Being Under 45 Days . . .

If you have been in the military and have made a move overseas, I'm sure you know my feelings. One minute I'm thinking about what to make for dinner, the next I'm thinking about why do I still have so many things to NOT take to Japan. At dinner, I'm thinking about the phone calls I forgot to make, after dinner I'm concerned about my son's homework, during his homework I realize I need to be starting my inventory.

There just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to get done. We have to get started on the painting in the house we need to do, but we can't do that until my Mom's apartment is ready. She was supposed to be moved Sept. 1st, and today is the 15th.

I have realized that during this whole process, nothing ever goes how it is supposed to. You have to go with the flow and take things as they come. We have done very well with this so far.

My Dad called me yesterday and let me know he and my Step Mom are coming to see us before we leave. I am very happy about that. I will be glad for the break. The boys will be glad to get some bowling in with Grandma and Grandpa.

My poor hubby has put his 46" TV up for sale on Craig's List. He will be sad to see it go. But he gets to buy a new one in Japan. It's Football Season. Way to go Steelers beating the Brown's last night!!

My hubby only has 9 days of school left. Then he will be in a holding place for two weeks on base. Then he will be on leave until we reach Japan. It will be weird for both of us to be home for a month. I'm sure we will enjoy it. (When I'm not giving him things to do....)

We continue to meet some very nice people who have already been to Japan. I would still say 95% of the people LOVED Japan. That is very encouraging in these last months before we go. I have noticed that I am getting more anxious and a little sad. I will miss my family and my pets I'm leaving with my Mom. I know it will be hard missing them. Thank goodness for email so that I can get pics of them whenever I want.

The pet process has been a little easier than I thought so far. We are still waiting on the vet to correct our FAVN certificate with the wrong date on it. Dolly will be with me on the plane until we get to DC and then she will go cargo with Mr. Jenks for the ride to Tokyo. Brian thinks this will cut down on my stress. (SURE IT WILL!) I'll be biting my nails the whole way over the pacific!!

Within 75 Days

August. Wow! That came up fast! I don't believe it, in less than 75 days, my family and I will be MOVED to Japan. It's sinking in quick. We were able to complete more items off of our list. We signed with a property manager to rent our home while we are away. We purchased two more huge suitcases for the trip. We received our travel arrangements and are flying from DC to Japan and made the arrangements for the pets to be on the plane with us. We purchased a soft-sided crate for my puppy to go on the plane with me. I cleaned out more stuff and gave it away or sold it.

I was very excited to start a new Forum on Proboards entitled Atsugi Navy Families, http://atsuginavyfamilies.proboards56.com. I have not been able to find a good site for networking and support of Atsugi families. So I created one and have had good response from other wonderful people going to or already at Atsugi. My goal is to make it so when people search for help for PCS'ing to Atsugi in the future that they will find our board and it will help them immensely with their research and move.

We were so happy to have Hunter for 10 days in a row! We had so much fun together. She really loves to watch me cook. I always try to tell her how I make everything, in case any of it sticks! For some reason, she loves to peel potatoes with her Dad. We had a large Luau/Pirate Pool Party for Hunter and Bryan last Saturday. I had about TWENTY 12 year olds running around my house. 10 spent the night! The girls didn't fall asleep until 4:3o a.m. Yikes. It took me almost 3 days to recuperate. Hunter and Bryan both had a wonderful time!

My Grandma turns 80 this month and my bestest friend in the whole world turns 39. Don't tell anyone I'll be right behind her in April. That's okay, I'm just gettin' better!

My hubby and I went to Glazenfyre in Chesapeake, VA for a Luau Night. Glazenfyre is a ceramics shop run by two wonderful people, Scott & Diana. I painted a cat to look just like my own Mr. Jenks. Brian painted a mosaic tile. It was lots of fun and a nice way for Brian and I to spend some time together.

We are STILL trying to sell my truck. Amazing to me because it's such a wonderful car. I'm going to miss my 4Runner so much!

Hunter and Bryan are doing extremely well in Gymnastics. I am so impressed with how much they are learning. Hunter is working on her back tuck and Bryan has started working on layouts. They love it and it's so nice to see them working hard and getting rewarded.

Michael starts college this week! Yes! I have a kid in college. Wow! It's so hard to believe. They grow up WAY TOO FAST!

The rest of August will find me packing and sorting and starting to inventory. Mom moves into her apt. on Sept. 1st. She has already started packing. We also are filling out the paperwork so we can get our absentee ballots to vote. I have to start looking into the advance notification form to send to Japan for the pets arriving at Narita International in Tokyo. They have to have it 40 days in advance.

Again, busy, busy, busy. But, it's good Busy. And I am very thankful for everything in my life. God has blessed us immensely and I never take it for granted.

Family, Friends, and Fireworks

4th of July has always been a richly celebrated holiday in my family. My oldest son's birthday is near the holiday so we usually make it a combo party. This year, like many years past, we travelled to Georgia to spend glorious hours with our loved ones.

I also took this time to say good-bye to my extended family for 3 years. I cannot believe how big my nieces and nephews and cousins have gotten. It made me the saddest to think how much more they will have grown by the time I see them again. Luckily, my family is very good at showing the youngest ones pictures of us so that they remember who we are. Although I will forever be known to my youngest nephew as "the one who bought me my Little Einsteins video". hee-hee.

