An emotional goodbye to Kuala Lumpur…..

Standing just outside the house that we made a home.

Well as per my normal M.O. over the past 6 months, I am severely delayed in writing this post. Life just keeps zipping by and I can hardly catch my breath most days! I guess with a toddler, a newborn, & a move across the world…and all that comes along with that, it’s not surprising is it?! But alas, here is my emotional goodbye to our home for 3 years: the stunningly unique and exciting Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Durian- the king of fruits! (Personally- YUCK)

Delicious and fresh coconuts!

When the whole “conversation” started about a possible move back for David’s job, I didn’t know what to feel. I mean, I was insanely huge and pregnant in the tropics running after a newly minted toddler so that never helps I guess- haha, but I was very conflicted- excited at the possibility of being stateside again where everything is easy & cheap (at least in comparison to KL) & where we would be closer to friends and family from home, but yet also deeply saddened at the thought of leaving the friends we had made in KL and all the exciting memories we had made over the course of 3 short years. I knew that David was ready for a new challenge career wise so obviously a move back was the smart choice, but we also wanted to make best decision for our family- one that would better our lives and the lives of our children for the next chapter of our lives. After all of the back and forth talk….the papers were signed in true Naber fashion: the same week I gave birth to Mac, which was also 10 day after his due date. Seriously. No joke. Talk about pressure and stress overload!! LOL. But we made the decision as a family and then the wheels began to steamroll ahead in preparing us for this huge move. Luckily David & I make an awesome team so we split responsibilities on what is was going to take to get us back home to the states….specifically, to Indianapolis where we would move back to for his job.

Central Market- everything you never wanted all in one place

Love the Chinese lanterns!

Never I day went by over the course of 3 years that we weren’t “photobombed” or stopped by locals due to looking so different than them.

It felt like all in one breath I was introducing our friends to our new baby boy Mac, and at the same time telling them we were moving to the USA in a short 3 months. Shock, excitement, sadness, love, joy…..just a few emotions running through all of us throughout that time. The amount that both David and I grew as a couple and as individuals while living in Kuala Lumpur was immeasurable, so the sideshow of our growth over the course of 3 years kept replaying in our minds and to say we were overcome with a myriad of emotions is an understatement. Thanks in part to my postpartum emotions, I was a crying fool pretty much every day and David wasn’t far behind me (in the most manly way of course!).

We tried to start saying our goodbyes early on so that we wouldn’t be so overwhelmed as we neared our departure date but lets be honest, it didn’t happen that way. We had multiple goodbyes with everyone because quite honestly its simply too hard to say goodbye to friends who have become like family across the world from your own support system in one sitting. Ironically, 2015 seemed to be a huge “mass exodus” of expats from KL. For some reason it was just the year to depart KL- to head back to your own home country like us or to continue on as expats but in another country all together. Both have their own unique struggles, excitement, fear, and adventure. Some, like us, had been there a short 3 years or even less while others who were also leaving KL had been there for many years, or at least expats away from their own home countries for many years. For these reasons, emotions were at a boiling point all over the city. Everywhere we looked people we having “leaving do’s” so we didn’t feel so alone. It enabled us to share our deepest darkest feelings which really helped us to say goodbye and move forward with both feet.

Our amazing OBGYN Dr. Paul Ng

I never would have made it without Jennifer Hor, my midwife!

My golfing, workout, and all around fab ladies 🙂

These ladies, led by our loving leader Chin Chin, helped me keep my eye on the most important person in this journey, and in my life in general.

We med when we where 8 months pregnant with our girls due 1 day apart!

Dads & daughters 🙂

Our lovely friends from the UK who will be stateside soon- sooooo excited!!!!!

Ava enjoying some playtime with her buddies from birth below the famous twin towers 🙂

Stroller posse!

Back in 2012, we arrived as young newlyweds and as the 3 years progressed, we grew our family by 2 and left as a newly minted family of 4. Thats ALOT of change in a short amount of time. ALOT. I birthed 2 children in SE Asia, thus becoming a MOM, I grew tenfold as a follower of christ via St. Andrews Church in a predominately muslim country, I left my corporate job and worked my bum off to be a supportive and happy wife and loving mom all while struggling to keep my identity and figure out my own way of feeling fulfilled (I’m so thankful for my writing!!), I became friends with a core group of ladies who took my arm and showed me how to live across the world from my family and who picked me up when I inevitably had meltdowns. David and I as a couple met some pretty amazing people from all walks of life, we experienced and devoured some of the most delicious cuisines we have ever tasted, we traveled to numerous countries…..I believe our final number was a whopping 13 countries in 3 years, some 2, 3 or even 4 times visited because we loved them so much and about 10 of which included traveling with our firstborn Ava! (which I have blogged about them all so read up on those amazing adventures too!)

Ava with her first teacher- Sathya, at her weekly gym class!

Such a fun class!

Ava and Marie, our church baby whisperer 🙂

With Chin Chin, we love her!!

