ugh.

Ed comes home today with news that we still don't have orders. and that we may have to change our pick up times for transportation. so the movers wont be able to come on our original dates. that isn't really a big deal....however, he is concerned that they wont approve travel for the kids and i to Virgina. so we will be homeless for 10 weeks? pulease. can i get a collective wtheck???!? i told him we are not going to worry. that it will work out. whatever happens we will just have to make it work.

he is also afraid that they wont send us to Germany because of the kids' EFMP's. This process is the reason for the delay on orders. (exceptional family member program) Austin has auditorial processing disorder. which means he needs lots of special resources in school to help him learn. brayden has speech delays, so he is an EFMP as well. now that he has his tubes...he is talking like a madman! he had no hearing in his left ear and only 5% in his right- no wonder he wasn't talking well!!!! it makes me sad we didn't know this for so long. its how the army works though. the universal health care everyone wants...u get what u pay for folks. and he has lived in 3 different states with prob. 50 different docs...so no one made the connection. you really really have to be your child's advocate. you have to educate yourself, and pretty much diagnose and demand that your kid gets what they need. he was diagnosed by a CIVILIAN. need i say more?

anyway...the Army will not send our family anywhere that they cant get treatment for their special needs. its a great program. however, it could keep us from Stuttgart. if it does, i will be sad, but right now, with all of the stress involved in this move, i think it would be a relief at this point if they said we cant go. i cant believe i just wrote that!

i was reading a facebook post from a new friend moving to Germany today. she was worried about her stuff getting stored. it made me think about our furniture that we will be keeping here- and it is a SUBSTANTIAL amount of stuff! it will be kept in a Non- climate controlled facility. and when people come home, their stuff is ruined. mildewed and warped, rat infested. so now I'm finding a home for our family pictures, and things that i don't expect to live through 4 years in a metal and concrete box. our home in Germany will be 1/2 the size of the one we have now. Germans don't typically have large homes. the one we are in now is 3000+ square feet. i have 2 dining rooms, 2 living rooms, 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and they are all filled up. not cluttery full...but they have furniture in them. we have taken 1 couch, and 4 dressers to the goodwill, 4 bags of toys, 6 bags of clothes, and tons of little things we didn't use this year. uhm-including workout equipment. LOL! we are trying to minimize our things, and keep our weights low for the move. now i am thinking i should just get rid of 1 set of living room and 1 set of kitchen. but i think it may be too late. oh my goodness. craigslist maybe? on top of that our plugs don't work over there. so anything with a plug or a plug with a motor wont work. if you plug it in, and you don't have a transformer it will blow. transformers are 25 bucks for the smallest transformer and goes up to 300 bucks or more for larger items like TV's. so....its cheaper to buy lamps when u get there than buy the transformer for the lamps. ugh. again. so much to think about!!!

anyway things are up in the air to say the least and we are just taking deep breaths and waiting to see what happens. either way it will be Gods master plan- not our own, and it will be for the best. :)

Much Love
XOXOXO