My Passport Came!

So I haven’t given an update in a while, but I do have so I do have some news to share! Last week, Chad was told that if my passport doesn’t come in by the day he graduates then I will not be able to fly to Japan with him. That news was so upsetting! We wouldn’t even leave for about another month after he graduates, so why does it matter that my passport hadn’t come yet? At that point, it had been 3 weeks since I applied for my passport. I decided to wait a week to see if my passport came since they said it could come anytime between 4-8 weeks.

On Monday of this week, Chad got his port call, which means he got his plane tickets to fly to Japan. I did not, since I didn’t have my passport yet. Monday night, Chad went to talk to someone about seeing how I would know when my passport would come in. Since it was a no-fee passport, it didn’t get sent to me, it was getting sent to the base. My biggest worry was that it was going to be sitting on someone’s desk for weeks until they were able to get to it. Well, the guy that Chad ask was like, I’ll get an email when it comes in sort of like this one and he reads off an email that says something like, please send Airman Owens and Airman Jones to the passport office for an appointment. Chad was like; did you say Owens, sir? So yeah, the email that this guy read off was for Chad to go pick up my passport. YAY! So yesterday, he picked up my passport and then had to fill out some more paperwork for a new port call so I could be put on his, meaning I get to fly to Japan with him! I’m so excited I don’t have to make that venture alone. It’s not 100% official yet, but it's close. Hopefully he’ll get his new port call today!

Medically Cleared

Good News! Yesterday I had my medical clearance phone interview. It was pretty awkward. There wre like 5 people in the room, including my husband, who were all listening to me on speaker phone. This guy just listed off all these medical questions which I had to answer. Chad said it was kind of awkward for him too because 2 of the people were high ranking officers. But apparently I passed the interview (no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't) because Chad called later and told me I was medically cleared to go to Japan! YAY! So, we were told that Chad couldn't get his orders until I was medically cleared and well now I am so we get to wait for those now. Chad still has to get cleared though, which is pretty funny that I could do mine before he was even cleared!

I'm still waiting on my passport. No surprise there, I don't expect it for about another month! I have 2.5 work days to get through until I get to fly to see my hunny! I am so excited. It's going to be an amazing week!

Passport

On Monday I recieved the paperwork in the mail to apply for my no-fee passport! So on Tuesday, after work I went to the post office to apply. The post office was crazy busy and their passport hours only went to 4:00 and I got there at 3:45. I was standing in this crazy long long and I was nervous that by the time I got up to the desk that they would turn me away because of the time. After waiting for about 5 minutes, they did a last call for passports! So I was able to apply and everything went smoothly! They said I should get it withn 4-6 weeks, which 6 weeks would be when Chad graduates so everything should work out perfectly!

I am so excited! In 9 days, I get to spend a whole week with my husband! It's going to be amazing and I can't wait! I leave Friday May 18th after work! Time needs to move a little bit faster but then slow down :) It will be my first time flying on an airplane by myself! I'm kind of nervous for that, but I know I'll be ok!

Dentists, Doctors, & Paperwork. Oh my!

Lately, I’ve been trying to get everything done that I need to in order to live overseas. Chad had to priority ship some paperwork to me last weekend so that I could have it in time for my dentist and doctor appointments that I had this week. On Wednesday, I went to the dentist and had a checkup. I don’t have dental insurance, so I had to pay out of pocket for it. That sucked, but it needed to get done. I could of enrolled in the Military’s dental but it wouldn’t of gone into effect until June and I couldn’t wait that long. Luckily, I didn’t have any cavities or anything wrong with my teeth, so I’m good to go there! Then yesterday, I went to the doctors for a physical. I had them fill out all the pages I needed for the medical clearance and I was good to go there. I’m thankful for my health so I don’t have to stress about whether Japan will let me come or not. There is literally nothing wrong with me, so it should not be a problem! I had to get a Tetanus shot yesterday and my arm is sooo sore!

So other than the medical clearance the other piece of the puzzle is to get no-fee passport from the government. This has been the biggest headache. My husband was told that he couldn’t initiate the paperwork for it until I was medically cleared. I talked to other wives who have gone through the same process who said they were able to apply for the passport before they were medically cleared. So after making several phone calls, I finally got the answer that I wanted. Long story short, Chad has an appointment today to (hopefully) initiate the passport paperwork! The rush to get it done is so that I will be able to fly with my husband to Japan. If all my processing isn’t done, then he was told he’d have to fly there and I’d have to fly separately once cleared. I’m trying to get all this done so that doesn’t happen. So say a prayer for me :)

Oh.. also, I’m running a 5k tonight so say a prayer for me for that too. I don’t like running, I don’t even know why I signed up! lol

Our First Duty Station

A week ago today, my husband told me where our first duty station would be. Never in a million years did I think I would even visit this place. It’s crazy to me.

