2 boys + 2 fevers + no air

We awoke this morning to find two boys with bad fevers and one house with no air conditioning! Not an ideal combination. Thankfully during my time vegging on the couch with both our little guys, the air-fix-it-man came and after over an hour of working on it, successfully returned us to cooler times.

But the sickness just adds to the plethora of details bubbling up around here.

I know JB and I would both appreciate your prayers right now. We are leaving this coming Saturday to spend a week in Washington State. We planned, months ago, to take this trip. We had nearly free tickets from a bump we had taken back in the fall. We also wanted to see our friends Jeff & Bobbie and their kids. And, Washington is a place neither of us had been. That being said, Bobbie called a few days ago to tell us that they were removing her father from the ventilator. He passed away on Friday. We therefore aren't sure how our visit with them will work out. We are just going to have to play that part by ear. The trip is not an ideal time for them or us. But it is paid for. And we are going to go.

But the prayers part ... We will return from Washington on the 29th of May. As we are looking at our dates, we are thinking that our movers will come as early as the first few days of June. With two sick boys, the amount of things we have to get done is quite daunting. We need prayers that everything will go smoothly. That we will get everything done. That the boys will be healthy. That there will be room on the military flight for Scrubs. (If there isn't room, things could get complicated including trying to get him on a commercial flight for about 20x the price or me waiting and flying with him later.)

We don't have to do the packing. We don't have to do the moving. What we have to do is the separating. Our stuff will go into one of five categories:

• HOUSEHOLD GOODS (takes approximately 3 months by boat to reach Turkey)
• UNACCOMPANIED BAGGAGE (takes approximately 2 months by air to reach Turkey)
• PERSONAL LUGGAGE (items we will take with us to Turkey)
• STORAGE (items the military will come and pick up and take to store somewhere until we return to the U.S. in two to four years)
• POSTAL MAIL (the military will reimburse us for some things that we choose to have mailed over -- items that we want to keep with us longer but do not want to take as personal baggage)

Trying to figure out what goes where is quite a chore. Thank goodness I have been purging for months now. Last night JB and I sat down for nearly two hours and tried to figure out the best dates to have the pick-up come and what stuff would go in what group and that sort of thing. We are temporarily thinking we will do the move-out in the following order. Please note that this is our plan. It is far from set in stone. You submit your dates, but the military makes the final decisions. Always.

• June 6th-ish: HOUSEHOLD GOODS
• June 12th-ish: UNACCOMPANIED BAGGAGE
• June 25th: John graduates (His whole family comes in for this)
• June 30th-ish: STORAGE (June 30th)
• June 30th: Send items by postal mail that we want to get there fast but don't want to take as personal baggage.
• July 1st: Leave for South Florida
• July 12th: John takes 3rd step of his Boards in South Florida
• Sometime after July 12: Make drive to Baltimore, Maryland and fly to Turkey.
• July 31: John's report-no-later-than-date. He must be in Turkey by this date at the latest.

I started counting. Counting this weekend, we have five more weekends here on Eglin. Five weekends before our house is empty and we pass inspection (hopefully) and drive to South Florida and then drive to Maryland and then fly to Turkey. Pre-inspection is tomorrow. The ball has begun to roll.

Yikes.

We are feeling the crunch. We are feeling the stress. Thank you to those of you who have offered to help us with our boys. We have had many offers, and trust me, we will call upon people. Thank you to people like Brittny across the street who said we can just use her and her house as a "home base" so that when we are without a microwave, we can heat something up. And when we have an inspection, we can leave the dog and kids there. Thank you to my Dad who is driving up during his summer vacation from school teaching and coaching the week after we get back from Washington. We are blessed.

But the other thing we could use are prayers. John reminded me that an "adventure doesn't mean there is no stress." So true. It is okay to be stressed. That doesn't mean we aren't enjoying their journey. I am excited about this move. It is coupled with overwhelmed and sad and worried and eager and a bunch of other emotions.

We just need an extra dose of prayer during the next two months.

Thanks everyone!