News (and maybe a view or two)

This post marks the beginning of what will hopefully be a long-standing tradition of sorts; that of updating this our site with current, up-to-date information about us.

Tricia, Caitlyn, and myself were once again separated by the great institution more commonly referred to as the U.S. Army, or, depending on who you ask, "Those people in the uniforms that don't blend in with anything". Instead of being 2,000 and some odd miles away and 2 or 3 hours behind, I am now approximately 5,000 miles from home, 6 hours ahead, and loving the Army more and more.* (*Right.)

We are still waiting on what the Army calls "Command Sponsorship". Basically, it's just a signature from my commander saying that it's okay to bring my family over here to live with me.

In the civilian world, a single signature isn't normally all that difficult to get. Let's say you need a signature from your Uncle Jerry. Seems easy enough, right? Not if Uncle Jerry is your commander in the Army. First, you have to get all the necessary paperwork from some friends. Then you have to wait on your distant relatives in Chicago to send you some more paperwork, and of course, since these relatives really don't know who you are anyway, they're no hurry. Finally, the paperwork from your Chicago relatives comes in and you think you're well on your way. You cannot take the paperwork to be signed directly to Uncle Jerry. Nooo...that would make entirely too much sense. You must first find Cousin Sarah, who probably hasn't talked to Uncle Jerry in weeks, maybe months. You give the paperwork to Cousin Sarah, who glances through it and tells you she'll submit it that afternoon.

Cousin Sarah calls you three days later explaining that you didn't turn in everything that Uncle Jerry needs to see. Of course, you promptly find Cousin Sarah again and deliver the necessary paperwork. Another three days passes and you call Cousin Sarah to see if Uncle Jerry has signed the paperwork yet. Cousin Sarah sheepishly informs you that she completely forgot about it, but that she'll submit it as soon as she gets off the phone with you.

"Cousin Sarah" shows up on your caller ID the following day, and you snatch up the phone, hoping she has good news for you. She informs you that you must bring her another copy of all the paperwork because she seems to have lost every bit of it. Of course, she informs you of this at approximately three minutes till five on a Friday evening, so you have to wait until Monday to go see Cousin Sarah again and give her all the required paperwork.

Cousin Sarah decides to take Monday off.

On Tuesday, you resubmit all the paperwork to Cousin Sarah, and you stand and watch her fax everything to Cousin Jason.

The fax lays on the fax machine until you finally call Cousin Jason two days later and inform him that he has a fax that needs to be signed by Uncle Jerry. (Cousin Jason had no idea about this.)

Uncle Jerry is on vacation until next Monday.

The paperwork finally crosses Uncle Jerry's desk mid-afternoon Monday, and in 45 seconds or less, the required signing is complete.

Tricia, Caitlyn and I are still waiting on the distant relatives to get us the required paperwork (passports) so we can start work on the process to get signatures we need from "Uncle Jerry".

Other than being 5,000 miles apart, we're all doing fine, a little anxious, but fine nonetheless. Caitlyn is doing well, and is growing as fast as ever.

If you would like to see pictures of our beautiful little girl, click http://picasaweb.google.com/aaronwp

**The names used in this post, though not fictional, do in no way reflect the logistics of getting an autograph from my Uncle Jerry.