Moving!!!!

WE ARE MOVING!!!!!!!!!!

We finally got an RFO (request for orders) last Saturday. Then it was off to set up a meeting to get the official orders. After we got the RFO everything else has happened QUICK. Dustin went to a meeting to see when he would get orders and the lady was prepared to type them up right then and there. However, since we are taking a little vacation in Tokyo on our way back there was a memo he had to get and have signed but his commander. So he went back with the memo the next day and had orders in hand by 9am!

Then it was off to set up plane tickets. Which, again, take a little longer since we are going to be stopping in Tokyo. We have to wait for an airline to approve a free stop-over.

And then we had to set up transportation for our household goods (HHG) and unaccompanied baggage (UB - a smaller shipment that is somewhat "express"). CHECK. Then I went to set up government appliance pick-up. CHECK. Then to give our notice to the housing agency. FAIL. With the time frame we have everything else set up they housing agency would not sign off on our papers so we can clear housing until the day Dustin is scheduled for his final out. Major fail! So it was back to square one. We changed every single pack-out date. Everything had to be moved up by 2-3 days. This means we also had to extend our time in lodging by and extra days. So as is stands now we will be living in a hotel for over 2 weeks. But on the brighter side, we MAY get our stuff (or at least some of it) before Thanksgiving :-)

So right now we have been trying to organize and sell things that we aren't planning on taking with us. None of our curtains will fit in our new house. The Japanese have some really neat rods with eyelets and the curtains have hooks that hook right on. They are SO easy to open and close. I really wish we could take them but I know I would have to find someone to alter them to fit our windows and then I would have to find a place to special order the rods. So now we need to sell 7 sets of sheer curtains and 7 sets of the decorative curtains. There are also lots of other things we are trying to sell or have already sold - AFN Dish, Dehumidifiers, rugs, recycling bin just to name a few. So now our house is starting to look a little bare (we have already taken down a few sets of curtains!) I have been keeping my calendar withing reach. There are only a couple of days between now and when we move where we have nothing scheduled. I am sure that will change!

But we are really excited about getting back close to family! I know Grace is going to LOVE having her cousins to play with too. And she is also very excited about meeting Mickey Mouse! Yes, that is right. We are taking Grace to meet Mickey before we come home. We are spending a few days in Tokyo on our way back. One of those days will be spent at Disney Land. We really haven't planned out too much of the rest of our time in Tokyo though. We do know we want to see the Tokyo Tower and the Imperial Palace. I am sure Dustin will come up with more to see and do, that just might have to wait until we get on the plane though since we are going to be BUSY from now until we leave.

I think this picture that we took of Grace last weekend at Mona Kids Jungle shows just how happy we are to be moving back to the US!