So sorry we haven’t posted in so long, things at our house are SO hectic and stressful right now. I keep yelling, “Calgone—take me away!!” but it’s not working! I’m not even sure where to begin to tell you all that has happened. Even now the only reason I have time to make this post is because it’s Sunday evening and it’s supposed to be a “day of rest,” i.e.—I can’t pack!
Since the last post Brian graduated from Kindergarten. He won several awards one was for being a good listener. Who knew!! We were also able to go home on leave and visit family for two weeks. It sure was easier to fly with three little boys with Derek around. :) One of the security workers commented on how well our children went through security saying, “It looks like they know just what to do.” Apparently he could tell that I had trained them well and they were experienced travelers. Our trip was tons of fun and we enjoyed seeing everyone but it was continuous running the whole time and we still didn’t get everything fit in. We were actually looking forward to getting home to rest from our vacation—funny how that works. But that hasn’t happened. We got home only to find out that there are so many people moving from our base right now that there was no way we could schedule our movers at the time we needed them. So now instead of the Army moving us we have to move ourselves. YUCK!! One of the only things that makes me able to move so much is I don’t have to do most of the work. Thank goodness!!!! Too bad we aren’t so lucky this time around. Although we do have to fill all our own boxes we did splurge and hire a professional company to load, drive, and unpack the truck. That helps a lot. It’s expensive but worth the cost when you consider how much it decreases my stress. :)
Everything with our move seems to be messed up. I guess nothing can ever be easy. The Army makes us jump through many hoops to get everything done and they haven’t made it easy for us. Derek has been frantically running around trying to figure out how to get everything cleared so we can leave on time. Meanwhile I am swimming in boxes trying to get everything packed. Even now we are scheduled to drive away from here on Friday and we are still wondering when and how everything is going to get done. But I know that God is aware of us and our situation and is watching out for us. After we first found out that we had to move ourselves I was stressing about where and how we would get boxes. We happened to get this magazine in the mail that was to the wrong address. It was to the same house number as ours but a total different street clear across post—the name wasn’t even like ours. Well we were out driving around and were going to be in the area so we decided to deliver the magazine to the owner. It was just a dumb magazine so I didn’t think it was that big of a deal but Derek insisted that we deliver it. As we drove down the street I noticed a house with a ton of empty boxes on the front porch. I knew that the only way we were going to get boxes was if I got brave and asked for them. So totally going out of my comfort zone I got brave and had Derek stop and I ran up to the door to ask if we could have their boxes. Much to my surprise and delight I knew who answered the door. It was a sister that had been in our ward about 6 months ago whom I had actually been a visiting teacher too. They had moved to go to training and once it was over had come back. They had just moved back that week. So not only did I get the boxes I didn’t have to feel silly for asking someone for their boxes and she called us later when she had more boxes emptied so we could get more. Some would say it was just a coincidence but we know that it was truly a tender mercy and a reminder that God is watching over us. Somehow I know that all will work out with this move, I just have to keep reminding myself of that.
Speaking of our move—if you didn’t know already we are moving. You’ll have to use your geography skills as for privacy purposes I’m not going to say where. It’s about a 5 ½ hour drive north from where we are now. I’m not sure how excited I am to move there. It will be a neat place with tons of stuff to see and do but all the traffic and people scare me a little. I just keep reminding myself that I drove in 7 lanes of traffic on the interstate when we lived at Fort Lewis and I can do it again. But we found a house that is two miles from the church and Wal-Mart , one mile from Brian’s school, and 5 miles from a post. So I have my essentials close by and should be okay. Although we are 5 miles from a post it’s not Derek’s post. He actually has a 20 minute commute to enjoy every day. :) I guess that’s actually a close commute to most people in the area. We opted for the commute to get our kids a decent school. Had we lived closer to or on base Brian would have been one of the only white children in school at a school with standardized test scores in the 40’s and 50’s. The sad thing is that was one of the good schools in the area. Scary! Hmm . . . it sure was easier to move when we didn’t have to think about such things.
In September we will have been here for two years and I guess that’s our max at places right now so its time to move on. The crazy thing is that when we leave we (meaning the boys and I) will have lived in our current house for 20 months while Derek on the other hand will have only lived in it for 5 months with at least a month of that time not actually being spent at the house but on vacation. Crazy!! We decided that it will always be the house that the boys and I lived in. We had just recently moved in when Derek deployed so it was filled with unpacked boxes. It wasn’t until he came home for R&R that he saw it boxless. I was teasing him the other day that now that it’s filled with boxes again he should feel more at home since now it’s just like the house he left behind. :)
I have tons of pictures to post but no time to do it. Someday I hope to get them posted—maybe when I’m sitting in my new house with nothing to do because my stuff hasn’t been delivered yet. I guess we’ll see. Until then don’t give up on us, I will update the blog someday.
