Mark Edward Brown's Blog

On 3 January we struck out across the west on the plains of Missouri and Oklahoma.  My oldest daughter and I drove our “hot-rod” Dodge Charger and my Wife and our two younger kids (a boy and another girl) + the family pet (a cat) in our trusty SUV drove all day with few stops because of our excitement to arrive at our new destination.

In the early evening we arrived at Fort Sill and checked into our hotel suite.  We unloaded only the neccesities and had a light supper before relaxing a little bit before getting some well deserved rest for the night.

The next day I checked in with the housing office to see if on base housing was available however, it was not.  There was at least a week long wait before I would be able to move the family into a home that would fit us and all of our belongings and we would have to squeeze my two daughters into one room (not something I recommend to anyone).

With that situation understood we linked up with a local realtor named Barbara Clark who is a brilliant woman and really restored my faith in realtors everywhere.  We looked at homes until early evening, took a break and resumed our search again the next day.

Our home search was not what I expected at all and it was a challenge to find all the right characteristics regarding what we all wanted and what we really needed.  For example, a swimming pool would have been really cool to have however that did not work out.  I really like neighborhoods with sidewalks and yet again, that did not work out either.

What it all came down to was a home in a school district where our kids would be educated with care and quality plus a home with enough room to grow with a storm shelter to ride out those nasty tornados and storms that come through this area of the country.

To make a long story short we found the right home, with allot of help from Barbara.  We now live in a small community that in not far from Fort Sill and a picture of our home is below, (our sub-division is called “Shadow Ridge” ~ pictured above)

We don’t have a spare bedroom but your welcome to pay us a visit and one of the kid’s will lend you their room for a night or two.  Please call first so we can ensure you have a clean room to stay in!

We don’t have all of our belongings yet, one shipment is being delivered on Thursday and I am still expecting my military belongings that I shipped from Korea.

The kids are in school and adjusting well, I just started in-processing at Fort Sill and my wife (Kim) is keeping us all in line and behaving appropriately

Leave me a comment and let me know how your New Year is starting, I hope it’s been a good one so far and look forward to reading what you have to share so please comment below.

Mark