Day 13 - Good News and Bad News

So this past week was too crazy to blog. Which kind of sucks when you think about it because in a week that there is no time to blog there are loads of things to blog about. I don't want to subject you to every last detail so I'll give you the condensed version.

We spent the first part of the week looking for houses and apartments since even though we knew that by law we didn't have to move, we wanted to get out of here. Johnny has been aggressive and relentless, pursuing every lead of a new dwelling that he could. We did find the perfect place. Three bedrooms plus an office that could be converted to one, big family room downstairs, one and a half bathrooms, nice backyard, quiet neighbourhood about a 2 minute walk from the primary school that Hayden will be attending, and it is just plain beautiful. We spent an agonizing 2-3 days poring over our budget to be absolutely certain that it was in our range since it's a fair bit more expensive than the dinky little apartment we've been living in and rightly so since it's about 1785697965 times as big. (Not really but work with me on the exaggeration thing.)

We decided we could comfortably afford it and then came the wait to find out if the owner thought we were suitable tenants. We spent 24 hours on pins and needles, but it was worth it when the news came that the house is ours! We move on the first and we're beyond excited. Even the kids can't wait!

That's the good news. Now to the bad news. There's been a setback in the armed forces avenue of our lives.

The day before Johnny had his medical testing done, he went to our family doctor (actually the doofus who was filling in for our family doctor who was on leave...) and got his ears syringed out. He has to have this done regularly because otherwise he gets an extreme buildup of hardened earwax like I have never seen before and loses his hearing. The doofus syringed one ear and wouldn't do the other.

The med tech who did the medical could tell that earwax was the reason that Johnny failed the hearing test in that ear because just two years ago he passed that very hearing test. The other ear was perfect. He even tried to syringe out the ear on his own but didn't have the proper tools to do it and couldn't properly finish the job. He said he was not failing Johnny based on earwax and tried to pass him based on previous test results. Ottawa wants the hearing test redone. So that means more waiting and a later BMQ date. Also the infantry profession will likely be closed for the year at that point so he will either have to pick a different profession or wait longer.

My first reaction to this was disappointment, but it faded quickly. I'm thinking this might be a good thing. First of all, it means he'll have some time in the new house with us before he has to be zipped away to BMQ. Second, I'm a firm believer that God has a hand in everything and perhaps something bad would have happened if he had gone on time. Perhaps there would have been an accident on the way to BMQ or after he got there. Perhaps he would have been deployed and injured or something if he'd gone sooner. It may be protection from God to have to wait. So I'm still hopeful...but accepting of whatever happens.

And I made a decision concerning this blog. If something does go wrong and he doesn't get accepted, I will keep going. It's still our journey. I'm still raising an army. Just that maybe my General won't actually be a soldier after all. And I'm okay with that because I love him no matter what.

(I love you baby.)

Day 7 - As if Things Couldn't Get More Stressful...

Our landlord decides to do something so completely unexpected (and might I add ILLEGAL) that I haven't even been able to post in this blog for the past few days. (Not that I had anything interesting to talk about other than whining about the wait and wishing that we just knew something. Anything.)

His girlfriend decides she wants to use the apartment we're living in and convert it to a hair salon. So she gives us 30 days to move. Um, what? According to the laws in our province:

"In a periodic tenancy (for example, a month-to-month tenancy) the landlord may give 3 months notice to terminate the tenancy at any time, and the tenant must give one month notice." Source: CMHC

Either way, we want out. I don't have time for this crap. We could fight it and get our extra 60 days in the apartment but if Johnny gets a date for boot camp, I want to be already settled in before he leaves. I don't want to be moving a month later. That would completely and utterly suck.

So back to apartment hunting and fuming. Still no word on BMQ because the bases are closed today. ARGH!

Day 3 - Phone Rage

I have a love-hate relationship with my telephone.

