busy, busy day(s)

Lately I've been feeling like I don't have enough hours in the day. Take today for example:
Woke up late (8:30 because none of us slept last night), had breakfast, took addy to the dog park, went to the JRC and filled out passport papers 3 times for 3 people (9! applications-- so frustrating!), went to the commissary, went to lunch with my friend, came home and made dinner (did 3 loads of laundry between this morning and now), K took a nap so I took an hour and worked on my bible study, the Mr came home and I finished dinner (which included a run to Vons because our carrots were bad.  Have you ever seen Hairy Carrots?  Did the words 'hairy carrots' make you think of the Cubs? because I couldn't help but think of harry carry as I was contemplating using said carrots.) after dinner I had a doctor appointment.  Got home at 8:45 and folded laundry. Now a mountain of dishes are staring at me. So, basically, I got laundry and passports done.  I think it feels like I didn't get much accomplished today because I have a monster to-do list staring at me and I feel like if I could just have just a few more hours everyday then it would shrink.  Tomorrow, I have small group, then K has a nap followed by her one year checkup with Dr. Park.  I'm hoping to get to the farmer's market afterwards if there's decent weather and she's not too crabby after her shots.  But if I do those 3 things then nothing gets done towards my Japan 'to-do'.


I need to figure out what we're taking with us.  I think we're only allowed 2,250 lbs and according to a bunch of websites they say that one room is about 1,000 lbs!  So that pretty much means one bedroom and the kitchen!  Kind of nervous.  But, at the end of the day, it's just stuff and it doesn't really matter.  I worry about making a mistake that will set us back financially, but I really need to just rely on who is really in charge.  I know God always provides and has always, always taken care of us and that is so comforting.  He hasn't just provided, but has abundantly blessed us.  So I'm going to rest in that knowledge.

Identity Crisis

I have never thought about laws and how they affect me because, largely, they never have.  The big ones growing up were obvious-- no driving til 16, become an adult at 18, drink/gamble at 21, don't speed, don't steal... basics.

But what about residency?  I am legally a California resident.  When I move to Japan, where will I claim residency?  I can't claim Okinawa.  I won't have any ties to California.  I suppose I could claim Illinois because that's where the Mr is a resident, but I legally don't have any ties there.  I wonder if I should get an Arizona ID because I could use my parent's address, but I don't have any legal rights to do that, either.  So, where do I belong?

Such a little thing to take for granted... Where are you from?  I claim Riverdale, IL because I lived there until I was 10 and it's the longest I've lived in one zip code (I even had 2 addresses there!).  I'm 28 and have lived at 17 different addresses (15 if you don't count my dorm addresses). 

I'm looking forward to getting out of the military and settling down!  This is fun now when it doesn't really matter to K where she lays her head down at night, but my dream is that K will be able to go back to her room she grew up in and show her children her childhood room.  I want that kind of stability.  I want deep, deep roots. 

4.

K and I passed medical, so now we're working on the million things to move....

Just got home from a PCS brief.  It was more frustrating/ confusing than it was helpful.  I did learn that we are allowed to bring 2,000 lbs of our stuff.  Looks like we'll be selling a lot of our stuff!

We'll be taking a flight (unclear on if it's a military or commercial flight) to Seattle which will then take us to Japan.  Here's the frustrating part:  We are not guaranteed that Addy will be able to come with us on the AMC (I asked The Mr what AMC meant, but I forgot) flight.  Once we get to Japan we will be put in temporary housing until we are given our permanent housing. We could potentially be assigned housing that does not accept pets, so Addy would need to find a home.  My parents have offered to take her if we can't bring her, but I feel like if I leave her somewhere for 3 years then she's no longer our dog.  She'll be 2 in April and if we leave her here then she will have spent half her life without us.  I don't think that's very fair to her.  They should just tell military not to get pets.  It's not fair to them and I didn't know that we wouldn't be able to bring here wherever we went.

I also found out I need to have a no-fee passport in addition to my leisure passport.  It's kind of like my green card to be there.   I went to the JRC (joint reception center-- see, military loves acronyms!) to find out what documents I need for the no-fee passport and this gal went crazy with her highlighter.  It was kind of funny.  She basically highlighted everything that was typed out in this packet.  It reminded me of when I would flip through the used textbooks in college and whole chapters were highlighted.  I always wondered who those people were.  Now I know! :)

3.

K and I have an appointment Feb 7th to have the medical screening done.  The gal said it only takes 15 minutes/ person, so hopefully it will be painless.
Addy also has an appointment on the 7th to have blood work drawn so the amount of rabies vaccine in her blood can be verified.  Once the blood work comes back positive for enough of the vaccine her 180 day quarantine begins and I don't have to take her to another appointment until 10 days before we leave.
The Mr said he spoke with someone that lived in Japan and they said they took MAC (military) flights to some pretty awesome places.  Basically, military (and dependents) can jump on military planes if there's 'space available'.  Which, I think, means that we fly as cargo.  I just looked at Miramar's space available flights and there are some pretty cool places-- Italy, Turkey, Germany, Korea, Guam, Japan, and Portugal as well as various places in the US.  We've heard Japan has flights to Australia and several flights to Europe, so airfare would be free.  The only trouble with flying space available is that 1. you are never guaranteed to be on that plane, so if you're scheduled to go and there's a last minute change you could be stuck and 2. you fly in the cargo area, which I've heard is not too bad because you can bring a sleeping bag and just sleep on the floor in flight.
Military get paid a bit more when they live in Japan because it's expensive to live there, so I'm hoping that if I can shop frugally we'll be able to take some of that 'extra' pay and travel every now and then.  It would be a once-in-a-lifetime thing... I'm thinking moving there could have it's perks.

2.

Made a decent amount of progress today!  Picked up my EFM paperwork, requested K’s medical records (they say it will take 15 days- yikes!), picked up paperwork from my pulmonologist and gynecologist, went to a dr. appointment and K had a playdate at the park. Did you catch all of that?  K and I went to FIVE different offices today.  My house is a mess, but that’s ok, that’s what tomorrow is for!

People have asked me if I’m excited about going.  The answer that flies out of my mouth is no.  Right now I’m looking at all the things I stand to lose by moving: seeing my parents just about every 3 weeks, my church, seeing our Chicago family & friends (and all the things we will be overseas for like my brother's graduation, Jared's 21st birthday in Vegas, Ethan's 1st birthday.... those are all within like the first year), my familiarity/ comfort with my life here… 

It’s funny, really.  I hated California when I moved here.   I wanted to move back to Chicago after 6 weeks of being here. The people aren’t warm like they are back home.  People in San Diego are very good at keeping their distance until disaster strikes. I’ve been through wildfires, earthquakes, and a county-wide blackout.  People come together to make it through the crisis of the moment and it feels wonderful.  It feels like home; but then things go back to normal, well, California-normal and it gets cold.   But I’ve come to love it here.  What California lacks in warmth it makes up for in endless opportunities.  There is so much to see here and and endless list of things to do.  I always tell visitors I could keep them busy for a month and I wouldn’t even scratch the surface of what San Diego has to offer and I'm not exaggerating.  I can’t imagine leaving here.  I will miss it deeply.

I know once we get to Japan and get settled into our life I will find things to love.  I’ll have more patience for Japan because California taught me that even if somewhere doesn’t have the familiar ‘home feel’ when I get there it doesn’t mean I can't find a new definition of what home feels like.  I will adjust.  We all will. It just may take a little while. 

[I’ve been told, over and over again, people who go to Japan end up loving it there and don’t want to come back.  I’m fairly certain I will never feel like that. ]

In telling family and friends about this blog I realized not everyone is on the same page, so here’s where we stand:

The Mr has orders to report to Okinawa NLT (No Later Than… I love the military’s passion for acronyms.  It’s fun.) May 31.  I believe he gets 30 days leave before his report date.  We haven’t decided how we’re going to spend that time yet.

Here is how this situation may play out:

1.  We all pass our medical screening by Navy medicine and we go to Japan for 3 years.

2.  I fail our medical screening, can’t go, and a) the Mr is sent to Japan for 1 year by himself or b) the monitor (the man who decides where to send Marines) scraps the Japan orders altogether and sends us somewhere else. 

I’m planning for situation 1 and hoping for situation 2b.  Through it all, I know God is in control and if He puts me in Japan then that is where I am supposed to be.  I have peace with whatever happens.  I’m not saying it won’t be hard and I’m not sad about going, but I have peace about it and that is a great blessing.

First Orders

It's finally official.  The Mr has orders to move our little family to Japan.  I've decided to take you with us as we go through all the steps to PCS (which is the military's acronym for Permanent Change of Station).  Right now here's what's on my plate:

• Gather all of my medical records, K's too.  Sounds easy enough, but I have 5 doctors and one dentist to get records from and 1 doctor for K.  I also have to get my EFM (Exceptional Family Member) paperwork because the military requires all dependents with asthma to register in this program.  It's their way of keeping tabs on people with special health considerations.
• Go to Naval medical screening to see if I will be given the ok to go.  We've heard that family members aren't allowed to go to Japan if they have asthma due to the high incidence of mold in the military housing (pretty much everyone lives on base) as well as the high humidity in the summer months.  I've also been told that having asthma is no problem and the Navy will (happily) send me.
• Continue the course to get Addy ok'd to go over there.  So far she's had her annual exam and shots plus a rabies vaccine ($184).  Then this week she got the second rabies vaccine ($22).  In two weeks she goes back for FVN  (don't ask what that acronym is-- I have no clue) titer ($87) to make sure she has an insane amonut of the rabies vaccine flowing through her.  Apparently, Okinawa is a rabies-free island and they really like to make sure it stays that way.  Once the FVN comes back at an acceptable level she begins her 'quarantine' which is the military's way of saying she's under a vet's care for 6 months.   I always thought being quarantined meant she had to sit in a crate, but she gets to stay home with us.
• I need to apply for a no-fee passport for me & K.  It's done on base, so I'm hoping it will be done on time, but I know passports take a while.  We'll have to get K a tourist passport, too, because no-fee passports are only good on official orders; which means, basically, they'll get us to Japan then we can't leave. :)

Things we will have to do in the near future:

• Arrange a trip back home to say goodbye. That is going to be the hardest thing I have ever done.
• Sell cars-- no use in storing them for 3 years and we can't take them with us.
• Sell furniture?  Is it really worth it to store (paid for by the military) couches and beds for 3 years?  From what I understand we don't want to take too much furniture because the homes out there are really tiny.  Also, if TMO (another military acronym for the people that move stuff) damages our stuff they have to reimburse us, but I've also been told that they pay the current market price of that item, which means we would get little to no money for our 4 yr old tv if they damaged it.
• Change insurance companies.  State Farm says they can't cover us.  I also need to find out who insures our things as we move.  Where do I get coverage for our camera?  How do I find renters and car insurance in Japan?
• Change banks?  Do they have Wells Fargo in Okinawa?
• Change cell phone companies?  Makes me sad because I've had that cell number since I was 16.