Mission Log: arrived at 47.4436° N, 122.2961° W six earth revolutions ago, located family home after viewing 14 starting Sunday across 4 neighborhoods, screening hundreds over last two weeks, offer accepted on Wed, earnest money down, loan approved, no appraisal required, home measurements taken, met both neighbors, one with Rhodesian puppies and 4 similar age kids, one retired. Neighborhood familiarization, located campground and beach nearest park, viewed potential school for Merrick, located aquatic center, established favorite little pizza joint and cafe, test drive commute to and from work, visited two car dealers, located and researched two targeted make/model/year, negotiated two car cash purchase, completed sales process and wire transfer, quote bundled home and auto insurance and selected provider, pending policy underwriting, attempted to get US phone line but need trade in phone from PH (postponed), dinner with old boss, dinner with new boss, tasting flight in WA wine country, 5k morning hike in Lord Hill Park complete with snakes, frogs, snails, and deer, daily video chats with our boys, too little sleep, more than a few knock down drag outs, the best Bloody Mary, HUGE cups of coffee, a Kia Forte with suspect transmission, boring Boeing future of flight tour, special thanks to Jeanette best realtor we have ever had the pleasure to work with, Cody who was 3 months on sales job but acted with our interest in mind and was so supportive, Joe and Marilyn for Loan and insurance counsel, EV Baum for extensive Sienna expertise and counsel, Momma Sherry with the codes, Marg and Charity for kiddo support, and one high-speed police pursuit of a junky old car missing one wheel, which passed us throwing sparks at least 10 feet in the air. It was a wild week…