Diary of a Navy Wife

The Blog

2010-09-08T09:56:00.000-04:00

So... I may or (ahem) may not have been updating this blog ~~recently~~ i~~n a little bit~~ in a LONG time.

I've written about balance previously, and well, to be honest... one way I started balancing things is by cutting out blog time. If Ben was to be deployed, or sent away for more schooling, etc then I'd definitely be back just like before, but with work, school, and everything else in between, it just hasn't been a priority. Maybe a different life event will get me writing more. We'll see?

So it's not the end. It's just a break. And we all know what happened with Ross and Rachel in the end, so it can definitely be a positive thing. :)

Looking for:

2010-08-02T06:55:00.000-04:00

I came across this thanks to Google Alerts and had to share. I've heard about people looking for love through ads, and who doesn't love a man in uniform, but wow. Just was surprised to see this point blank. Enjoy!

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/w4m/1875217568.html

Are you in the army or military?
Do you want to have children soon?
Do you want a loving respectful young women to bring home to your parent?

If the answer to all of these is YES, then you've found your girl

I'm 32 year old african american female, healthy, educated with a bachelor's degree from hunter.
I'm 5'8 140 pound with brother and sister and a lot of respect for the constitution of family.

please reply only if serious.....

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/w4m/1875217568.html

Although the wording was interesting... "army OR military?" Isn't the Army a large part of the military??
Well, here's to military love!

It's all about balance

2010-07-24T11:31:00.001-04:00

Without going into too many details, Ben and I are once again looking for a new church. It's really tough to leave this one, even though we've only been attending for a little over a month, but we need to. So that makes one more thing that I'm juggling now.

So I have that, family time, school full-time, military life, freelancing work part-time, and full-time work among others. I'm not complaining. I'm actually quite thankful for these opportunities. I just know that I lean toward extremes. I've never been one to do something halfway. It's actually more like full-force or not at all. Even in school. I'm a great student now because I've learned this about myself, but when I was younger? I'll be honest, I didn't like turning something in unless I knew it deserved a 100%. If it didn't? I lied and said I never completed it or "forgot" it at home and took a 0%. Does this make sense? No. Do I want my future children to follow in my footsteps? Heck no.

In adding new things to my juggling act, I find it important to find balance. This past week I started the new full-time job. And other things suffered as a result of my lack of balancing. I didn't do much schoolwork and I certainly didn't write in my column. (You didn't even hear from me here, now did you.) I'm going to give myself some slack because it was an adjustment to get back into the work routine (and getting up that early again), but now I have no choice. I need to find the balance. AND I need to give 100% in all areas. It's okay though, I know I'm a work in progress. Reminds me of a song we used to sing when I was REALLY young:

"...He's still working on me to make me what I need to be. It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars, the sun and the earth, and Jupiter and Mars. How loving and patient He must be. He's still working on me..."

Guess what's (fashionably) back, back again...

2010-07-18T16:11:00.001-04:00

Anyone else notice a resurfacing fashion trend?

Yep. Your spouse/boyfriend/sibling's uniforms and daily wear are once again inspiring those who tell us what we should be wearing.

So, what do you think...

Are you in on this trend or does it upset you? Are you proud to see the world behind the, well, clothes your loved one has to wear? Do you don the similar looks to back him/her up? Do you coordinate matchy-matchy outfits or do you let him/her have all the fun?

I adore some of these feminine versions that are military-inspired. As long as they don't rip off any ribbons or medals our ladies and gents have worked hard to earn, I say:

Hello, Camo! And Good-bye, Parachute pants and Jumpsuits!

Change

2010-07-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you make plans, great plans. And then things happen.

When you know you get to have your husband for the weekend, you start dreaming of the things that are possible. No late night watches or day guard duties to send him off to. No training classes or meetings for which he needs to leave.

You think, Maybe a great concert this weekend? After all, B.B. King is at the Pavilion Center in Portsmouth and Jack Johnson will be at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater. Ooh, or a romantic date to listen to the sounds of Brian McKnight and Robin Thicke at the Chrysler Hall. Even John Mayer will be in the area this weekend.

Okay, Maybe a day at the Beach? Excuse me, the Oceanfront. Locals are great at correcting you when you assume Virginia Beach is referring to the, ahem, beach. You can spend the day in the sun and the night walking along the 3-mile boardwalk, stopping to enjoy the street performers along the way, as well as a spin on the Ferris wheel off 15^th. Not a bad date to remind you of the beginning of your relationship.

Of course, there are many other date ideas in the area. So you make your plans. And then your car dies. Anthony J. D’Angelo was right when he said, “Become a student of change. It is the only thing that will remain constant.”

At least the apartment has a pool, right?

Supporting him

2010-07-16T11:48:00.000-04:00

So... Ben was told yesterday that he is the first person in the entire Navy to actually strike for Air Crew.

hmmm. Not sure how that makes me feel.

Apparently, most people end up in that position because they wanted to fly the aircraft but didn't make it, or they got transferred to it because what they "struck" for was filled, etc. My husband? Nope. It's what he wants. He's going for it full force.

And instead of listening to the hesitancies in my head (what's wrong with the job that no one else wants it??), I'm choosing to get on board and support this choice! After all, that's what he would do for me.

Who knows? Maybe some day there'll be an aircraft named after him for being the first?

Steinway, Young Chang, and the like

2010-07-15T22:41:00.000-04:00

Tonight I felt joy. Tonight I felt song. Tonight I felt a piano whose keys were an extension of my fingers. Like an addict, I couldn't stop. It's been too long.

Music is in my soul.

What's in yours?

Undesignated

2010-07-14T10:27:00.001-04:00

So normally when you start a job, you're hired to complete certain job duties and tasks and with that given a job title.

Of course, that's not always true with the military. Especially in Ben's case. He joined as an undesignated Airman. Something I've briefly touched on previously, and throws people off when they hear it (Airman? But he's in the Navy? Isn't he a Sailor? -yes. yes. and yes.). But talking about the first word, it's exactly like the name implies. Undesignated. Or not yet given a title.

Not for long!

It's been his desire to join the Air Crew. I've already talked about how his squadron works with the big and bad helicopters, nicknamed Sea Dragons. And he's been soaking everything up, but has wanted to join the Air Crew and actually ride in the helicopters, among other things. When you're undesignated, you can stay undesignated but that makes you sort of stagnate, unable to advance. So it's important to get a rate if you want to move up.

Well, Ben knew what he wanted to do after talking to several people and doing other research. It's just not exactly up to him. In order to do the job, you need classes. In order to do the classes, you need on-the-job-training. In order to do OJT (on the job training), you need permission to what they call "strike" for the job. Sometimes waiting for that permission can take longer than the actual training.

The good news is that after almost 2 months of waiting, Ben received his permission to strike for air crew today! The bad news is that the OJT could take 18 months alone! I guess that means we know where we'll be living for at least the next year and a half months! He still could be sent on deployment for 6 months with the squadron in November, but our home will still be here in VA. After that, he'll most likely be sent to Pensacola for about a year for the classroom stuff.

I'm starting to think that "One Day at a Time" is going to be my Navy mantra!

The "D" word

2010-07-13T12:06:00.000-04:00

So... there's talks about my husband deploying later this year. Obviously we know this can happen, and obviously it can change. There will always be talks. But this is the first time I've heard about it actually affecting us.

It's weird.

Not sure if it's better to know until it's finalized or not. I'm deciding to still keep going one day at a time, and if it happens, it happens. Right?

Valentine's Shoes!

2010-07-10T12:20:00.000-04:00

Remember those lovely shoes my hubs got me from Charlotte Russe for Valentine's Day? We're taking a break. It's not them, it's me. Well, and a little of them. But mostly me, because I chose to wear them on Thursday. After I was done for the day at a temp job, I had an interview lined up at a store a mile down the [busy] road.

And then my car wouldn't start. On a blistering 109* day this past weekend, I saw the battery light come on so I had it checked out. The battery's fine, but there's an issue related to the alternator. Not cheap. Great timing. Anyone else love that vicious cycle? Car breaks, need money to fix. Need car to drive you to interviews/ work to get money.

So sometimes the car starts, and sometimes it doesn't. Awesome. And in Thursday's case prior to the interview? It didn't.

I started walking. All I could think about was how much I needed this job. Or any. But this one was interested in me so it's my best shot so far. I couldn't count on temporary jobs or the Navy's pay to get me through school. So I started walking. And walking. A mile normally isn't too long. But when you factor in the 4-inch heels, the black suit (Thank God I could take the suit jacket off and had a sleeveless top on underneath), the terrain of the road, and the 90+ degree weather, it wasn't too pretty. Nor was I. I could feel my makeup dripping down my face.

Great first impression for the interviewer, right?

If anything, I'm hoping they factor in my dedication into their hiring process!

The Good News? I've been asked to come back on Monday for a second interview.

The Bad News? I don't think my feet (thanks to the 7 blisters they incurred) will allow me to wear those shoes again for a loooong time.

MilPay

2010-06-30T09:09:00.002-04:00

So... one area of military life I knew would be safe is the paycheck. I knew that it would be steady, and knew exactly when we'd get paid. However, I never anticipated that the amount would fluctuate so much. I guess when you can find out your base pay, BAH, BAS, etc all online, you think you'll actually be receiving it. The shocker I'm coming to know is that's not always the case. I started budgeting for a paycheck of about $250/paycheck less just to make sure we'd be okay. Apparently I should have been budgeting for $500/paycheck less because that's been more accurate lately. We've had 2 paychecks so far that are "normal." Awesome. I guess that's just one thing they don't tell you about ahead of time.

Has this happened to anyone else?

The other thing I didn't think about was that in living in the largest naval town, the amount of MilSpouses going after the same job openings. Please Lord, open the right door for me!

Butterfly in the Sky

2010-06-29T08:40:00.001-04:00

Sea Dragons. A little bit bigger than a butterfly, and a lot louder, too. But for my husband and I? We think they're rather pretty. I wonder if that's what happens once you join other squadrons... that suddenly your aircraft or whatever your situation might be, is beautiful to you.

Ben brought me to his shop a little while ago. I was able to meet the team he's been working with, and see these helicopters up close. It was pretty amazing. They look massive from far away, so it was pretty crazy to be that close! And to watch it take off? I'm sure I was feeling a dose of the same pride Ben gets while watching them.

I hope that never gets old. Ben was able to start his air crew training yesterday. Let's just say, they put him to work! He's really glad to get that going, but he came home super tired! I'm sure a large part of that was him getting home around 1am after giving a buddy a ride from the airport. As soon as he got home, he fell asleep on the couch. He didn't even wake up when I tried to help him by taking off his boots and socks.

But this is what he's been waiting for since we arrived in Norfolk, so I know he's ultimately happy. Why wouldn't he be, he's chilling with these [beautiful] bad boys!

Remodeling

2010-06-28T10:33:00.000-04:00

If you stopped by over the weekend, or even in the next couple days you might notice some changes. While I love loved my old blog design, my husband's phone did not. He let me know that he tried to read it while he was in A-School, but the format and font 'n such wasn't friendly with his Palm Pre+.

Yes, I could have just changed the font, but then the colors would have been off, and rather than change something that I thought had its own perfect little flow I'm changing everything. K, it makes sense in my head at least.

I'm not techie enough to design exactly how I envision the site in my head. And I don't want to write posts about how much I want to win people's giveaways (although if it's your thing, I know some very talented bloggers like Mrs. Gambizzle who could hook you up). So until I learn how to do it myself, there may be some periodic changes to the look of this diary as I try-on different designs.

Just bear with me!

What treats a jellyfish sting?

2010-06-27T17:56:00.003-04:00

Started the day off with a trip to the library yesterday. They have a summer reading club for adults, too, which brought me back to my childhood. I love love the library. Socrates said something about libraries being the delivery room for the birth of ideas.

In the summertime, my mom, the older bro's (brother #3 wasn't born yet), and me would ride our bikes up to the library and spend a couple hours there. Mom would enjoy quiet time around one of her favorite things in the world: the written word. She has quite the library herself at home, too. This library had a decent children's section, but the coolest thing about it was the claw-foot tub. Yes. The library had a claw-foot tub in the children's section to sit in while reading. Since most kids were at summer camps or daycare whenever we went, it was up to my brother's and I to take turns reading in the tub. It's still weird for me to walk into other libraries and see that they don't have a tub. As long as we were good, didn't fight over the tub, and didn't bother mom, we would be able to pick out one piece of candy from an old-school pharmacy store as a treat on the way home. I always picked Necco wafers since there was "so much more candy" than a single candy bar and would last longer. I still smile whenever I see them in a store. Thanks for humoring me with a trip down memory lane.

Anyway, after reading and then writing a review for 3 books, I get a Library beach towel. Cute, right?

Well, I picked up a couple books, and headed home to find my husband walking towards me with a hand-in-the-cookie-jar kind of face. Although not quite a cookie jar. He caught his pinkie finger in a dresser drawer and broke it. The finger, not the drawer. He's had experience breaking and then setting the same finger previously (I may or may not have been the one to actually break it previously, hypothetically speaking), so it's as straight as it's going to be again albeit very swollen and rather purple.

If that wasn't enough, his day got worse. We packed up our beach stuff and headed the 3 miles to our local beach. Set up the beach chairs, umbrella, etc and headed in the water.

The cutest little 9-yr old befriended us and let us know that someone saw jellyfish in the water. I asked her where they were seen and she pointed way out to where some boats were. Ben let me know not to worry about them since that was even farther out than where the buoy's marked for us to not swim past. Even so, I moved a little closer towards shore. Just in case.

Apparently Ben should have too. Later on, I saw him wince and asked what was wrong. Jellyfish. Good thing he was an oceanfront lifeguard previously so he knew how to treat it. And good thing I picked up some vinegar on our last grocery trip!

If you're ever wondering what to do:

Don't rinse it off with fresh water or rub it as that can make it worse
Do apply shaving cream to the area and then shave it or scrape it off (Ben put his library card to use a little differently than me)
Do soak the area with vinegar for about 30 minutes

These are just some suggestions you can use, but don't quote me. You should know what kind of marine life might be in the area you're swimming. Some jellyfish have a terrible poison in their sting that could kill no matter how much vinegar or shaving cream you lather on the sting. Sensitive areas like eyes, mouth, etc need to be treated differently too.

Better yet, quote me as saying: Always seek medical attention with any jellyfish sting. There. Please don't sue me. Remember, I'm not an expert; I'm just giving some general guidelines to help you so you don't have an awkward situation where you think you need to have a buddy to pee on you a la Monica/Chandler/Joey's situation.

Beaches, Aquarium, Lighthouses, Oh my!

2010-06-25T09:44:00.002-04:00

I'll try to make this a brief recap...
Monday: Spent most of the day hanging out with Cindy Crawford. Then did some unpacking/ cleaning.

Tuesday: Went to Virginia Beach and enjoyed the Food on Foot Tour that we got at half off thanks to Groupon!

Wednesday: Met up with some friends from NY at the Cape Henry Lighthouses and then ate at a local Seafood Buffet! Yum!

Thursday: We found a beautiful beach 3 miles from our home and had a blast! Although it was a little scary at one point when I saw fins poking out of the water coming towards us! I swear I thought it was a bunch of sharks. The lifeguards laughed at me as I was coming towards them and explained that it was "skates" which are similar to stingrays. Later on we saw dolphins in the water, too!

Friday: I had to think for awhile to remember what we did this day... I think I was trying to block it out, actually. We pretty much spent the entire day trying to get to Portsmouth. There's a reason why we avoid the highways here at all cost. Traffic is horrendous! And if you need to go through a tunnel? Fuhgedaboudit! After the madness, we went to the Commissary and took advantage of the Father's Day specials on meat!

Saturday: Virginia Aquarium! Yet again, we took advantage of Groupon! Normally a regular admission ticket costs $17 and a membership costs $75. Thanks to groupon, I became an Aquarium member for $37 (only $3 more than it would cost for Ben and I both to visit one time). Now we can go to the Aquarium for free ANY TIME! One member can bring one guest for free anytime and up to 4 guests at 1/2 off! So we put it in my name so I can bring family/friends who want to go even if Ben's at work. We had SO much fun, even if my favorite animal's exhibit was closed (good thing we can back for free, right?).

(btw... the larger "stingray" in the last pic is actually a skate. they roll up their sides so it looks like 2 shark fins swimming next to each other at eye level)

Sunday: We discovered the $2 movie theater at Little Creek NAS. Ben sucked it up and went with me to see "Letters to Juliet" which was sooo cute! Predictable and at sometimes cheesey, but those kind of chick flicks are great every once in awhile! Plus the landscape was beautiful and the themes of Juliet and Italy are right up my alley.

And then this past week Ben has been at INDOC. From what I understand, it's like a combination of Orientation and high school Health Class. My ~~cocky~~ confident husband even made a deal with an instructor one day to get everyone out early (him getting all the test questions right at the beginning of class in exchange for not having to sit through the lecture on alcohol awareness -they were done by 9:30am).

Tuesday night we had another house guest! (#4!) We picked one of Ben's buddies up from the Airport and gave him a place to crash. He was at boot camp and A-School with Ben, so Ben was really glad to have him around.

An old friend asked me this week: Do you feel like you're constantly on vacation? And I have to answer for the most part: YES! I'm loving the adventure of getting to know this area and spending time checking it all out with my husband! There's so much to do, so much to see! Granted my answer may change in the next couple weeks when I start my college classes again, but for now I'm loving it and grateful how God got me through the rough times to get me here!

