10 Days and Counting

God worked it out on Monday!  Well, part of it came in...John is authorized to go, and take all of our belongings.  The kids and I are still waiting for the OK for us to go along, though we should hear in a day or so.  Now that the movers are coming, I'm completely fine with having to wait for the final step to come through.  It was the stress of knowing the end of the lease date was drawing closer and still not knowing if we'd have the movers to pack up and take away our stuff that was the hardest part.  I knew that if we needed to, we could totally do it ourselves, but the waiting to find out was killing me!

The movers are coming on the 20th-21st, which is perfect!  That's really what I was hoping for, without even realizing that's what I wanted, and God knew what was best.  This way the house might be fully cleaned before we go to the Oath Ceremony in Pensacola on the 23rd!  If that is the case, we might just leave for AK straight from there.

I truly wanted to have the citizenship issue out of the way before we headed north, and wow, if this isn't an answer to prayer, I don't know what is!  I really wonder when I look at my life, why I doubt that God has it under control.  I do know He does, but I always seem to take back control, instead of leaving it all in His hands.  He's always worked the timing out perfectly and my worrying and stressing has never changed the speed in which His plan is carried out.  With all the moving we've done over the years, you'd think I'd have learned the trust lesson several relocations ago, and yet here I was again questioning, "Why?  What is Your plan?  Why does it feel like you're letting us sit here for no apparent reason???".

I'm getting excited to move.  We've been looking at houses up there and with winter coming the prices on some of our favorites are dropping (thank you God for Your timing...lol), and its exciting to think of moving into a new place and learning about the area.  I don't relish the 9-10 day drive, but just think of all the quality family time we'll have, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. 

Our new 2012 Ford Escape 4x4...LOVE IT!

Monday night it hit me that in less than 2 weeks we would be leaving here and heading into the Great COLD North (Monday's high was 65, and by next week the highs are in the mid-40's).  I was about to brush my teeth and had to put the toothbrush down and take a seat on the bed.  It felt so overwhelming how quickly it all came up....less than 12 hours earlier we didn't have an inkling of the timeline and then all of a sudden it was 12 days away! John looked at me like I was growing 2 heads or something and mentioned that he thought I perhaps needed some mental evaluation.  He's so even-keeled and uber-optomistic about everything that he doesn't worry about the small stuff.  He knows it will all work out  and he forgets that I'm the worrier.  Oh, to be more like my mellow hubby!

Anyway, now starts the final move prep.  Figuring out what we'll be able to fit into the luggage and trunk, what kinds of things to take in the car so the kids will be entertained, (thankfully they both have iPods).  We are already planning on purchasing a roof top carrier, with having to pack both warm weather clothes and winter type clothing, we just wouldn't have room in our vehicle.  

Eliminating JUNK!  We've already donated a trike, bicycle and electric ride on bike that the kids have outgrown, plus a garbage bag of clothes that no longer fit and a very old computer.  There is so much stuff that accumulates, I wonder how it sneaks into the house!  I've already filled the garbage can and recycling bin with junk.  Its really refreshing to see how organized a room can look when stuff that should have been in the garbage finally ends up there (and I'm talking shredded old bills and old Sunday School coloring sheets, that kind of thing, not smelly garbage)!  I think God has us move every couple of years just so I don't end up being one of those clutter bugs.  I know I'd never get so bad as to be on the show, Hoarders, but if we lived in one place for more than 3 years I think that I'd have to hold the Grand Daddy of all Yard Sales every 5 years!

Catchin' Up

My, my, how time does fly!  It seems like only last week that I was on here, and yet again, too much time has gone by!

Here's a quick update for anyone wondering:

