Dear Shell Oil... E&P(Exploration and Production).....

Dear Shell E&P,
First off I would like to say that I am grateful to you for providing me and my family some special opportunities and also stability of work and a comfortable lifestyle in which I can stay at home with my children and enjoy some of life's wonderful blessings.
That being said, I am getting terribly annoyed with you. I am tired! I have an almost 3 yr. old who will have lived in Illinois, Louisiana, Calgary and Houston before his 3rd birthday. Granted we chose to take these moves, but it is getting harder and harder to muster up the emotional energy..not to mention the physical energy that it takes to make such big moves. We have waited since the beginning of October...first wondering if Earle was still going to have a job, and secondly wondering where in the world you were going to send us to next...we waited out 6 weeks before we found out that answer..and it was a tense 6 weeks, we prayed and prayed about where the spirit was going to lead us next..and the Lord granted us a place that might provide some stability for the next many years...to Houston! So upon hearing that we were so excited and waiting to hear when our moving date would be. We thought it would be the beginning of January because that is when Earle's job was sort of officially supposed to shift over. Here we are mid-January...still, no word from human resources on the in's and out's of our transfer. People are having goodbye parties for us...but we are not quite gone yet! Everywhere we go, people are asking us when our move date is..and we still have to say...uhm...we don't know yet. I need to be able to say goodbye to people so I can emotionally deal with the saying goodbye and move on to the next step...it is how I process!!! We are spending the emotional energy on the anticipation of when you are going to give us an answer!!
I have finally remembered to tell Earle to contact the off-shore rep. who lives in Manila..to see if he can get the relocation process going. I find it bizarre that someone in the Philippines is doing the organizing for something that really is only happening to a small family in North America.
And to be honest, I am not thinking about what happens even after we arrive in Houston..only what happens before we get there. We still have bank accounts to switch to American Dollars, a car to sell and buy, a house to put up for sell, a house to buy, a church to find, a school to find...and social community to establish. Don't get me wrong, you help pay for all of these things and you make try to make the process less difficult for us...but still!!! I even think you could be making me fat from the unnecessary emotional calories I have consumed lately. I may need to write your CFO a letter to see if he would be willing to pay for anxiety meds, diet pills and a possible tummy tuck upon my arrival back to the US...come on..seriously, it is the least you could do.
Shell, I need some closure...I am too tired to deal with you at this point...I need to be done now. Most women would not put up with being in this type of limbo. I thought you loved me. Don't make me call you colorful names. I need a break!

Expatriate Wife,
Carrie Brown

(That being said, I am blessed beyond measure, I know this. God is good and his timing, I know, is perfect.)