Be-A-Utiful

2010-06-25T08:35:00.000-04:00

My husband told me I could blame him if any readers are wondering where I've been. While I guess that's a little true, I'm not going to offer any excuses. Why would I offer any sorry-for-not-writing excuses when I know most of you would stop if it meant you got more time with your man?? Pretty great reason, right? He had all last week off!!! Apparently you're supposed to get time off to find a home (still not sure if that's correct with every PCS, or just because it was our first?), so Ben's boss let him know he was off. I'll post more about that week later! And then this week is INDOC, and he's been able to come home early! I wake up, work-out, get ready for the day and then he's home! These last 2 weeks have been beautiful!!!

Speaking of beautiful... I logged in to find that I received another award! It's called the Beautiful Blog Award. I think this may be my favorite one yet. Who doesn't like to be associated with "beautiful?" And I kind of think the chick in the picture looks like me. Okay, I'm not that skinny YET, but I did recently chop my hair that short and have a thing for funky trees haha

Anyway, I also appreciate where it came from, too! PLEASE check out Our Soldiers Make Us Sisters! 6 Military Spouses contribute to this blog giving different stories and perspectives. I like the reminder that we're "in this together" through their blog. Thanks again ladies!

The rules are to pass the award along to 7 other blogs:

Stop by their beautiful blogs and say hi!

Our second day with Cindy Crawford!

2010-06-14T18:55:00.002-04:00

Last week on our way home from grocery shopping, we saw a cute kitten wandering around outside our apartment building. She enjoyed chasing bugs in the grass and playing underneath the parked cars. The first part of that was cute. The second part of that scared me.

We held her and walked around the complex knocking on doors trying to find her "mom" or "dad." She had a bright green collar, so she had to have "parents," right? If she did, we couldn't find them. It was in the high 90's and she was panting, so we decided to take a break and get her some water and food. Good thing we picked up a 4-pack of tuna with our groceries.

I put half a can of tuna in a bowl, which she mowed down in no time! She loved playing with Ben and cuddling up to me. We had two cats in the past (even though we're dog people) which we often actually miss. They didn't handle our move from NH to WI well (as in they peed on everything to show their disgust in the move -even the vet said so), so when we were planning our move from WI to NY we found them a great home with a co-worker so they didn't have to go through it all over again.

We made a bunch of phone calls, and left her in the hands of the apartment management. Again, that was all last week.

So she was taken care of, right? Ha! Coming home today... guess who was waiting outside our apartment building? Cindy Crawford! Oh, I guess I should explain... we started calling her Cindy Crawford since she has a beauty mark above her mouth.

So yeah, she was waiting there at the front door. We both started laughing as she looked between us and the door, waiting for it to be opened. After we opened it, she walked right to our apartment door. Crazy how she knew which one to go to for tuna!

We made the same phone calls, only to be told that we needed to call Animal Control this time. I reluctantly made the call while Ben played with her on the floor. It was so cute though, every time a sound alarmed her she would run over to me and stand between my legs. I wish we could have kept her. It was really difficult to let her go, but Animal Control said that since she had a collar, they hold her longer before putting her up for adoption -if it comes to that. And if it does, she'd probably get adopted quickly since she's a kitten. I hope so!

I made Ben continuously remind me about the $250 non-refundable fee to have a pet in the apartment, plus the $50/mo extra, plus the cost of food, litter, shots, vet bills, etc, because I wanted to keep her! (I think Ben did too) If any of you have a pet, make sure you have tags on their collar so you can be reconnected if anything happened! Don't tell Ben, but I'm thinking about checking up on her in 2 weeks to see if anyone claimed/adopted her! hehe

Bahati Mafuru Magidinga

2010-06-13T22:48:00.000-04:00

It's been a big weekend!

I was reminded that I graduated from high school 10 years ago, my "little" brother graduated from high school as his class salutatorian (sad that we couldn't make it back to NY for it), we hung decorations up in the new place, visited a new church (at the invitation of one of Ben's shipmates), caught some great World Cup games, AND had our first house guest!

One of Ben's buds from A-School was stationed here, so we had him come over for movies and homemade pizza! He ended up spending the night, too, because he wanted to go to church with us. We had a great time and it was nice having the company and another person to cook for!

Even bigger than that though... Ben and I decided it was time to follow-through on something that's been on my heart and mind for several months now. We are now sponsoring a child through Compassion International!!! We wanted to help someone who's in an AIDS-infected area, as well as who has been waiting 6 months or more for a sponsor. You can narrow down your search even more at www.compassion.com if you want (like, a specific country, etc). You can also check out the Compassion blog here.

About our sponsored child:
His name is Bahati Mafuru Magidinga. He's 9-year's old and lives in Tanzania. It said that he loves soccer, singing, and hide-and-seek! Ben and I both got choked up when we read this paragraph in our confirmation email:
We encourage you to pray for and write to your child regularly. Children in poverty are susceptible to believing poverty's darkest message: "You don't matter." Your prayers and letters help your child know that they matter to at least one adult -- you.

Doesn't that break your heart? We're excited to receive our information package in the next week or so. I don't share this for attention to us, but instead to ask you to please pray with us for Bahati, and check out Compassion's website. We like what they stand for and how they are fiscally responsible. We're SO excited about this!

WORLD CUP 2010

2010-06-11T11:29:00.000-04:00

This morning marks the beginning of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa!

Who do you want to win?

My husband and I (and family) have been counting down for this and it's finally here! We have our favorite players and picked the countries favored to win... time will only tell how it plays out!

Brunch recap

2010-06-11T11:16:00.000-04:00

No sooner had I mentioned how they always say Welcome Aboard, and I was welcomed with a How are you/Have a nice day combo instead. I wonder how I had only heard "Welcome Aboard" for so long?

The brunch was nice! I seriously gave myself a pep talk about not being shy 'n all that since I didn't know anyone who would be there. I had pressed the wrong address in the History of my GPS, so I ended up being a couple minutes late instead of early. And then I wasn't sure what room to go to so I was nervous about that, and almost gave up when the main door was locked anyway. But a sweet lady must have seen me and ran out to get me when I was looking for another door. There's about 8 entrances to this building, for reals.

Entering the room, I saw 6 women there already chatting about various things, and one got up to greet me. They were having a drawing, so she helped me get my name in for that, as well as filling out a connect card for future things. There was plenty of food for the brunch, too. I learned that the #1 question MilSpouses (at least this group) ask is "Is your husband attached to a ship?" I was asked that 4 times during the brunch by different women haha At first I wasn't sure what they were asking bc I hadn't been asked that before. Once it made sense to me, I knew to answer "No, he's part of a squadron not a ship." Such a simple question, but one that a civilian would never ask haha

I wasn't sure if this was a meeting with an agenda, but I learned quickly that it was all very casual. It was a chance to just get together and chat about whatever we wanted. The conversation went from topics of food, to children, to the military, to Tricare, to summer fun ideas, etc. I learned a lot about the area! Apparently this weekend is Harborfest! There was also talk about Busch Gardens, Botanical Gardens, and different parks and beaches. A couple more people came in at various times (which made me feel better about being late!). It was a variety of ages too with some spouses of retired military as well as active duty.

I found out that they usually have several more people, but with school's finishing up not everyone could attend. In some ways I was glad that it was a smaller group than I was anticipating because it was easier to converse. We pushed two tables together so everyone could see and talk with each other. Overall, I really enjoyed it and how welcomed I felt. It's sad that the group doesn't meet again until the Fall (they take a break for summer's), but they invited me to their Sunday morning Bible study and talked about meeting at a park sometime this summer? It's so nice to connect!

Welcome Aboard!

2010-06-10T07:23:00.000-04:00

I never get tired of being greeted with a smile and "Welcome Aboard" anytime I drive on base! I'm sure those on gate duty get tired of saying that, but I've yet to come across any showing their annoyance.

I had to drop Ben off at his shop today. With his earlier work schedule, he's eerily becoming a morning person -something I am most definitely not! But I'm going to try. I've tried going to bed when he does, but then I toss all night thinking about how I should be sleeping but can't. And even when I sneak a flashlight to at least read next to him, I often hear the "do you think you could turn off the light soon?" from him. And he obviously has a job where he needs to be rested. I don't want to stop him from that. And I also want to be next to him at night. I guess this means I need to figure this sleep-thing out.

Speaking of a job where he needs to be rested... he literally does work super hard (and I want to update on what he's doing more, but I'm trying to figure out the line of what I can say and what I'm responsible not to say before posting on it) to the point where he sometimes comes home and could probably fall asleep right then. But what is he doing today and tomorrow, you ask? Oh, let's just say he went to work in board shorts today. Yeah. He's assisting the Red Bull tent on Virginia Beach to set up for their sand soccer tournament. Not sure exactly what he'll be doing (probably some beach clean-up?), but he was told to dress in civilian clothes, including board shorts, and not to bring a lunch! I'm happy he gets to be a part of this, but it may actually be harder for him than normal work since he'll be so-close to a soccer ball without getting to do anything.

And my day? Today's the actual date of the brunch I wanted to go to last week! I decided to go with monkey bread! It's super easy and super yummy, and only has 4 ingredients (5 since I'm adding walnuts). I'm going to wait another hour to start it so it will be warm when I bring it to the brunch. No one can resist that warm cinnamon smell! I almost went with some of the suggestions I was given last week, but I chose monkey bread, well, because I am totally craving it myself! Selfish, I know. But that means it'll keep at least one person happy! I'm a bundle of excited nerves to meet other military spouses!

Oh, and my business cards came in, so I'm all prepared with those, too! I think they're really cute:

Of course they look better with the info I blocked out, but you get the idea. I intentionally left the middle blank so I could write something if needed, and also because I didn't want to put an address, especially if we move before these get used up. I read that they're convenient to have when meeting others in military and MilSpouse settings. We met a great couple at church two weeks ago. Before leaving, they came over and greeted us again and the wife handed me her card with a little note on it to call if I ever needed anything. Their sweetness aside, I admired how she did that. It wasn't too pushy or over the top. With her handing me the card instead of "what's your number?" with cell phones out, it placed the ball in my court to contact her if I wanted without obligation. Yes, I'm over analytical, but that example plus everything I had read in a MilSpouse book about the cards made me excited to get mine in the mail before today's brunch. Just in case!

Let's do brunch!

2010-06-03T13:07:00.000-04:00

~~My morning... actually, let's back this up...~~ Last night... I could not sleep. I've been dying to meet other MilSpouses and be involved on base somehow. I've emailed the Ombudsman several times and haven't heard back from her. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt because there may be a situation going on that I'm not aware of, but at the risk of sounding like a jerk... isn't she supposed to be available, to give some direction, especially to newbies like me? Any suggestions??

Anyway, the two Sunday's we've been down here we've gone to the same church. Normally I would like to "play fair" and visit all of the same faith as us in the area and then compare them (you got it, on my spreadsheet haha) to narrow them down and then do another round of visitations until we decided on one. BUT... the first one we visited really resonated with us. The preacher was amazing! I described him to some as a heavy-hitter. He speaks the Word in boldness, not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, but also in humility. He doesn't water it down, but he also doesn't add anything. Something important to Ben and me. He also has a great sense of humor! The music was amazing, almost like a free concert without the performance aspect since it was very unified. There's even a full orchestra! Playing pro's and con's, it's a pro that it is so large that they can have special ministries but it can also be a con that it's so large. They now have 4 Sunday services totaling 2100 people. Yeah. That large. But that's where it's our responsibility to get involved in their Sunday morning Bible studies to be involved in a smaller group setting. Because of the 6 yr age gap between Ben and me, it narrowed down which group we'd attend if we want to go together. So this Sunday, we're going to visit a group with 21-40 year olds.

What does all this have to do with not sleeping?? The first Sunday we visited the church, we filled out a guest card. Some people visited the apartment to welcome us and give us some literature on things that might pertain to us since we checked the "would like more info on..." boxes. And then the beginning of this week, I received a postcard inviting me to a brunch Thursday at the church... just for military spouses! AH! I've been wanting to meet others! (don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful to find MilBloggers here, but you know what I mean about meeting them in person). I tossed and turned and stared at the alarm clock all night. I was so excited for the brunch that I couldn't sleep!

It said to bring a favorite dish and that I could invite friends. Ha! I don't know anyone down here yet to bring, but I love to cook/bake so the other part would be fine. I put the postcard on the fridge, wrote the info on our calendar, and made sure I would have the car (it's been Ben's week to drive since he's been carpooling with a shipmate who lives near us). I decided since it was a brunch and I was new, I wouldn't go too crazy in the kitchen. Since I had some bananas that got over-ripe faster than I expected, I decided to make some banana nut bread. To me, that's always good no matter what time of day so I figured it would work, especially if I made it in the morning so it would be nice and warm when I arrived.

I usually start with creaming soft butter and brown sugar together and then going from there. What did I do? I was so nervous this morning that I threw the mushed banana and the butter together without paying attention. And on top of that, the butter wasn't as soft as I thought so now I have chunks of butter in my mush. I thought well, maybe I can still pull it off and added the brown sugar to that. Nope. I was off my game and decided to give up on it. Maybe it still would have worked, but if you read this blog you've probably already gathered my perfectionism. I had already cracked the eggs in a separate bowl, about to beat them, when I decided to stop.

Now what can I do that can use those eggs? I was running out of time to make a different bread, so I decided on brownies (something the hubster said he's been craving last night). It might not be a traditional brunch-y food, but I figured the majority of MilSpouses are women and what woman doesn't like a good chocolate fix. I made peanut butter/chocolate chip brownies that turned out perfect, grabbed a serving spatula (Pampered Chef, of course), threw on my sandals, and decided I was ready to go with 5 minutes to spare. At second thought, I decided to grab the post card since it said which room to go to and I'm still finding my way around. That's when I noticed under the word "Thursday" was the date "June 10th."

Are you kidding me??! Well, at least Ben will get to have some brownies!

Any ideas on what I should make next week???

My second award!

2010-06-03T12:30:00.001-04:00

A week before we moved, I received the Versatile Blogger Award and didn't get around to sharing it yet. Not because I wasn't thrilled, because I'm actually quite ecstatic and touched by it, but with all the craziness in relocating I just haven't had time. I was a little surprised to receive it since I feel my blog can be kinda one track, but I'm touched that Lindsay over at When the Smoke Alarm goes off, Dinner's Ready thought of me!

The Versatile Blogger -with this award there are some rules, which are as follows:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award

2. Share seven things about you

3. Nominate 15 newly discovered blogs that you think are fantastic

4. Let your nominees know about the award

Thank you Lindsay! She is such a sweetheart with a great blog where she often posts yummy recipes! (She's married to my husbands college roommate who was the best man at our wedding) She has a great sense of humor and always has great stories! Everyone should go follow her blog at When the Smoke Alarm goes off, Dinner's Ready! Thanks for the award, Lindsay!

Seven things:

In my 27 years, I've never had a cavity
I have two middle names
I think Jorge Posada is the best catcher ever
I'd choose a penthouse apartment over a lake house any day while my husband is completely opposite
I've had a dog, cats, hamster, fish, snake, and a squirrel as pets
I believe a kitchen is not complete unless it has a Kitchenaid stand mixer
I typically bike 50 miles/week, but can only use an old-school bike since I have never been able to master hand brakes

Fifteen blogs to which I am giving this award: (Check them out!):

Mrs. Wifey at Musings of an Army Wife
Kelli at My Life is a Gift from an Awesome and Gracious God
J.J. at I'd Rather be Laughing
RoseAnn at The Social Frog
Brittney at A Day in the Life of a Navy Wife
Kena at Storm Chaser Kena
Sonia at A Hapa Girl and her Hapa family
Dave & Ashley at Alot o' curls and a high & tight
Amesox at Pieces of Me
Gaile at Does this Baby make me look fat?
Cheryl at Boots in the Doorway
Katie at My Life as a Navy Wife
Birdie at Soldiers Lady
Mrs. Sergeant at Airforce-Wife-Life
Holly at Briar Designs

(I decided to give it to my 15 newest followers who I've thoroughly enjoyed reading! As a group, you are all very Versatile! ...if you are one of my newest followers but don't see your name, know that I would have loved to give it to you, too, but your blog does not show up on your profile. Thank you for following mine and know that I would like to follow yours but cannot unless the blog is available)

warning: long catch-up post!

2010-06-02T11:42:00.001-04:00

Yes, we made it.

Has it really been 2-ish weeks since my last post? To some people that may not be a lot, but I got into a habit of writing a post and then reading my blogroll daily, so it's been strange not sharing our happenings and reading about yours! I even came back to find that I've been given another Blog Award which is SO COOL! I'll share it with you in another post!

No, it did not take us 2 weeks to get down here. In fact, other than the DC rush hour traffic (we'll plan our timing better in the future), we did pretty good timing the Wednesday we drove down. We didn't get lost until we made it to Norfolk. We were following the direction of my GPS, me in my car and Ben in the rental truck. We reserved a room at a Navy hotel on base, and of course because of the timing, the Gate the GPS wanted us to use was closed. The next one we saw was closed, too! We ended up pulling into a 7-eleven (Oh, thank Heaven, right?) and called the hotel. They were extremely helpful! Apparently there were other gates open, but only one that would allow such a large truck to enter. The person from the hotel actually stayed on the phone with Ben to help us navigate the new area until we got there.