1. Still no orders, though they are in the final stage to getting them to us...hopefully today or tomorrow!!!
2. Sarah was here and gone...GREAT visit, though trusting the GPS instead of doing research before leaving for the airport means that you can arrive at the wrong (CLOSED DOWN) airport in plenty of time for the flight, make it to the right airport with 10 minutes until the flight, still have her miss the flight, and her not get home until the next day.  BAD IDEA, don't expect the GPS to always be right!  Also, we learned that you should always do precheck-in prior to leaving for the airport.
3. The interview in Jacksonville went really well!  Again, it was a 5.5 hour drive each way for a 15 minute interview, but the man was really nice and all the stressing and grilling I did over the civics questions was almost a moot point.  The questions he asked were pretty simple and I was fully relieved to be walking out so quickly.  (I had had visions that I was going to be deported if I hadn't answered the questions properly...LOL!)
4. John is done school!!!!!!  He graduates on Friday, and that will end about 23 months of schooling.  He's thrilled, and I'm excited because even though it has to be in Alaska, we'll be staying in one place for more than 6 months at a time!!!
5. I got a notice on Wednesday that my Oath Ceremony has been scheduled and I am searching the mail every single day for that all important letter!  The man at the interview said that it should be scheduled for either Panama City Beach or Tallahassee, so that's only about 2.5 hours of driving at the most.  It would be sooooo amazing to be sworn in before we move north!
6. John talked to the movers and the busy season is over so its only about a 10 day wait from receiving your orders to when the movers can start....so we should be out of our house in plenty of time.
7. I talked to the rental management company on the way back from Jacksonville and we've extended our lease until Sept. 20.....God loves me enough that he won't make me homeless, right???  Yes, I know by the fact that no one has even called to look at this wonderful house that God is providing for my sanity by keeping them away!
8. We had a wonderful visit with our friends from Alaska, and they were kind enough to send us the Milepost magazine, which is THE best travelling north magazine I could ever have hoped for!  It shows what is at every single exit from Montana to Fairbanks.  It tells us about tourist spots, gas stations (and which ones will still be open when we drive through), lodging and food spots.  Think AAA on steroids!  I've been spending time every once in a while digging through it, getting an idea of what's to come.
9. I made a purse for Sarah while she was down and I have more yarn so I'm going to make another one very similar.  I don't know if I'll post it on my Etsy site or if I'll send it to her friend who would like one, but I will put up pictures of it on my site, hoping to make my first sale.  Sarah also introduced me to making paper beads, so I'm trying my hand at that.  Its very relaxing, but I don't know if they would sell on my Etsy site or not...gonna give it a go though!

I think those are all of the updates that we've experienced since I last did one.  AK is coming closer and closer and closer....hard to believe that in less than 3 weeks we could be on our way!  We've loved FL and will miss it very much!

Could you become an American???

Its funny, after putting that I wasn't going to guarantee to post these questions very next day, I really did mean to!  Then life happened and well, here we are, days later.

My friend Becca came to visit and while she was here, she quizzed me on the 100 questions that are provided by INS in a study guide.  I will be asked 10 questions and I have to get 6 right to pass.  While not being totally worried, since I did grow up in the American school system (was that a bit of tongue-in-cheek?), I did want to find out how badly I would do when being questioned by another person.  I botched on 22/100. 

Here are the ones I missed....do you know the answers without looking?  I think I missed a few of them because of my Swiss Cheese for brains, but there were a few that I really just had never heard of!

1. What is the supreme law of the land?
2. What does the Constitution do?
3. What is the economic system in the US?
4. How many US senators are there? (I KNOW this one, just had a leaky brain moment!)
5. Who is one of your State's US Senators? (I have to know FL, even though I've lived here less than 6 months!)
6. Name your US Representative (Again, almost feels unfair!)
7. If both the President and Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
8. What does the judicial branch do? (and no, my answer, "They make the laws.", is wrong)
9. How many justices are on the Supreme Court? (leaky brain again)
10. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government.  What is one power of the federal government?
11. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states.  What is one power of the states?
12. Who is the Governor of your state now? (FL question again)
13. What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now? (Just a few months ago I would have had no problem piping up with, "Nancy P.")
14. What is one responsibility that is only for US citizens?
15. What are 2 rights of everyone living in the US?
16. What is one promise you make when you become a US citizen?
17. Why did the colonists fight the British?
18. What happened at the Constitutional Convention?
19. When was the Constitution written?
20. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the US Constitution.  Name one of the writers.
21. What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?
22. Who was the President during WW1?
23. During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the US?

So, there you go....the answers are a bit further down....be honest though...how many did you get the first try?

There is also a written portion and a reading portion.  I don't think I'll have a problem with that, as English is my first and only language (to the consternation of my French teachers in Canada), but in case I'm just learning English, the study guide has word lists to read over at the back.  I've got to say, there is absolutely NO reason why someone who has gotten this far in the process should fail, the government has been very thorough and I truly appreciate it.

OK, here's the answers to the above questions. They give several answers to each question, but you are only required to know 1 answer, unless the question specifically states a different amount.

