June in a nutshell

I feel as though time is flying...it's already the end of June! and I don't mean this to sound bad or selfish, but I'm so ready for this month to be over.

This month has been filled with unexpected dental surgery ($$$$), plumbing issues ($$$$), home inspection, appraisal, school, work, and just life in general. We were scheduled to close on our house this week but didn't look like it was gunna happen...come to find out it is! We are officially set to close tomorrow and will be so relieved once it's all official. No more cleaning for showings, no more negotiations...just ready to know this is one chapter closed! Don't get me wrong, it's bittersweet because this house holds so many memories for us, but the actual process of it all will be a relief to have behind us.

We officially have our orders in hand and are beginning the process of arranging our TMO (mover's to come pack and store) and we have dropped our info off for the AF to begin booking our flights! Life is super crazy right now, and while I know it's bound to get crazier, I'm a tad bit on overload! Time for me to put my happy face on and start cleaning so the house is ready for our walk-through tomorrow. If we happen to cross your mind throw up a prayer for us and our sanity ;)

 

It's hit me.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”--Mark Twain

As of 2 days ago, we will be moving out of our house in less than 2 months. If I hadn't had a freak out moment yet, this was it. It hit me...hard.

Don't get me wrong, we are filled with excitement and can not wait for this adventure, but it's all starting to become more real...

We recently found out that our amazing daycare provider, who has watched Logan since he was just weeks old, will be going out of town for a bit at the end of July and not returning till the beginning of August. This means his last official daycare day is about a month away. [Oh my gosh. Still freaking out.] His birthday party is about 1 month away and less than 3 weeks after that, we will be gathering with our precious families to say our "see ya later's."

I've started to do as much research as I can to become prepared for what's to come in terms of what it will be like when we land, cars, housing, flight information, internet...etc. and while I'm so excited, I find my heart torn by what we are leaving.

My job will be a hard thing for me to leave. The company I work for is beyond amazing. My boss is pure awesome, and my co-workers have become my best friends. My patient's are my world here... I was discharging a patient recently and as I hugged his neck to say goodbye, I was holding back tears. These people have been such a blessing to me that words cannot even begin to describe how hard leaving them is going to be.

Our home. This was the first home that Jon and I owned together. We made memories here, brought our first baby home here, watched him take his first steps in our living room, and used this home as a safe-haven during Jon's deployment. This home has been a comfort and a sense of peace and safety for so many reasons. But as we are not planning on returning to Abilene, we decided selling was our best option, allowing another family to make their own memories here.

Family. Just typing that word has me crying. Our families are so amazing and we want each of you to know how hard leaving is going to be. But we want to also thank each of you as well because without your love and support and encouragement through it all, we wouldn't have this awesome opportunity at our feet.

A blog I once read said this,

"It’s amazing, when you really think about it. Moms and Dads willingly subjecting themselves to inevitable heartbreak each time their child leaves home again. Our families teach us courage by their example, by the hugs they give so freely, by the tears they hold back to shield us from their own pain."

This could not ring more true for our wonderful family, and we want you to know how much we love all of you!

 

While these things will be so hard to leave, we know that God has an awesome plan ahead for us. We are going to have such an adventure and learn new customs and experience a new culture that very few people get the chance to do. We truly are so excited and I hope that my above message doesn't take away from that. We count ourselves blessed beyond measure and so thankful that we were selected for this journey.

I hope you all know how much you mean to us and in the midst of excitement and preparing for this adventure, you remain on our hearts and mind. ALWAYS.

My Kryptonite

Yesterday Jon and I happened to have our lunch hour at the same time, so we opted to go out to lunch [toddler free] and just spend a meal sitting in the same booth together. (oh the little things!)

Our food arrived and with my first bite and excrutiating pain in one tooth brought me to tears. After a call to the dentist begging him to see me, he told me I have a crack in my very back tooth. Given my bad luck with crowns failing in the past, my best option in all of this is a root canal. :(

Dental work is my absolute kryptonite. I'd rather take advanced triganometry, in Spanish, outside in the Arizona heat, than have dental work done. Alas, since we have so much going on in the next two months, I opted to get this over with. So Wednesday morning ya'll keep me in your prayers!

Questions

Throughout this process we have had many questions that we've needed answered, and I'm sure we will have MANY more along the way. However, I'm going to answer the most common ones WE get asked so that our friends and family can kinda keep up with what's going on :)

1. What will you do with your cars?
Well, unfortunately, we are unable to ship our vehicles overseas so we will be putting them in storage for the duration of our tour. When we arrive overseas (from what I understand) they have a "lemon lot" on base where you can buy a decent, used vehicle for around $3,000.

2. When do you leave?
End of August

3. Will you live on base?
Yes, for many reasons. Base housing is more "American-ized"...meaning they have dishwashers, washer and hot air dryers, etc. We will be downsizing into a 2 bedroom apartment type situation, but most of the housing has recently been re-modeled and is all made out of cement for their crazy weather.