And let me say, it was such a relief! The room was wonderful! I joked with Ben that we should just stay there instead of finding an apartment hehe.

Since we were near the "Air" side of the Naval station AND not to far from the Norfolk International Airport, we could hear several planes throughout the night. Instead of it being annoying, I found it relaxing. Something about it all felt safe, and exciting as it foreshadowed our future in a sense.

Thursday, we slept in until 9ish, and then took off to view the appointments I set up to view apartments. Four syllables: dis.ap.point.ing. I had spoken to the apt manager of out #1 pick three times before we came down here and I'm pretty sure we went over our "requirements" every time (2 bedroom, washer/dryer, dishwasher, separate dining room, etc), only to find out that there was no washer/dryer OR separate dining room. The floor plan I was emailed was to their model which had everything. I hate being misled!

We even viewed a duplex. I was excited about that idea! Until we walked in. It's not that it was bad (although the floors felt awfully uneven- not good for a klutz like me), it just didn't give us the right vibe. And then the guy told us we were responsible for gas, electric, water, sewage, etc all on top of the price that was already on the high end of our range. Nope. Definitely a no.

Ben and I then went to lunch. As we were sitting there, disappointed, I used Ben's phone to go online and try to find us some more apartments to look at. We were wondering if we'd have to change our price range or location preferences, and then I found something that seemed pretty great for the price and location we originally wanted, and set up an appointment so we could view it right after lunch!

...and then we arrived. My first thoughts- "Are you kidding me?" It was on a busy street. Not exactly what I was picturing in my head as ideal. Ben talked me into going anyway, since we had the appointment. I told him it was a no even before we saw the place.

We walked in the office and were greeted by 2 of the friendliest people we had met since arriving. They were very welcoming and professional. They were the first people to say "tell me what you're looking for," instead of "well, this is what we have." They took all of our considerations and helped us form a list of "must-haves" and "preferences." We then saw a map of just the complex... GINORMOUS! They understood when I voiced my concern about the busy street, and said the would like to show three different apt's to start that were farthest away from the main street! Okay, I'm game. We were blown away at the first one... you walk in to a foyer then living room. One of the walls of the living room were all windows! The middle turned out to be a large sliding glass door leading out to the patio and backyard! We were drawn to the outside before we even looked at the rest of the place! Instead of looking out to more apartments like a typical complex, the backyard led to a fence. On the other side of the fence is a residential area, so it really felt more like a house than an apt. We pulled ourselves away from the yard to view the rest and were led into the dining room. It's separate from the living room and kitchen, but open for a nice flow. The kitchen could use some updating with some new cupboard doors, wood instead of painted, and granite counter tops of course, but it was all very clean looking (you know how some older place look dirty even when clean? not this one at least). There was an empty area in the kitchen for a small table and chairs, too! We went down the hall and saw the bathroom (hello, 80's! mauve sink and tub, with mauve tiling. ew.). She at least prepared us for this in telling us the first apt would not have any of the new upgrades but the other two would. Then we saw the second bedroom. It was the size of any master bedroom we'd ever had before, and it had a nice long closet. Then we saw the master bedroom and were wowed. It's HUGE! Sometimes that can be deceiving because you have to remember what a place will look like with your stuff in it, so I tried to keep that in check, but after doing the "feet measuring thing" I was still wowed! She let us know that the previous owner actually had a California King-sized bed along with their dresser and a chair and I knew I was right to be wowed. She let us know it didn't have a master bathroom (fine with me, I've always thought that just meant another toilet to clean. gross.). And then she opened the doors to the closet for us. More WOW! I've seen walk-in closets before and this was more like 2 1/2 walk-in closets! haha She showed us the hallway walk-in closet among other things. And there were windows EVERYWHERE! We loved all the natural light! When we were about to leave, I even walked back to one of the rooms because I thought we left the light on. Nope, just the windows!

We then checked out the other two apartments, both updated. They were beautiful! Granite, oak, lots of cabinets and counter tops, etc, but they didn't have the same backyard. We saw two more after those. Surprisingly, we both kept comparing them to the first place! That's when we realized we were sold on the location of the first place. Something that seemed crazy to this Italian who loves a great kitchen! So the bathroom and kitchen weren't recently renovated. We decided we would make it work for us. The $120/mo less because it wasn't upgraded definitely helped that decision-making process too!

We filled out applications and went on our way. The next day, we got a call at 8:30 to say it was ours! We did a lot of running back and forth since Ben's chief wanted to approve the lease before we signed anything and to make sure we had renter's insurance, etc. I spent most of the day calling moving companies to get help in unloading the rental truck. Until, one of Ben's shipmates came out to the car with him, introduced himself and said he and his wife were coming over to help us move in! Chief gave him the rest of the day off so he could help us and ordered Ben to cancel the moving company haha

We signed our lease and got the keys. By the time we went to the apartment, the shipmate and his wife were waiting to help! I told him we appreciated the help, but that he didn't have to. He looked me in the eyes and said, "You're part of our family now. This is what we do." I was so touched by him and his wife! They even got another couple to come help us, too! Before it even got dark out, we had all our things moved in!

The next morning, we were able to wake up and say 'Happy Anniversary' to each other in our new home! We've been married 6 years and have moved 6 times during those years! haha Hopefully we'll be able to change that ratio a bit in the next 6 years!

SUPER quick update...

2010-05-18T08:41:00.000-04:00

So... things are crazy here. Between packing, moving, finding an apartment, finishing out this school term, etc, it's safe to say things are crazy. That's why I haven't written recently and why this will be short.

Even through the stress, I'm so glad that my husband is with me. I don't know how I could have done this all by myself! Today's pack-up-the-rental-truck day and tomorrow we drive down to our new hometown for the next couple years!

He got us Navy lodging while we look for a place down there, so we don't have to worry about that.
OH, and remember the awesome Budget truck rental guy? Wellll... today's the day to pick up the truck. They didn't have the truck we reserved, so they gave us a free upgrade to a larger truck!!! (Something I was starting to be concerned about wondering if everything would fit)

God's always faithful and will get us through this craziness even when it starts to get overwhelming.

Break's over. Back to work for me! I may not have internet for awhile, and even if I did I may be swamped with other priorities (no offense blogger friends). Next time you hear from me, I could be in Virginia!

Together again!

2010-05-13T15:55:00.000-04:00

Ben arrived at Logan International Airport in Boston around 12:30 at night. He was one of the first to come out of the gate after the plane landed!!! He's SOOO tan! But I guess having A-School in Florida will do that.

Ben and his Dad holding the poster Moe made :o)

Ben holding the poster I made with his younger brother's help (we're tri-lingual! sort of)

TOGETHER AGAIN AT LAST! I LOVE THIS SAILOR!!!

My First Ever Blog Award!

2010-05-12T02:16:00.000-04:00

A BIG Thank You to Star over at Star Spangled Stockings for thinking I have a sweet blog! What a sweet surprise!

There are so many Sweet Blogs that I love to read, but the rules are to pick 10, so...

(in no particular order)

Wife on the Roller Coaster at Riding the Roller Coaster
Christina at The Journey of a Navy Wife
ABW at Army Blogger Wife
L at Our Fabulously Crazy Life
Lauren at Faith and Deploying
Lindsay at Lindsay's Smoke Alarm
Nicole at Mrs.Muffins
Brittney at A Day in the Life of a Navy Wife <3
Sailor Wifey at Mrs Bree aka Sailor Wifey
Mandi at Pausleyland Adventures

In 24 hours...

2010-05-12T01:09:00.000-04:00

I Will Be With My Husband Again!!!!!

(I'm just a little excited)

MilSpouse Appreciation Day!

2010-05-07T08:44:00.000-04:00

So many of my new blogger friends are Military Spouses, and with this being Military Spouse Appreciation Day I have to tell you that you ALL ROCK!

And I'm not just saying that because it's your day and I expect to be "appreciated" too. I don't deserve it. I'm such a newbie and have so much to learn! And that's why I'm thankful to have connected with you, and read your thoughts and stories. There's a plethora of knowledge between you all. And a thousand times as much strength! I've read stories, that have made me think "Man, I hope I can handle that situation half as well as her when it's my turn" and "Wait, she's doing all that AND is a mom, too??" I'm AMAZED at what I've read. Even in those just-need-to-vent-it-out moments, I can see an astounding amount of resilience that I can only hope to emulate. You MilSpouses are an incredible crew, and I'm glad to be learning the ropes from your examples!

Speaking of needing to learn... here's my most recent Rookie mistake:

If you read this blog, then you probably know by now that I'm a planner. Combine that with my 8 years in the financial industry, and you have a recipe for a budget-a-holic kind of girl. Right now, I have my budget all planned out until Feb 2011. Or maybe I should have said had.

Ben was locked out from viewing his LES online, and the "MilGeeks" were having server issues so it was taking forever to fix. Good thing we can view pay charts, BAH, etc all online, right? Using military.com I was able to budget what we would be receiving in housing allowance per month (both now and when we get to VA), and how much he should be receiving in income per paycheck.

Wednesday Ben was able to call and give me the information for the MilPay website so we could finally view the LES. I was starting to think something was wrong because his A-School paycheck was considerably lower than I had anticipated. It took me awhile to understand the statement, but in comparing that to the pay chart online I figured out the issue...

No where on the Pay Chart does it say that the amount is per month! I was believing that the chart was referring to the amount paid in each paycheck!!! (I swear, I gasped in shock and didn't even breathe for a couple minutes!) Do you know how much it stinks to think you'll have a certain amount as income, only to find out later that it's HALF what you were planning to receive???

See what I mean? Rookie.

Maybe someday I'll have the wisdom of a MilSpouse sage, but for now it's all about YOU my sisters! I'm getting glimpses into all that you do, and have to say that you are all my heroes! The world may never fully understand all that you sacrifice and do, but I am seeing it now and appreciate YOU!!!

9 years!

2010-05-06T09:09:00.002-04:00

Today marks the 9th anniversary of when my Benjamin and I started dating!!! He still gives me butterflies, still makes me smile, still drives me crazy, still captures my heart, and I fall more in love with him each and every day!

How'd we meet?

First time I saw him was my freshman year of college. I was having dinner with girls from my dorm in the cafeteria, one of which was down about a boy. To prove my point that there was better "fish in the sea," I looked around the caf, saw a hottie walking by with a swagger and I quoted Wayne's World's "He will be mine. Oh yes, he will be mine" line. (Okay, you caught me, I'm a total dork.) The table laughed, and life went on.

So, my second semester, I needed to get some serious funds to help pay for college. Don't hate me, but I did what a lot of college students did and started working as a telemarketer. Hey, I averaged $15/hr plus commissions. I didn't have a car on campus, so I relied on other students who worked there for rides.

One night, they moved me to a different cubicle and supervisor. I didn't mind that, but the calls were getting worse and worse. Yes, the calls are inconvenient when you're in the middle of dinner, I get that. Say "No, thank you" twice or "Remove me from your calling list" and then I can wish you a "Good evening" and read the required tagline, people, you don't need to curse at me and say my parents "must be embarrassed to have a telemarketer as a daughter." Just because I have to let you hang up first before I can, doesn't mean you should use that time to attack me. Anyway. It was that kind of night.

My limit was being reached, so I signed off the phones to just sit there and compose myself. Next thing I know, something hit me in the head! I looked up to make sure the ceiling wasn't falling, then noticed a 100 Grand candy bar on my keyboard?!! Did someone just through this at me? I looked around at my friends and they were all on calls. Then I saw this hottie, who looked familiar but I couldn't put my finger on why, smiling at me. (Commence butterflies)

He came over, and apologized for hitting me in the head. He said that I looked upset, so he wanted to cheer me up with his favorite candy bar! (I tried to play it cool, but I couldn't stop smiling!) Turns out he went to the same college. AND was the strutting hottie to whom I referred to with the Wayne's World line! I'll admit it. I was the jerk that ditched a ride back to the school with my friends to catch a ride with Ben and his friends, but I wanted to be around him more. They dropped me off at my dorm and Ben asked me to call him that night.

I did. And we talked on the phone for hours (after getting done with work around 10!). From there we ended up hanging out A LOT! We were just friends (turned out one of his friends liked me, so he was waiting for the other guy to ask me out first before he felt he could make a move) but we went for walks around the campus' pond almost every night and were pretty much inseparable, learning everything we could about each other.

The other guy asked me to the end of year school banquet. My brother's were still in the Army at this time, and one of them was supposed to come home for leave that weekend so I told the guy I was going home. Later on, Ben confronted me about the situation trying to find out if it was true. It was of course, but I wasn't leaving until after the banquet since my roomie and her BF were coming back with me, too. That's when Ben said he should come home with me that weekend, too. He never asked. Just said he was. haha

Fast forward to banquet weekend... He and I hung out, shot some hoops, ate pizza, went for a walk around the pond, and then I took him to the music building to play some songs I had been working on with my piano prof. Then we made it to NY to my parents' house. The next morning, I couldn't find Ben. Roomie, her bf, my mom, and brothers were at the house. No Ben. And wait, no Dad either?

That's when my mom said Ben asked Dad to go for a walk. Now, one thing I haven't mentioned is that Ben is 6 years older than me. When Ben came back in, he told me he had my Dad go for a walk to let him know his "intentions" and asked to date his daughter. He didn't want my Dad to be worried about a 24-yr old dating his 18-yr old daughter. Very old school romantic. And surprising! Ben and I never talked about dating, feelings, etc until that time, and then we had our first kiss! On May 6th! Apparently there's power in quoting "Wayne's World!"

(He later told me about how they were walking along and it hit him... I'm walking with an Italian to let him know I want to date his daughter in the middle of a field, where no one can hear me if this turns ugly... Oh, the stigma of being Italian haha)

Online v. Telephone truck res

2010-05-05T15:22:00.001-04:00

So, I've been researching rental trucks for awhile now since we're doing a DITY move. I know it's less stressful to let the MilPeeps (i can't remember what they're called, so I'm using my own name for them) box and move everything, but:

me = control freak
when we moved in with fam in NY, we kept almost all of our stuff in boxes at a storage unit
don't need to wait on military's time

So, I was about to finalize things online with U-Haul, when I got a message from Google telling me a promo code for Budget truck rental. I found some promo codes online and none of them made it worthwhile to switch, but I thought I'd give it a shot. It was a Spring discount for 15% off, yay!

I decided to give the place near our storage unit a call since they weren't showing up online. While on the phone I asked if it was better to reserve the minimum days and then call to add additional days as needed while we're in VA looking at apartments, or reserve an estimate and then be reimbursed. Well, they don't reimburse, so the first option was best. The reason they didn't show online was because they're already fully booked my days.

I then called the next best place listed online. They were listed as auto sales, so I wanted to ensure they really did rent moving trucks. I figured it didn't hurt to get a second opinion on my other question. She told me they don't reimburse OR allow additional days to be added. Huh? She advised that I call the 800 number to see what they allow. Awesome.

So I did. And found out that I should have just called them from the beginning! I told him about the situation and asked if they offer military discounts. They do. 10%. Of course they couldn't combine the Mil discount and the Spring discount, but the guy said he could give me his limit of 20%. Sweet!

His advice was to reserve the truck for the 3-day minimum and then call them for more days as needed. Since it's for a military move, he threw in another day at no cost, too! He. is. a. rock. star.

and I really hope we get one of them like this one...

Dawn of Realization

2010-05-04T13:51:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, it hit me... this is my last full week in New York! Hard to believe that our leaving date is almost here! I'm SO excited! For those who don't know, I moved back into my parent's basement. Don't get me wrong, that's been a total blessing to us, especially while Ben~~'s been~~ (i've never been able to say those words together) has been away. But I can't wait for Ben and I to be together in our own place again! And yes, sometimes it's stressful, sometimes it's daunting, but ultimately it's an exciting adventure!

I'm going to miss having my family right here with his family less than 6 hours away. I'm going to miss substitute teaching amazing kids. I'll miss my church. I'll miss the Empire State. But I look forward to a new military family. New church. New memories. Plus, I'll get to be the vacation hot-spot for family and friends since we'll be near the beach!

This is what our calendar looks like:

This Week: Last full week in NY
5/11 head to NH
5/12 he's done w/ A-School and flies in to Boston
5/13 he's all mine!
5/14-17 time with his family in NH
5/18 pack up moving truck in NY
5/19 head to VA
5/20-24 find apartment and move in

Obviously it might take longer for the last one, but that's my goal. Hey, a girl can dream!

Hampton Roads!

2010-05-01T23:35:00.001-04:00

[First of all, I am amazed at all my new blogger friends! Thanks for reading! I'll be reading yours, too :) My computer was a little hinky yesterday, so if wrote a comment but don't show up as a follower, PLEASE let me know! Or if you dropped by my site and I haven't returned the favor, PLEASE let me know! I'm loving my new connections and would love to make more!]

Second of all... Phew! I got to talk with my man tonight! And he found out his confirmed duty station (again!):

Hampton Roads, VA

(for family and friends who aren't familiar with it, "Hampton Roads" is the area of Virginia that includes Norfolk, VA Beach, Newport News, and other towns/cities)

He hasn't been told yet what date he needs to report, but since they recently added another week on to A-School, I'm just adding another week to the date we had previously. In theory, this logic should work, but I'm finding that's not always the case with the Military so hopefully he'll confirm that Monday.

