EXACTLY one month from TODAY!!!!

On Feb 17, 2012 Zach will work his last shift at his current duty station! I canNOT wait. This has been quite the assignment for him/us. I'm so ready to see Vegas in the rear view that it's not even funny. Partially because I am anxious to get back home and partially because I am tired of living in a huge city!  I'm SO thankful that the time has arrived. I can feel the stress leaving right as we speak. Or read/type. Not the point.

Yesterday marked the first official day in this whole moving process. We decided that we will be doing a DITY move again rather than having the AF move us. There are just so many perks to doing it yourself. Aside from the comfort of knowing where your personal belongings are and that they are packed well and transported with care, there is a pretty significant monetary benefit. Since we are wanting to buy or build when we move to KS, a few extra bucks are more than worth the few days of packing chaos.

We have had zero plans as to where we will be living once we leave here.
*The waiting list on the base is anywhere from 4-9 months.
* We don't want to rent anywhere and be committed to a lease.
*We don't want to buy without living in the area and knowing for sure that we like it. 

We know nothing except that we are leaving. The uncertainty has also been a huge stress. Like, can't sleep at night stress.

We have tossed around every idea possible.
*The boys and I staying here until the end of the school year (another stress is moving at this time in the school year)
*Us 3 moving home, home and in with my dad until summer. 
*Just sucking it up and moving onto the base for the first year.
*Blindly purchasing a home and hoping and praying that we love it long term. 

Yesterday Zach and I sat at breakfast tossing around all of our hopeless ideas and coming up with nothing except sick stomachs. I made a comment about "I wish that my dad still had his camper! You could totally just park that bad boy at the lake and the boys and I could just finish out the year in Douglass." We laughed for half a second and then it hit me. WE WILL JUST GET A CAMPER AND LIVE IN IT UNTIL WE FIND WHAT WE WANT TO BUY!!! Genius. From then we were both instantly relieved. Sure it will be tight and completely uncomfortable living conditions BUT to not have the commitment of fulfilling a lease, not having the pressure of finding a place without being fully educated on the area, not having to spend several unnecessary months apart from each other etc. It is SO worth it!

    

 The 1st box

So, our plan was perfect and we were excited. That's when I started packing the first boxes.

Then today came. Of course as luck would have it, Zach got a phone call from the housing office on Ft.Riley and they have a home that will be available to us on Feb 29. That is EXACTLY when we would need to move in. We are talking door to door with no waiting period at all. Perfect timing. It couldn't be more perfect except that we would have to stay in that home for a year. We have a choice to make. we sat down and started lists. Pros and cons to living on base vs. living in a camper. Yes people, I'm serious...we had to decided what was the better option. A brand new, never lived in 1800sqft home or a 30ft used camping trailer. We hit the note pad.

The lists

We made our lists and our choice. Camper wins. True. You guys know that I am far from a proud person and I think that we are both "big picture" people. This is definitely going to take some focusing on the big picture.  Me, my three guys and our entire zoo will indeed be embarking on a great adventure! I am already laughing at the mere thought of all of us getting down and cozy in a camping trailer! It's things like this that really make it so much fun to be part of The Frakes Four. Life is always an adventure and by the time that my kids are twenty they are going to have some crazy life stories. I hope that we are encouraging them to be open minded people and that you have to make sacrifices sometimes to get where God has planned for you to be. A dining room table that doubles as a twin bed is just one of those little sacrifices. 

I've made lists of the bare minimums and a few luxuries that we can keep with us in an RV/Camper for living up to 6 months. I called around and found the best location and rates for full hook ups and started shopping for this beast. A thirty plus footer. It's going to happen and it's going to afford us the time and totally flexibility to build or buy with complete confidence!  Oh, and it's lakefront! Ha. Five hundred people, amazing schools, hunting and fishing area all around, close enough to Ft. Riley and to a few larger cities for shopping, I think that we have a great location as a starting point. Milford KS, here we come! 
  

I mean, right on the lake!