1. The Constitution
2. Sets up the government, defines the government, protects the basic rights of Americans
3. Capitalist Economy, Market Economy
4. 100 Senators
5. FL Residents: Rubio Marco or Bill Nelson
6. FL Residents: Jeff Miller or Steve Southerland
7. Speaker of the House
8. Reviews the laws, explains the laws, resolves disputes (disagreements), decides if a law goes against the Constitution
9. nine (9)
10. to print money, to declare war, to create an army, to make treaties
11. provide schooling and education, provide protection (police), provide safety (fire dept), give a driver's license, approve zoning and land use
12. FL Residence: Rick Scott
13. John Boehner
14. serve on a jury, vote in a FEDERAL election
15. freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to petition the government, freedom of worship, the right to bear arms
16. give up loyalty to other countries, defend the Constitution and laws of the US, obey the laws of the US, serve in the US military if needed, serve the nation, be loyal to the US
17. because of high taxes, because the British army stayed in their homes, because they didn't have self-government
18. The Constitution was written, the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution
19. 1787
20. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Publius (their pen name)
21. US Diplomat, oldest member of the Constitutional Convention, first Postmaster General of the US, writer of "Poor Richard's Almanac", started the first free libraries
22. Woodrow Wilson
23. Communism

Hopefully, if you are already American, this list of questions helps you be thankful that you were born in this country.  For those of us who would like to join, its not cheap or easy...this shows how dedicated we are to actually becoming citizens.  For those who never will go the route of becoming a proud American, you can read this list and laugh about what you don't have to learn, but what about your country....if they had a list of Civics questions, could you take the test and become a citizen? 

Actually, by typing this out, I've been able to study...thanks for the help!!!

She Can Come!!!

I've got my interview date for INS!  Wow, it was really fast in coming...seriously, 3 days after my fingerprints, I get a text saying that my status has changed and the day after that I get an e-mail saying that my name has been added to the interview list and I'll get a letter in the mail within 14 days telling me where and when to go!  When we started this process, everything we read said that it would be 5+ months, and here its barely been 2!  God is good!!!

So, 2 days later I check the mail and in between the throw away junk mail is tucked my letter!  I was pretty confident about it, I mean, I've already driven to New Orleans, so I know the way, and I grew up in VA, so American Civics is pretty well known in my Swiss Cheese for a brain, it should be a piece of cake.  (feel free to start laughing now)  Yeah, easy & the US government...ha, ha, ha, etc!  The first thing I notice is the 8:10 am appointment....great!  We've been there, done that, should have bought the t-shirt (no, there really isn't an INS fingerprint appointment t-shirt), will book the Residence Inn again.  Nope, the second thing I notice is the location.  Jacksonville, FL....mapquest it and its 5+ hours in the OTHER direction!  Third thing I notice...."This is a small waiting room, please only bring people necessary to your 2 hour interview"!  2 hours!  2 hours!!  2 HOURS!!!  What am I going to do with the kids???  I can't leave them in the waiting room for 2 minutes, let alone 2 hours!!!  John has class, and can't get out without getting rolled back into a later class, so he sure can't go with me.  I could get a girl to babysit, but it would be overnight, as I have to go the day before, but how would that work out with John and his early morning (he leaves for work at 4 am)?

My genius husband came up with a great idea!!!  We texted Sarah, my sister in NY and asked if she could come down to be my babysitter.  I know, you're thinking, wow, that's one expensive babysitter, but this totally serves a dual purpose.  My interview is August 22, and we'll be heading north shortly after September 5, and will be in AK for a minimum of 2.5 years.  I'll not only get a babysitter, but I'd get to see my baby sister one last time before we left!  Even before we know the answer, I'm already planning on dragging her along on my road trip.  She and the kids can stay in the room or go swimming while I go to my interview.  It would be sweet to have her along for the ride, and even sweeter to have smiling faces to come back to once I'm through!

She said yes, she'd love to come, and with her boss giving her a generous time allowance, we started the booking process.  I don't know if you've done long distance booking for another person, but I don't think I did it the easy way!  I wanted her to have as few stops as possible, one layover would be ideal, but I also didn't want to pay a ton of money to get the tickets either...of course.  Every time I'd find something that seemed like it was worthy of booking, I'd have to text her to get her OK....we texted back and forth over the course of an hour and I still didn't book anything until the next morning!

I started out looking at round trip tickets;  the flight down worked but the flight home got her arriving after midnight, with an hour+ drive to get home....that wouldn't work at all.  Then I switched to a different website and found a better flight home, but it was connected to a really early flight down (6:00am, with the check in and stuff, she would have had to leave home at like 4am).

Our final solution......US Airways down, one way, bought from Expedia.com....$170, including taxes and all that extra stuff.  Southwest home, one way, bought from their website....$176, taxes incl.  Not bad, considering that's only about $5 more than a round trip ticket!  And both only have one layover in Charlotte, NC, which is totally what I wanted!

