The G’s At Sea

People on Kwajalein have a name for non-working spouses: fluff. When Jerrod first heard that term, he thought it was hilarious. But it's a big thing! There are stickers and koozies and everything! So, here is what my day as a fluff typically looked like in my first three weeks: 6:45am - Jerrod's alarm goes off. I will get up with him if one of the kids is awake or if I can't sleep. 7:30am - My alarm goes off. I wake up the kids if they are still sleeping, get them dressed, make them breakfast, and get their toothbrushes, backpacks, and snacks ready. 8:10am - Hug and kiss the kids goodbye as they head off to school on their bikes. 8:15am-11am - Shower and get dressed, wash the dishes, do a load of laundry, make the beds, connect with friends from the States, and maybe read a little. Have coffee with my new girlfriends on Fridays. 11am - Watch Wheel of Fortune while getting lunch ready. 11:45am-12:15pm - Have lunch with Jerrod and the kids, talk to my parents...

As many of you know, I love hosting parties. I usually don’t even make it 24 hours after one kid’s birthday event before I start thinking about the next kid’s. From the invitations to the food to the favors, everything is strategically themed and meticulously planned. So, when I realized that we would be arriving on Kwaj days before Johnny’s birthday instead of having the nerf gun party I had planned, I had a bit of a panic moment. How was I going to make this birthday special? We celebrated with extended family the weekend before Jerrod left for South Carolina, and he was so excited to have Uncle Dude in town! I had become Facebook friends with some teachers over the summer, and they told me to just post on one of the local pages that we were going to the beach with cupcakes to celebrate his birthday and people would come. I was skeptical, but decided it was worth a shot. So, once we arrived on island, I quickly became aware that cake mix was a rare commodity. How was I going to do cu...

 We touched down around 12:30pm on Tuesday, August 6, and boy were we ready to be here! We had no idea what to expect once we got off the plane, but we definitely did not expect the welcoming committee we received! Several of the teachers came to the airport with signs and smiles to greet us. The CSM greeted us by name, and our sponsor family helped navigate what to do with our luggage and next steps. We got our K badges (which say school principle instead of principal...but oh well) and the customs officer even let Johnny stamp his own passport. After the drug dogs were finished searching our luggage, we put them on a shuttle en route to our home. We then loaded up on a golf cart with our sponsor family and took a whirlwind tour of the island on the way to our home. Once there, we found that they had unpacked our welcome kit and added a few personal touches so that our house would be move-in ready. They also stocked our fridge and pantry with ess...

The trip here was an adventure in and of itself! Jerrod is NOT a flyer...which is why we always drove to Minnesota to visit his parents...and has only flown internationally once before (for our honeymoon). Because of this, we knew it would likely be stressful, but we were unaware of exactly how stressful it would be! Saturday night, we spent the night at my parents'. We went to bed early, knowing that our 4am wake up call would quickly arrive. We loaded my Dad's truck with luggage and my mom's car with people and headed to the airport. The company had mistakenly booked the children as unaccompanied minors, so we were unable to do early check in, resulting in all four seats being separate on all four of our flights. Austin to San Francisco - 4.5 hours Sunday - The agent was able to switch our seats so that Jerrod and the kids were together in the very back row, and I had a middle seat a few rows up. It was a nice plane with charging ports and in-seat screens...

  Jerrod got hired in the beginning of June and we arrived on island the beginning of August. It was an extremely long summer of paperwork and uncertainty. We anxiously awaited results from every clearance screening, medical screening, and more. We told people about our future on a need-to-know basis as we were afraid at any moment plans could fall through. Eventually it was time to let my work family know, so that there was time to hire a replacement. I LOVED my job, and honestly believed I would stay there my entire teaching career. I had an amazing boss who was also my friend. So, naturally, I made Jerrod be the one to break the news to her. A few days later, I informed the rest of my team through tears over a video call. It was one of the most difficult conversations I have ever had to have. We also waited awhile before telling the kids. Trying to find the best timing was hard. We knew if we told them too early, we would be questioned all summer about a timeline we were unsur...

My mom lived on Kwajalein when she was a sophomore and junior in high school.  She has been pushing Jerrod and I to apply for a teaching position for awhile, insisting that we needed to go on an adventure while our kids were still young.  We both loved our jobs, so we continuously ignored her requests to look for open positions.  In April, she had found that there were open positions for a principal and math teacher.  Jerrod went ahead and applied, just so he could tell her he had done so…thinking nothing of it.  However, at the end of May, he received an email offering him an interview.  Due to the time change, it was scheduled at 8:30pm CST.  We hauled the kids off to my mom’s, I ushered the dogs outside, and he proceeded with the interview. We had lots of long discussions following the interview, mostly about how this change would affect the children.  As many of you know, Johnny is a twice exceptional child with both many gifts and struggles. ...