The beginning

Okay, let's start at the beginning of our current story...
Back in Oct 2008, my husband came down on orders for Korea. He would be gone for 1 year without his family (known as a hardship tour) or he could request an extension (for 2 years) and apply for command sponsorship (which means that his family could go with him). We talked about it and decided to seek command sponsorship from the army. In Jan 2009, we got word that we got CS and we could go with him!

Well, back in April 2008, my brother's fiance asked if our girls and I would be in their wedding. We said yes, of course. When we heard we were going to Korea, we thought it would not be a big deal for the girls and I to stay behind and attend the wedding. My DH (dear husband) would need to report for duty in March 2009, so he would be unable to attend the wedding. So, after my DH got to Korea, he went through channels to request that the girls and I get orders allowing us to defer our travel. The way that the original orders were written out, we needed to be on a plane heading to Korea within 60 days of my DH leaving the U.S. I would stay behind and sort things for the movers, secure our home with a property management company and drive up to NY for the wedding. Little did we know what an ordeal all of this would be.

DH arrived in Korea, and for 3 weeks, he didn't know where he would be stationed. Once he got to his final duty station, he put in his request for deferred travel. We waited.... and waited.... and waited. I finally told my husband that I would be going in to the office on Monday and having the army issue us plane tickets so we could fly out of the states in early May. If we didn't fly in the allotted time frame that the army had given us, they would not pick up the tab for the tickets... a $3,000 tab for the 3 of us! Since we don't have an extra $3,000 just sitting around doing nothing, we can't afford to thumb our noses at the army and miss our window. But how sad to have to miss my little brother's wedding!

But on top of this bit of stress, I have my own issues here at the house to deal with. I have been an army wife for 18 years now. I have moved 9 times in my married life. I have never had a move like this! This has been the hardest move so far. The army has only authorized us to move 2,750 lbs to Korea. They suggest that you don't bring furniture because they either furnish the apartments, or the Korean landlords furnish the apartments. You just bring whatever necessities you think you will need... clothes, toys, kitchen stuff, computers... your day-to-day items that you can't live without. The rest of the items will be placed into storage and you will not see them or have access to them for the duration of the tour in Korea. Oh, and you cannot have packed any liquids, candles, batteries or light bulbs.

I had to divide up all our belongings into what we NEED and WANT in Korea and WHAT WE CAN LIVE WITHOUT. We need our home school supplies, our clothes, our computers. I want my Close to my Heart stuff... it is my home-based business, I want my pots and pans and kitchen appliances, DVDs and music, kids' toys. Everything else had to be set aside so a different group of movers could come on a different day to pack up the items that would go into storage. I had packers in my home for 4 days straight! The packers that came for our Korea stuff told me that my items would be over the weight allowance alloted for Korea. That night, I jumped on a scale with every item they had packed and my total told me that they were right! I hadn't even picked out everything that I wanted them to pack yet and I was already over-weight! I pulled out a few boxes here and there (my girlfriends told me I could send them media mail... little did we know that they don't have media mail outside the U.S.), and added a few more that I wanted to ship. I finally had to let go and be okay with what was shipping and mail the rest of the items I wanted in Korea.

After the Korean packers were done, I proceeded to sort out what needed to stay with me for the drive, and what would go into storage. These packers packed each item to within an inch of it's life! They would take 2 books off the bookshelf and wrap them up in paper and place them in a box! What a waste of time and materials. These guys told me I was over-weight, too! No wonder with that much paper and cardboard.

On top of the sorting I had to do, I also had to interview 4 property management companies, landscape the front and side yard, paint the outside trim and several rooms inside, make numerous repairs around the house, hire a carpet cleaner and lawn maintenance crew and clean the house all while taking care of 2 small girls. Whew! What a handful!

And that is where this story begins...