We're very excited!  I was in her wedding back in December, and haven't seen her since.  I can't wait to put my arms around her at the airport and just give her a hug again!  Thanks INS for making this trip possible (and my genius husband who goes to work everyday to support my spending)!

Next time, (I almost put up the word tomorrow...LOL) I'm going to put a few of those EASY civics questions and see if you could become an American citizen!

N.O. or no citizenship

If you've read this blog at all, you most likely have noticed that I'm not on here enough to be called a regular blogger!  Sorry about that!  I do plan on taking the laptop in the car and doing updates in the hotel at night w/ pictures, but until that time, I guess you'll just have to put up with me being a really big procrastinator!

So, to get everyone caught up.......

Our Trip to New Orleans on Wed. & Thurs. -- When we found out our new assignment was AK, I decided to immediately apply for American citizenship.  If John gets sent out on a long assignment, I want the freedom to go visit my family for an extended period of time without worrying about losing my green card eligibility.  My g.c. expires in 2012 anyway, and since its only about $150 more to apply to be American, I figure, why not!  I'd have to renew my g.c. every 10 years at about $400 each time, so this is actually a financial and stress reliever choice as much as anything else. 

One thing I will look forward to is the fact that I will no longer be ridiculed by my immediate family as being the ONLY Canadian in a household of Americans.  I especially won't miss the, "Hey Daddy!  There's OUR flag, but its NOT Mommy's!", that gets pointed out every time we see an American flag......you don't realize how patriotic the American people are until you've heard this one several thousand times!!!!!!!!         

I expected the application process would take a really long time, I mean, our g.c.'s took over a year!  As of today, its been just over a month since I mailed in my stuff.  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we're a military family, and as I'm married to an American in the military, they are pushing me through faster, though I'm not 100% sure that really is the reason....perhaps they've just managed to speed things up, which is a blessing for all of us who are watching our mailboxes for those lovely envelopes that give us locations and dates and times to report for the next step!

So that gets us up to date as to why the children and I were driving 4 1/2 hours to N.O., LA on Wednesday.  I had an 8:00 am report time, and I wasn't going up the morning of the appointment. We stayed at the Marriot Residence Inn which was just 5 minutes down the road.  Lovely hotel, and we pick that chain whenever possible.  Our room had a full kitchen, living area with pull out couch and queen sized bed beside the large changing area and bathroom.  After arriving and checking in, we were told that at 6 pm they were serving grilled burgers and salad for dinner!  We were planning on cooking dinner in our room, but hey, free food, why not??? 

We went to the room, changed into swimsuits and filled the time until dinner swimming at the pool.  There were lots of other kids there, so my kids had a blast and were able to work out some of the wiggles!  After dinner we went back to the pool for a while, then up to the room where the kids had a flashback to what "real" television is like.....they are so spoiled by Netflix's Instant Streaming, that they were complaining about commercials!  Residence Inn gives everyone a free bag of popcorn in your welcome basket, so we finished off the night enjoying some snuggle time in the bed with our snack.

The next morning we got up, ate a yummy breakfast (waffles (Anica), Muffins (Zane), Bacon & Egg Sandwich (Me)), and left for INS at 7:30...I didn't want to be late!  We got there at 7:40 (2 red lights added the extra 5 minutes), and went right inside.  At 7:55 am, I started the process, at 8:10 am, I finished....8 hour round trip for a 15 minute process! But I'm thankful that it was quick and I really am not complaining!

The kids swam one more time, watched a little more of that commercial filled telly and then we hit the road.  We wanted to make sure we were home before Daddy, so we left at 10:30 am.  I was using my GPS (THANKS MUM & DAD....best Christmas gift EVER!!!), but still managed to miss my turn, so we took a quick tour of downtown New Orleans....we even drove close to the Skydome (think that's what its called).  I blame it all on the torrential rains that were beating down on us, but its more user error I guess!  It rained the entire way home, but that made arriving back at the house at 4:00 pm all the sweeter.  (The trip back was laden with traffic jams, rain and miserable service at our lunch stop!)

The INS website says that citizenship takes upwards of 5 months, and yet my fingerprints were mailed to the FBI for processing on Thursday and yesterday I got an update e-mail stating that my interview has been scheduled and that I will be receiving my paperwork in the mail in the next 14 days!!!!  Yipee!!! 

