Mom. Wife. Military Life.

Good morning…afternoon…maybe night, everyone!

This post is going to be long, so bare with me.

Another worldly adventure calls for a fresh new start up of momwifemilitarylife.com. If I do this for no other reason, consider this a personal love letter to my grandparents (they are actually Jason’s grandparents but I have had them more of my life than without them, and they are all I have left in the grandparent department), and they asked if I was going to be starting my blog again. It stoked that flame of excitement to start writing again. So, thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, I hope you enjoy these posts, and to everyone else, I hope you enjoy the splash of insight into this hectic but lovable life I have been blessed to live.

I am writing to you from my temporary apartment in Australia. As you have all read before, when I sat in Japan saying “I never thought I would be here!”… you can imagine when the call came in for Australia, what my thoughts were. We were actually in the thick of selling our house in Oklahoma when we got the call. I was out cleaning out my car, already massively overwhelmed with the sale of the first house we owned and loved, moving to a state I was not too sure about, to a house we settled for, for a quick 10-month stay. To say my brain was ready for the information we were about to receive would be a lie. J called, and it was a weird time in the day so I answered thinking we had a bite on the sale of the house. INSTEAD, I got hit with a “So, I have something wild I want you to consider…”. If you know anything about the military lifestyle this can mean two things: something really cool is coming or something really scary is coming. I was about to get both. He then drops the “…how do you feel about moving to AUSTRALIA?! You don’t have to answer now, we have some time to think about it”. I was silent, and if you know me, I would like to think I am composed in most situations, and for this instance, I didn’t even know how to respond, so like any normal person, I said “No. Wait, maybe? It would be cool for the kids. No. It’s too much, international moves are expensive, and it is so hard being away. Wait, yes. When can we do this again… okay, okay, wait. Let me think about it. Can I think about it?!” To which he so kindly, softly, and understandingly replied, “We have some time, let’s talk to be people out there, and then we can make some decisions. We have always done what is best for our family, and this will be no different”. Thank you, J, for being the voice of reason.

So we call and talk to someone over here in Australia and every question we had was met with an answer I either, 1) Was not comfortable with or 2) Was not comfrotable with. I went to bed and prayed to God to speak to my heart where we were suppose to be because laying my head down that night, it was not just a no, but a hard no for me. I woke up and God said to me “I need you there”. I told Jason something bigger than us is intended, if God is providing a way, we need to go.

So here I sit. The middle of summer-winter in Australia.

We had a year in Alabama that was a bit rocky. The kids found friends, but were ultimately grappling with the known fact of leaving throughout the time we were there. It’s ironic how hard the last overseas move was with the kids being physically small and having the overload of life, but having kids that are turning into young adults and processing adult size emotions (on top of your own), can be heartbreaking and exahusting on a whole new level. The kids will be doing private online homeschooling here, as the Australian school schedule is Jan-Dec. This would have made the kids fall back 6 months or have to hop forward 6 months in their current grade level. We have been in contact with school liaisons for the last year trying to make sure we can get funding arranged to set them up for academic success. Socially we will be finding a church, finding local sports, and doing our best to connect with our Australian Defence families to form realtionships. So, if you have it in your heart, please pray over my babies. Their young adult hearts are doing amazing, but change as a teeanger is hard, not to mention into a foreign country with no natural connections.

Jason has been a freaking champion through all of this. He has booked flights, found hotels, booked travel, rented cars, sent messages, asked questions, booked drivers license appointments, opened bank accounts, transferred our money to here, lined up a car to buy, (trying to) set up cell phones, and constantly asking what else he can do to make this smoother. I could name a million more things, but I couldn’t be more grateful or proud to be by his side through this all. I think it gets lost sometimes, the amount of pressure the service member carries through massive moves like this. Feeling like you’re taking your family away from the comforts of family and the normalcy, and chasing a job that, not very often, considers the lives of the people existing around it. Jason is different. He always tells me, “Who I am in the military is important today, but one day, when I step away from that uniform, I want my family standing next to me, not lost somewhere along the way”. I mean, come on. Wouldn’t you move across the world for a man like that, too?! I have the privilege of sitting in the front row, watching him lead, learn, and overcome. The next two years will bring a whole new set of responsibilities for him, and I know that the families and people here will be blessed to experience a piece of who he is along the way.

For myself. Well. I’m writing again, that’s a win! I took school off for the last month and a half with the move, and I think that is one of the best decisions I have ever made. It has been BUSY. I drove the kids and myself back to Texas a week before Jason came in. Planned him a surprise party to celebrate his Master’s Degree and Lt. Col. promotion selection, we went up to OKC for a couple of appointments and quick overnight trip (First game of Thunder playoffs was that night, THUNDER UP!), I went to the Gaylord for a girl’s night with my cousins, aunt, mom and sister, we moved over to Jason’s family’s house, headed out to Vegas for some best friends time and a change of command, back home to Texas only for 2 days and then hoped on the flight to Hawaii. Are you tired from reading that? Because I sure as hell am tired from doing all of it.

I had never been to Hawaii, and man, it was MAGICAL. It is one of Jason’s favorite places in the world. We snorkeled, beached, shopped, and ate. We had some of the best Japanese Udon we have ever had since leaving Japan. The Coconut-Macadamia coffee just hit different. The wildlife was amazing, I felt like a Disney princess with the amount of wildlife we got so close to. I hope we can make it back one day because it was something I can’t even put words to.

We stayed there for a week before hoping to catch our flight to Sydney. We stayed the night there and were supposed to take the train up to Newcastle, but we had too much luggage. We ended up renting a car and driving up, where we are currently staying in a long-term, 2-bedroom apartment until we find our forever-for now house. We have submitted numerous applications, but the process is tedious. You have to pre-apply for a home, and then they decide if you can come to tour it. Then, you have to go walk through it and determine if you like it. If you do, you can proceed with the application process or withdraw it. At that point, we have to contact someone at the US embassy to look over the house and make sure everything is up to code, and THEN we can say yes and sign our lease. Now the embassy stuff is ever-changing so we will see how all that comes together. We have 3 houses we are going on inspections for, so hopefully the right house falls into place.

We are in the process of buying our car and should receive it at the end of the week, which will give us more freedom to start exploring. We are driving on the opposite side of the road again, much like in Japan. It’s like riding a bike, right?! Eh, we will figure it out because we always do. I have been letting Jason drive and just walking whenever we can, where we can. We use Uber for things that are a bit further away.

If you have made it this far, thank you. As much as our lives are upside down, I find gratitude in every moment. The horrible situation in Texas pulls at my heartstrings and makes me step back to really appreciate how much I have to be thankful for. Through the challenging moments, the tears, the loneliness, the emotional weight I insist on carrying for my family… I have so much that I GET to work through. As a family, we have been praying over our home state. The unimaginable. God bless Texas and those whos hearts are breaking.

Australia is beautiful. The people are cheeky. The coffee has been good. The wine has been great. The food tastes clean and not over processed. It’s winter here, so my Elsa-heart is thriving with my coastal gran sweater and the ocean. We have a little under two years left here, and I plan to bring you along with me as much as I can and share the ups and downs of this crazy/beautiful life. Please feel free to share, I’ll leave it public for the world to indulge in these wild adventures!

Talk soon,

Kinzy