Pros and Cons

When the husband first came home with any type of news my go to is a pro/con list. I am a writer (duh) and have always been a journaler, so my go to for any type of decision making is to write things down and analyze. Something about seeing things in writing helps me to process and figure things out. So when the Husband came home with the Bahrain news, the first thing I did was grab some paper and a pen and went to town.

So here's the list in all its glory...

Obviously some of its a little silly (though I do think the oppressive heat deserves to be listed twice. Someone told me last summer reached 138 degrees Fahrenheit!!) but this is what I do. I realized fairly quickly that my Pro list was a lot longer than the Con list and some of the Cons were a little reaching. So saying "yes" seemed like the obvious answer.

Things are already moving along fairly well.  After having lived overseas I know that the process to get there will definitely have some hiccups, but at least we know what to expect this go 'round.  Through some amazing friends I've been connected with a few spouses who are already over there and I've had my first round of questions answered. I also have the contact information for the school registrar and I've already contacted and heard back from the vet about the animals. I have a notebook filled with questions and now some answers and lots of lists-- shopping lists, bucket lists, and lists of things to get done. Now we just wait for hard copies of these orders (we're just working with verbals right now, so obviously things could change, though we've been in contact with the detailer and are fairly certain they aren't going to) so we can go through our overseas screenings, book our movers and flights, and get to work on the ever growing list of things that have to get done before we move halfway across the world!

We've talked to Stella and she seems pretty excited at the prospect of an adventure! We've watched videos and looked at pictures of Bahrain and she continues to get more and more excited as time goes on and she learns more about it. We've explained to her how far away it is and shown her on a map, but she's 5.5 so the concept of distance isn't quite grasped yet. But we're working on it! She's the most excited to ride a camel, though she reminds us that she'll have to ride with her daddy at first since she's so small and camels are so big. As a kid who doesn't necessarily deal well with change, we're hoping she thrives in this environment and gets a lot out of it. I've said for years that I think everyone should live outside their home country at least once in their lives; England was one of the greatest experiences of our lives and to be able to have this opportunity once again is just... awesome! We're so excited to travel the world with her and give her this chance to experience a whole new culture!

Mugha-What?!

Mughamara: Arabic for adventure... and thats an incredibly important word in our lives right now. For the past few weeks we've been in touch with the Detailer (the guy who matches and places navy people with their jobs) and while Washington State and a big, gray floatie thing were on the table for a while, Bahrain was suddenly thrust onto the table, knocking everything else over. The Husband wasn't sure if I'd go for it or not, but my initial answer was; why the hell not?

Being active duty Navy, the man who lives here has to switch back and forth between sea and shore duty. Being on Sea duty usually means going on a ship. Which means deployments. And we've been there. Done that. Five times. Five deployments. Five. And yes, when preparing to stay active duty until retirement, we realize that the odds are obviously in our favor to do more, this Bahrain thing came up and it means that we get to stay together as a family AND it counts as sea duty.  So again I say, why the hell not?

Word came down today that we are going. And we're going sooner rather than later. Because when you're the Koenig's, why do anything normal? We got married with 52 days of notice, we adopted a baby with five weeks of notice, lets move halfway across the world with five months of notice?! Why the hell not?

So here we are, with the resurrection of the blog to keep our family and friends posted on our whereabouts, entertained with what is sure to be some crazy adventures, and curiosities piqued by a completely new culture. Go ahead and save your quarters now... we'll be there for two years and our house is always open to visitors!