Orders!

We are 3 weeks away from when our PCS (permanent change of station) leave is scheduled to start and we finally received our orders! There's nothing like waiting until the last minute, especially when you are about to make a life altering move. I should ad that the Army usually isn't this slow in getting things to you. Apparently we had orders with Ben, Maddox, and myself on them, but since Carson was born on October 21st this caused the delay. All of Carson's paperwork had to be completed through the EFMP (Exceptional Family Member Program) office, then sent to Germany, then come back to the US in order for him to get added and get the our final orders.

Now that we have them here is a list of things that we can finally take care of:

1.) Get our passports and tickets - The Army has purchased all 4 of our tickets, but won't give them to us until Carson's passport comes in. I think we will be in Ohio by that time, so they will have to mail them to my parent's house. At least they are purchased and we know what day we are leaving the states. We originally thought that we would be flying out on the 9th since our report date is the 10th, however, I have quickly learned that the Army rarely follows your plans. January 9th is a Sunday and you are not allowed to fly in on a weekend. Ben must be there by the 10th to sign in or he will be in BIG trouble, so they scheduled our flight for January 4th. I am a little bummed because that cuts out 4 days of family time that I had planned for, but I'm slowly learning to live with constant changes and disappointments.

2.) Arrangements to fly the dogs - We are still trying to find homes for these two dogs, but I doubt we will be successful. In today's economy people are giving up their pets left and right. I posted an ad for them on craigslist and I was shocked at how many ads get posted in one day. I've called Guardian Angels for Soldier's Pets along with other military affiliated foster programs and none seem to be able to help us due to the fact that we will be gone for 3 years. They are specifically designed for people who are deploying for a year or less. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a great program, but I just wish there was some kind of assistance for people in our situation. I've also called no-kill shelters (which are all full) and rescue organizations (which are all breed specific and won't take our lovable mutts). I put them on petfinder, but I'm afraid these guys are too old to compete with all of the puppies and pure bred pooches that are out there.

Several people have mentioned just taking them to a shelter, but these dogs are my husband's babies. He's had them longer than most of his children and I understand how heartbreaking it would be to do that because, in all honesty, we know they will not get adopted. A few people have emailed me about the craigslist ad saying they would take care of them, but when I write them back and ask for their phone number so we can make arrangements I never hear back. Why would someone answer an ad like that if they weren't serious? I get my hopes up that they will be taken care of and then I am disappointed again.

So, if we can't find a home in the next few weeks we will start calling the airlines to arrange for them to fly with us. I have a feeling it will probably be expensive, plus if the temperature outside is too cold they won't be able to fly with us. That means we will have to find someone to hold on to them until the weather gets warmer and get them back to the airport to fly to us. Cross your fingers that it is warm on the 4th, in both St. Louis and Germany!

3.) Arrange the movers - Our Unaccompanied Baggage (things we will need right away like sheets, pillows, towels, etc.) are being picked up on December 3rd. The rest of our Household Goods are being picked up on the 6th and 7th.

4.) Shipping the car - Since there is a loan on the car that we want to ship we need to get permission from the lien holder to ship the car. We couldn't get that permission until we had orders. Now we need to fax the orders and a request form to the loan company and wait for a letter that give us permission to ship. I guess we have to wait until after we have the permission before we can set up a date to ship it. Who knows how long this will take. At least it is shipping out of St. Louis.

5.) Change insurance companies - Nationwide does not cover you car internationally or while it is being shipped, so we need to change our insurance company. The easiest place to do that is USAA since they specialize in military accounts. We will cancel the insurance on the truck since it will be in storage.

6.) Cancel our cell phones - Since we are still under contract we need to fax our orders to Verizon in order to cancel them with no fee.

7.) Change our address on all of our accounts - We have no address in Germany yet, and don't know when we will get one, so I'm changing all the addresses to my parents house. Once we get an address I will have to change it again.

8.) Cancel Dish Network - We are under contract on this as well, so once again we have to fax orders to cancel it with no fee.

9.) Cancel Internet - this was the easiest - no contract and nothing to send in. Go Cable America!

10.) Cancel Utilities - I have to go in to the office to do this as well (pain in the butt)

11.) Clean the house and throw out anything we can.

12.) Get a U-haul for all the things that we can't fit in the tiny German apartments and send it to Ohio for storage. These things include our washer, dryer, kitchen table and chairs, extra end tables, Ben's grandmother's organ, my pottery (don't want it to get broken on the way), Ben's glass collection, our pub table and chairs, any of my school items that I'm keeping (I think I'll give most of it away)...

Well, I'm sure there's a lot more but my head is spinning just thinking of these items to take care of (maybe listing them on here wasn't such a good idea.)

Once this is all over and we are settled in our teeny tiny apartment in Germany I'm sure I'll enjoy it. I plan to dive in to German life and meet the challenges of living in a foreign country head on and with a positive attitude. It is an experience of a lifetime that I'm sure I will look back on with fond memories. (I just have to keep reminding myself of that to get me over these hurdles we are facing now.)