Settling in

Well, we made it! We have been here for almost 9 days and are working on getting settled in. Here are the things we have been / are doing ...

1) Housing. Because of where I will be working (I will talk about that later), we are able to live off-base! Jason, the kids and I have looked at about 10 different places we like and are hoping to make a final decision within the next few days. Once we decide on a place, it will still be another 2-4 days before we can move in. The reason is that we have to arrange for our furniture to be delivered (some rented from the military) and we need for that to happen on the same day that we actually start paying rent. If we move into the house/apartment without furniture, we will stop getting reimbursed from the military and start having to pay out of pocket for our stay at the hotel. Definitely do not want that!

As of now, our top 3 choices are apartments near each other with 3 or 4 bedrooms, ocean view (of beautiful sunsets and a beach we can use), within walking distance to a park that Hannah likes, and close to my sponsor (who also has children). We are negotiating the final arrangements with the different places and will pick the best deal in the end. We feel comfortable with any of these places, but welcome prayers until we decide.

2) Work. I have decided that based on the circumstances, it will be good for me to work at the Branch Health Clinic at Camp Hansen instead of the main hospital at Camp Lester. If I stayed at Lester, I would be 4th on the totem pole. If I work at Hansen, I would be THE optometrist and basically in charge of my schedule/day/clinic (within reason, of course). Although it is a little extra drive (25-30 minutes by personal car, 45-50 minutes by bus), we feel it is the best thing to do in the long run. Some days I may take the bus and some days I will drive myself - at least until I can figure out which way will work the best for me. We are choosing to live near Camp Lester/Foster/Kadena because that is where all the important stuff happens. That area is where the commissaries, pools, restaurants, shopping, Americans, and other things are; so that is where we want to be. Up north by Camp Hansen, there really isn't much at all. I am still in the "checking in" process at work, so I haven't had to start seeing patients yet. I assume that will change next week or the week after.

3) Time change. Here in Okinawa, we are currently 16 hours ahead of Arizona, 14 hours ahead of Central Time, and 13 hours ahead of East Coast. That did quite a number on our sleep habits and we still haven't fully recovered. I would like to think that I adapted the quickest (mostly because I was already tired all the time). Jason also seems to be doing pretty well - except that I have seen him take more naps in the last week than I think I have seen in the last 7 years of our marriage! Hannah is slowly getting there and Brian doesn't know what to think! Hannah is currently taking 1 mid-day nap (if we aren't too busy running around getting stuff done) like she did in Virginia, but she has yet to sleep past 6 am (which is NOT like when we lived in Virginia). I think Brian was on the verge of sleeping through the night before we left, but lately I feel like all hope is lost for that. He is almost 4 months old and still has not slept more than 4 hours in a row - except for 1 night about 1 month ago when he slept for 5 hours. Right now he wakes up every 2-4 hours, regardless of day or night time. I am praying that when we get into a house and I can put him into his own bed (right now he sleeps with us), and he will sleep better.

4) Pictures. We have been too busy to take any but I will try and post some when we can. Oh, and our camera is hopefully in a box on its way here now - we had someone in Virginia mail it for us so we didn't have to worry about it being in our luggage. I was able to snap the photo of Hannah and Brian in the hotel crib on my new cell phone, but that is about it for photos right now.

5) Phones. We have cell phones, but they are Japanese phone numbers so I don't recommend calling them. We have a Skype account, but I don't know all the details. After Jason gets back running errands, maybe I can pass on that information.

Well, that is all for now. Time for a nap!