Backgound checks and name changes

How difficult is it to spell Katie? Apparently, very. My orders have my name as Kattie Robbins-Sawin. You all know I am just K-A-T-I-E, hold the hyphen. I ask, v. sweetly, to have my orders amended as to reflect my correct first name and compound, non hyphenated surname. I receive this back: Kattie Robbins Sawin. I ask again, in an e-mail because I was afraid my voice would have a rise, to have Kattie amended to what matches my birth certificate. You'd think the government of all people would double check my name. Also, who would spell Kattie like that? I've seen Katy, Kati, Katey and Katee, but two T's is a bit crazy.

Also, lots of people who know me are receiving background checks to fill out on me. I guess the FBI wants to make sure I am legit. Thank you so much for filling those out!!

This moving is getting a bit more intense. My laissez-faire attitude needs to go out the door with this move. It's so weird categorizing your life into sizes, like small-medium-large amounts of pictures, small-medium-large amounts of clothing, s-m-l amts. of kitchen items. Stuff Jared and I have worked so hard for, debated for a long time in the aisles of Crate & Barrel and BB&B are just small, medium or large amounts. V. humbling.

We are off in one week. Exactly one week from now I will be sitting on a huge plane waiting to fly over the Pacific and to Tokyo, a place I've never had any real desire to visit. Craziness!

A grand adventure is soon to begin.

As you may have guessed if you've seen me in the past month, we are embarking on a grand adventure. I have been offered a job with the Department of Defense Dependent Schools and will ship out to Okinawa, Japan in August. I cannot BELIEVE that I finally received a "call" or so to say. I did my student teaching with DoDDS in Germany in 2004 and had one of the absolute most wonderful times of my life. This was my third time applying for a job, and they finally selected me. It still really hasn't set in that we are moving to Japan.

I am a procrastinator by nature and am really trying my best not to procrastinate on our move. I complained enough about moving from Scottsburg to Leota (maybe 5 miles?) so now I am really trying not to complain, because I want this and have wanted this so much for quite a while. Three years isn't a whole lot in the scheme of life, but to me it has been quite long!

Jared and I are blogging to keep our friends and family at home updated on our lives, our friends we meet along they way a way to see how far we have come, and as a journal of our adventures in Okinawa and hopefully beyond. I am sure that I won't update as much as Jared, nor will I be as witty, but you are my friends and love me and know that about me.