We'd like to be down there before May 22nd -our 6th year wedding anniversary. It would be awesome to have a place by then, too, but I'm not holding my breath. My apartment list is narrowed down to 6 places, so we just need to find out what the neighborhoods are like and inspect the apartments. We've lived in some great places in the past, but also some crazy ones, too. We had neighbors in NH who liked to steal from us and I swear there was some sort of fiesta every single night at midnight so we could never sleep and then this one place in WI where another tenant threatened me with a baseball bat because he wanted my parking place. No more of those places. I don't care how cheap it is. No thank you.

And after last night's "fun," I took the advice of stacie-marie and my other new blog friends, and let Ben know that I felt it would be easier for me if he let me know he would try to call as soon as he can, rather than giving a specific time and it not working. As his phone time was ending, we both fought the urge to say what has become our routine sign-off. (Even after explaining it, I almost blurted "when can you call next?" Smart one, I know.) It made me think about other things he typically says before hanging up. Of course, there's the "I Love You's," but just before them is the "Well babe, I need to go (fill in the blank)." It's funny how that's changed in the 9 years (this coming week!) we've been together...

When we were dating in college... "Well babe, I need to go finish a paper..."
When he was away for a civilian job... "Well babe, I need to go get some sleep..."
While in the military... "Well babe, I need to go shine my boots..."

Never in a million years did I think shining boots would enter into normal conversations for us!

Insanity

2010-05-01T00:09:00.002-04:00

One of the most brilliant men of the 20th century said that Insanity means "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." -Albert Einstein

Ladies and gentlemen, I have come to realize that the Military is (even as a newbie) already driving me insane.

For example, with my husband being in A-School right now. He used a buddy's phone to call around noon on Tuesday. Elated to hear his voice, I couldn't wait to talk with him about what he's been doing, what I've been doing, along with the things that need to be talked about with our upcoming move. Instead, he let me know he only had a minute but wanted to say I love you and that the buddy was going to let him use their phone (he hadn't received his in the mail yet, but has calling cards anyway??) later that night. More of a heads-up, "be available" call, right?

I stayed up all night. Partly because I was excited for the phone call and he didn't say what time he would call. And partly because I just don't sleep when we're apart. I average 2-4 hours of sleep a night.

It hurt, but I understand how these things go, right? Part of my training as a military spouse, right? And then I remembered him saying that if I didn't hear from him that night that he would definitely call the following night. Nope. No call. No sleep. Not happy.

I can't blame Ben. I know the restrictions aren't the same as it was at boot camp, but there's still restrictions. I guess I just expected a call when he said he would, because that's a normal expectation outside of the military. [I heard that guffaw at the word "normal," seasoned MilSpouses!]

He did call earlier today, but it was for another "I can't talk right now, but I'm going to call you later tonight" conversation. I tried not to sound needy, but well, I am right now. I miss my best friend and love. He said they had a "phone lock down" which was why he couldn't call the night before, but promised it would be different tonight.

It's now after midnight. I've had my phone by my side all night. Even checked the ringer and volume to make sure I wasn't going to miss it, expecting a different result than the last two days. Nope.

Nothing, but insanity here.

UPDATE: Oh, the irony... one of the photoblogs I follow had this as today's post. HA!

Doing the Blog Hop!

2010-04-30T06:26:00.001-04:00

Today I'm participating in a MilSpouse Blog Hop hosted by Riding the Roller Coaster! It's the third time this week that I've linked back to her. Not because she's asked me to, or has a check coming to me in the mail, but because she was the first to even introduce me to the words "Milspouse" and "blog hop!"

About me (Sarah):
I'm part-musician, part-nerd. My dream is to teach algebra by day, and play gigs with my band at night
I sometimes thought I was adopted into my Italian family because I have blonde hair and blue eyes
I obsess over: planning, details, the color red, Romeo & Juliet, teeth, shoes, and much more
I love to cook and bake, especially for lots of guests

About my Sailor:
I've been married to my college sweetheart for almost 6 years

We said "I love you" to each other before we even went on our first date (9 yrs ago!)

Ben just swore in to the Navy this past January making us total newbies
We both love baseball but realize it's best not to watch Yankees/Red Sox games together since I'm from NY and he's from NH (about an hour north of Boston)
I'm a better person because he's in my life

Vulnerable alert: I sometimes feel alone with this journey as Ben's away doing the A-School thing and we're not yet near a base. The more I search for other military blogs though, I'm finding people who understand which makes it so much easier!

I hope you read my blog as I chronicle this new adventure for Ben and me! Please comment so I can follow you, too!

Meltdown over...

2010-04-29T20:07:00.004-04:00

...for now.

Okay, so I may or may not have been beastly overwhelmed on Tuesday but I'm doing much better. Sometimes a girl just needs to vent, ya know? I'm going to keep going forward with my planning as if we're moving to Norfolk, VA but do some more research on Jacksonville, FL just in case.

I'm sure I'll never fully be prepared, but since it's our first PCS, it's hard to know what to expect. And I'm not near a base right now, so I can't exactly go to the housing office for questions or other help. I've heard some horror stories and some happy stories, so only time will tell what our story will be.

What was your first PCS like?
Anything you know now that you wish you did then?

Check out these great comics by Julie Negron at jennyspouse.com called "Jenny the Military Spouse!"
(The cartoonist was kind enough to grant me permission to use a strip here! Thanks Julie!)

Today I...

2010-04-28T23:27:00.001-04:00

...am sending Ben a new cell phone! We ran into a wall when I went to see him graduate boot camp where he couldn't take any of the things I brought for him for A-School. He couldn't bring any "contraband" into his room or compartments on the RTC. Since he was Grad & Go, he left at 0200 that night and I wasn't able to go to the airport to say bye there and give him his cell phone and other things he had requested. So... he's been at the mercy of other Sailors' sharing and calling cards. I wanted him to be able to have access to the internet too, so when he got an email (which he set up forwarding to my email account while he's away) saying he was eligible for an early upgrade, I took advantage! And now that I finally have his mailing address, I sent the new phone to him!

[and to make him smile, I transferred all his contacts over, changed his wallpaper to some ocean he'll want to surf, uploaded ringtones and favorite songs, and set up his email, facebook, and apps I know he'll like. such a great wife, right? welllll, it's actually partially selfish because I know it would be difficult for me to help him do all that when he's 7 states away]

...also am sending cookies! I have a friend who said she is sending chocolate chip cookies, so I wanted to make something else. I LOVE baking for him! His favorite cookie is always changing, so I wanted to shake it up and try a recipe I've been dying to make! [FYI: Never hang a Betty Crocker calendar you got for free in plain sight because you'll be craving something new that's terrible for you each month!] They turned out REALLY yummy! It made 3 dozen, so I'm sending him 2 dozen and the rest are for my fam. (Of course you have to taste test a new recipe, right?!) They're called Chocolate Marshmallow Pillows and were super easy since the recipe starts with a pouch of Betty Crocker's double chocolate chunk cookie mix. I hope he (and some friends) likes them! If only I could send him some milk, too!

Is it better to...

2010-04-27T13:53:00.003-04:00

Is it better to plan and possibly be disappointed or wing-it and be unequipped?

Word of the Day: "frustrated" from the word frustrate. pronounced "\ˈfrəs-ˌtrāt\ which means 1 a : to balk or defeat in an endeavor b : to induce feelings of discouragement in (cited below)." She became deeply frustrated as more information was unveiled and her plans consistently needed to change.

I'm a planner. Some call it OCD. I call it being smart.

For example, when Ben enlisted we were told 9 bases he'd most likely be stationed at. Since he's an Airman they were able to narrow it down a lot since he'd be working on/with planes/helicopters that would only be on carriers. 5 of these bases are CONUS (in the CONtinental U.S.), and 4 are OCONUS (Outside of the CONUS). Assuming we'd live on the base for the OCONUS stations, I focused on the ones in the states. Using various internet sites, I gathered research on each of the states and the cost of living there. Then I found out our BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) for each location. That gave me a decent approximation of what we should be spending in rent for that area. I was then ready to search apartments.

Another thing you should know about me: I heart spreadsheets! I typically make one any chance I get! I have them for financial decisions and budgeting, what church we should go to, my textbook and class choices for college (as well as the actual classes, but hey, I'm a math major, its useful for turning the data into graphs among other things), and so on. Sure it takes a little time to fill in and format the cells, but once you've done that you are golden! If Microsoft Excel was to disappear in the night, I'd be traumatized!

So I created tabs in my Apartments spreadsheet for each location and compiled my information so that I would have at least 10 places listed for each location. This helped us as Ben needed to fill out his "dream sheet." There was a chance that Ben would go right from boot camp to his duty station, and we were prepared with places to live at any of the places he might be stationed.

Once we learned it was Virginia, I was able to focus on the VA spreadsheet alone. I expanded the list as we received welcome packets with more information. Pretty soon I had 21 places that met our criteria. From there I put each complex on a map so I could visually rule some out. I even eliminated some of my favorite places since Ben would need to travel by bridge/tunnel each day from the peninsula to work (what if there's an accident?). This process narrowed it down to 6 places. I've even talked with rep's from each to get an understanding of our future landlords. One of which is a clear winner on paper and map, but I still haven't seen it so it's too soon to sign on any dotted lines. (Will you think I'm psychotic if I said that I even used a program where I uploaded the floor plan and drew in my furniture to scale to make sure things fit and that I'd be prepared on moving-in day?)

Well if you're not thinking that, you might be thinking [my preference] 'wow, that's gotta make things so stress-free, right?' Wrong.

Because you never know when you might get hit with the there's-a-chance-we-might-be-stationed-in-Jacksonville,FL-after-all brick. Or the we-might-get-paid-half-of-what-we-were-told-from-the-beginning brick. Or the no-you-can't-plan-a-surprise-stay-at-a-hotel-in-Boston-for-the-night-he-flies-in-from-A-School-beacuse-the-date-keeps-changing brick. Or my favorite, the I-need-you-to-overnight-some-things-they-told-me-I-need-ASAP-even-though-you-don't-have-a-car-since-a-semi-drove-into-you-on-your-way-to-my-graduation-and-it's-in-the-shop-and-since-it-was-a-hit'n'run-you-have-to-pay-the-deductible-which-has-to-come-out-of-your-moving-fund-and-you-can't-make-sense-of-the-LES-since-it's-locked-out-and-the-IT-guys'-computers-keep-crashing-and-you-probably-won't-find-out-for-awhile-anyway-since-it's-difficult-to-communicate-while-we're-apart-on-top-of-other-frustrations-like-the-term-papers-you're-writing-and-have-to-hand-in-bc-the-term's-almost-over-and-you're-scared-might-lower-your-GPA brick.

Frustrating. I hate the feeling of helplessness. I know it's the military and there will be plenty of "bricks" in our time. Many others that we're dealing with aren't even listed in the above paragraph.

Ben and I complement each other so well. He's strong in so many areas I'm weak in and vice versa. If I'm the planner, you can imagine what he's like in that area though (this isn't news, he'd be the first to admit that). So it's tough being disconnected from him and everything going on. I like being part of these decisions, not the last to know.

frustrated. (2010). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Retrieved April 27, 2010, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frustrated

A whole new world!

2010-04-26T12:30:00.003-04:00

(...great, now I have that song from Disney's Aladdin stuck in my head)

Once again I have to link to Riding the Roller Coaster for teaching me something new! After my post yesterday, she filled me in on the world of milblogging.com. Although I often revel in being one-of-a-kind, I am incredibly excited to find a plethora of military blogs all in one place!

Also, thanks to her I will be participating in my very first blog hop the end of the week! It's a way where milspouses (day 2 of my new word, overkill?) can visit each other's blogs by posting links to our own in a single place. Exciting, right? For me it is!

So if you're someone new to the site trying to figure out who just "followed" you, Welcome to this Navy Wife's Diary!

Where you at?

2010-04-25T21:24:00.001-04:00

...wondering where the other Navy bloggers are out there?

In my quest to learn everything I can, I have found several blogs written by other MilWives (learned that word today from Riding the Roller Coaster and couldn't wait to use it!), which I enjoy reading, but I'm seeing a trend: they're mainly Air Force or Army blogs! I'm learning a lot from them still and appreciate whatever I can find. And I'm not saying anything bad about any of the other branches by any means (I was an Army girl first because my two older brothers enlisted). It's not a rivalry thing at all. I'm finding there's subtle differences though and would enjoy the real-life experience to learn from and compare to what I'm learning from the Navy website. So I guess what I'm saying is...

...where my Navy sisters at???

Among the 5%

2010-04-23T23:33:00.000-04:00

A little tidbit I found out after graduation...

The gas chamber.

The main thing Ben wasn't looking forward to at all.

The RDC's let the mustard gas loose in the chamber, had the recruits take off their masks and breathe it in. Several people immediately teared up and stuff started coming out of their mouths and noses. Then they had to recite some stuff.

Then they noticed Ben. He got yelled at for holding his breath because he didn't show any reaction on the outside. Ben said he wasn't holding his breath and inhaled deeply to show it.

Apparently Ben is among the 5% in the nation who are immune to mustard gas! They had him sing "Anchors Aweigh," recite his personal information, and say the Sailor's Creed and General Orders. Nothing. Once they were satisfied, they called him a freak and let him out. haha

Ben's Birthday

2010-04-22T13:04:00.004-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!!!

It's pretty weird not wrapping gifts or baking a cake or planning a special dinner today. It's the first birthday we've been apart since we've been married. By now I know he would want me to make either homemade gnocchi or steak and baked potato for dinner. For his cake, he'd either want me to bake a Boston creme cake or get an ice cream cake. (I tried making an ice cream cake one year in a soccer ball form. bad idea.) I'd have him make a wish and blow out candles before he could have any presents, one of which would be a giant bag of Peanut M&M's. Tradition.

This year's different. He'll probably be eating whatever's served at the galley, I don't know if he'll get any dessert, and presents? One of my brother's had his birthday while in Army boot camp and told us his division had to do push-ups while he just watched haha I don't know if anyone will even know that it's his birthday.

He said he would call tonight after getting a new calling card. All I know is that is a gift for me!

UPDATE: I ended up making a cake after all. I mean, why not? So myself and the rest of my family sang "Happy Birthday" and then ate a Funfetti cake with homemade chocolate frosting. Yummy! It's not exactly the cake he would have picked but it's what I was in the mood for haha

Also, muster lasted longer than normal, but I still got my call at 2340! AND found out Pensacola's actually an hour behind in Central time. He didn't get a chance to get a new calling card, but a friend let him use their cell phone. We could only talk for about 8 minutes, but I'm glad I got whatever I could, especially the opportunity to wish him Happy Birthday on the actual day!

Quick Phone call...

2010-04-21T21:58:00.002-04:00

Ben called today! He originally said he couldn't call until Thursday but he was able to call tonight! AND he's going to call tomorrow, too!

Boxing: A representative from the Navy boxing team approached Ben today. They really wanted him to box for them, but they wanted him to drop 20 pounds to compete in the flyweight division. He turned them down. I'm glad. Whew!

Address: I have his A-School address if anyone wants it.

Training: The first week is mainly an orientation. They have some classes but they're basic things that everyone goes through. Classes for his job as an APAC should start next week, but they wait for a full class before it starts so it could take longer. His are full so he gets to start Monday on schedule. And then he'll only be there for two more weeks. Here are some of the things he's doing now though:

Firefighting on Friday or Monday. He was nominated to be the Inspector of his group. This means he'll go onto the burning airplane to grab "dummies"
Financial classes... they teach the sailors how to create budgets and be financially responsible
Job as Barrack Support: Involves cleaning, keeping peace in the barracks, babysit drunks, and perform watches

Dates

2010-04-19T22:16:00.001-04:00

May 7th: Done with A-School... fly in to ?? (most likely Manchester so Ben can be with his family, too)

May 7-18: Ben's on Leave! (He might work out of a local recruiting office so we can still be together, he can check out a recruiter's job and see if it's for him in the future, plus then 5 days won't count against his annual leave)

May 19: Report to Virginia! (We'll be down there by this date, but that's the day he was given to report)

End of April update: He will be done with A-School on May12th instead. They added 5 more days. He hasn't received his new orders yet, so not sure on those dates.

Our Day Together!

2010-04-18T23:05:00.001-04:00

It's hard to put our day into words... It went by way too fast but it was so great!

I wrote yesterday about how it started. Once the ceremony began, my heart was beating even faster! The band was great 'n all and I love music, but I couldn't wait to see Ben! Finally the graduates were brought in, starting with Ben's division! And he was the very first person!!! I have video of him coming in carrying his flag.

All the division's marched in and went around the oval, finally ending up in front of their families. Not a single person was in between Ben and me! ...and I had to use every ounce of my strength not to run out there haha

I felt really bad for him and the rest of the graduates who had to stand in formation for EVER! One guy in Ben's division even passed out! The speakers continued their speeches, and to be honest I'm not really sure what they said. You can imagine my focus was pretty single-minded.

(he's holding the blue division flag)

(they all bowed their hands when the chaplain prayed)

And then the announcer said the magic word to the graduates: LIBERTY! All the families went running from the stands to find their sailor. It was a mad house! He had to put his flag away and then our eyes met... a-maz-ing! I didn't want to let him go!!!

