"Camping......with a few amenities."

This happened last week but was quite an adventure anyway.

On a Wednesday our movers rolled away with their big truck and all our household belongings.  They were going to be at my new house, just 3 hours away on Friday, sometime.

I decided that would make for a good night's rest and some light gathering of our things that had been getting spread through out the old house.  So we eat dinner and get jammies on.  Time to camp out in our old house for probably the last time.  Then we get up the next day and get things ready to leave.

We are waiting for Auntie to arrive because she is going to drive our second car to our new home for us.  Once she gets there we load the cars up and buckle in the kids.  We are on our way.  It is now about 4 pm and we need to fill both cars with gas.  So at the gas station we call and see is Grandma would like company for dinner.

A couple of hours later we are at Grandma's.  We are tired and only have about half way left to go.  We are all excited to go stay our first night in the new house.  Take showers and get ready for the movers to come with our stuff.  After a short visit we say our good byes and get on the road again.

Sadly the weather is not great and causes us to drive more slowly.  Our 3 hour trip has officially turned into about 6 hours.  We get into the house and go potty. Uh-oh the toilets will not flush.  Turn on the faucets, those do not run.  Play with pipes below, and look around the outside.  There is no water to be had.

Decisions, decisions.  Do we stay in our new house with no water or rent a hotel room and deal with it in the morning.  After about 30 seconds of thought we have decided to finish unloading the cars and then make our way to Safeway.  We are going to buy gallons of water instead.  This should get us by until I can talk to the water people.

While at the store we had to answer some important questions.  How many gallons will it take to flush the toilet?  We decided on 5 gallons to be safe.  How many flushes will we need until the water people can come take care of it?  We decided if we follow the "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" policy we only need 5 flushes.  So 25 gallons of water plus two for cleaning and case for drinking.

As soon as we get home it was time to flush the toilet since we could not expect the kids to wait.  Good news it only takes 2.5 gallons we now have 9 flushes left.  We all know not to flush the toilet and get to bed.

The next morning I go to the water people and find it was a simple paper error and they will be out in the afternoon to turn it back on.  While waiting "Auntie" turns to me and says, "You know, this is like camping....with a few amenities."

PCSing with K12

Well, here we are half way into the year and it is time for us to PCS. I cannot believe it has finally got here. We started our school year with many uncertainties. Will we stay in Washington and not change K12 schools? Should we just move to Oregon and possibly not be able to enroll the kids mid year? Will my hubby get home before deployment is over? Will he get home before we move? Will we find a house before we have to be at our next duty station? Can I really buy a house, school 3 kids and move all by myself? Well, I now have some answers to these unknowns. Some were short and easy (not always pleasant) answers and others were more gray areas.


Will we stay in Washington and continue on with WAVA? Or do we try to move to Oregon and enroll our children midway through the year? We had a plan if it was Oregon we would buy the curriculum if we had to. But in the end we chose to stay in Washington. We will be 21 miles from the border. A further commute then we had hoped but a lovely home with lots to do in the area. We also discovered that this means we get to keep our amazing teacher Mrs. Reed. Over the last 3 school years all of my children, and my niece even, have come to love her. They cannot wait to talk with her and share what they are doing. I was ever so pleased to hear that she will still be our teacher even though we will be further away.

Will my hubby get home before deployment is over? Will he come home before we move? I cannot tell you how much this one had me agonizng. I have never moved with out my best friend. Let alone chose our new home with out him or anything of the likes. In the end I am moving next week and he is not here. So yes, I am moving with out him home. Will he be home before deployment ends, probably not, but if you know anything about the military then you know the answer can change tomorrow.

Will we find a house before we have to be at the next duty station? Can I buy home on my own? It turns out the answer to both of these questions is yes. Through lots of prayer by me and for me by my many wonderful friends and family members, God has blessed with me a stress free house buying experience. I just kept praying that His will be done and everything went really smoothly for us. Seriously. From our amazing realtor to finding a great home, for a great price and meets our needs. I feel so truly blessed.

Can I school 3 children while all of this is going on? Well yes I can. I cannot however say that every lesson was from K12. Many came from our frequent travels up and down the highway. Some came from how dirty the house can get when we are all tired, over worked and then take turns getting sick. But in the end they are all learning, happy and thriving. So yes, I can school them in all this craziness. Our choice to use K12 seems to be paying off.

Can I move all by myself? This has been quite a testament to me on how greatly God provides. Everything I have needed just keeps lining up and perfectly timed. I am a planner by nature and I never could have planned things to happen the way that they have.

So we will start out in January behind our goals for school. But our personal goals are right on target. The kids are healthy. I am moving as asked by my wonderful Husband. And school will go on with few changes or challenges. Our first PCS with K12 is definitely a success!!