Info for Japan

Many have asked what our new information is in Japan. So here ya go!

Major Dan Beall and Family
PSC 76 Box 8284
APO AP 96319-0061

And our phone number is: 011 81 176 66 2065

Remember that we are 14 hours ahead of Central time if you desire to call Danny!!

Just a Few

I have been meaning to upload some pictures lately but obviously haven't gotten around to it! Dan promoted to Major on 31 May, the day before we left Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. We had a really nice, low key promotion ceremony in the CIC - the secure building where Dan worked, and his Squadron CC LtCol Nesbitt promoted him. The kids loved being a part of it.

Afterwards we had a great and super fun promotion party at the Silver Star - it was a nice send off from Louisiana for us. Now... if we can just sell our home, our ties from LA will officially be severed! Speaking of that home.... what a thorn in our side.

Gumbo Kitty went to Japan with Dan and is taking over our new, on base home. It will be our HOME - albeit humble! Ha! We are living on base in a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 story, newly renovated house. We will be rocking the UV overhead lights and the linoleum floor. Oh yeah!

The funny looking car is Dan's commander mobile that has been handed down from commander to commander. We are now the proud owners of the "Toaster Van." Wow.

Ellyotte will be 2 next week. It is so crazy to me how quickly her first two years have flown by. We will be having a party at the pool at the Waters, where my folks live. I am posting a picture of their beautiful home and the carriage house they are having built. Once it is finished (soon) the kids and I will move into it. It will be awesome having some alone time and separation for the three of us. We are really blessed that my folks chose to do this.

Daddy's in Japan

17 days now... Daddy's been gone to Misawa, Japan that long. And lemme tell you: talking to anyone in Japan, one would think that it'd be easy as pie. They invented the future; Dan LIVES in the future 14 hours ahead of Central time! But... it's been a nightmare.

Skype ain't working. Dan's new Japanese iPhone 4 only RECEIVES texts and pictures - doesn't send them!!! What?! We can't get a home phone (Vonage - a US number) till we have a WiFi connection - our computer is on a boat somewhere between NW Louisana and the Northernmost point of mainland Japan.... Gah. Needless to say, we are so super frustrated with having to pay so much to talk for 5 mins at a time! Danny is worth it though.

We miss Dan so much. Noah especially. He's 4 and just is really struggling with the changes. Since May, we have moved from Louisiana, visited family in DC, then to the Beach, then to Nashville, then back to Alabama where Dan left for Japan. Our kids - and us - have been through many changes in a month and a half. Noah is our pride and joy. He's our first born, the beloved, single red head of the family. He does, however, have the attitude and strong will to match his hair color. Couple in the fact that his daddy has moved to the other side of the planet and he's uber aware of that and you have one crazy, beligerent, mean, strong willed child. He's hitting. He's biting. He's striking out and disrespecting ME only - no one else. And.... I am struggling.

I have had only a FEW really close friends call and check on me. And while I didn't have expectations, I did think that I would have more emotional support. My kids are not doing well: Ellyotte walks around this strange house (my folks') crying for Daddy and Noah won't even talk to Dan when he does get a chance to call. He's so angry. In fact, I was awakened at 3 AM last night to fists being beaten in my face: Noah was screaming at me, crying for Daddy and beating the hell out of me. Not... OKAY.

I don't want a pity party. But what I DO need are prayers. Prayers for peace for Noah - he is totally prone to hitting me, or biting, or screaming that he hates me because his daddy is so far away. Ellyotte is handling it better. She's a Mama's girl anyway so I am handling her MUCH better. But, Noah needs prayer for peace - as do I. It takes all I can do to wake up and deal with him from day to day lately.

This is my update. Sorry if it is unappetizing for some. I am tired of being politically correct in order to save others from my feelings.

I am doing Cross Fit daily and it is allowing me a HUGE outlet for anger and stress. The best and hardest workouts I have ever had. My coach is relentless and I love it! My kids DO have an amazing sitter. Kelsey is coming several days of the week and takes them swimming and loves on them when I can't or need a break. She rocks.

My computer is about to pass out from lack of power so I will end this now. But will definitely update more soon!

Hi Everyone! Just a quick hello from this moving, Air Force family! Dan actually moves tomorrow - with Gumbo - to Japan. NOT HAPPY! But, inevitable and we feel confident that God has us going there for a great reason. There are so many updates - but I am going to spend this afternoon with my husband and kids and try to make some last minute memories before Dan leaves US soil! Here are our family portraits that my good friend, Weslie Woodley took of us during our visit to Northern Virginia. She's so talented! We are grateful for the beautiful shots as we prep for this new phase in our life.

Tomorrow... And the Next Day... And next....

