Approximately a week before Thanksgiving, we learned where our new adventure in life would be taking us. The night / day Dan was going to find out (my night, his morning), I thought to myself, "Maybe I should bring my phone upstairs. Maybe he'll call me at lunch with the news of where we are going." I decided that no, he'll call me when he can, probably after work. Went upstairs, did our bedtime routine with the girls, and went to sleep.
The next morning (it was a Friday for me, I believe), I woke up and grabbed my phone. I had several missed calls from "Withheld" and I knew before I had even listened to the message that I had missed Dan's calls. Darnit! I got on Skype and called his cell phone and he was finally able to tell me where we were going, after I was done apologizing a gazillion times for not having my phone on me.
Dan put in a "by-name request" which is basically asking for a certain recruiting station. We asked for a RS (recruiting station) in our home state and there are several recruiting sub-stations (RSS) within the RS. Not only did Dan put in a "BNR", he also had to fill out some paperwork in class, listing what regions we'd like, and what recruiting stations with those regions.
We got our by-name request -- RS Hometown State. We were hoping for somewhere in the region but did not realize how many states the RS was in charge of. Oh and to make things a little bit more complicated...Within an RS there are many RSS' but also PCS', which stands for permanent contact stations. PCSes are smaller offices than RSS'. We will not be at a PCS but it is an option when they are deciding who will go where.
Next month we will be heading to the upper Midwest! We weren't expecting this particular state but as I've said to many people, it could be so much worse. We could end up in the very southern tip of Texas. Nothing against Texas but it would be far away from any of our family. I'm excited to live in the Midwest though adjusting to the frigid temperatures will take some getting used to. YIKES!
I've already been on the hunt for gyms, running groups, Lutheran churches, barns (!), and activities that I can do with the girls while Dan is at work. In the town where we'll be living there is a zoo, a dog park, a waterpark in the next town over, an indoor play place (this will be great when it is super cold), and we'll be right near the a large river. Not to mention Evelyn will be able to play in snow. The only time she's ever seen snow is when we were in Tokyo in February with my friend Jess, and it didn't really stick to the ground.
The very best part about being stationed in the Midwest is that we'll be within several hours of some of our family members! Some of our other family members live far away (I'm looking at you, loved ones in Missouri, Illinois, New Mexico, Nebraska, and the Carolinas!) but it'll be much easier to visit everyone else with the flights being shorter in length and significantly cheaper.
As I right this, it is 15*F in our new city with a wind chill of 1*F. This is significantly warmer than when I was looking a few days ago later in the day (so closer to the middle of the night for our area of the Midwest) and it was -12* with a wind chill of -32*. Right now in Okinawa it is 66*F with light rain showers and I have the heat on. Brrr!
Bring it on, Midwest! We're ready for a new adventure!
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