Some days I love it because it keeps me from being lonely. If at any point in my day I crave conversation with someone whose favorite topic to rave about is not Spiderman, I can pick up my telephone and call...my mother. Because let's face it, I don't have many friends and my mother is awesome. I also love it when it rings with a surprise phone call from my sister or sister in law or cousin.

Today my telephone and I are NOT FRIENDS.

That telephone is supposed to be ringing with someone on the other end who can provide us with answers, and the only person to call us all day was someone wanting to confirm a bill payment and the time remaining in the day for us to get answers is quickly ticking off the clock.

For those of you wondering about the "one week versus three months" debate from yesterday, Johnny called to get to the bottom of it and they said it's normally three months-ish because most people need to get some sort of clearance, be it from a doctor, employer or something like that. Johnny is right now only waiting on his background check. Which we know is fine...they just need the paperwork.

So since my post for today is boring and I'm anxious to get back to glaring at my telephone as if I could will it to ring, check out The Winter of My Discount Tent", a blog of a friend of mine. She's way funnier and more interesting than me right now!

Day 2 - More Waiting

So Johnny finally did show up yesterday, just so you know. I'm not still sitting in a hotel lobby a day later.

He showed up smiling since apparently all testing went swimmingly. He passed his medical with flying colors (minus the fact that he is apparently as color blind as you get) and the interview was incredible. He was also told that he could get a call back with a BMQ date as soon as today.

TODAY!

So the wait may not be as bad as we thought, right?

Well...maybe. He called there today to ask a question that he had forgotten to ask yesterday and also casually asked if she knew when he might hear back. She said...maybe about three months.

...um what? Why would they tell him two such drastically different stories? Now I'm going a little crazy here because as I explained to you before: Joanie + Waiting = Nothing Good. Tell me that I could get some details this week and then tell me that I might be waiting for three months?! So who's right here? Johnny thinks that the person that interviewed him just might have a bit more insight than the person he was talking to today, so I'm still hoping for the best. I'm not eager to have him leave, but since it's something that must be done I'd like to get it over with. After all, the sooner he leaves, the sooner we can be together again and settle into our new life.

Today my routine is all messed up. I'm still sitting here in my pyjamas at noon, trying to muster the energy to get up and do the things I know I need to do. Silas and Hayden have not been pleasant today, probably due to their routine being messed up after nights with Nanny (Johnny's mother) and Momma (my mother) and not sleeping in their own beds. Silas was exceptionally cranky and tired and is now napping. I'm supposed to be sorting through boxes and totes and drawers for yard sale items...but I'm so tired and lazy that I just can't seem to move from my computer chair.

Oh well, maybe after lunch.

*wishes the waiting would go faster*

Day 1 - The Waiting Game

If there’s one thing I’m not good with, it’s waiting. I’ve never been good at waiting for things. Surprises aren’t high on my list of favorites either. I like to prepare. I like to know what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen. I like calendars and planners and lists. I think part of this is why I struggled so much during my first two pregnancies. It was just a waiting game to meet this unknown child at the end. With Silas, we knew ahead of time that we were having a boy, so I was able to relax and just enjoy the pregnancy, since the only uncertainty of waiting was the “when” and my doctors weren’t going to let me go over my due date so even some of that uncertainty was lessened.

Today our journey begins. I’m writing this from our hotel room while Johnny is somewhere at the recruiting center having a medical and interview with the Canadian Armed Forces. I’m just waiting for him to come back so we can head out to the store, then head home to pick up our boys. I’m feeling pretty impatient – as usual – and I am suddenly struck with the realization that this is what my entire life is about to become; a waiting game.

First, the waiting to find out if he has passed all the testing and is accepted. Once that waiting is past, we move on to the waiting for a date for BMQ and from there to the waiting (and dreading) his departure for the training. It’s then that I begin the agonizing wait for boot camp to be over so that we can be together again. After he’s done with his basic and career training periods, we start waiting (and again more dreading) the time that he will be deployed.
This means that I’m going to have to work on my patience. Johnny seems very laid-back and accepting of the whole waiting game, but I’m not quite so cool and collected. I’m trying very hard, but I can’t help wishing I could just “know”.