God is good, and I know that He truly is the one smoothing out this process for us.  It would be amazing to be through the entire thing before we pack up and head north.  I will always be Canadian, but to be able to never worry about where my g.c. is, or having to be treated differently as I cross the border will  be so very, very, very nice!

The Next Step

The weekend went by several days ago, and I'm just sitting down again to update my blog!  I figured that no one would be interested in reading it over the weekend, so why bother to write on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays! 

I was going to do a blog of our activity at the Library on Friday;  they had an All American Heroes Celebration from 10:00 - 11:30 and it was a totally fun time! 

They started out with an ambulance, showing the kids through the twists and turns of working an ambulance.  All children got to climb up in the back and were free to ask questions and lie on the gurney.  Zane and Anica were the first kids to get to go up in the front and Zane got to turn on the siren, which made his whole face light up!  I'm sure the people in the neighboring buildings were at first wondering what the emergency was, but after the 3rd or 4th child turned on the siren, they were probably wondering where their headache meds were.

Once most of the kids had taken their turn, the firetruck was open for business. The first stop on their tour was climbing into the back seat of the truck, getting to put on a helmet and then trading it for a headset where they were engaged in conversation with a REAL firefighter (as Zane put it). Both kids were invited to turn on the siren, and it seriously was like a very loud siren competition between the ambulance and the truck.....it was nice when it ended to do a water demonstration!

The firetruck shot water onto the roof of the library building, showing the children how the power of the truck could be used to put out a fire.  If you just looked at the building, you would think it was going through a torrential rainstorm, the water was running down the walls and huge puddles formed that the kids later enjoyed walking through.

The last demo was of a working dog and his handler.  Kojak had been in Afghanistan the year prior and he and his handler were available for questions and he sat still for the children to pet.  He's very active, but is perfectly suited for his job as a soldier.

Anyway, I was just going to show the pictures of all of this, but then we stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home to get a quick oil change....that lasted 2.5 hours!  We dropped off the car, walked to the Subway at the back of the store, ate, and walked through the store for so long that I think we went up and down almost every single aisle!  We unfortunately got there just before the guys went on lunch break, so I think they took the plug out to drain the oil, went on their hour (or more????) long lunch break, and then came back to finish the job.  The kids were good troopers, and as a reward, we took two turns through the toy aisle, each lasting at least 30 minutes....and left without a single toy in the cart!  Though we now have a very extensive birthday and Christmas wish list for each child....oh well, we did good to leave the Wal-Mart expedition with one lone Wal-Mart bag.  I was exhausted, and didn't sit down at the computer for the rest of Friday, so you got to hear about it the following Tuesday, which is rather late, but oh well!


This wasn't the point of the blog today!  I totally meant to write about our trip to New Orleans tomorrow, and how this is another step in the long line of steps leading to AK...Oh well, now I know what to write tomorrow!  See you on the flip side!

The VS. list

So I'm sitting here drinking my blend of coffee (Tim Horton's regular, Folger's Gormet Caramel Drizzle regular, Millstone French Vanilla decaf) with a Fat Free Hazelnut creamer, and I think, yes, something that I love in FL that can go to AK with us!  I can pick up the Timmy's on our way through Canada, so mixing the 3 coffees is still possible!  It tastes so good, just right for those cold, bitter mornings when I have to get the kids out the door for school...yes, we've decided to put them in public school once we get up there....another thing to add to the VS list.  So here we go...its short for now, but I'll add more things as I think of them.

1. Mellow Mushroom Pizza VS. College Pizza (supposedly the best pizza in Fairbanks)
2. White sandy beaches VS. White snowy mountains
3. Sabor a Mexico (Mexican Restaurant) VS. Mexican Place we read about on the internet.
4. Homeschooling VS. Public School
5. FWB Fireworks (check out yesterday to see why they made the list) VS. Northern Lights
6. Eglin AFB Library VS. Ft. Wainwright Library (almost guarantee that no library can beat out the Eglin kids' summer program, but the adult fiction section is lacking quite a bit, so it could be a tie)
7. Watering the lawn VS. Shovelling the driveway (this one will be judged by how much shovelling I have to do...ha ha)
8. The perfect house in FL (seriously, this rental is as close to my dream house as I've ever found) VS. the house we buy/rent in AK
9. Spout Springs Church in NC/Beachside Community Church in FWB VS. unnamed church we have yet to find in Fairbanks

And that's the list so far...what do you think...will AK beat out FL?  I know I won't have a choice, and will enjoy whatever we find there, but will there be a small part of my heart that still wishes that we were in FL, or will my entire life's existence revolve around AK, and truly wish to never leave?