We walked around the Training Command and Ben introduced me to a lot of people. It was funny hearing people yelling out to him as "Rev!" or mispronouncing our last name. We got some Navy stuff at the NEX, and then took off for downtown Chicago. It felt "right" just being with him again! I've missed everything about him, even just having him in the seat next to me in the car. We ended up at the Navy Pier, walked around, and ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. It was really neat to hear people stop us and thank Ben for his service! We even had some fun with some crazy mirrors!

It was amazing to be with my husband, but as the day went on it was really difficult knowing that we'd have to be apart again. We even looked into the possibility of me staying at a hotel in the area so I could see him off at the airport the next day. Unfortunately that didn't work. I'll be honest... I wanted to be selfish and tell him not to go. But I know he's doing this for us, and we'll be together again soon.

PS: Ben proposed to me on this day 7 years ago! That is a story and a half, so I'll have to share it another time!

Impressive!

2010-04-17T00:48:00.001-04:00

My man did AMAZING at Graduation today! Oh wait, sorry, apparently it's actually considered an assessment, not graduation to them. A final review to strut their stuff in formation before the big-wigs and family.

The day started at 3am for me. Got ready for the day and booked out the door! BIG day and I was excited! Made it to the Training Command in good time, and like a good girl I had everything they said were going to need ready: parking pass on the dashboard, drivers license AND military dependent ID along with registration and proof of insurance in my left hand (I won't tell you what they actually checked... very surprising though).

I noticed they were doing random vehicle searches, too, and said a quick prayer that they wouldn't check mine. Not because I had anything to hide, but because I didn't want to go through the following scenario:

Guard: Ma'am, can you open the trunk?
SJ: No, actually I can't.

(if you don't know what I'm referring to, read this)

Once I made it into the drill hall (?), I grabbed an open seat, thinking I did pretty well to nab a seat in the 5th row. THEN, I noticed the numbered signs on the main floor, signifying each Division. I was in front of 160-something and Ben's is 153. Aw man! His was closest to the wall on the other end! I just knew it was going to be filled and I'd be stuck in the upper section, all the way in the back.

And then I got over there to find a group of 3 twenty-somethings who made room for me. I was in the 3rd row! Although it was more like the second at the time, because they weren't seating anyone in the very first row. SO cool! A little bit later the 3 next to me left and a family took up their seats along with a couple in the rows behind them, too.

I was antsy. Really antsy. I knew my Benjamin was in the same vicinity as me and I wanted to see him right then! I wanted to steal him away as well as watch the ceremony with pride. But the stealing him away part was really sounding good in my mind! Then the recruit in charge of assisting this division with questions, wheelchair seating placement, etc came over to the family next to me. Apparently the saved seats in the first row were going to be for attending commanders and other important people. Some had sat elsewhere so she told the family they could move down to the first row as long as they stayed to one half of the row.

Hearing this, I decided one more body wouldn't make a difference, and if it did she could tell me otherwise, so I followed the family down to the front and stayed there the remainder of the graduation! Someone behind me (found out later it was the father of a friend of Ben's) asked how I got to sit in the first row when she had told them it was reserved. I told him the scenario, then explained that I haven't seen my husband in two months, so I didn't care. He laughed and told me he didn't blame me at all. :o)

After sitting there for an hour and a half, the ceremony began starting with the band! The music was excellent! Especially the drum corps. When the graduates were able to enter, Ben was the FIRST!!! I haven't looked over all my pictures, but I hope I got some good ones! I don't have the greatest camera (anyone wanna buy me a D-SLR?) so I'm pretty sure the focus is going to be an issue. (not to mention my shaky hands bc I was excited!) But I think I got some videos at least. I'll be sorting through the videos and 221 pictures to see what looks good tomorrow.

None of them will accurately display how impressive he looked in his dress blues (which are actually black, btw, not "so dark blue it looks black," but actual black), and how well he did as guide-on. He had to move the division flag certain angles for different things and it looked incredibly sharp to see all the flags moving in sync. I love him and am very proud to be his wife!

I'll write more tomorrow about the day, including where we were when I snapped this pic:

TOMORROW!

2010-04-15T11:20:00.000-04:00

What was that? I get to see my husband graduate from boot camp tomorrow? Heck yeah!

To Do:

~~hem dress~~
~~un-scuff shoes~~
~~plan traveling route~~
print out parking pass
~~clean inside of car~~
~~set alarm for (gasp!) 3:30am~~
dye roots (since my hair hasn't been au natural since I was 12yrs old, I'm sure that isn't a shock to anyone)
paint nails
stop by the bank for some cash
get new batteries for camera, just in case
~~clean out memory card for camera to ensure enough room~~
~~have his bag of things for A-School readily available in car~~
get plenty of SLEEP!

I think that's everything! The pass I'll print out later since my friends are working and I don't know where their printer is and I'm off to the bank and store now!!!

Next time I write, I hope to have pictures of Ben and me together!!!

Missed calls...

2010-04-14T18:20:00.000-04:00

While in WI, I scheduled a proctored exam for one of my math classes. It's worth 7 credits, so I wanted to get it over with. Which I did. And aced it. Why am I not super excited then?

Because...

When I walked out of UW, I saw that I had 5 missed calls on my cell phone. I didn't recognize the numbers so I checked out the voicemails. All Ben. And each voicemail sounded more down than the next. Poor guy. And I'm so sad that I missed him!

Staying positive though, I get to see him in two days!!!

WE KNOW WHERE WE'RE MOVING!!!

2010-04-09T14:37:00.004-04:00

Have you ever read something and then wondered if it was true? Ben's not one to spend much time on the computer. Even before he left for boot camp, he had me set up forwarding so his emails come into my inbox. An email with the subject: WELCOME ABOARD ICO AN BENJAMIN BELANGER really caught my attention! I literally held my breath as I opened it to read: Congratulations on receiving the best sea duty orders in the USN! We are pleased to have you join our Vanguard Team! AHH! I'm so excited! I read on to find more information about his job, where we are being stationed, who the Command Ombudsman is for me to contact, history about his squadron, etc...

So I bet you want to know where we'll live?

any guesses??

Norfolk, Virginia! VIRGINIA BEACH!!!

Ben was able to call to let me know he passed his final examination and Battlestations test.

Ben: I have some news to share with you, guess what it is?
SJ: We're moving to Virginia Beach!

Then of course I had to explain about the email. ;o) He also let me know that they gave him the wrong score on his small arms test so he's actually a "Sharpshooter" not just a Marksman. He was so excited to tell me that he'll have two ribbons on his uniform instead of one now hehe.

So his job... His age waiver was not accepted to be a Search and Rescue Swimmer. He may be able to be involved in that area at some point though. Until then, he is still an Undesignated Airman. His squadron flies these giant helicopters nicknamed "Sea Dragons." They are capable of deploying and operating in any part of the world within 72 hours via Air Force C-5's! They most recently were deployed in Haiti. I've really enjoyed reading up on this group and am excited and proud that Ben will be joining them! I'd put pictures up and more information for those of you reading this, but I'm not sure what else I can actually say :o)

But I'm excited! And Ben's excited too! His job could entail loading ordnance, maintenance, avionics tech, or electronics tech. He's leaning more towards the last one based on what others are saying plus he would be part of the actual air crew in that job. But it's more about what they need him to do and what he seems to excel in. He'll have a chance to "test drive" each position, something most don't get the opportunity to do but he can since he signed as undesignated.

Made it to Wisconsin...

2010-04-09T12:04:00.001-04:00

Well, I'm writing to you from my closest friends' living room! Yay!

The trip from VA to here was interesting. The first time I became nervous was when I saw a "Welcome to Kentucky" sign. I had checked out Google Maps and had the basic idea of my route from Virginia to West Virginia to Ohio and then west (through IN and IL) to Wisconsin. So, in following my GPS, I was surprised to find out I was in Kentucky! I checked to make sure I typed the right address, which I did, then called my mom to double-check Google Maps for me. She let me know the route it was probably going to take me on, and I got back to enjoying the scenery... and boy I did! If you've never been to or even driven through Kentucky, you must! It's beautiful!! If I ever became a country girl, that's where I'd want to live!

I kept driving and decided to stop for some eats when my stomach was growling at me. After giving my order, I asked the lady if I was still in Kentucky (I had noticed it was really flat, not as green, and hadn't seen any horses in awhile). She just started laughing and repeated my question to someone in the back. Awkward. When she finished laughing at me, she let me know I was in central Indiana. In my defense, I told her I never saw a "Welcome to Indiana" sign. Then they felt bad and gave me a hearty "Welcome" in unison. At least I was farther ahead than I thought!

Outside of Indianapolis, it was rush hour so I noticed the cars were very congested, including the tractor trailer in the same lane behind me. Ever since I took a defensive driving class back in the day, I'm a big fan of leaving safe distances between me and car's in front of me. And thank God I do! I heard a weird sound, like a crunch and noticed I was accelerating more for some reason. That would be the semi behind me! He hit me and then my bike/bike rack was stuck in his grill! All I could do was make sure I didn't hit the car in front of me. The bike got loose and I was able to get off to the shoulder on the Interstate. Wish the driver of the semi did the same! I'm fine. It could have been much worse if I didn't have the bike/rack to absorb the impact (although I hate that I can't ride my bike now. sad face.) or if he had side-swiped me or was going faster. I filed a police report and my insurance company claims department is trying to track him down. The car's drive-able, but needs some work to fix up the back (including a trunk that can no longer open! -I had to lower the back seats to get my bags out which got wet since the trunk is no longer tightly sealed).

BUT... I made it! And I love being with friends and cannot believe how huge the kids have grown since I saw them last year! And a week from today I get to see my baby!!!

The 1st leg of my journey to Ben...

2010-04-06T16:44:00.000-04:00

...is almost complete!

There are TEN days left before I see my husband and I am SO excited! We're talking butterflies-on-your-wedding-day excited! Speaking of wedding day, here's a little shot from our first dance as husband/wife ;o)

I'm incredibly grateful for the encouragement, love, and support of everyone who has made this easier for me! Time really is flying and I can't believe it's almost here!

There are many things I've been able to do during this time including:
spending an (almost) month in NH with in-laws, adopted family, and friends, substitute teaching, developing healthy eating habits, fostering an obsession with yoga, spending more time on songwriting, reading more books, working out thanks to friends' Wii Fit Plus and a new recumbent bike, focusing on schoolwork, nurturing my marriage through love letters with Ben, to enjoying my time here in Virginia!

I leave tomorrow for another adventure to Wisconsin to be with our best friends, Matt and Aimee, and their beautiful kiddos! And you all should know by now what happens a week from this Friday!!!

Last letter before I see Ben graduate!

2010-04-02T02:12:00.000-04:00

During Ben's last phone call we talked about the writing situation:

It takes 2-3 weeks for him to receive any of my letters, so if I wrote him during the last couple weeks he probably would never get them because he will have graduated by then
He could still write to me, but because of my traveling he wouldn't know where to send anything OR I would see him anyway by the time they were forwarded to me

Because of this we decided to still write each other, and exchange them at graduation instead of mailing.

So... the following is officially the last letter I will receive while he is at Boot Camp... and by now you know the drill -no mushy stuff for you to read, it's all mine ;o)

Dated 23 March 2010-
"Tomorrow is 5-1 day! [as in Week 5-Day 1 of the week] I only got 3 weeks left... I should find out soon if I fly out on Friday night or early Saturday morning. Either way I'm sleeping on the airplane. Boot Camp= Tired.

"To answer a couple of your questions: Do I have windows? And what's new? Yes, we have windows, about 15--20, however they are all frosted glass. They allow light in during the day, but you can't see out or in at all. But every once in awhile when I post the flags in the morning the sun hasn't come up yet and I can see the stars.

"What's new? Well a lot has happened since the last letter. We went to small arms on Friday and Monday. To get marksman (a ribbon for my dress uniform) I had to score a 180. I'm a marksman. We had to shoot a target with a handgun from 35 yards. I made a small grouping of 48 shots in the upper left of the chest randing from 2 to 5 points each shot. Sorry I'm not an expert. [I don't know why he apologizes, because I am extremely proud of him and know he did his best! And we both knew I have the better shot out of the two of us anyway hehe] After the handgun we shot a 12-gauge shotgun. 6 shells at 7 yards. Basically you just pointed and pulled the trigger. It was cool.

"After small arms we had our drill assessments. We did well. I did well. Got some things to work on with my flag. We scored a 92 out of 100. I got us one hit because one of my thumbs moved on the stick at the wrong time. Chief says I got hosed. I still had to do 8 counts however to correct my thumb problem. [how could they even see that? wow!]

"Then we just had our second written test today. Our division did well. All I know is I passed. I don't know what my score is yet. The test was on the Geneva Convention, Naval History, and Code of Conduct during Armed conflict. After the test we did a 17 minute sustained run. I ran about 2.5 miles. Not too shabby. We also got all our uniforms, our dress whites and dress blues."

Dated 24 March 2010-
"About our flags. For every obstacle (Test, Drill, PT, Inspections) so far we've gotten all our flags! The next big things are one more test and Captain's Cup. It reminds me of Harry Potter with a whole lot more cursing and yelling. And there's no Snape or Dumbledore or Harry. But the competition reminds me of it. I don't know. I'm really tired [the same thing I was thinking when I started reading him compare anything to Harry Potter haha].

"I got a letter from MA2 Recruiter today. He asked me to work 5 days of leave so I don't lose them. I would be home at night. Think about it. I would like to. Especially since Chief asked me to.

Small time-out to explain:
If asked, new sailors are able to work at the recruiting office where they enlisted during their leave (in Ben's case, after A-School and before duty stationing). He would get an extra week of leave because technically he's working one of the weeks. So he gets to have a 9-to-5 for a week where we live now and then still has two more weeks off after that before going to his duty station.

Pros: The experience looks good, He can see if Recruiting is a good fit for down the road, We'd get another week to pack and be together in a familiar place, More time with family
Cons: Having to wait one more week before seeing where we'll live

Pros win! ...Time in...

"Tomorrow I have more shots. Fun stuff! After we get shots I get another haircut and then PT and Drill. Easy day! So I guess I should tell you some slang:
Easy Day means No big deal
On Spot means Everything is where it should be
PFM means Pure ______ Magic (Senior uses this to refer to my right hook)

Dated 25 March 2010-
"Today is Palm Sunday! My goal today is to read the Triumphant entry in the Gospels today.

"So there's a crew of us recruits that keep each other going, encourage, and make sure we're all squared away. I'm going to introduce you to them in this letter [the last three you may have already read about]:

Quincy*- He's our AROC. He sings cadence for the division when we march. He's 31 and has a PhD in Psych. He used to have his own practice. He's married and his wife prays for the division. We all call him Doc.

Jackson*- He's from Tennessee and everything about him screams southern. He's about 6'2"-6'4" depending on where our physicals are. He's so thin he could hide behind a flag pole. He's a super hard worker and really watches out for the guys. He's going to be an MA.

I think I already told you about Adams* and Jefferson*.

Then there's Van Buren*. He's an all around good guy. He's from Ohio, around Cedar Point. He's going to be in FL with me. He's got a great sense of humor and always has a smile on his face.

Harrison*- He's from San Diego. Really laid back. Nothing ruffles his feathers.

Tyler*- He's 18. He's really naive. He'll believe anything. He wants to learn and try new things. He has a very simple black and white look on life.

Polk*- He's 33, officially the oldest guy in our division. He works hard. He carries a peace about him, and he spreads it to everyone around him. It's more than being laid back. He's just a calm in a storm.

There's "Made in Mexico" Madison*. He's from Mexico, has a 2-yr old daughter. He gets everyone to laugh. He is literally the hardest worker here.

Monroe*- Our one true Italian and he's from NH. He comes from Pelham. He has a true accent, loves the Sox and Pats. He's steadfast. He's stocky and strong and can hold the Division on his shoulders if needed.

Then there's my rack mate Washington*. He's a God-send. He looks out for me. He helps with studying, my folding and stowing. And he patiently listens to my venting. Then tells me to suck it up. We work well together.

"That's the crew within my division that I mostly hang out with or talk to on Sunday's. There are others, but these are the guys that know me as 'Ben' or 'B,' not as 'Rev.'

"God knew what he was doing by placing me with these guys. We're in FEP (Final Evaluation Phase). 19 days left. 8 days of training!"

And as of today, there's actually less than 15 days to go!!! Woohoo!!! April 16th is almost here and I can't wait to be with my man again, even if it's just for a couple hours!

*Again, names changed to protect their privacy

Keeping busy!

2010-03-29T15:18:00.002-04:00

So I had a couple breakdowns yesterday... so what? Sometimes emotions need to just be released, right? But I've been saying all along that my focus determines my attitude, and wow my attitude=excited now! Let me break down what the next couple weeks look like:

This week:

Substitute teaching
Driving to Scranton where I meet up with some family*. Youngest sister* hops in my car and then we caravan down to Virginia to spend time with another sister*
Easter spent at sister's church and with her friends
(my own schoolwork)

Next week:

Say bye to some family, but I still stay in Virginia for more sister* bonding
Drive from Virginia to Wisconsin
Stay at BFF's house and get to hang out with her/hubs and nephew/nieces*
Visit with WI church family
(my own schoolwork)

Following week:

More time with BFF's family
BEN GRADUATES!
Spend as much time with Ben as possible before he leaves for A-School
(my own schoolwork)

Somehow when I thought about how whatever I pack for the trip starting this Friday will be what I have for when I see Ben, I got really excited!! It really is THAT close!!!