It was about 6:00 on 4/23/2012 when I got a call from Chad. I was just sitting in bed on my laptop waiting to go to Fit Club. Chad answers the phone, Kinishiwa! I’m just like ok, I don’t know what that means, but Hi! :-) He then said something about how he found out where he’d be stationed. I of course was like WHERE?! Then he told me. I didn’t believe him, I did, but I didn’t. We made a deal that when it came down to telling me where we’d be living, he wouldn’t joke around about it. I just had never even thrown around this option for a duty station. Of course I talked about it several times with friends and family up to this moment, everyone joked we’d get stationed in Alaska (since we wanted somewhere warm) or somewhere really lame sounding like Kansas. But no one even guessed this one. Chad and I realized that we didn’t care where we ended up as long as we could be together. One of the only places I wouldn’t have been able to go with him to is Korea. His first tech school roommate and several others who had graduated from his tech school had orders for Korea. So for the week prior to finding out, we were freaking out. As soon as he told me, I was relieved the word Korea didn’t come out of his mouth, then I said to myself, Holy Crap! The first thing I did was google our future base. One of the first things I saw was a picture of cheerleaders. I’m a cheerleading coach, so that was a sign for me. A sign that this is where we were meant to go. After doing research, I’ve very excited to be going to….

Okinawa, Japan!

I haven’t heard one bad thing about it and it looks like it’s on a lot of people’s dream base sheet. So yay! It’s going to be a crazy lifestyle change. No matter where we would have got stationed, it would have been a crazy change but being on the other side of the world is even crazier to me.

I’m stressing out about the process that I have to go through to be able to go with Chad because it’s all so unclear. It’s like no one can give us a straight answer of this is what you need to do and by when. We’re trying to get me all cleared and process as soon as possible so I can fly on a plane to Japan with Chad. It’s possible that he’ll have to go and I have to stay behind until the military can get me all cleared to go!

Have you lived in Okinawa? I want to hear experiences, tips, facts, etc.! Tell me!

Care Packages

Currently my husband is in tech school studying Munitions Systems aka AMMO! The first week he was there, he just had to attend a whole bunch of briefings. This past week was his first week of classes. So now instead of sending him letters, I get to send him care packages! I've already sent him 2 so far. The first one I sent him had one of his favorite movies in it, popcorn, and candy - so it was "movie night" themed. That one was kind of boring, but I was too excited to send out his first care package to even care. The second one, I went all out. I decorated the inside of the box, got creative with the contents and everything! He received that one today and he loves it! I'm already working on his next one. I think the care packages are more for my entertainment than they are for him, lol. They keep me busy and allow me to get creative. I'm sure he could care less if they are all decorated, as long as they contain FOOD! lol

The cutesy food labels I got from The Dating Divas - I found a lot of cute ideas on there! I also put magazines in the box and throughout the pages in the magazines I had put sticky notes with cute little sayings on them. Let me know if you have any awesome ideas for care packages!

Graduation Parade

Friday morning wasn’t as early as the past 2 had been; we left the hotel at 6:45AM to get to the base by 7AM. We parked behind the retreat pad where all the buses were lined up. You have to get on a bus and ride it over to the parade grounds. We didn’t have to wait in line or anything; it was a quick and easy bus ride over. Once we got to the parade grounds, we found a seat and just waited for the ceremony to begin. There’s a lot of “hurry up and wait” throughout the entire weekend. The airmen are so far away during the ceremony that it doesn’t really matter where you sit. There are no good or bad seats from my prospective. Toward the end of the ceremony, the entire airman do a parade march, where they come closer to the stands you’re sitting in parade by them. That was pretty cool. They ended the ceremony by taking their oath of enlistment and stating the Airmen’s Creed. After that it was time for another tap out hug! This time I let Chad’s parents tap him out but I still got my hug after them!

We rode the bus back to the area where our cars were parked and then we went to the Mini Mall and BX. Chad thought we could go see his dorm room at 11AM, so we showed up at his squadron about 10:50. Well turns out, the open dorms ended at 11AM, so we had to quickly go check it out. I wish I would have had more time to just observe the place that he spent the past 8 weeks in but I still got to see where he slept and his locker, so that was pretty cool. After Chad was dismissed, we were able to take him off base. As we were driving off base, my Mom said she felt like she was sneaking a prisoner out since he hadn’t been allowed off base before that point!

Chad got to have a town pass on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so that was super nice! We got to see a little bit of San Antonio and also just relax in the hotel room. I know Chad liked his town liberty because he didn’t feel like he was being constantly watched so he could be a little bit more at ease, which made me feel better. It was an amazing weekend that I will never forget. It was sad to have to leave Texas and go back to Michigan knowing that he wasn’t going to be coming home with me. He had to leave Monday morning at 3:45AM to head to Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX to start Tech School!