TMO.
Today I had my meeting with TMO (the military Traffic Management Office.) They are the people in charge of connecting us with movers and transporting all of our goods. (Btw, for those of you that are curious, the military pays for our entire move. They pay for the movers. They pack our things. They ship it over. They deliver. They unpack.) This will be our first full move and obviously, our first overseas. Our move is a little bit confusing. Since Ethan is re-training to a new career, we are considered "TDY En Route" which basically means our move is in transit. Imagine a non-stop flight and a flight with a layover. Ours is the layover. Start in California. Go to Texas. Go to Florida. End in Germany. This is why it throws so many people off in the military when we have been pushing for our paperwork to get finished before Ethan left. They just see our Germany date of October and assume we have time.So...one of the things TMO needed me to do was go to a government website and do a "self counseling" program. It is meant to educate people on what you can pack, what you can't, how to prepare for the move, etc. BUT, you can't do it on a Mac computer. It's not compatible. Go figure, that's all we have. We do have a dusty old PC which I had to unbury and reconnect. It was a mess of cords and only reminded me why I hate PC's so much. (I can't tell you how many times I have carried my MAC desktop around the house. It's just a screen, a keyboard and a mouse. Simple. Easy. Done.) So I set it all up in our living room because since it doesn't have a wireless card like my Mac's, I have to use an ethernet cable. I set it up and waited for 10 minutes for the whole thing to load up. I go online and the connection couldn't handle the government website. Sooooooo, I texted everyone I knew and finally found someone who had a PC and was home so I could do this. I don't know what it was, but I felt so frustrated and upset over this all. Typing it out makes me realize it wasn't that big of a deal but in the moment it was...and I think I gained a wrinkle from it.Ethan is doing well. He is on day 3 of his TACP indoctrination course. It sounds pretty challenging and difficult and I know they are really smoking him with constant PT-ing (physical training). So far 10 out of 29 guys have either dropped out or failed a test. The reality of him passing or failing is becoming more real...and while I have no doubt he can make it through the course, I do know that Germany isn't even certain until the day he graduates. Please be praying for him when you think of it. I know it is all so mentally and physically exhausting for him.I just can't wait for the day when we are all unpacked and settled in Germany. This summer has a lot in store, and while I'm thrilled I get to spend time with my family back home, I just want our little family to be a family again. All I have left to do is organize a bit more, clean out major appliances, wait for the movers to come and then clean some more. I officially leave California on Saturday, July 21st. It's so bittersweet. This picture is from yesterday. Kaiden and his gal-pal Evee had a little date night watching Rio together.