Patience is a virtue...

Our stuff was supposed to come on the 16th.  It's the 17th and I'm sitting on a chair that our neighbor let us borrow in their moment of pity towards us.  We also borrowed a card table and chairs too!  The new date for HHG delivery...the 19th.  Two more wake ups. 

We decided to head to Fort Belvoir at the end of last week since we are "camping".  Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, is where Mark usually does his drill weekend with the Army Reserves and is just south of Washington, DC.  He had a few things to wrap up there, so we took advantage of this down time and made the trip.  It's just about 2 hours from Carlisle, not too bad considering how long it used to take us to get there.  Mark put in a days' work Friday and on Saturday, we went to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

The girls at the National Zoo!

We got back to Carlisle Saturday night and we were able to attend church at the Chapel on post Sunday morning.  Though we miss County Road Baptist Church VERY much, we did enjoy our worship time Sunday.  There was a retired soldier there who Mark had known from his teaching time at West Point.  It's amazing how small the military world can be. 

Mark started in processing on Sunday afternoon with the financial end of things.  He left here with more papers that I'd know what to do with!  A couple hours later he came back with more papers to fill out.  Gotta love the Army and their forms.  And all their forms have names.  DD or DA followed by a number is how you differentiate one from another.  The physical that the girls need to play sports with the CYS (Child and Youth Services) is DD 7246 and DA 7625-1 is another health screening form that I filled out today.  If you Google DD forms, it's laughable at the list that is but they all serve a purpose, it's easy to find them and there is never a question on which form is which. 

Yesterday, Monday, there was one more financial thing that Mark had to complete, so on the way to do that, he found where the rest of the in processing started.  There was someone directing everyone and saying that they had 2 weeks to complete it and the lines would be long today, so to take their time going through.  Mark thought that if he was saying this to everyone, maybe the lines would be short.  And he was right!  He flew through the rest of the in processing process in record time.  He even found the Comcast booth and got us set up to get TV, phone and internet installed!  Whoo hoo!!  Previously I had said that I was okay with our stuff arriving late, but I really wanted to make sure that we had TV by the 26th...the Olympics Opening Ceremonies!  I'm so glad that in processing is (mostly) out of the way now.  More resting and relaxing is in order....

Last night for dinner, ready for this?  We walked to get supper at a Mexican restaurant!  It's right at the end of our street!!  This country girl was beside herself with excitement!!

This morning, Mark and I were sitting on the porch...yes, actually sitting on the porch since our new glider rocker is on the moving truck...sipping coffee.  Well, I had coffee, Blueberry New England Coffee to be exact, and I think Mark had green tea.  Anyway, our neighbor across the street came over in his military uniform to say hello.  He is in International Fellow (IF) at the War College from Malaysia.  There were 30 (or was it 50?) countries who are given invitations to come and study here at our War College.  The different countries own houses and their students return year after year.  The Malaysia house is right across the street from us and the Jordan house in two houses behind ours.  We also met a IF from Kirkistan, I need to look on a map to see where that is, and they told us that and IF from Finland lives right down the street too.  It's just another neat part about being here, all the international flavor and perspective that they bring to the seminar groups.

The girls and I (Sarah) found the pool on post.  It's a great pool, complete with an awesome tube slide.  We got a membership and can frequent it as much as we want.  It was 100 degrees by 11 am today, not sure what the high was, I'm sure it wasn't much hotter than the 11 am reading, but it was still 95 as of 8:30 pm.  That is one of the great things about Maine, it always gets cool in the evening.  I'm so very, very thankful for central air in this house.  But, it was such a wonderful day to be pool side, soaking up the vitamin D! 

Here is the MOST awesome pool at Carlisle Barracks

5 pm at the pool, everything stops.  Everyone gets out of the pool and the mushroom fountain is turned off.  I was so glad I was there for the first time at 5 with our neighbor!  There are so many things about life on post that I do not know about.  So, at 5 pm, everyone is out of the pool, standing quietly, and all facing the same direction.  Then *boom* the cannon goes off, and Retreat sounds.  Everyone has their hands over their heart and those there in uniform are at attention.  It signifies the end of the day and I'm sure has a deeper meaning (that I need to get to know) but it seems like a solemn time of remembrance.  At 6:30 each morning I wake up to *boom!* and then the playing Revelry.  The first morning I was pretty surprised, but the second morning, I had to giggle.  I'm sure it will become old hat at some point, but for now I'm enjoying all these little nuances.   

I know this probably sounds crazy, but I really love to cook!  In the past month of transition we ate everything frozen when I hadn't invited myself to Dawn's, Mark's sister's, house or had made reservations at what we affectionately call Cafe de Mama, aka Mom Brooks' house or when we were in Houlton mooching off the Witmers.  So today I roasted a chicken along with potatoes and carrots.  Julia says...Mom, we are eating regular food!!  It's the small things that are so important.  Who cares that I baked in the E-Z Foil roaster, right?  It was nice to sit around our little, borrowed card table and ooo and ahhh over a simple roasted chicken in our new digs!

I had to attach a picture of the girls' bathroom.  We told them that we'd outfit their bath in bright colors for them when we got settled.  This is what we ended up with after much discussion between the two of them.  I think they have a future in interior decoration.... 

Isn't it sweet?

 Hopefully soon I will be posting from my couch!  In the mean time, we have some more informational meetings, including dinner tomorrow night with our neighbors that we have been blessed with!