*friends are the family you choose for yourself

illumination

2010-03-28T14:11:00.005-04:00

Do you ever find yourself doing something, not because it's what you like doing but because it's what someone else prefers? Oh, and doing this even when they're not around?

In our room, we have a light coming from the ceiling that provides overall light for the entire room. We also have a light on each of our nightstands. I like using the ceiling light personally, but will use the light on my side of the bed at night if I'm reading. Ben hates the overhead light as he says it's too bright and sometimes even hurts his eyes, so if he's in here he will only use the ones by the bed. Whenever I'm cleaning in this room or doing schoolwork or whatever, I like to use the main light since the smaller ones don't cut it. I'll admit, there have been times when Ben and I have gotten into "discussions" about something as trivial as these stupid lights.

Without him here, you'd think that I would be free to do my light preference. Nope.

I find myself using the lights on the nightstands instead of the main one. It's not that I'm doing it for him, because he obviously isn't here and to be honest couldn't care less which lights I use. I just find myself doing it anyway.

Maybe because that's what he would want if he was here?

Recent batch of letters!

2010-03-27T00:04:00.001-04:00

Dated 16 March 2010-
"These past few days have been super busy and painful. I've been threatened to have my job as Guide-on taken away and was even made to watch my replacement train. These past few days we've been IT'd two to three times a day. I've been told by other Recruits it gets easier but according to our RDC's we're just a bunch of screw ups and we don't deserve to be Sailors. That's what I hear day in and day out, that we're not good enough and we'll never be good enough. That's the stuff I have to deal with every day. I'm getting discouraged. But I'm going to push through. I'm determined.

"The sleep thing is difficult [in response to me asking him if he has trouble sleeping at night without a fan- a must at night for Ben]. There's 87 guys making noises. So sleep comes very difficult. I think however I don't need a fan anymore. It gets really cold at night, too. I sleep in a sweatshirt and sweatpants (we call them smurfs) and I shiver most of the night. I really need a nap. Doesn't happen here unless I'm sick or injured. Lord willing that won't happen."

Dated 17 March 2010-
"Happy St. Patty's Day! Today was the Marlin Spike. That's the name of a simulated ship here. We had to bring it along side the pier and make it fast. Then we had to cast off. We had 25 minutes to remove 8 lines and attach them again. We also could only use Navy terminology, like Avast (stop), Heave To (pull it up and attach it to the ship, Heave (pull or throw depending on what you're doing). We had 12 things we couldn't do or we would get a safety hit. 10 or more and we fail and get sent back one week of training. I was motivated to say the least.

"We went through the simulation in 20 minutes, did a man overboard drill, and had only 3 violations. We rocked. We had the 2nd best time ever! That lasted most of the day. Then we had dinner and I practiced my stick work for graduation. I really want to make you proud.

"About graduation. There are some rules. When you come to see me I may be in my whites. So no makeup smudges [haha! On the phone today he let me know he'll be in blues instead. I'll still be careful lol]. Second, on base I can only escort you (your arm in my left arm). I need to be able to salute officers. And when we kiss, it can only be for 3 seconds. Whenever we are in public and I'm in uniform I can only escort you on my left . Uniform rules."

Dated 20 March 2010-
"I am currently in the midst of 'hell week.' Every day this week we've woken up at 0330 and haven't stopped until 2200. I am very tired to say the least. Tomorrow is holiday routine and Monday is live fire. Then we have Drill Assessment and a test on Wednesday. Busy, Busy! On Thursday we did our Marlin Spike and Friday we did small arms simulation. We got to shoot lasers and air guns at targets.

"I broke a guys nose last night. I had my last boxing bout. It was against an RDC. I caught him just right. I'm the only recruit with no losses. Senior was very proud. However due to all the new rules that just came down from command, boxing is no longer allowed. Senior said I went out with a bang."

Can you believe it?

2010-03-26T22:35:00.002-04:00

I TALKED WITH BEN ON THE PHONE TONIGHT! ...for 36 minutes and 19 seconds, too!!

My ~~little~~ 17-yr old senior brother has the lead role in a musical which opened at his school tonight. I came early to grab a good seat. As I was emptying out items from my bag to use in saving seats for another brother and my parents, I glanced at my cell phone, momentarily contemplating on whether or not to silence it now or wait for the beginning of the show. I decided to leave it and Thank God I did! All of a sudden the Beatles Revolution starts loudly playing from the depths of my bag. I fished it out and glanced at the number. It wasn't an area code that I recognized, but I answered it anyway. If you know me, you know that I normally wouldn't answer it in that situation. Again, Thank God I did!

Have you ever had a moment where you heard something, and then part of your brain says, "Wait, don't get excited. Another part of your brain's just messing with you." Yeah. I heard Ben say "hey" and I just froze. It wasn't until he then said "hello?" that it clicked that it was really him! <3

I love my husband!

"There are people reading about us! Crazy!"

2010-03-25T18:02:00.000-04:00

Okay, even though I really want to at times, I can not complain. Can you believe I received more letters in the mail today? Ben writes weekly and then gets one mail time to send them out each week. Somehow I've received three weeks worth just in this past week! I can't complain about that either! :o)

I will share excerpts from his letters with you all in another post. This post is dedicated to one of my "readers" (How very Julie & Julia to say that!). Yes, that's right, Slender Swan! Thank you for making my husband's day by writing to him a, in your words, "I know how good getting mail feels when you're in boot camp letter!" I really appreciate you doing that for him. You're a rockstar!

From Ben:
"The other cool thing that happened this week, I got a letter from one of your bloggers. No clue who this person is but it was really neat! If you know them tell them thanks from me. I will include the letter in this letter so you can read it. There are people reading about us. Crazy!"

Back-to-Back Letter Posts!

2010-03-23T23:06:00.001-04:00

Due to more substitute teaching opportunities, I came back home to New York earlier than planned. I miss Ben more here. I thought it would be the other way around, since he's from New Hampshire and everything and everyone I would be around was brought into my life because of him. Coming back to where we've lived for the past year (and where I grew up) is harder.

As I brought my bags into our room from the car, I started seeing the different piles we made of his clothes (donate to Goodwill, give to his younger brother, bring to him for post-graduation training, winter pack-away clothes, and plain pack-away clothes piles). Or the queen sized bed that feels HUGE when he's not here as opposed to the twin sized I slept on in NH. Or the book he had been reading prior to leaving for basic training that is still on his nightstand. These things and more seem to scream at me that I'm alone.

And I could focus on that feeling, or just recognize that time has been flying and we don't have too much more to wait! In 24 days I will be holding my Sailor!! And I do have family and friends who I am incredibly thankful for, who have been an encouragement and support to me and Ben. And I have my faith in my Savior who is holding me through this. His strength is perfect, which I need because I am weak. And I really have been blessed to say that I have received phone calls from him twice while in basic training. Not many can say they've had that. OR his letters. Speaking of letters....

Dated 08 March 2010-
"Today has been one of those days. I went to Classifications and was told that I couldn't change my rate until I enter the fleet.The good news is my A-School is only 2 weeks and then I get 14 days of Leave. I also found out we only have to pay a part of my plane ticket home and then to station. [which I will be looking into, bc I don't understand why we would need to pay any of his plane ticket from A-school and then I was under the impression he would be driving the car/moving truck caravan with me to his duty station??]

"I have to call my duty station while on Leave to see when I can move my family. It looks like Jacksonville or Virginia.

"I got to fill out my dream sheet. I put Jacksonville, Norfolk, and San Diego for inside the US. For outside the [continental] US I put Italy, Hawaii, and England. For Airman those were basically my only choices.

"After we got back from Classifications our Compartment was destroyed. Clothes, sheets, trash, shoes, covers, and NWU's were thrown everywhere. I was ticked. I guess the RDC's decided to give us a surprise inspect. The compartment failed because a Recruit left out pictures of his girlfriend and letters out in his gear locker instead of his personal locker. Hello! Attention to detail, Recruit! So because of that both Divisions had to do IT (Intensive Training).

"We got done out IT, went to lunch, then cleaned up. After clean up, I checked the schedule and saw that my RPO (Religious Petty Officer) duties conflicted with our divisional marching. I brought that up to the Petty Officer and she tore into me. Told me I might lose my guide-on job for someone who can actually march. That hurt. I bit my tongue and said 'Aye Aye, Petty Officer' like a good recruit and went to chow."

Dated 09 March 2010-
"The other day we had our big test and 9 people failed. That's the most in a division in the 200 year history of RTC. Not only that but at the end of the test we had the opportunity to fill out a survey. The survey asked questions about RDC's and how they treat us here. One recruit from the Division wrote some stupid comments.

"Needless to say this went to the LCPO (Leading Chief Petty Officer). Not a good thing. He was steamed because the recruit skipped the chain of command, too. Now the Division is on the LCPO's radar. There are too many children and not enough men.

"There is a silver lining however. One of the RDC's assigned me to mentor another recruit and she said it's because I have potential to be a great Sailor. Senior Chief put it in my record that I have leadership possibilities and that I am eligible for promotion. Isn't that cool!

"I am hoping that tomorrow will be a better day. I have dental again. 3 more fillings! So much fun."

Dated 10 March 2010-
"...So after we got off the phone, Senior pulled me aside and asked if I had a watch. I told him about the one you gave me and that I left it at home. He then brought me over to the watch counter at the NEX (Naval Exchange) and told me to pick out a watch. I asked him what for. He said it was my prize for winning the boxing tourney. I was floored! So I got a new work watch, one to wear with my NWU. The nice Citizens one you gave me is for my dress uniform and when I'm with you.

"The last packet of letters, I told you about a couple of the guys. Here are a few more. There's Madison*. We call him "Made in Mexico." He was born in the US, but his mom crossed while she was prego with him. He's a super nice guy. He works hard and loves his little girl. She's his favorite topic of conversation.

"Another guy is Monroe*. He's Italian and is from Pelham, NH. He knows about Nadeau's [best subs ever!!] and Hampton [Beach]. He's a stocky guy with no neck and arms about the size of my legs. He's a die hard Sox fan and loves the Pats. He thinks I'm nuts because I married a Yankees fan, but he thinks it's cool to see how much I love you despite that.

"As I'm writing I realize I haven't told you about our compartment. It sleeps 90 souls, has 6 shower heads, 16 sinks, and 24 heads, 2 skuttlebutts and one office for our RDC's. There are tables and chairs for studying, but we aren't allowed to use them because they're for Sailors, not Recruits. So when we aren't at attention we sit our two-packs (butts) on the tile deck. We're given a command to sit, which is 'SEAT!' and in the compartment or classroom we say as we sit 'Ahh, Seat!' It sounds cool when the Division does this.

"Tonight we marched and I got to sing Cadence. We were in the compartment practicing our marching. Senior said I did well. He's going to let me sing tomorrow when we run."

Dated 14 March 2010-
"Today is holiday routine. The guys are sitting on the floor talking and shining shoes and boots, writing letter, ironing. It's pretty relaxing. I just miss sitting in chairs.

"I've been talking with Senior and he told me that I should be fine in the fleet. He says it may take me a year to rate and make petty officer, but he also says since I 'am such a hard worker, my command would be dumb not to let me strike (train for a rate) sooner.'

"...Friday's are graduation days. I see the new Sailors hanging out with their families and friends and I almost cry. I can't wait for that day.

"Keep me in prayer because I'm SO tired!"

*Names changed to protect their privacy*

"My baby, he wrote me a letter!"

2010-03-19T14:45:00.000-04:00

Excerpts from letters received today, once again cutting out stuff meant only for me hehe...
(Keep in mind that there's a delay of information with the mail, so some things he mentions, I might have already shared in previous blog posts)

Date 02 March 2010-
"Today and tomorrow are dental appointment days. 41 members of my division are having teeth pulled, cleaned, or cavities filled in. So far my name hasn't been called. We both know how I love the dentist.

"Since the division has been disseminated by plaque we have spent the day so far getting ready for an inspection on Thursday. This inspection consists of making a rack with 45's (the corners of the sheets have a 45 degree fold known as hospital corners) and properly dressed NWU. We have 12 minutes to make the rack and 20 minutes to dress in our uniforms. By the time you receive this letter, I will know how I've done.

"Tomorrow will be more practice and study. I am going to try and write you another letter. Speaking of letters, last night was our first mail call. It was really neat. The letters opened doors between the guys. They shared the basis of where they were from and who wrote.

"So I found out that my division is a Grad and Go. That means I will leave for A-School either Friday night or Saturday. It depends on the openings at school. I just have to focus on graduating.

"Speaking of that, yesterday was another step closer. We had our PFA ( the PT test). I did 64 sit-ups, 57 push-ups, and ran 1.5 miles in 11'15. I crushed most of the young guys. On a sad note, most of our division did not pass. It boggles my mind how a guy or girl straight out of high school or college can't pass a PT test.

"Changing gears again, last night the Lieutenant came to our compartment to commission our division. He gave a speech, presented us our division flag, and asked he guide-on (me) to present Arms and put our #153 flag on the pole, or stick as we call them. It was really cool. Senior Chief said I did well."

Dated 03 March 2010-
"Because I'm doing well, I earned a phone call tomorrow!

"Today was a pretty good day. We started at 0530 and are just now bunking down at 2200. We have to up again at 0530. Because I carry our Division's flag, I am usually up earlier than the Division so I cam post the flag before Senior comes in. Needless to say, I really miss sleep.

"Some of the guys here are pretty cool. I've gotten to know a bunch of them over the week. My bunkmate's name is Washington*. He's 26 and is getting married in May. He's really easy-going and a hard worker. He needs prayer. He failed the PFT this past Monday, therefore he can't advance until after A-School. He's a little discouraged. I'm helping him out at night to get into better shape and he's helping me with the school stuff. It's a good trade off.

"Another guy I've gotten to know here is Adams*. He's from NC or WV. His accent is like Hank Hill. He used to be a construction worker. He reminds me a lot of my Uncle Eddie. Always smiles, even when he has to do push-ups. We work the laundry room together. With him it's more fun than work.

"The last guy I want to tell you about is Jefferson*. He's Hawaiian. He's a Christian, unfortunately his English isn't the greatest. But we understand each other for the most part. He's my prayer partner. He needs prayer. The other day he had his wisdom teeth pulled. Imagine going through that at Boot Camp!

Dated 04 March 2010-
"My phone call got taken away. Some idiot in our brother division went AWOL and made an unauthorized phone call. Ticked me off! My RDC had to restrain me. I didn't get into trouble, got a talking to by Senior about setting my heart on things. But the reason I didn't get into trouble is because the RDC understood.

"Other than that, today was a good day! I passed my inspection! :o) We had to get into our NWU's, boots polished, and our Recruit ball cap. Then we got inspected. We also got a rack inspection. We had 12 minutes to strip and make a rack. It felt good to accomplish my first "real" test.

Dated 07 March 2010-
"It's Sunday, I made it through another week! I got to go to church today. Just being away from the RDC's was relaxing. I miss Berean [Bible Church] and Justin's [our pastor, www.bbcgreene.org] preaching. I've been reading my Bible and praying with Jefferson*. I'll admit things are tough and I've never been this tired, but the end goal will be worth it. God's going to bless.

"Tomorrow is another inspection. It's our locker inspect. They look at how we fold and stow our gear. It's a lot of work to get ready. We have to iron everything, even our underwear.

"After our inspection, we're going to have our first academic test. It will consist of: Chain of Command, UCMJ (Uniform Code Military Justice), ships and aircraft, first aid, and rank and recognition. It's a lot of studying. It's 50 questions and we need to get 40 out of 50 to pass. I'm more worried about the inspect than the test. The test is multiple choice and i've been studying with Washington* like crazy.

"The last letter I was upset at a shipmate. I'm sorry, my temper is getting under control. It's just boneheads really annoy me. Boot camp would be so easy if everyone would just do as they were told."

*To protect their privacy, I have decided to rename other recruits mentioned in Ben's letters after US President's. Although "Jefferson" really does have a cool Hawaiian name ;o)

Halfway there!

2010-03-16T22:29:00.004-04:00

We're at the half way mark!

4 weeks down, 4 weeks to go... or to be more specific, 30 days left!

His first Navy paycheck was electronically deposited into our account yesterday (hallelujah!) and I'm filling out the paperwork for my dependent identification card today.

This is really happening, right?

4 normal minutes = 30 military seconds??

2010-03-11T00:07:00.001-05:00

Disappointment is when you realize you have two missed calls, and both were your husband calling you from boot camp.

Elation is when he tries calling again and you actually have your phone on you and get to hear his amazing voice!

In my research prior to his leaving, I read somewhere that if you receive a phone call, other than the initial call to see he arrived, it means that he either got badly injured or flunked. I already received a special phone call courtesy of his RDC and 300 push-ups. So you can imagine my emotional conflict of getting another call! It was a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Once I discovered that the division was all given a phone call home and it wasn't because he was injured, I could enjoy the excitement of talking with my best friend and love!

