Life Gets Crazier!

So if you follow me on facebook, you have seen my "ugh" post.  I will explain why I posted an "ugh" post.  It's a possibility that right now we will either LOSE our assignment or KEEP it with an extended date.

We have recently been given orders to move to Japan.  We're so excited for this opportunity and have been pushing to get all we need to done.  I had been cleared for travel along with Sheyden and Graison and everything was going great. We just had one step left to do in our wait and that was hearing from Kadena and talking to housing about when we needed to get movers to come. 

That is until we found out that I actually wasn't clear for travel.  Turns out that because of our situation, being pregnant and having to fly so late in the pregnancy, that Kaden won't clear me.  So now what we have to do is file an appeal for our case, which is very unique.  Normally they don't even give orders for those so late into their pregnancy but the people that handle the orders wouldn't know how far along I am.  The lady we have been working with told us that she had never seen something as unique as our situation and the fact that they are willing to do as much as they can to work with the situation with us and get us over there is a one of a kind thing. You rarely see it happen.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US is that we have to do as much as we can to appeal our case and change Sheydens "report no later date".  What that is, is the date Sheyden has to report to work which is Dec. 10th.  WHAT Kadena wants is for us to be able to stay until we have the baby and the baby is cleared for travel.  In order for this to happen we have to change Sheyden's RNLT date.  

BY DOING THIS it can change a lot of things.  It's very hard for a person of Sheydens rank to get an appointment with his commander.  The reasons we need to get into see him/her is that we need a letter from him to Sheydens future commander in Kadena stating why we need to change the date Sheyden has to report to work by.  We could appeal without one but it would be better for us to appeal with one.

ONTOP OF ALL THAT we have to get an appeal letter from my OB stating that the pregnancy has been going great and the baby is growing healthy and his anticipation of how he expects the delivery will go and all that jazz.  The perk to that is I have a new ulyrasound appointment on Monday that will allow for my doctor to really know how the baby is doing.  Our due date is Dec. 6th however I truly feel like I will not be having the baby that date.  I get my shots all the way until 35/36 weeks, which puts me at Nov. 1st or 8th for my last one.  I've been studying up on other womens experiences with labor after they're shots and the majority of them stopped at 35/36 weeks with their shots and had their babies by 37 weeks.  Which before I started studying on it, I felt that's when I would be having the baby anyways which would be around November 15th. 

SO ITS A POSSIBILITY that we will lose our assignment or keep it with a later report date for after the baby has arrived.  For right now, we will be in that appeal process and kind of hung up high and dry until we know more about it.  I wanted to keep friends and family in the loop so they know what is happening with us.  We really don't want to lose our assignment so we are trying as hard as we can to keep it.  However, if we lose it, our family will be able to see the new baby a lot more than they would've with us gone. 

So here's to wishful thinking and praying we can keep this amazing opportunity but doing so in a way that we can go together as a family and safely. 

Coming soon this November...or later...Kadena AFB Okinawa Japan

So we have orders to move to Japan this coming November!  We are still waiting to learn all the details while we try knocking out as much as we can on our "to-do before ya move" checklist.  Mainly waiting on medical records to get sent over to the base for myself and getting them together for Graison and Sheyden.  Ontop of that, passports and learning what we have to do about the new baby's passport.  ALSO, if I am to be flown to Japan before having the baby or after.  We are thinking I will more than likely have to be staying in the US for giving birth and trying to plan for that.  It would mean I would have to stay with family and have the baby outside of Washington and without my main doctor because all of our stuff will be packed up and stored until they move it to Japan.  

Lots of stress and anxiety going on but I don't think we are feeling it, I think we are feeling more excited.  I believe this is something that is going to be good for our family and ontop of that it's a once in a lifetime experience that we don't have to pay tickets for a short time, instead we will be getting about 3+ years of experience in Japan.  Kadena is the air base on the Okinawa islands of Japan, there are other based but this is specifically Air Force.  We have been told that the weather stay anywhere from 50-90 degrees year round, and for Okinawa, the main worry is for Typhoons.  So this will be exciting to see what really goes on. 

Okinawa has the second largest aquarium in the world, and that is the first thing we want to do when we go there because Graison loves fish and he would be so excited to see all that they have.  He will get to see how big a shark is and learn about other fish like sting rays and all the tropical fish, including clown and lionhead fish.  On the base, we are surrounded by parks for Graison to play at.  There are a number of beaches to get to with beautiful crystal blue water, white sands. There's even a beach that has star or sunburst shaped sand that actually isn't sand but single cell organisms, basically they look like a bunch of tiny shells in star/sunburst shape. 

My thoughts on Japan right now are all so jumbled that I can't truly explain them to you until we know more.  They're basically just questions and mostly questions about the whole move process and especially my being pregnant and in the last month when they want us to move.  For now we don't know anything other than what we need to get done here and that's mostly Sheyden, and organizing things we don't need and bags to be packed. 

Here's some pics of what lies in our future! Including a picture if my great grandpa Noboru Sakahara....my sister really wants me to look up some Sakahara's but I think they originate from the mainland of Japan (Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka...) and not Okinawa, if I run into any I don't even know if they'd believe a blonde haired blue/green eyed girl being a Sakahara.