Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Sick day

Today, I did not go to MOPs. Isaac woke up with a fever. I was disappointed to miss it, but I ended up being able to have a very productive day. While Isaac was sick, he wasn't completely out of sorts, which allowed me to get a bunch done around the house in the morning. I called Jodi and she came by around 11am to help with the boys so I could run some errands. Isn't she awesome? Post office, ticket office (to buy tickets to Disney for our trip in April), grocery store, that kind of thing.

I found a bathing suit at the BX that I can wear for the triathlon. One pieces don't fit me but this is a two piece "tankini" that I think I'll be able to run/bike in and then swim in. I had a $25 gift certificate so it only cost me $15. Kristi had one I could borrow, but I was happy to get my own -- especially because this is something I'll be able to use just for regular old summer wear as well. As part of my triathlon training, I did a 20 minute run today. The run is definitely going to be the easiest part for me to train and participate in. Dreading my next swim already.

In other news, our condo is getting good activity according to our realtor. No offers yet but many showings and inquiries. Last week was "the match" where medical students across the country find out where they are going for residency. We are hopeful that the coming weeks bring the perfect buyer our way as people come to the area looking to buy a place for their training years.

JB also got an email from the hospital commander in Turkey. While we still have not gotten our "orders," this email further solidified the fact that we are in fact going to be going to Turkey in July of this year! I am so excited about this opportunity. I plan to do a post answering a lot of the questions I have received regarding this assignment so stay tuned. However, I'll leave it by saying that this is a fantastic assignment for us. We will miss our friends and family tremendously but are so pumped up for this amazing adventure coupled with the fact that JB will not deploy during the next 2-4 years. We fully support the military, and if deploying was necessary, we would embrace it as best we could. However, the opportunity to go to a "deployment area" together as a family was a good fit for us.

I have begun trying to do a few of the "little things" that will need to be done to start getting ready for this huge move. Today I focused on securing transportation for Scrubs. It appears that he will be able to join us on a military flight from Baltimore, through Germany, and into Turkey. However, we must pay to get him to Baltimore. Whether we will do that via flight or car is yet to be determined, but I was relieved to hear that he could fly with us. There are a lot of temperature restrictions during the summer months so this was a relief. Not taking Scrubs is NOT an option for us. He is part of our family and agreeing to go to Turkey meant agreeing to pay and get him there too.

We also found out that we qualify for one of the new four bedroom homes on the Base! Yipee! We are required to live on Base in Turkey and they are in the midst of a major renovation of the houses. We originally thought we would only qualify for a 2 bedroom so the fact that we will get a 4 is beyond our wildest dreams. My friend Shannon lives in one of these houses and she sent photos. Unbelievable! They are gorgeous. We will also get a housekeeper and a gardener. JB doesn't care much about the gardener as he'd just assume care of the lawn himself, but I am MAJORLY pumped about the housekeeper, especially because the houses do not have carpet. That's a lot a' floor to clean. You can also request that the housekeepers do some nanny and cooking for you! Way cool. Super pumped about this.

There will be much more to come on the details of our Turkey move. If you think to pray for all the steps that must be completed to get us there, we would be most grateful.

6 comments:

Dawn Hudson said...

Being a part of the military community I am a little surprised at the four bedroom also. How does your family qualify? I am wondering if the rules are different there, though I am wondering how they could be. It seems all bases have pretty set rules. Though that is wonderful news for your family. We are not so lucky. Are family of five have a three bedroom home we don't qualify because we have all boys and the middle child isn't 10. I do hope it works out for you.

Wendi Kitsteiner said...

Hey Dawn. The rules actually vary from Base to Base. Turkey is in the midst of building new houses so they are transitioning their people over to them as fast as they can. The rule there is, if you are at least a captain, you get a room for each dependent plus 1. Is your husband an officer? I am pretty sure each Base is different. We have a 3 bedroom here and we had zero kids when we moved in.

Anonymous said...

It takes awhile to get used to the gardener/ househelp but once you do -oh my! After 20 years of it I am still trying to adjust to not having them --it's amazing but I think we're missing something here -I lvoed it! :) ... depending, but they can become like extended family at some level, not completely. they will love, love love your children too :) Every time I go back to Indonesia my househelp and her husband (our once a week gardener) ask if they can come here and live w/ us and work for us! I always wish I could say yes!

AW said...

Wow Wendi, a 4 bedroom, a housekeeper and a gardener? That's fabulous! That will leave you plenty of time to blog and keep us up-to-date, right? :-D

Dawn Hudson said...

He is and also a Captain. I have never heard of the room for each child plus one....man we need to get orders to Turkey ;) This is also our four base, we just must not get very lucky then. It will be nice to have all the extra room. We have three children and this is the smallest home we have lived in yet. My husband and I joke that are homes keep getting smaller and smaller with each move. Thankfully when we leave from here he will be a major and we will not have this issue anymore. Good luck with your upcoming move across the world. It really is an adventure and so much fun with kids. My husband's family was stationed there as a child and like here your kids will get some looks and pinched cheeks and lots of pictures. Something about americans and lighter colored hair and eyes they love it.

Gabbs said...

Wow....housekeeper? I can only dream.....