I'm gonna be honest here: I am barely hanging on. Between our new assignment, outprocessing, Dan promoting to Major tomorrow and us throwing his promotion party, living in a one room hotel with 2 little ones, the heat, the fierce pressure to get EVERYTHING packed into our one car for our 3 weeks of travel, to making sure we are all lined up for our travel to Japan - on top of daily duties that come with a 4 year old and a 1 year old.... I am falling apart.

I wake up every night with a foot in my face or my lower back; with a baby - who normally sleeps 13 hours uninterrupted - waking up screaming because she's had it with a pack n play in the closet and a blanket draped over it. Somewhere under the covers in our zero below room, I find my sweet husband's size 14 flat foot and for a brief moment, we touch and life is okay.

In 3 weeks, life in America as we know it, will be much different. Danny is going over to Misawa to take command of the Intelligence flight of a fighter wing. From what we have gathered - and from the AMAZING emails of welcome and help we've received - it is going to be an incredible assignment for us. But, Dan and Gumbo Kitty still have to go over without us the end of June till mid October.

Dan has to get us a home (on base/or off... who knows), 2 cars (NOT the type I am used to: different side of the car, of the road, everything), schools for our babies (Noah's enrolled at a Japanese OFF BASE school!! GAH!), and just getting us moved in in general. I trust him but this is a lot to hand off to a husband! I trust him: after 10 plus years of being together, I do trust him. But letting go of the reigns is hard.

Noah, Ellyotte and I will travel with our main man, Dan, till he leaves the third week of June. We will go between DC, Panama City Beach, FL, Nashville, TN, Pike Road, Alabama.... then he's gone.... till October. Yes, I have the babies enrolled in an amazing school program come August (one of my precious sorority sisters is Elly's teacher), and yes, they will have my mom and dad and sister as a main line of support, but their daddy - and my husband of 7 years - will be obviously missing. I am thankful it isn't into harm's way that he's going, but he will be absent and that will be hard.

Dan will miss Elly's 2nd birthday, Noah and Ellyotte's first trip to Disney, Noah losing his first teeth, his first day of pre-K... he will miss a lot. And they will miss him. I will miss my partner. It is daunting to think that the next time we are together will be as a commanding partnership of the 35th OSS/Intel flight. Wow. That's an honor but it is daunting. Yet, I have faith in our partnership and in our love.

Dan will be an amazing commanding officer of the flight of which he will take command. And starting tomorrow, he will be an amazing Major for the active duty Air Force. I am thoroughly proud of my man. He picked up where I left off - as an active duty AF intelligence officer - and has made me/us/our families so proud.

Tomorrow will be special for us: we will have no family, other than our closest friends here in Louisiana, at Dan's promotion. He will have his beloved commanders there: LtCol Nesbitt will promote him and Colonel Randy Allen (retiring effective 1 June) will be there to witness it. Noah and Ellyotte will pin on one side of the rank and I will do the other. After that, our wonderful sitter and friend, Lauren, will take the babies to dinner and then onto bed while we host a fun promotion party at a local bar/restaurant. I am super proud. Super emotional. Super torn up about all of the changes in our lives.

We have seen them coming since mid-February when we learned of our next leadership assignment, but now it is here. It is real.

Pray for us as we embark on our next chapter of Air Force history. I am proud of my man and the little mark we are making in this military life.

When I realized

As you all know, I was an active duty Air Force intelligence officer. While stationed in Abilene, Texas (at Dyess AFB) I was selected to be the Bomb Wing protocol officer. I was responsible for planning all Bomb Wing sponsored events and making sure they went off flawlessly.

I worked right down the hall from the commander that chose me to do that job. His name was (he was then Colonel but is now) Major General Harencak - by far the best Air Force officer I've ever worked for or had the privilege of knowing. He knew his "people;" took care of us all, no matter what.

One day in late September 2004, I was at work at my desk in the Protocol office when two Army Chaplains came into the door in the hallway. My Staff Sergeant and I didn't pay them much attention... till we heard the most heart breaking scream down the hall. I tore out of my office and watched in horror as my Wing Commander's personal secretary, Denise Bush, found out her first born, Adam, had been killed in combat in Iraq.

Adam Harris was the gunner on top of a tank in the streets of Baghdad and took a bullet to his 20 year old head.

I literally walked with no feeling in my limbs down the hall to Denise as she stood in the old, nasty bathroom of the 7th Bomber Wing Headquarters building washing her face and sobbing in the sink.

Adam was one month from coming home from a 1 year tour of combat. He was one month from coming back to the love of his life, his fiancee.

I coached Adam's younger brother, Brandon, on the Dyess AFB swim team. Brandon was maybe 8/9; nothing made sense to him. My office had to plan Adam's memorial service at the local Catholic church. I will never forget two things: my best friend, Navy SEAL Jeff N., came to see me that weekend and was one week out from his first SEAL tour in Iraq and he was able to sit next to me and hold my hand in Adam's memorial service. And secondly, I will never forget Adam's younger brother, Brandon, wandering aimlessly out in the foyer of the Catholic church. As meager as I felt - and as his swim team coach - I went to him and just held him.

