Decor-ama

Well, our stuff showed up on Friday and after an intense weekend of unpacking and breaking down boxes, it is done. The apartment now looks like a home. Thanks of course to the decorating dynamo (and my wife) Danielle. Anyway here are some pics of the newly decorated apartment.

Houston, we have furniture...

Job Updates

We have both been moving along sucessfully with our job stuff. . .

My interview with the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) went well. I go to orientation next Tuesday morning. I will be a substitute teacher for elementary through high school in SAISD's Area I, which is the closest of their districts to where we live. I will be listed as a fill-in for teacher's assistants as well, to increase my chances of getting called in to work. I was also able to specify which secondary subjects I would be willing to teach, so made sure I didn't put myself down for any math classes since that is my worst subject.

Sean is doing well with his In-Processing at Lackland. He has taken care of setting up all of our financial and medical stuff and is now doing some orientation tutorials and tests. On Friday, our household items will be delivered to our apartment and Sean will be given 8 more days off to deal with the details involved in unpacking and setting up at home. After this 8 day period, Sean will begin work in the Wilford Hall Medical Intensive Care Unit under the supervision of his sponsor, James.

We have both really appreciated the time-off that the Air Force has given Sean to deal with all aspects of the moving process.

Apartment Pics

Hey yall (That's Texas speak for "you all"),

Here are a few pics of our new apartment. Not much to see yet, since it is essentially empty at this point. Anyway, I know some of you must be curious to see what our new digs look like. So here you go.

New Apartment Pics!!!

Lots to Do!

For the last 1-2 days, Sean has been working on "In Processing" at Lackland AFB which will probably take the rest of this week. Because this is Sean's first assignment, he has a sponsor who shows him what to do - reporting for duty, vehicle registration, pay/bonus paperwork, military ID & insurance registration for spouse etc. Sean doesn't know where the appropriate offices for these things are let alone what all needs to be done, so his sponsor, James, helps him. There has been a lot to do, and James has been so helpful inspite of having a full work schedule in the ICU to focus on as well.

We have also had a lot of stuff to do at our apartment. We had to get food and a whole bunch of other basic items that either we needed (like shower curtains), or I forgot to pack with the stuff to get us through the 2 weeks of waiting for the moving company to arrive. It's funny how unimportant a can opener seems until you have cans of food, but nothing to open them with! I also forgot a knife, so have been cutting tomatoes with a Swiss Army knife because I refuse to go back to the store for one more thing!! We also had to go through the check-in process for our new apartment community and have already managed to lock ourselves out of our apartment.

The weather was beautiful today! I don't know what the temp was, but I got too hot in jeans. I think the weather is supposed to get cold later this week though. We are looking forward to hopefully visiting some family over the weekend, as well as going out to eat at The Melting Pot with a gift certificate from my former co-workers as a sort-of late Valentine's Day celebration.

We will continue to keep you all up-to-date!

We're Here!

We finally made it to San Antonio! It was a 2 day trip, 6+ hours 1 day and 8 hours the next. Sean will be reporting for duty tomorrow morning, so he will go to the Air Force Base while I start taking care of apartment stuff. After reporting, Sean will have 8 days to get personal affairs in order before starting work. It will be nice to be in our own place again, although we will have to wait almost 2 weeks for our stuff to arrive. Once our stuff arrives, Sean will have another 8 days off to get things taken care of. It will be wonderful to finally get settled!! Our cat, who is closed in yet another hotel bathroom right now, agrees!

We are excited about all the new things we have coming up. . .Dani has a job interview to be a substitute teacher next Monday. We have a few promising churches we want to visit. We love that we are in warmer weather (70's today) and look forward to just a 2 hour drive to the ocean. Sean is pleased to be working as a critical care nurse in a place that truly values his skills. We have many family members living nearby who we want to get to know better.

Of course, all of these new things mean a somewhat lengthy adjustment period as well, and we realize it won't all be roses. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We'll keep you posted!

Starbucks Continued

Here I am at Starbucks again, reconnecting with my friends/family courtesy of T-Mobile. See previous post...Infinitely more interesting than this one.

As a matter of update, this next week will be my last week of COT. On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we will do our AEF (Air Expiditionary Force) exercise. "What does this mean," you ask. Well, it means we go and set up a tent hospital in a field on base and do mass casualty drills, a confidence course, rappelling tower, eat MRE's, sleep in stinky sleeping bags, go for days without showering, and other fun stuff. I am actually looking forward to this.

Wednesday evening we will have our Dining Out at the Officer's Club. Friends and family will be coming for this formal event where everyone wears their AF Mess Dress (Tuxedo). Much tradition, pomp and circumstance takes place here. Lots of neat/fun AF tradition.

Friday AM is the graduation parade and graduation ceremony. We march around parade style in our service dress with white gloves and such for the generals and our families. Then I get to fly home to my beautiful wife who has been faithfully administrating the details of the move to San Antonio (I love you, Sweety).

Thanks for reading, Y'all.

Sean

One Percent

One percent. What is it. Milk. Nope. One percent is a concept mentioned in a talk/sermon given by BONO at Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast.

If you haven't read the transcript of this talk or heard the actual talk, I highly suggest that you visit the link below and read it.
BONO's Talk At The National Prayer Breakfast

This is definitely one of the most powerful talks I have heard from BONO. He really shows the passion of his faith in this talk. Read it.

Countdown to THE BIG MOVE

We are both doing well and are just 7 days away from Sean's return home and our big move to Texas.

Sean has taken and passed his final test to graduate officer school. Today, they gave briefings/presentations in class and tomorrow they will have their physical tests (timed running, sits-up, push-ups etc). Monday and Tuesday is their 2-day/night mission, Wednesday is their nice graduation dinner, Friday is their parade march and graduation ceremony. Friday evening Sean comes home. It will be wonderful to have him back!!

My last day at work was Tuesday. Since then I have been very busy with errands, organizing/prep for the movers and having lunch and coffee with various friends to say goodbye. This weekend we will celebrate my mom's birthday in addition to mom and I going to lunch on Monday. Wednesday will be a big, final organization day, then Thursday the movers come to pack our stuff and Friday they load it all in the truck and take it away.

We are both really excited for our big move! Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers through this transition in our lives.