One man down . . . the rest of the family to go

Ken graduated AIT (Advanced Individual Training) on Oct. 2nd. He looked very spiffy in his uniform. The rest of the day was spent TRYING to out process and get on the road to my parents' house. What an ORDEAL!! We were able to go to Range (my parents 'almost' community) for the weekend and tag along to the family reunion that weekend too. We drove BACK to Ft. Rucker on Tuesday morning for Ken to go to a meeting and try to finish out processing. What should have been taken care of a week or more before, delayed us a week. Yes, a week. I was stuck waiting in the car or the hotel room with 3 kids by myself, while Ken hobbled around (he hurt his back. details to follow once we get it fixed) and tried to get things taken care of. Ken didn't get his orders until the Thursday before he gradauated, Oct. 1st, at the end of the day. Then, they were not worded right, so we have to wait for NEW orders that include me and the kids in order for us to follow and have the military take care of it. The kids & I got our passports Wed. afternoon, but we were still stuck waiting for Ken's plane ticket. He wasn't supposed to leave base without having the ticket there. LONG LONG LONG story short, we were finally able to leave Friday afternoon, Oct. 9th, after so many delays we lost count and feeling. Ken was able to spend about 2 weeks home with us. We took care of what we could. Ken wasn't able to help as much as he wanted or should have due to his back, but it was nice just to have him here again. The kids adjusted well to having him around. They started tag teaming us in no time at all. :)

We left again for Alabama Friday, Oct. 23rd, to spend one last night at my parents' house and drop Ken off at the airport in Dothan, AL. (They didn't want to do the extra paperwork so that he could fly out of Orlando even though it would have been cheaper.) We dropped Ken off Sunday morning at 3:45am on Oct. 25th. He will arrive in Seoul, South Korea Monday, Oct. 26th at 4:20pm their time. I believe we're about 12 hours behind them, due to crossing the date line and such. The kids & I left Dothan right after dropping him off. We got home around 11:30am EST. It was honestly one of the best car rides the kids have ever made. I don't think I had to get on them about fighting at all. Maybe once, in 6 hours, in a car where we are currently packed tighter than sardines when we get in.

In other news, the kids and I are stuck waiting. and waiting. We can't do anything until we get our passports/visas. We also can't do anything until we get the amended orders that have us on there correctly. The lady at Ft. Rucker that Ken was working with was no help (who's surprised at that? Not me.) and told us she was waiting on the people in Korea. We're praying and hoping and wishing on stars and everything else, that Ken will be able to take care of it and push things along while he's waiting for us. Hopefully by the time we get there, he'll have housing and such squared away. But there's YET ANOTHER catch. All this has to happen before the end of the year because . . . .

I'm pregnant . . . . again. (Due April 4th) 4th and last kid. Trust me. L-A-S-T! If we do not get to move before the end of the year, there is a GREAT possibility that my doctor will ground me and not allow me to fly in the last trimester. So that's the news here. We will continue to try to pack and get rid of as much stuff as possible, but we're back to the waiting game. It doesn't ever seem to end. We know this was the right decision, but why was it right? We haven't had enough good experiences to have figured that out yet. We'll let you know when and IF we do.