These are some of the things he was able to share with me:

He passed Monday's written test and a big inspection
His ears often sting because of all the yelling and there's no music or TV to drown it out so they ring once it's silent
He has one female RDC who is a Christian and has talked with him briefly about her faith
He described a typical day where he gets up by 0430 to "post flag," shower, shave, march, run, other PT, then class
His face hurts because they make them shave sometimes twice a day, even though it takes Ben awhile to grow any facial hair!
He eats A LOT
He's considered "Grab and Go," which means (unless he changes jobs) he will leave right after graduation (that night or early the next morning) to go to A-School
He's made some good buddies, especially one guy from WV whose IQ is really high, but he acts average so he doesn't have to do more work
He hasn't been able to meet with the job counselor yet but he's hoping to by the end of next week
We won't be able to find out where he'll be stationed until A-School (even though we were originally told we'd know by the 3rd week of boot camp... good thing I didn't get my hopes up)

It's still surreal that I was able to talk with him a second time on the phone! This time he was able to talk longer, too! I heard shouting in the background and asked if everything was okay. He replied that they were shouting "Four minutes! Four minutes!" to all the recruits on the phones. Thirty seconds later he says, "I gotta go..." His MA (Master-at-Arms) was walking through to get them off the phones.

I've come to realize that I am in my own -very different- form of boot camp. I learn what MEPS, RDC, RTC, MA, APOC, RPO, etc all mean and incorporate them into my own conversations. I've learned to take everything at face value because it could always change. I also learn "Hurry up and wait" as well as how 4 minutes could be the same as 30 seconds. I'm learning more about myself and how strong I can be when I'm leaning on my Savior. I also see how much I love my husband even after almost-nine years of dating (almost-six years of marriage), how much that love has grown, and how much that love can conquer.

Check off Week 3!

2010-03-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

Well... we've made it 3 weeks apart from each other!
Just over 5 weeks still to go!
It can be really tough, but we're almost to the halfway point!!

I honestly thought I would have had break-downs by now, but God is faithful and has comforted and encouraged me and I know He is doing the same for my amazing husband.

Thank you to family and friends who are making this part of the journey easier with your love and support!

The letter's are here!

2010-03-08T15:22:00.002-05:00

Here are some excerpts from the letters that came to me today (minus the mushy stuff -that's for me only ;o)

Dated 20 Feb 2010-
"The first day we (the division) were up for 38 hours. They poked, prodded, and stuck me everywhere. Then they took all my clothes, shaved my head, and gave me my gear. After we received our gear, we were assigned our RDC's. My division has 87 recruits and 6 RDC's. We aren't allowed to talk, except at night, but that's when we need to sleep. Needless to say, I don't talk."

Dated 26 Feb 2010-
"This week was better than last. I got 2 Divisional jobs. The first is called 'Guide-On.' I march in front of the Division with our Divisional Flag. I tell the APOC (Assistant Petty Officer Commander) when to order the Division to Turn, Halt, March... I am the eyes of the Division. It's not easy. I get yelled at a lot because I have no rhythm, but because I'm the shortest male in the Division I got the job.

"My second job is RPO (Religious Petty Officer). I'm basically the Division's Chaplain. Senior Chief himself came up to me and asked if I would because of my prior experience. A lot of the guys come up to me and ask me to pray for or with them. Some just come to talk. It's ministry and a lot of these guys want me to open my Bible. This second job leads to my nickname. A lot of the guys call me "Preacher" or "Rev." It's definitely humbling. Even though I'm struggling, God still wants to use me.

"Things are still tough here, but there have been some really fun and cool things, too.

"Another cool thing happened today. We took our swim test with the SARS (Search And Rescue Swimmers). Those boys are huge! They don't mess around. Here's the cool part. Their chief pulled me out after he saw me swim and asked me if I wanted to volunteer to be a SARS. He then asked my age. He says the Navy says I'm too old, but he wants me to try out still and get me a waiver. That would be so cool!"

Dated 28 Feb 2010-
"Today is Sunday, our 'holiday.' We still have to work, shine boots, iron our NWU (Navy Working Uniform -those are the blue fatigues), t-shirts, towels, and skivees. Then we square our racks away. The great thing is that we get to sleep until 5:30. That extra hour and a half felt great! We also get to take a 'long shower' (7 minutes) and write letters. We're supposed to have time for church, but there's no chaplain on base. Hopefully next week.

"Instead of church, a couple of the guys asked if I could lead a prayer, and share something out of my Bible. The fields are ripe for harvest.

"This past week has been crazy. We swam, had an Education test, BASE's (Balance, Agility, Speed, Endurance), and tomorrow is the PT test. The RDC's keep saying we're screw-ups, but half of the Division has done better than 90%. I'm there too for the physical stuff, the Book stuff I'm in the 80's. It just means I have to study more.

"Tell everyone I said Hi. Tell my Mum, Dad, and Josh I miss them, too. Tell Momma Roosh I miss home."

What would you do for a...

2010-03-06T23:19:00.002-05:00

It's hard to articulate the emotional state you are in after hearing your husbands voice after two weeks of separation. But whatever it is, I can say it's worth it.

Ben was pulled aside and asked what he would do for a phone call to home, and he said anything. So the RDC had him start doing push-ups. After 300 pushups, he let him stop and said he earned a 5-minute call!

He filled me in as much as he could in the time allotted with what has been happening since I haven't received any letters from him yet. Here are some of the highlights:

He passed his first inspection and has another one next week
He gets along well with his main RDC, who has nicknamed him "Reverend" or "Rev"
He went to the dentist and found out he has seven cavities!
He's being called Popeye by some bc he had to talk out of the side of his mouth after having fillings done on the left side. He'll get the right side taken care of next week when he goes back to the dentist.
His swimming and PT scores have gotten him noticed, and they are trying to get a waiver done for his age so he could be a Rescue Swimmer. Meeting with the job counselor again tomorrow.
He won his division boxing championship! And they are looking to have him try out for the Navy boxing team!

I am so proud of him! He's already done so much in a short period of time! I still haven't received any letters from him even though I was told there was two being forwarded to me, but it's hard to be upset when I was able to actually talk with him!

it's only a day away...?

2010-03-04T15:26:00.000-05:00

Well... I didn't get the letter Wednesday.
And I didn't get it in today's mail either.

There were two items that made it to my parent's home in NY on Monday that they needed to forward. One came in today's mail, but the other (Ben's letter) did not.

Major Dislike.

But there's always tomorrow...

Another week down and another letter... sort of

2010-03-03T09:33:00.003-05:00

Today's Wednesday and that means I haven't seen my amazing husband in two weeks. I know people who have been away from their loves for longer and are thinking, "Two weeks? That's nothing!" But it's something to me. I appreciate the support I've had from some of those people who at least haven't vocalized what I imagine they're thinking.

It's weird (and so many other words I could use) not having your best friend right by your side. I've had some "moments," but over all I'm doing pretty well with it, I think. Keeping my eyes on the prize! haha It is awesome to see how much easier it can be with the right focus and determination. I guess that's true with anything in life.
When I focus on how much I miss him and that it sucks having him away, guess what? It sucks. But I'm trying to focus on our future, the opportunities this will bring, the adventure of it all, the new home we will have, and my cherry red 5-quart Kitchenaid stand mixer and it's easier. Yes, I miss an appliance. I'm grateful for having a place to stay while he's away, and there is a stand mixer here but it's not mine. (Yes, I am aware that I just sounded like a 5-yr old)

A letter from Ben came to my parent's home on Monday. I came up to NH this past weekend and will be staying for a bit. That means the letter was in NY and I'm 6 hours away. Major dislike. It's being forwarded to me here though. Phew! I'm hoping it comes in today's mail!!!

MY FIRST LETTER!!!

2010-02-25T16:53:00.005-05:00

I came inside after working on the snow fort with Marc, and was handed a letter from Ben! Woohoo!

Well, it's more like an informational letter from the Navy about Ben's graduation and other pertinent info, but still! It's to me! And he wrote little notes on the pages where he could sneak it in! I'm on cloud nine right now!

He graduates on April 16th!! (sooner than I thought actually!)

And he can now receive letters and gave me his address!

It would make his day if he received letters from other people, too, so please feel free to write him!

It's been...

2010-02-23T14:49:00.003-05:00

ONE WEEK DOWN!

Seven-ish more to go!

I can't wait to get the letter on graduation details, so I can have an accurate countdown!

First Day Off...

2010-02-21T12:20:00.003-05:00

It's Sunday. Ben's first day off since going to Basic Training. He had said he was going to spend those days going to church and writing me a letter. I hope he also takes time to rest. Probably puts new meaning to the whole Genesis 2:2 "And on the seventh day God... rested..." application.

I know I probably won't receive any letters until a couple weeks in, but I am soo excited! When we were saying "see you later's" he mentioned how he would write every Sunday. When we were telling each other the time would go by fast, he kept saying "8 letters, then we'll be together again." 8 letters. Not so bad. 8's a lot smaller than saying 56 days. 8 letters and then I get to be with my Bennie.

I may not know what he's doing on Days 1-6, but today? He's writing me a letter!

It smells like cardboard...

2010-02-19T16:00:00.002-05:00

We were told ahead of time that everything (clothes, cell phone, most toiletries, everything) a recruit brought with them would be put into a box and shipped home. Our recruiter gave us the advice not to even try bringing anything, because once he's there he would be given (aka taken out of his paycheck no matter what) anything he would need. He was advised not to even bring a toothbrush, deodorant, etc. If they make you take the new issued stuff, and you don't have much room to store any belongings anyway, what's the point of bringing it?

MEPS hands out 10 minute phone cards like candy, too, so rather than something happening to his cell in transit to Great Lakes, he took some phone cards and gave me his cell before he left from MEPS to the airport.

I received the box in the mail today. Since the shipping of it comes out of your pay, too, he wore light clothes and light shoes. Everything he was wearing the last time I saw him was in the box. There's something very sobering in that thought.

I wasn't expecting there to be anything extra in the box, but I still searched every corner. I held his shirt close and inhaled, hoping for a trace of his scent... instead all I thought was everything smells like cardboard.

Call #1

2010-02-18T19:50:00.002-05:00

I received Ben's first call from Basic Training today. 1 min and 29 sec long. It was just long enough for him to tell me that he was there and has been really busy. He sounded tired and homesick, feelings I understand even though I didn't go anywhere myself. He said he was going to write me when he has some downtime on Sunday. He also said that this phone call was the most he's talked since he arrived and that it's true... they get yelled at a lot.

Off to Basic!

2010-02-16T21:01:00.004-05:00

I'm so glad my Dad drove up to Syracuse with me today. It kept me distracted and made the trip faster. Ben greeted us at the MEPS facility where we were given Visitor badges and signed in. We hung out for about an hour and then Ben needed to be briefed on what would happen the rest of the day and beginning stages of Basic Training. A Captain met with myself and the other families for a briefing of the days events and how to reach our loved ones through the Red Cross.

My meeting took 6 minutes. Ben's meeting took 46.

The recruits then came out into the ceremony room to take the Oath of Enlistment. There were several there from each branch represented, in fact they needed to make three lines in front of the Captain while taking the oath. And of course, my husband was in the front, very middle. This would have been great if I could have seen him! Their backs were to us all and Ben was the second shortest guy there! None of my pictures came out great, but I'm glad that I could be there at all.

After the oath ceremony, we spent some time together while he ate lunch, then needed to leave. Ben was appointed Group Leader of the Navy recruits, so he had the responsibility of making sure they weren't doing anything stupid before they needed leave.

It was difficult, but my Dad and I left, and headed home. Ben and his "boys" caught their bus to the airport and then stayed in the USO quarters until flight time. Unfortunately, their plane was delayed so they had to catch an 8:30 flight. This means that they'll arrive in Chicago two hours later, but because they went through the time change en route, it's 9:30 when they're bodies are screaming 10:30 after a morning where they woke up at 5.

Ben called me from the airport to let me know of the changes, but unfortunately we weren't able to talk more than that. I'm conditioning myself to be grateful for any contact we can have at all. I figure that will so much easier than being upset about things out of my control.
That doens't mean it will be easy though.

...braver than I believe, and stronger than I seem...

It's really happening!

2010-02-15T22:26:00.002-05:00

I learned two things today...
1) Never plan on following someone driving a government vehicle. They'll go 90 and not care. I ended up telling the recruiter driving Ben up that I'd just follow my GPS and not to worry about me. I'd still get a ticket.
2) It was the chief's decision not to send Ben off to basic training last week, not the airport. We were under the impression that the airline had canceled his flight for the following day, and that's why it got postponed until tomorrow. Nope. The chief said he didn't want me worrying about Ben in the snowstorm and wanted to let us spend Valentine's Day together. :oD I already plan on making that man some banana bread as a thank you!

After Ben's paperwork was completed, we spent time at the Carousel Mall, walking around and spending time together. We even caught a movie Ben had wanted to see. Before he had to go back to his room, we ate dinner at a restaurant nearby. It's hard to imagine that we won't be able to do those kinds of things together for a couple months! I know he'll be busy, so I hope to stay busy too. And between both of our schedules, I'm hoping time will fly.

Tomorrow we say "See you later." I'm excited to see his induction ceremony. I know it won't be much of anything, I remember see one of my brothers' when he joined the Army, but still I'm excited. I know he's signed on the dotted line and already made the oath, but I get to be a part of it this time. I'm so proud of him!

There's several things keeping me going. My faith in God is the biggest, with family being up there too. But it's weird how the strangest things can pop into one's head. I remember watching different episodes of Winnie the Pooh with my younger brother when he was probably too little to even know what it was. This one quote came to my mind and is becoming a mantra of sorts:
“Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." -A.A.Milne

"...braver than I believe... stronger than I seem..."

Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T10:21:00.002-05:00

Some girls want chocolate...
Some girls hope for flowers...

My man knows me, so he got me SHOES!!!

SNOW DAY!!

2010-02-10T20:51:00.012-05:00

Today Ben was supposed to head up to Syracuse to the MEPS facility. Since he has to ride with the recruiter, I was going to follow them up there. He had some paperwork to fill out and then would be staying the night at the hotel. I was going up so we could hang out in his free time, maybe walk around the many floors of the Carousel Mall. Since he can not have anyone else in his room, I was planning on heading home for the night and then going back up there the next morning for his induction ceremony and seeing him off to Basic Training.

Like I said... he was supposed to.

Instead, BEN GOT A SNOW DAY! His flight was canceled, and things have been postponed so he'll head up on Monday and leave Tuesday instead! 5 more days together!! <3

Since my brother had a snow day from school, he, Ben, and Luke decided to have fun in the snow. My Dad even got involved when he came home from work.

Ben hopes to finish it tomorrow... we'll see!

PAR-TAY'S

2010-02-10T13:16:00.014-05:00

While we were in NH, we were able to see some of Ben's extended family. It's nice because the majority (not all though, unfortunately) of his family is in the area so it is easier to get a group together!

On Saturday, we celebrated his Grammy's 92nd birthday!

I swear, there are a bazillion people on that side of the family! I didn't feel too bad in struggling to remember everyone's names when people who have been in the family over 15 years were saying they weren't sure what everyone's names were either! Ben's mom is one of 12 children. That'll do it.

In talking about this with some cousins, we decided that there should be a Family Cheat Sheet or Handbook that everyone should be given in order to help put the names with the faces 'n all that. Since I had my camera, I decided we should try making something along those lines, but I didn't want to get in everyone's face about it. Ben didn't want to either. THANK YOU JAY for not caring and taking the photos! :)

While we were there, I was amazed at how many people shared stories of their time in the military or stories of their friends. It was awesome to hear the support and love given to Ben (and me!) and that they knew he would do great in this area. My favorite part is hearing people tell him they are proud of him. It's one of those things that I know and could tell him, but meant a lot to him to hear it said straight from the sources. If any of you are reading this, THANK YOU!

After spending time with everyone, we went to Rebecca and Jay's for a Cousin Party! Ben was able to let loose even more! At the first party, we were given orders:

Some of the highlights were stick people drawn by Neysa, hand turkey's, the many toasts to Ben (several were preceded by "I have something else I want to say..." and then the same exact toast was repeated haha), tons of funny memories -new and old, and a hardcore game of Cribbage (Ben's favorite game)!

I know Ben laughed a lot, and forgot about how nervous he's been lately. That was my favorite part of the night!

For the SuperBowl, we spent time with Ben's dad's side of the family! They make the game even more interesting with fun prizes! When we entered, we were told to put our names in 5 squares on a posterboard. From there, numbers (0-9) were drawn and written along two sides making a grid of points for each team. At the end of each quarter, if your name was in the square corresponding to the score of the game, you won $25!! I have the worst luck ever, but somehow I won it the 2nd quarter!! They also had a notebook with a heading (coin toss, 1st turnover, 1st touchdown, etc) and then columns for each team. I had Ben choose a team for each and then wrote my name in the opposite column for better odds. Ben's name was drawn for one of the categories and got 5 scratch tickets, but didn't win anything. My name surprisingly was drawn for another category and I won $11 from that!!

We all had a great time cheering on the Saints (I think it may have been the first time we've all agreed on a team??) so it was exciting to see them win! Again, it was awesome to hear people talking with Ben about the Navy and telling him he'll do great! It can be overwhelming for Ben at times just thinking about this new journey, but I know it's made it easier to know that his family is supporting him!

Shortly after enlisting, Ben told me that he needed to see his family again before leaving, so I'm glad it was able to happen!