When I know something, you’ll know something. As of now, day one of the waiting game is underway.

UPDATE: It's almost 2pm...I'm now sitting in the hotel lobby because checkout time was hours ago (but the wonderful people at the inn we are staying at allowed me to stay in the room past checkout time since I had nowhere else to go) and there is no sign of Johnny. He left at 7am and he's still not back. I hope this is a good sign. I'm pretty bored though. He even has the car so I can't go shopping!

Mission Statement and Purpose

Wow, that sounds a bit formal for me! Let me give you a little background on who I am and my intentions when I made this blog. A blog that I'm still not totally sure will succeed.

I'm Joanie, a twenty nine year old from Newfoundland, Canada. I'm married to Johnny, who is twenty seven.

This is us last year. No recent pictures of us together...Hrm...have to fix that. We got married on January 3, 2004, a beautiful winter day.

Yes, he had hair back then! Not much...but some!

We are the lucky parents of three beautiful, healthy and noisy boys. James is our oldest, he turned 7 just this month.




James is smart and funny and all those other things that a mother says her children are. He loves fishing and 4-wheeling and snowmobiling and biking and all other things that involve being outside. He is very much an outdoorsman. I will also tell you right off, to avoid having to go into it at a later time in this blog, that James lives with my mom due to circumstances right before and after Hayden's birth. I don't like the situation but it's best for him right now and I don't really care to discuss it any further on the internet, so I'll leave it at that!

Our second son is Hayden, who is 4 and a half.

He is also a million and one good things, but I'll throw in "strong-willed" on top of it all. Hayden has an attention-span disorder (he has not been diagnosed with ADD yet, but it's being looked into) and he's a handful and a half. He likes Transformers and Ironman and Spiderman and basically anything that moves really fast and makes a lot of noise. He has an imagination that's second to none and I often spend my days wondering "Who is he talking to?".

My "baby" is Silas, who is 2 and a half.

He's also a thousand good things, and knows just how to push all my buttons, whether for good or bad. He's a snuggler - though he wasn't as a baby - and incredibly loveable. He likes trucks, tractors and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Some more about me...I'm a gamer and a scrapbooker. I love to cook and bake and garden. I love boating, but the thought of having to swim paralyzes me with fear. I can't stand any critter with more than 4 legs unless it's a butterfly. I have an unhealthy addiction to Baked Lays Original Chips and collect anything with pigs on it, thanks to my darling sister. I also adore all things Tinkerbell and my favorite color is pink.

Johnny is a gamer as well. He's artistic and funny (sometimes) and loves to eat what I cook and bake. He's smart and cuddly and the best husband I could have asked to get. We do everything together! We both like photography and Yoga and taking long walks.

Now as to the reason I made this blog. Shortly after we got married, Johnny expressed an interest in joining the Canadian Armed Forces. He was accepted and got a date for Basic Training...except that at the same time I had just found out that I was pregnant with Hayden and the boot camp date was almost the same day as the due date! He changed his mind and decided instead to go to college to try his hand at accounting. He brought it up several more times in the following months and years, but I'm a bit of a wimp and don't like to be alone. The thought of 13 weeks alone while he's in BMQ and the inevitable deployments practically sent me into a panic.

Nothing since then has ever really made him happy and his desire to join the Armed Forces just grew. Finally we decided that it was time for him to follow his dream and he reapplied. Here's where the uncertainty of this blog comes in.

On Tuesday morning he has his medical and interview for the Canadian Armed Forces. That day I will truly start this blog as our journey beginning because it begins the wait. The agonizing wait to see if he is actually accepted. If he isn't, I will shut down this blog and begin a new one elsewhere chronicling our new path. If he is, this blog will continue on and Tuesday will be considered Day 1 of our journey, even though we've been on it for longer than that. To me, the journey doesn't truly begin until then.

I'll be taking my laptop with us to the hotel so that if there's internet there I can update. Wish us luck!!!