Going to Singapore

My husband, Rich, has worked in the Futures Industry for the past 30 years.  In late October of 2012, he was offered a job in Singapore.  We have 4 children, but in late August of 2012, we became empty nesters.  With all of our children away from home, preparing to follow their career dreams, we thought this was an opportunity worth exploring.  Rich spent 3 weeks in Singapore in December, and found the job to be a good fit for his talents and expertise.  We spent the next 1 1/2 months preparing for the move.  Because 2 of our children are still in college, and 1 is doing an internship to complete her masters program, and doesn't know where she'll end up, we decided not to sell our house.  I will spend the school year in Singapore with my husband, and the school vacations home in Chicago with my children.  Even though it was not a full move and house sale, there was still much to be done.  Luckily, Singapore is always warm, so we only needed to bring summer clothes.  But we needed to outfit a new house with the things we would want to make it our home.  We also needed to be able to pay our bills from Singapore, and we needed to prepare our taxes for the previous year.  We were also strongly advised to find a house sitter, so that our vacant house wouldn't be a temptation for burglars.  Finally, we had to find a good home for our three dogs.  Thankfully, my mom volunteered to be the dog sitter during our absences.  With all of our preparations completed, we left for Singapore in late January of 2013!