Quickie

Just wanted to let you all know we are still alive. We moved into the house last week and it has been quite the week of unpacking and laundrying, and setting up the place in general. The guy came today and set up our phone/internet/cable, so now I'm back online. And since I have a bunch to do this is all you're getting today, with the promise that September is going to be (hopefully) a blog-tastic month. So, hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with something a bit more fun (and some pictures).

Finally, Some News Worth Sharing

It's been a week here in Trailerville. Way too early Monday morning Josh left for Arizona for 3 days on his first "business" trip with his new job here. And, of course, it rained 2 of the 3 days he was gone. This meant having to find alternative ways to spend our mornings instead of going to the playground.

So, I used those rainy days to register Zeke for school, and yes, it took me both days to get it all figured out and settled. Monday I met with the school liason lady and she was very little help. So i went down (keep in mind I have all the kids with me) to the school I thought Zeke was going to be attending and could only find a 3rd grade teacher who told me I had to go to the board of education building in a completely different part of the...area of New Jersey we're in. (I would say a completely different part of town, but it was in a different town. And it's not like it was super far, just kind of out of the way in a little place.) By this point though, all of us were tired, hungry and cranky, so we went back home.

Tuesday we headed back out and met with much success. I found the board of education building (which is WAY closer to our trailer than it is to the elementary school we were at on Monday). I was originally told that Zeke was going to have to have a physical here because the school wouldn't accept his physical from Alaska because he HAD to be seen by a doctor in the TriCare Remote system. I was also told they probably wouldn't accept his birth certificate since it's from Germany. But I went down there with what I had anyway and it all worked out. Since his physical was done in January they were more than happy to accept it, and since I also had his passport with me (even though it is expired) they accepted his German birth certificate. Of course, his passport was made when he was born so his picture is from when he was 6 weeks old. The secretary and I had a good laugh over this.

Here's where things get somewhat exciting. One of the main issues I was having with trying to decided what kindergarten to put Zeke into out here was his IEP. His IEP is written for a full day kindergarten since that's what they have in Alaska, and Alaska is where it was written. I was told that the base has a wonderful full day kindergarten, but they don't have any services (speech/OT/the things he NEEDS). The elementary school that the base sends their kids too has a kindergarten with a wonderful speech teacher, but it's only a half day school. And it was made to seem that these were my only 2 options.

A little side note here that will come into play later, there is an elementary school essentially right outside the back gate of the base (Dwyer is it's name). It is literally a 5 minute drive, if that. Yet, for a reason unknown to everyone I've talked to about it, they send the kids to a school that is on the other side of Route 80, a good 10 or so minute drive (O'Brien). Why? Anyhoo...

So, as I was handing in Zeke's paperwork on Tuesday, I explained about his IEP being written for a full day kindergarten and yadda yadda, and the secretary said, "Oh, then he can go to Dwyer." Hubba what?! That's the school that's 5 minutes away. That's the school that made me so excited about Zeke maybe going there when I first saw it. That's the school that made me feel bummed and confused when I found out it's NOT where the kids from base go. AND, he still gets to ride the bus! Of course, I could drive him if I wanted to, but I know how much he loves the bus, so yeah.

And since it is a full day kindergarten, they call it a "transitional" kindergarten, meaning he'll be in a classroom where all the kids have IEPs. It'll be the same cirriculum as a "regular" kindergarten, and he'll still move on to 1st grade next year (if he's ready), but there are extra aides in the class, so he'll get more help and all the services he'll need and require. So, now I'm super excited. God totally had all of that under control, and I just let myself stress out over things He was already working on. I really should learn that lesson some day.

Also, as I was trying to get things together on Monday for Zeke's school, one of the things I needed was a letter from the housing office stating what our address was going to be and that we do, in fact, live on the base. So, while I was at the housing office getting this letter, the housing lady told me that she was doing final inspections on our place this week and "fingers crossed" our place would be ready to move into any day next week we wanted. So, on Tuesday, after I got Zeke registered for school I took a little leap of faith, if you will, and called the movers to schedule them to bring us our stuff on Wednesday (it's the earliest they could get here), even though we wouldn't hear until tomorrow whether or not our place was going to be ready.

Well, Josh got the call today(!) and it is good. to. go. He will go in on Tuesday and sign the lease, then the movers come Wednesday and we will be out of this trailer and into our own "big home". Yay! I'm not sure when we'll have a home phone number, but our cell numbers are staying the same (for now at least). I have the address and if anyone would like it let me know and I'll send out a mass email/facebook mail some time...soon-ish.

Now, if we could just hear back about whether or not they're going be having the preschool class I want Deacon to be in we'd be all set. But hey, 2 out of 3 is very, very good. Thank you, Lord.

One Week Down

Well, we've spent a full week in the trailer. We drove up to Picatinny last Sunday. It's a beautifully wooded area of NJ, with a bunch of lakes and ponds around. The trailer is a trailer. I'm going to be honest here, I'm not excited about being in this trailer at all. I know a lot of it has to do with having been "homeless" for so long already, with no definite end date in sight. Part of it has to do with not having my own bed, and computer, and things for "so long". I know it's only been a little over a month, but still. We are, in my opinion, 1 person too many for this place. All of this being said, don't be surprised if we don't invite anyone over while we're in the trailer. Josh thinks it's fine and "character building". I think am enough of a character, thank you. Even the boys are ready to move into "the big house" (what they're calling our future home).

However, it has been fun. There is plenty of nature around. We've seen deer, rabbits, chipmunks (the one by the playground the boys named Theodore), Josh saw a wild turkey, and we all saw a momma bear and her 3 cubs driving back from the store one night. One night, after the boys had gone to bed, Josh caught a frog, so we got the boys up and let them "play" with it for a few minutes before setting the frog free.

Otherwise, things here are just moving along like usual. I take the boys to the playground every morning for a little while before lunch. Josh usually comes home for lunch. One day last week I decided to take the boys for a walk instead of going to the playground. Worst idea ever. Just as we were getting ready to turn around and head back home, Finn totally ate it and the entire left side of his face was covered in road rash, gravel, and blood. He's fine, and now there are just a few scrapes on his nose left, but still, we probably should have stuck with the playground. (This picture was taken after I had cleaned his face, and a little bit of time had passed. I promise, it looked much worse when it happened.)

And that's pretty much it. We're just hanging out waiting. Waiting for my car to get here. Waiting for word that our new home is ready for us. Waiting then, for our stuff to be put in our house (our stuff is here and sitting in storage right now). Waiting for our paperwork from TriCare so I can make an appointment for Zeke so I can get him set up for school. It's hard waiting for so much, sometimes. But God is good all the time, and we are having fun (when I let myself de-stress and relax enough, lol). And now that I've pretty much said all there is to say right now, I'm going to go and watch some "Twin Peaks" - a very weird but interesting show. What would I do without Netflix?