A wonderful man at the end of my Dad's street in Grayson, GA, let off a fireworks display for the whole neighborhood and more. It was the largest private display of fireworks I've ever seen. Actually the only larger public display I've seen was at Disneyworld on 4th of July. It was amazing.

We also visited the World of Coca-cola in Atlanta. It was a lot of fun. We especially liked our encounter with the Polar Bear.We were glad to return back home again. My animals missed me.... This week we are putting my car up for sale, sniff! I will miss my beautiful 4 Runner so very much. Since I am not working now it doesn't make sense to keep that payment and insurance and the gas prices right now.

Love you to my family for making our trip to Georgia so wonderful. I can't wait to see the Fireworks displays in Japan.

5 Months and Counting Down . . .

Well we've made it to June. May was so incredibly busy for us. In 30 days I went to Georgia, WVA, and Colorado and saw a lot of my family members. My beautiful Niece, Kathryn Danielle graduated from High School. My son went to Prom this past Saturday and he graduates next week. Very hard to believe it has arrived!!

We had a very successful moving yard sale this past Saturday. What was left we are selling on Craig's list or have donated or given away. My husband is diligently working on getting the house ready for sale. The rest of us are too. So very much to do. I just had to take a break and do some emailing and blogging.

Even though it has been a royal pain to clean out all of our stuff, I know it will be a good thing. When we return to the states we won't have as much junk. We want to build our own house when we return. We just haven't decided where. That's another adventure....

Our new pool is completely installed and beautiful. The kids are already enjoying it. After the 90 degree weather this past weekend, we were able to take a dip as well. I can't wait to really enjoy my backyard this summer with my kids. This is the first time I will not be working since my youngest was born. He's 12 now. He is absolutely thrilled that Mom is spending the summer with him.

The house will go up for sale in about two weeks. Just doing a thorough cleaning, touching up paint and changing some bathroom fixtures. All of the heavy work is done. I will miss our home. We have been very happy here. We are praying that the house sells before we move to Japan. If it doesn't we've decided to rent it out. That should be interesting, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

5 months left. We've known about moving for 6 months and it went pretty quickly. Hard to believe it is really going to happen. Thank goodness we are on schedule with everything. I feel so lucky compared to other families who have had so little notice that they are going overseas.

Time to go jump in the pool!

April Showers, May Flowers

My birthday in April was very nice. My beautiful best friend sent me lovely flowers and gifts. My loving husband bought me chocolate, dinner and a comedy show. My Mom gave me a delicious ice cream cake and I received many, many wonderful birthday cards from my family and friends.

I'm 38 this year and the happiest I've ever been. De-stressing your life is sooooo refreshing!!!

I just returned from a trip to my Grandmother's to drop off my China and Crystal that I'm not taking to Japan. Just the beginning of my sorting, downsizing and packing. I realized that I really have 8 different things that could happen to my personal possessions:

1. Went to Grandma's
2. Going to my Dad's
3. Long-Term Storage
4. For Sale
5. Thrift Store
6. Express Shipment
7. Regular Shipment
8. Taking it with us on plane

You could really say 9 if you add the stuff I will throw away!

Anyway, today was very eventful for my husband. Today was his last day at his command. He is happy and excited, he is on leave for 3 weeks then it's off to school until October. Luckily school is here in VA. He received a NAM (Naval Achievement Medal) today.

The other Good News is that we received our Family Entry Approval today!! It was the last bit of paperwork we needed to know that we were 100% going to Japan. We will give a copy to the travel folks, so that they can schedule our travel and a copy to personal property, so that they will actually ship our stuff to Japan.

So, things are going along smoothly. We are getting excited about our trip to Denver to see our good friends John and Jennifer. Then I will be moving my sister back to Georgia and watching my niece graduate from high school. So, May is very busy for us.

June will be even busier, but that's another post!!

Can't Wait To Meet New People

This is just a quick update. I had created a Yahoo Group a few months ago for Navy Families stationed or going to be stationed at NAF Atsugi. It is titled AtsugiNavyFamilies. A wonderful lady created an awesome group for Yokosuka entitled YokosukaNavyFamilies. I have not been able to locate another group like it, so I decided to make my own.

I had a new member join yesterday and it was exciting. My hope is that I will be able to meet lots of people at Atsugi and we will all be able to communicate events and share our life and experience in Atsugi as well as help and welcome new members who will be coming to Atsugi.

I cannot wait to get to Atsugi to meet the people I've already had contact with. They have been such a huge help to me and I want to thank them in person!

Check, Check, Check, Working on the List

March has arrived! Busy, Busy, Busy, this and that, oops! What did I miss?

Work has been crazy finished up inventory for a gift shop. Soooo many things to count and re-count. Whew! Glad I made it through. So Good to be DONE!

Dolly and Jenks are doing excellent and glad we don't have to see a vet until the end of October.

The Japan PCS list has been reduced by a few important items. We have been found acceptable for overseas assignment. DH's package has been turned in and moving through PSD approvals. They should send for family entry approval next week.

We finally received the last regular travel passport we were waiting for. Next week we will go to see Dam Neck to apply for the No-Fee Passports.

We have also set up the appt for April for the Personal property scheduling. The boys and I have appt's for a dental cleaning in April too. Bryan goes in March to get ready for Braces as well.

Check, Check, Check, Busy, Busy, Busy......What's next?