A final playdate complete with pedicures 🙂

I could write for years about how this experience changed and grew us but as this blog post grows, I swear I’m trying to keep it short and sweet, but some things I just can’t and won’t talk about because it simply too personal. That being said, I think if you know me at all you know I’m a pretty open book so you are getting the gist of most of it anyway :). We had to say goodbye to our neighbors, to my fitness ladies, to our church family, to Ava’s pals, to Ava’s “teachers”, to our couples friends, to our individual friends, to our helper (don’t even get me started on that one), to the house we made a home and brought our babies home to, to our OBGYN and midwife; both of whom saw me through the most crucial days as a new mom, and on and on. SO many tears were shed, tears I didn’t know I had in me nor David in him. I hope that through my writing and through the thousands of pictures I took, that I can someday try and articulate to Ava and Mac how much they were loved on the other side of the world by friends who became our family both near and far.

A little going away/bday party 🙂

Ahh…The Blairs!!! We will miss them so 🙁

Crazy kids!!!

More fun at the party:)

And to our neighbors….thank you for always having an open door and a bottle of wine at the ready!

A short 3 months into our new chapter in the USA, my heart still aches for my life back in KL. I miss most everything about it (except the extreme humidity, the crazy motorcycle drivers and the lack of customer service- LOL). I miss seeing the diversity of life, I miss how warm and kind people are to moms & babies, I miss eating something new on a weekly basis, I miss traveling to a cool new country once a month, I miss our friendships we worked out bums off to make, I miss our church family, I miss the ease of “shopping for a cause”, I miss the tropical fruits, I miss the dirt cheap yet fabulous massages, the list goes on and on. I don’t’ expect to get over my “missing KL/SE Asia” in the near future…that would mean the 3 years I spent creating a life and a family didn’t matter, which is the biggest lie ever. How could I let go and forget about the short chapter of my life where I became a mom and where my husband and I grew more than we ever thought possible both as a couple and individually? Having never been to SE Asia before this, and having been the the majority of the other continents prior to this experience, I can confidently say that SE Asia is far and away the most beautiful and humbling corner of this great earth I have ever been fortunate enough to visit. The people, the vistas, the food, the culture….truly you must do yourself a favor and GO.

The neighborhood posse!

Man I miss this girl- Gwen was a true gem….loved her heart 🙂

Loved our neighborhood crew!

The Ying sisters and Ava- every day was an adventures with these ones 🙂

But back to our life there: It’s truly amazing to me how quickly people that you meet across the world from your home can become such close friends in such a short amount of time. We were all thrown to the wolves together and we managed to survive by leaning on one another, supporting one another, loving one another, and picking one another up. It’s a surreal experience I never knew existed but I am absolutely a better person for it. If I can say this with some semblance of modesty, I think I have become a better wife, a better friend, and a better person overall to all walks of life, having interacted with such a diverse group of people within such a dynamic country such as Malaysia. It’s the most rewarding thing I have ever done and although we are now back in America living out “the American Dream” with a house, cars, and 2 kids…..we have incredible hopes and dreams that our short time as expats in Kuala Lumpur is NOT our last one, that we will be blessed again by God  to call us out into the great unknown again and again….this next time with kids who will remember that moment in time of their short lives.

Going away party with our church family

more babies and kids than you could ever imagine!

I think it’s awesome that in 3 short years my parents came out 4 times, David’s parents 2 times, and David’s brother and wife once. Of course we would have LOVED more visitors but its also understandable why we didn’t get them….SE Asia is a long way from America folks! We are excited to be closer to our friends & family again and hope we can see one another on a more regular basis moving forward. Ironically, some of our closest friends, both from the UK, also left KL and moved on to the USA!!! So we have them to look forward to visiting with, not to mention a handful of other friends in KL who are from the states who we hope to see in the future too, this time stateside. It is absolutely a VERY small world indeed. Before leaving, we were also lucky enough to spend a morning with our amazing photographer Clare in Chinatown, which I think really captures our lives in KL….they are memories we will always be able to look back on and remember with fondness our time in SE Asia.

The wind was ah-mazing!

My favorite temple in Chinatown. Such beauty.

This picture captures more than words could describe

And finally, to all my friends in Malaysia and around SE Asia, words will never be enough to describe what you mean to me. Thank you for your friendships, for your grace, for your forgiveness, for your wisdom, for loving my family as your own, and for so much more (this includes all our friends who are and are not pictured above….you know who you are)!! For my family and friends stateside, thank you for your support & for your love.  As I wipe the tears away in remembrance of my months saying goodbye to the country that we became a family in, I’ll leave you with some shots of us around town saying our goodbyes. But as the saying goes….this isn’t goodbye, this is see you again, real soon!

I adore my little family. I love the hand holding too!

I miss these rinky dinky cafes 🙂

Our man child. He has my whole heart.

Dream big baby girl….the most curious little thing I have ever met!

vroom vroom crazy motorcyclists!

THIS is life in SE Asia. Plastic stools, tin roofs, wet pavement, kleenex used as napkins, intoxicating smells (bot good and bad)…..I will have to tuck this memory into the corner of my heart and never let it go!

Until next time, leap out of your  comfort zone and dream big!

~ Kimbra