4. How will the phone situation work?
Jon and I plan on getting local cell phones so he and I can communicate locally, and we will also be purchasing a MagicJack that we can plug into our computer and make international calls with no additional charges. The only way family will be able to initiate the phone call is if it's done via Facetime when we are home or in an area with Wi-Fi. Family stateside can also purchase the MagicJack if they want to be able to call us too...but financially it makes more sense for us to arrange a time for us to call you and make a "date" out of it :) A MagicJack can be purchased at BestBuy for $70, and that comes with a years worth of international calling. After that year you pay a monthly fee of about $25.

5. What will you do with all your furniture?
We plan on taking most of our furniture, but the items we can not take we will be putting in storage.

6. What's the time difference?
We are currently on Central time, so based off that, Japan is 14 hours ahead. For instance, it's 6:15pm on June 3rd as I type this, but it's 08:15am on June 4th in Japan.

7. What are you doing with the dogs?
My beautiful mama will be adopting our pups while we are gone. We are sad not be able to take them, but I swear these dogs love my mom more anyway so they will be just fine ;) haha

8. Will you [Jalane] work?
They do have a Naval Hospital on base that I plan on trying to get on with. Nothing full-time, just enough to keep my skills and experience up.

9. How long will you be gone?
about 3 years

10. Will you make trips home during your tour?
Sadly, airplane tickets range from $2,000-$2,500 round trip/per person...so to pay for the plane tickets alone for a trip home will be almost near $10,000 and that's not including the taxing jet leg and other expenses that accompany international traveling. (And for the record, I'm dreading the 17 hour flight with a toddler...just thought I'd throw that out there! haha.)
From what I understand, we may be able to catch the military hop flights to Hawaii and perhaps meet family there to vacation together... and that may just be cheaper for all of us. We are also looking at the situation like this...when we come back home after the 4 years, we will be able to travel the states all we want again. Chances are we wont be in Japan again so if we are going to spend the money to travel, we feel we should take advantage of the traveling opportunites we will have on that side of the world :)

11. Will you get to take time off before you leave?
YES! Jon and I will be . We will have going away parties at each location so if you want in on that info, shoot me an email :) We'd love to see everyone before we leave.

I strongly encourage you to comment or email me with any other questions for me to post about...perhaps you have thought of something that we haven't yet!!!!!! We are very open about this experience and we want all of our family and friends to know what's going on during all of it :)

House

As I'm sure you can imagine, we have a TON of things on our list of things to do for our move...But one major task was selling our house!

 

 The day after we found out we were receiving orders, we called USAA and within a few hours, they hooked us up with Coldwell Bankers here in town. We knew that getting the house listed was a top priorty because we want to know it's sold before we go so that we aren't stressing/trying to manage everything from another country. However, our buying experience through Coldwell Banker was beyond frustrating and so upsetting that we were extremely hesitant to list through them for selling. Thankfully though, a nurse I work with has a sister who is a realtor through them, and she has been SO amazing during the selling process that it has renewed our faith in the task of owning a home. [Seriously, if any of you Abilene peeps need a realtor for any reason, Char Glidden has been our absolute hero...check her out.]

Anyway! within 48 hours of the house being listed we had a bite! And 3 weeks later (after much negotiations) we are under contract and waiting for the appraisal!

We've had the inspection, and after finding a plumbing issue that we had to fix, all is well and we are scheduled to close at the end of the month. PRAISE GOD! The appraisal is set for tomorrow and that will be the last of it all until we sign on the dotted line :)

 

In Case You Missed the Memo...

Just in case you happened to miss the memo....WE'RE MOVING!

 

At the end of the summer, our little family will board a plane for a 4 year adventure in Okinawa, Japan.

We are getting more excited as the days grow closer, but also more nervous as well. We are stoked for the journey that lies ahead and we know that it's going to be one we will never forget.

 

 

As you can imagine, there is a lot of "red tape" one must go through for a big move overseas to a new country...and it's all quite overwhelming; but we've started a binder to organize all our documents, we've sent off for passports, and today we turn in all our forms for our medical clearance. As of June 1st it was 90 days till we leave! In the 87 days now that we have left, we have to manage to sort through all our stuff as we prepare to downsize...so we are trying to decide what we're taking, what we're storing, and what we are garage selling! As you can imagine, this in itself is quite overwhelming.

During the process and while we are overseas, I'm vowing now to attempt to make an effort to keep you all updated on our adventures and experiences along the way. I know most of us are connected via facebook and such, but over here, I can elaborate a bit more on what we have been doing, and not force it into your newsfeed on facebook ;)

We love you all and appreciate all the prayers and support we have been getting from everyone. We truly know in our hearts that this opportunity is a blessing from the most high and that He will guide our every step!

Jon's Homecoming Video

Together forever and never apart...
Maybe in distance, but never in heart...