Command Sponsorship Update: There are apparently several things that have to happen to get command sponsorship. First, the gaining commander must allow the soldier to bring his family. This was the problem when we were going to Dongducheon--the commander wasn't going to allow Brian to bring us, nor did he intend to tell Brian that until it was too late and he was already in Korea. Luckily Brian felt inspired to call and harass the Colonel. Anyway, we got that within 24 hours of sending over our packet. Second, housing must approve the family to come and if there are enough houses then the family can get concurrent travel, meaning they can travel together. We also got that approval within a week.
Third, the schools must sign off that they have enough room to educate your children. The week before we got our request for command sponsorship in for Daegu, the school was determined to be overcrowded and they were not going to allow anymore children in until others moved out. Brian got ahold of a lady in Daegu and asked if it were possible to homeschool until there was room in the school. She said they were having a big meeting about the problem of overcrowding and she would talk to the people in charge about that. The meeting wasn't until this past Monday. She fought for our case and got an exception to policy that allows my children to go to school despite the number cap.
At this point we thought that we were good to go because several people told us that we would be able to get command sponsorship orders cut immediately and get our tickets issued. We were so happy, I cried. It has been very stressful coming home to Utah because it's hard for anyone to take in a family with seven kids for more than a week at the most. Therefore, I really don't have anywhere I can stay after the 31st. We've tried to find weekly rental apartments, but everything has fallen through. I have also been stressed because if Brian goes without me, then I am left to ship the van without him. That means I must drive it to LA either by myself and then fly home, or take all the kids, leave them in a hotel while I go to the port and then get a taxi back to the hotel, get a shuttle to take me, seven children and sixteen huge bags to the airport to fly to Korea.
Anyway, we were prematurely excited because I guess getting all of that signed off isn't enough as of three weeks ago. Now there is a waiting list. So after you get all the command sponsorship approval from the different departments, then you go on a waiting list to be processed and get a number that allows the family to travel. We are number 12 and no one seems to be able to tell us what that means or how long that will take. So, basically it looks like I am back to having no where to live and having to figure out how to ship the van by myself.
I am thankful for all the small miracles that have happened to get us this far, because without them, we would be looking at months and months of waiting. It just seems like even God has a hard time making it through all of the stupid bureaucratic red tape. If that Colonel had just told us three weeks earlier that he was going to deny us, none of this would be an issue. I feel frustrated with all of the brick walls that we have encountered. We get a miracle and we're elated only to find another major barrier to getting our family over to Korea at the same time. I am still praying for a miracle but every day closer to August 2 (the day Brian has to fly out), the less likely it is that we can pull off this feat of concurrent family travel. I know many people think it is no big deal to travel after Brian to Korea, but it is sort of when you have seven kids and no where to live in the meantime.
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