Controlled Chaos

Gene has sketchy internet access at best so I am going to seize the opportunity to hijack the blog. Sorry, I don’t have any pictures but all the pretty girls are still in Albuquerque and I am here alone in Altus. Pictures of me just wouldn’t measure up to your expectations so this is TEXT only.

I can’t even begin to tell you how incredible Gene is. She is more incredible than the Incredible Hulk and more Iron Woman than Iron Man. I haven’t seen either of those movies so if they were bad please forgive the reference.

I was able to land at 0200 Thursday morning, debrief my flight and head out of Altus around 0400. That’s 4:00 am. That put me pulling into ABQ around 11:00 after driving all night so I was pretty much useless Thursday while the packers were at our house. Friday the 4^th, I was pretty useless too. But Gene got the packers going on Thursday and they got about 60% of the house packed. Friday, we had a wonderful dinner over at our friends’, the Browns’, house. They didn’t want us to miss out on the 4^th so they had us over for a cook-out. A big thank you goes to them for upholding the tradition of the “military family”. Saturday, we continued cleaning and organizing getting ready for Monday and the return of the packers. Well, guess what? Sunday Mary, Paige and I got sick with a stomach bug. Well that’s pretty crummy but you know those things don’t stop until they have made their rounds to everyone in the house! So, Monday morning Ava wakes up at 0600 screaming. And she screams and screams and screams. Guess who is the only person she wants to hold her? Yep, she’s sick and she only wants mommy. I was able to pry her away for a couple of hours to get her to take a nap with me but when she woke up and realized again that mom wasn’t there…SCREAMING! So it’s 10:00 am on Monday and the packers are showing up and Ava will only be held by mommy and I have to leave to go back to Altus. So superhero mom takes over and spends the next 6 hours with a 20 pound 2-year old clutched around her neck packing up our house…BY HERSELF! Thanks again to Mary and Paige who took care of Emma and to wonderful, beautiful, Emma who is the best kid in the world for not making this any more painful. During this packing day (Monday), Gene also had to marshal the troops from our former house into temporary housing where they will stay until Friday morning when they pull out of Albuquerque. That by itself took 4 or 5 trips back and forth between the two houses getting food out of the refrigerators and clothes and bedding, etc. transferred to the temporary house. That gets us to Tuesday; remember I said those stomach bugs have got to make their rounds? Yep, now Gene has got it. So she spends Tuesday sick with the packers trying to finish off packing our house. Today, Wednesday, the movers showed up (3 hours late) and started loading. Gene is still sick so she is fighting nausea and muscle aches all day while working with the movers. Then the movers leave at 6:30 pm and Gene still has to clean the garage and house. She finally got to a stopping point around 7:45 pm. There is still more work to do tomorrow. She has to move some stuff like propane tanks, etc. that the movers won’t move and clean out the refrigerator. Finally, she has to let the cleaners in at 0800 tomorrow (she keeps such a clean house they probably won’t know what to clean) and then do the final house inspection tomorrow at 2:30 pm. It’s time to rest right? NOPE! Friday morning, she will load the car and the girls and drive 10 hours to Wichita. I will meet them Friday in Wichita where Gene and I will attempt to paint the entire inside of our 2200 sqft house in 2.5 days before the movers show up with our stuff. When the movers show up, guess what? It’s time for me to leave again. I still have a couple of weeks of training left at Altus so I will be there during the week and (hopefully) home for the weekend if the weather holds out and I don’t have to fly on the weekends.

I can’t even begin to tell you how strong and resilient Gene has been through this whole process and our whole marriage for that matter. I always seem to be off “flying” or trying to get ahead (or caught up) at work while Gene is packing, moving, un-packing and getting ready to pack again. I have to thank God because he gave me the most incredible woman on the planet.

I just have one last person to thank:

Bekah (Gene) thanks for being my wife!

Getting Ready for the Move

First, my Mom and Paige are helping me through this move thing and I couldn't be doing this without their help--THANK YOU!!!! Well, we have our pre-move inspection for base housing today and the packers start this Thursday. We haven't seen Scott since Father's Day, but he's off for the 4th, so he gets to come home this weekend :). Of course, he gets to help me take down the storage shed and do a little organizing for the packers who will show back up on Monday. We are closing on the new house in Kansas through the mail and things will be final on the 8th. Scott will go back to Oklahoma on Sunday. The packers continue on Monday and will finish on Wednesday and load the truck on Thursday. Our final inspection in base housing is Friday, the 11th and then we are on the road to Kansas. We hope to meet the moving truck in Wichita at our new house so we can do a "door-to-door" move. If things go as planned--bonus--very rare, but it could happen :)!

We have been having a few "last" playdates with Emma and her friends. She seems to be doing okay with the move. Ava of course, doesn't have a clue what is coming over the next week or so! She is pretty flexible so far, so hopefully it will not be too hard on her.

We will be staying in temporary base housing here in Albuquerque and in Wichita while the movers do their thing. The internet is scetchy at best in both places, so I will do my best to post and check email during the chaos. Here are a few photos of recent activities with the girls.