After coming back from NH, we (Ben, me, and my family) went to a friends' house for a gathering for Ben, too. Lynette made a yummy apple pie (a favorite of Ben's!) and we played games! The first game we needed to write down three things and in three rounds (catch phrase style, one word, then charade) we had to get people to guess as many things as they could in a minute. Then we played where we wrote a known person/character and the person to our right taped it to their forehead and needed to ask questions to guess it (seen recently in a certain Tarantino film)...

While we were in NH, we were also able to spend time with our 2nd family, the Bohannan's. Time always gets away from us because we are having so much fun and this time was no exception! We spent so much time laughing! And once again, I forgot to take pictures. Boo.

Our time away was wonderful, but I think Ben's favorite part was the time he was able to have with his parents and brother.

Thank you everyone for helping Ben relax and enjoy his time before Basic Training begins. I know we both had a great time and he will be replaying these memories to help him get through the time away from us all!

65 Magnets...

2010-02-07T23:38:00.002-05:00

I guess I never shared how this blog came about. Well first it is important to note that Ben has a very large family. His immediate family might just be Mom, Dad, himself, and 18-year younger brother, but he has many aunts, uncles, and cousins. I wanted there to be a way to share "what's going on with Ben" with all of them -and my family, too!

One of my cousins has a blog to share her family "happenings" with the rest of us, and I always enjoyed going to her site. Even though she's in a different state, I felt like I could still hear about her and her husband and watch her 4 kids grow up. It seemed like a good idea to follow her lead!

We also have a unique story with how the Navy even came about, especially the joining process, so I wanted to be able to write it down. Even when time's get tough and stressful I can always look back and see what God did to bring us there. Makes me think of that "Footprints" poem.

I needed to get the word out to family that a site existed where I plan on updating our news (whether through letters I receive while he's in basic training, A-school, or beyond) as well as a reminder to pray for him (something we could NEVER have too much of) and decided on magnets as that reminder.

Between two parties, one with Ben's mom's family and the other with his dad's family (more on both to follow), we handed out 65 magnets! I have only 35 leftover. Even with a large family I was surprised to see that (shared refrigerators 'n all)! My hope is that people will see the magnets daily and say a prayer remembering Ben and the others out there serving our country! God bless the USA!

The wisdom of a fortune cookie...

2010-02-02T21:31:00.002-05:00

Once again, I didn't need to worry. Time and time again, God shows me how I waste my time worrying when I should be trusting! I should have just sat back and watched Him at work!

In my last post I was concerned about my lack of couple time with Ben before boot camp. Well, the Monday stuff was completed quicker then we anticipated so we had a date night! <3 We stopped at Friendly's for dessert and then went to the movies! Avatar in 3-D was AMAZING! Our favorite thing about the movie was the vibrant colors! I recommend that it be seen in the movie theaters to get the full effect!

And then the commitment tonight was canceled because Ben's recruiter needed to move his meeting with Ben to today. Before seeing Avatar last night, we stopped at a local Redbox and rented two movies (1st Monday of the month we both get a free rental code!). So, we spent the morning hanging out and watching a DVD, then went to the recruiters office. He went over any details and questions we had before Ben spends the night in Syracuse next Wednesday. Since we both forgot to eat all day, we decided to stop at a new Chinese buffet. (Ben has been talking about Chinese food since December!) This was inside my fortune cookie:

Very wise!

Tomorrow Ben is giving a friend a ride to and from a doctor's appointment (he broke his ankle/leg and can't drive). After that, we'll be in NH!! Josh, Ben's brother, turned 15 today! We can't wait to see him and Ben's parents and extended family!!

I'm even excited about the drive up. It takes about 6 hours. I think I can handle more time with the love of my life! ;o)

Is it really February??

2010-02-01T12:30:00.003-05:00

Last night I flipped our calendar to show February AND had my first Navy-related breakdown. Seeing the 11th circled for this month is when it struck me that for the first time in our marriage, Ben would be away from me!

It's not just that he'll be away on the 11th though. It's that he'll be leaving on the 11th and it feels like we won't get any alone time before then. I am extremely happy we'll be in NH the end of this week. It should be that way. But the other days are being taken! Ben's taking care of other requirements today. We have a commitment tomorrow evening. Wednesday Ben has Navy meetings. Wed night through Monday morning is time in NH with his family. Monday night is another commitment. Tuesday is his good bye with my family. Wednesday he has to be in Syracuse for Navy stuff overnight, then he heads to boot camp on the 11th! More people keep asking us to come over so they can see Ben before he leaves. I feel so guilty because these are awesome, loving people. But I just want to say, he's mine. Let me have time to have him to myself!

Up until last night, I was doing pretty well staying strong. In fact, Ben was being the emotional one out of us two. I don't want him to feel he needs to worry about me while he's gone, so I've been strong. Or maybe just putting up a good front. He noticed something was up though, and he just held me while I cried. He reminded me to lean on him right now, and that I would have family to lean on while he will be away.

It reminds me of how we need to cling to God's strength at all times. Whether we're strong, or weak, or weak masquerading as strong... He is our refuge and strong tower. In James it says to Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. That doesn't mean that He's hiding somewhere and will only come out when we go looking for Him. If He feels distant, it's not because He walked away. He's always there with open arms waiting to embrace us with His love and strength.

And oh, how I need that!

I want to cling to Him while Ben's away. I need to.

Busy Busy...

2010-01-30T11:18:00.013-05:00

There's so much still to do before Ben leaves... and the days are just flying by!!! I guess that's how it goes. When you want days to go by fast, it seems to take forever. And days that you want to go slowly, so you can enjoy every minute (like now), seem to go by way too fast!

Last night was Ben's last night employed at the local warehouse. I know he'll never have just a 9-5 with the Navy, but he's excited to get away from working third shift for a little while.

We were at least able to get pictures done before he left. Back in July my family had photos done at a studio since my oldest brother made it up from Texas. We had a couple shots done of just Ben and me too --and they turned out nice, don't get me wrong! They were just "posed" if you know what I mean. One of them she caught us laughing, but it is still the staring at the camera, perfectly balanced shot.

Through Facebook, I was able to connect again with someone from my high school. She started doing photography while her husband was deployed (Air Force), and I asked if she could fit us in before Ben left for boot camp. She did, and on a VERY windy and cold day she got some great shots! Her style is more of the "do your thing and I'll keep shooting" kind which is PERFECT for what I was looking for! There are several typical "Ben and Sarah" pictures... hard to explain what I mean, but if you've observed us you know what I'm talking about haha I have SO many favorites, and can't wait to frame them in our new place! Here's a taste of what she was able to get with frozen fingers hehe

THANK YOU LINDSEY!!! www.lindseydavernphotography.com

Checklist

2010-01-25T12:02:00.006-05:00

Before he can leave for boot camp, there are some requirements yet to be done. Some are personal/family requirements, and others from the Navy...

The Navy expects him to...
learn the Sailor's Creed:
Fully memorized. Check!

learn the 11 General Orders of a Sentry:
He can recite the first six and is still working on the other five. Half-check!

learn the Navy's Birthday: One year prior to our nation's birthday and 2 days before mine... October 13, 1775. Check!

read through a book given to familiarize with the Navy's history, ranks, ships, etc:
He's read through it all (and me too!), and will also be meeting with the recruiter today who will highlight the important things to remember going in to boot camp. Check!

pass his Physical Training test:
Well, with him being in his 30's, he was told what his requirements would be for "someone his age." If you know Ben at all, you understand that wasn't gonna fly. He asked what the requirements were for an 18-yr old, and those became his goal. He did better than all the teen requirements, beating out a couple young'uns that were there, too! I wasn't surprised. hehe

We hope to...
sell the Jeep: One of Ben's coworker's came today and finalized its purchase! Check!

file our taxes: Waiting on W-2's to come in the mail! (Getting really nervous about this one)

Visit his family in NH: We'll be leaving NY after Ben's DEP (delayed entry program) meeting the first Wednesday in Feb and coming back the following Monday!

AND Spend as much time together as possible!

New Blog... New Adventure... Part Three

2010-01-22T21:36:00.007-05:00

So now you know what got us on our process of joining the Navy. Bet you think we enlisted and then just waited for his ship date, right? HA! If only it was that easy for us!

Ben went to Syracuse overnight to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Command)to meet with a job counselor, learn more about enlistment, and get checked out out by a Navy physician. He called me on the second day to say he'd be home early. Once the recruiter dropped him off at our house, he let me know he'd been flagged! His blood pressure was too high.

They understood that his blood pressure was too high, especially since he had recently been laid off, pursuing a high pressure job, has white coat syndrome (his BP spikes around doctors), AND they woke him up at 4am for tests so he drank around 4 cups of coffee. But there was no moving forward until this was checked out and he was cleared. Since he wasn't enlisted, he couldn't technically be "treated" or checked out anymore by there doctors and was sent home.

At first he was told he would need to see a cardiologist. (WHAT?!) Of course, you can't see a cardiologist unless you're referred by a physician. And you don't have a physician unless you have medical insurance. And you don't have medical insurance unless you have a job. Remember, Ben had just been laid off! We were making calls left and right to see if there was a doctor who could do something pro bono for us, to see if there were any loopholes, anything. Ben literally had the phone book out and went down the list calling each one for help.

Thank God for a receptionist/nurse who asked him some questions before putting him on hold or just saying no. Turns out her son was in the military and she really empathized with our situation. She gave Ben her personal extension and told him specifically what to ask the MEPS doctors to find out what was needed to resolve the situation. It took some time going between her and MEPS, but she came to the conclusion that they needed some one to monitor his blood pressure, and a doctor to sign off on it. She then told us about a free clinic in the area that could meet part of those requirements and we knew someone who could do the rest.

Thanks to a medically qualified friend of our family who came to the house every day for a week to monitor his BP, we were able to get a waiver filled out and it was accepted! Of course that whole process took several months!

We finally felt like we were moving forward, and then we were told that Ben should be prepared to leave at any time when we got the call. Little did we know that call wouldn't come for several more months!

The wait was based on an opening. With the economy being what it is, men and women were reenlisting for job security and great benefits. Some jobs even had a 2-year wait! We sometimes would get a call that the recruiter heard about a job that may be opening up soon. He always told us not to get our hopes up, but it was hard not to.

After several "close calls," we started wondering if maybe God had something else planned for us. That maybe God just wanted our complete trust? To see if we would follow His leading in faith? He had been working third shift at a local warehouse which was great to have the income, but difficult on both of our sleep schedules and Ben really wanted to be working in a field more fulfilling.

Ben had been resume-blitzing when he received a call from the recruiter telling us to be available the next couple days because there were 3 jobs opening up and he hoped to get Ben one of them! Again trying not to get our hopes up, we waited for the word. All 3 of the sailors re-enlisted. Augh!! More waiting?

At this point, the recruiter said he wanted to give it to us straight. He had been banking on one of those positions for Ben, and now he honestly thought it could be another couple more months. Disappointing. He then told Ben about how his job as a recruiter was actually as Active Reserves and asked how we felt about that. We took some time to pray about it. We decided to go forward with it and again prayed for God to close the door if it wasn't right.

He needed to go up to MEPS again and then fill out the paperwork to be in the Navy Reserves. His job would be a Master at Arms (basically the Navy police). He was sitting with the job counselor and about to sign the paperwork, when the conversation turned to his hopes in the job. Once she heard he originally wanted to be Active full-time, she was able to find an opening and signed him up as an Airman! He was able to get what he originally wanted!

January 12, 2010. After first meeting with a recruiter seven months earlier, Ben took the oath as a United States Navy sailor and would be leaving February 11th!!

Of course, at a meeting with the chief later on we found out it wasn't a job she was supposed to give away. It was part of the quota for a California recruiting office. The chief explained that it was a mistake that Ben got it, but that he was happy for us and he wanted Ben to make them proud. He kept saying it was a mistake, and Ben looked at Him and said it was God. ;o)

New Blog... New Adventure... Part Two

2010-01-20T20:05:00.010-05:00

So, I thought I had made my peace with the idea of Ben joining the military, but maybe that's all it was... just an idea. Once he shared that it was on his heart and mind, I knew I couldn't be the one to tell God no if He was laying it on my husband's heart. I knew it would be tough for me to step back and give away control.

Baby steps. We decided to start by gathering information and taking the process slowly. As far as we knew, he might not even be eligible. I spent time in between classes researching jobs, locations, benefits, etc. Ben gave the Coast Guard a call. He figured that's the branch he originally was going to join due to his love of water and desire to become a rescue swimmer (The Kevin Costner/ Ashton Kutcher movie "The Guardian" may have had something to do with it, too).

The phone conversation went like this...
Ben: Hi, I'm interested in enlisting.
CG: How old are you?
Ben: I just turned 32 a couple months ago.
CG: I'm sorry. You're too old. I can't even talk to you.
Ben: So---
(click)

I selfishly started thinking that maybe that was the end of this "military talk." While he was somewhat disheartened at the knowledge he was too old, he brushed it off and said, "Let's check out the Navy." I'll be honest that I started trying to steer him toward the Air Force. I heard their reputation for being very family-oriented and full of "older/ more mature" men and women than any other branch. Nope. The Coast Guard dream may have been over, but his heart was now set on the Navy. I think it's a water thing?

I was reminded of how I claimed I was going to trust God 100%, and knew this is when I needed that faith. In this resolve, I told Ben he should call a Navy recruiter to ask more questions, including the age factor.

A week later: June 15th, 2009. I think we both were nervous. We walked into the recruiting office unsure of what to expect. In the office, we found our recruiter who introduced himself and started to talk with us about the Navy, expectations of recruits, but most importantly to me what it typically is like for a family. I silently thanked God that He brought us to a married recruiter who could give that side of things. Ben told him we had time to take a practice ASVAB test there, and I spent that time drilling the recruiter with questions.

He gave us paperwork to complete if we decided to pursue the Navy any further and wished us the best as we figured things out. I said before I was unsure what to expect, but I guess in the back of my mind I thought he'd be pushy and persistently trying to get Ben to sign the dotted line right then and there. Of course, he did paint a good picture on a lot of things, but he also talked about the times we'd be apart and other things that were hard for him and his wife to adjust to. I appreciated his giving it to me straight.

The drive home consisted of us discussing the meeting and praying. In keeping with the faith lesson, I told Ben I would support him if he felt led in this direction, but I still found it scary.

The phone rang 15 minutes after we arrived home. It was his employer.

Ben was laid off... again.

Okay God, we prayed for you to close a door to give us direction, but I was kinda hoping you would close the door on the military? Well, you gave us an answer. That's it, no more wishy-washy faith. If this is going to happen, I want to be fully on board.

It was still a process, but that's when I started to get excited about the possibilities of a new adventure with my husband and the Navy. Excitement I had no idea would grow to what it is today.

New Blog... New Adventure... Part One

2010-01-19T16:12:00.010-05:00

Maybe a back-story is in order...

I met my husband my first year of college, and we started dating in May of 2001. Ben had been pursuing a rescue swimming opportunity in the Coast Guard, which he turned down after our relationship became serious. I could barely handle my older brothers being in the Army, let alone my future husband. He proposed in April of 2003, and we said our "I do's" on May 22, 2004.

(I'll skip a bunch of years, though they were filled with joys and trials that always showed God's faithfulness and designed for our growth, I don't want my back-story to turn into a back-novel. Although it might anyway, so I'll tell the story in "Parts.")

We were living in WI when things really started to change, although it's amazing to see how many factors prior to that were preparation for what is about to come. We had some things happen that made us wish we were near family more than ever. And when Ben was laid off from a promising career, it seemed like the perfect time to head east.

Living with my family was tough to adjust to, but exciting to be around those we care about and who care about us, too. Ben was able to coach soccer and I could substitute teach at the same school where I spent K-12. We also have been able to celebrate birthdays and holidays and be around for my younger brother's senior year! There are so many reasons why we are happy to be here, but there also has been some hard things, too.

Like many, it has been difficult to find work. We were grateful when Ben was able to start working for Direct TV. Not exactly what he wanted, but glad to have something. He was working for them a couple weeks when they decided to send him for a 2-week training class about 2 1/2 hours north.

Since the time we moved here, we had been church-hopping, trying to find a church we could call "home." We still hadn't decided on a church at this point, so Ben and I attended a service where the pastor discussed refinement, the Sunday before he would leave for training. The pastor encouraged us to pray for the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to anything we were holding back from God. At this point I honestly didn't think there was anything I was holding onto, but I decided to follow the advice and pray it anyway while Ben was away.

During the first week of his training, I was reminded of the times I couldn't even bear the idea of Ben even thinking about joining the military. I was shown how I was guilty of not trusting God 100%, as if to tell Him that I knew better when it came to this area. This revelation scared me in more than one way. It showed me a level of complacency that I needed to break down, and let me see that I needed to deal with the "what if" concerning my husband and the military. I decided to focus on my relationship with God first, and a true desire to trust Him completely.

The second week Ben was away, was focused on furthering my trust in God to the area of the military. Who am I to tell God what He can and can't do?? If God called Ben (and me) to the military, it would be because He had a plan for us, right? And He never has bad plans. And we'll never truly be happy unless we're following Him and HIS plans for us. Proverbs 16:9 says, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." I know two weeks doesn't seem like a long time for a major turn-around, but at the end of those 14 days I was at peace about the idea. I came to the realization that if God called us in that direction, I'd be okay with it.

You'd think that with that sort of learning experience I would want to share it right away. