We're Moving on up...To a Deluxe apartment in the sky!

It's here. After 4 months of denial, excitement, denial, fear, denial, stress, and some more denial our moving day has arrived. Today the express shipment will be packed and taken away. This is a totally new process for me. I have done the conus move several times but trying to sort all of my things into 3 categories has proved a bit tedious. I think I have detached from most of my things and really I think I can be comfortable as long as I have my bed and the kids have everything that makes it feel like they haven't been completely uprooted. Pray for my sweet little ones. I think they are starting to realize that things are getting a little bit crazy. Owen is starting to realize that he won't see his friends again. That is not necessarily true, but many of them he won't. This is the hardest part of being in the Navy. Good bye's have never been easy for me but now that I have to watch Owen say goodbye I think I would leave everyone I know just so he wouldn't have to hurt like that. He will be fine. God has blessed him with a very silly and outgoing spirit. You can't help but like my O. That little girl of mine is another story. She reels you in with those eyes and cute smile, but boy can she scream. I told her it is not very becoming. She doesn't care. She is definitely her own woman.

Anyway, here we are at the first of 4 moving days and the beginning of our journey to Japan. So many unknowns, so much uncharted territory. I trust that God is going to write a beautiful story through all of this. His hand has been on every preparation. He is good. He has blessed us with so many wonderful family members and friends. We look forward in sharing our journey with you.

Caution, You're about to Enter the Spin Zone

I am a FOX News junkie. I admit it. I love me some Fox and Friends in the morning and I enjoy the "No Spin Zone" too. However, I've recently realized that although I don't enjoy the various political parties and news pundits spinning the latest news I do enjoy some spin in my personal life. I have noticed that in particular when it comes to the military part of my life sometimes I need some serious spin on my circumstances. For instance, "We have orders to Timbuktu", most people would respond with "oh my god, how will you do that?" ( thanks for the support), but a military friend would say "oh, at least it's not never never land". "Think of all the adventure and your kids will learn Timbuktuese". On the other hand if my orders were to never never land my military friends would respond with "Oh, that is great you didn't get Timbuktu".

Another example would be "Jeff is on call for the 37th night in a row". This is when Nisha, wife of a Navy doctor would say "I know it, this residency thing "s-u-x's" (we spell because we have 4 year olds that pick up every word we say, especially the ones we don't want them to hear) but at least you don't have to cook dinner, you can get the kids to bed early and watch tv or have a glass of wine".

When Jeff got orders to deploy I think my response was something like "Oh my gosh, the squadron is going to Iraq in 3 weeks and I have no idea what to do". My civilian friends were certainly supportive but my military friends were the ones who really got me through. They said things like "You're going to do great!" "All that extra pay is nice" "At least he's not on a ship, he'll be on the ground and probably won't leave the base" "But he's not missing any major holidays, it's a really "good" time for him to go".

There are countless examples of how my sweet military wife friends have encouraged me and spun my circumstances into something more positive than I could have imagined they'd be. But the other thing I love about these sweet people is that they know that there is a time when things just cannot be spun. For instance when Jeff missed his only brother's wedding, Kristin said "all the extra pay doesn't really make up for missed family events, I know that is hard". Or when Arica drove her self to the hospital, her water broken, in labor with her first baby and her husband was half a world away. There was nothing I could say that would make that better. I will never forget the tears in her eyes when I walked in that room. Oh, but she was strong and she adjusted to being a first time 'single' mom better than I did, both times.

Again, there are countless examples of these experiences. This Navy life is fun, crazy, and hard. I am so thankful for those women who have come beside and me and loved me, taught me, and sent me on. I'm also thankful for how they are helping me prepare for this next adventure. God has certainly blessed me!