Brandon is now a teenager and is really doing well: honor roll, athelete. But to me, he will always be the baby brother of Adam Harris who gave his innocent life for our country. And Denise, while one of the strongest mamas I have ever known, will always be the epitome of what our freedom costs us.

I thank Denise, (retired) CMSgt Bush, Brandon and Adam himself. That day in September 2004, I realized what Memorial Day really means - no barbeques, no boat rides. The sacrifice required for our freedom is ultimate. And I am thankful to those like Adam - and my husband, Dan - who so selflessly serve every single day.

Okay. Fine.

Okay, fine. I submit. I have failed as a blogger. But I do have reasons... all of my readers know them already. I will admit, I do have ADHD. Take meds for it, but still life and blogging passes me by, each and every day.

So there. Forgive me! We are in the throws of moving. In the past 2 months, we have been told that our family was not qualified to move to Misawa Air Base, Japan because of some sort of medical hinderance. Little did we know that it wasn't Noah's asthma: it was because of the pulmonary embolism (blood clot in my lung) I had post Ellyotte's c-section.

Misawa's medical group commander needed reassurance that Dan and I weren't planning on having any more biological babies. While bittersweet to accept, we gladly did so in the face of Dan doing 2+ years away from his wife and children (we were facing that and I was a mess for a good 2 weeks till we found out otherwise!). Dan told the commander that we have a method in place to prevent future pregnancies and that I - of all people (after my hematologist care, etc for one whole year and the botched c-section that caused me to not be able to carry any more children...) - understand the risk of having more biological children. And IF I were to become pregnant, Dan would have me on the first flight out: Misawa doesn't have a high risk specialist. And it seems to be the hobby to have babies in Northern Japan. I guess the 9 months of winter gets to some folks!

So... no more babies for us. It is a hard pill to swallow because we want more perfect Noahs and Ellys but my body cannot handle any more pregnancies. There would be babies without a Mom. We have decided that we want to expand our family 100% by adopting. We haven't started the process, but we have acknowledged it. That's the first step.

Dan promotes to Major this next week - exactly 10 years and several "officers of the year" later. He will promote and then the next day, we will final out from Barksdale AFB, Louisiana and head to Alabama. After 2 days there, we will catch a flight to DC to visit the Bealls and our extended family/friends for a week. Then back to Bama/the condo in Panama City Beach, FL till Dan heads to Northern Japan the 3rd week of June. He will go over with our sweet cat Gumbo (Piper, our beloved dog, has a new home where she is LOVED so much!) and he will get us set up in our new home, with new cars, new everything.

Our home here in LA hasn't sold yet. Boo. But we have everything out of it and have sold our washer/dryer as well as lots of furniture and Dan's Camry. We will leave my beloved 4 Runner in Alabama for the 3 years we are in Asia. Dan will have to get us two new cars once over in Japan: they drive on the other side of the car, other side of the road and have totally different emissions standards.

We are living in the hotel (TLF) on base in LA right now and having fun. Noah has walking pneumonia on top of some severe asthma issues and Ellyotte has yet another ear infection. But, we are loving our adventures as a family of four. Those will end mid June when our Daddy heads to Japan without us.

Dan will come back mid October for us... because he's a groomsmen in Kelly (my precious baby sister) and Adam's wedding that I am Matron/Maid of Honor in. We are so excited for their wedding. Adam is a perfect match for our crazy yet normal yet weird yet perfect Hawkins family. And the babies are both in their wedding. So Dan has to be back for it! And has to be back to get us to take back to Japan with him.

So, I will be in Alabama with my folks - moving back in....with two babies and my yet unwed sister!!!! - till the fall! If you wanna hook up and hang out, holla at me. Can't wait for this crazy summer!

My sweet little ones

"Go Go" time! That's what E calls popsicles!

One more visit from my folks before we moved outta our house

Breakfast in bed for Mother's Day!

Mudbug Madness festival in Louisiana

My friend Amy and me out for a crawfish dinner

Burning time and energy - with markers! - in lodging on base

Not looking forward to being away from him for 4-5 months......

Last day at our beloved pre-school in Louisiana. Noah's been there since he was 18 months old!

Best looking reason I've ever seen to buy a house ASAP

Excited about markers!

Family fun at Mudbug Madness

My sweet girl - and her busted head :(

Exploring the bayous of Barksdale AFB, LA - definite GATOR siting!

This is what a 4 year old redhead with walking pneumonia looks like: at the hospital getting some breathing treatments.

Moving out! Noah was screaming in my ear because he wanted ice cream... not cuz he was sad!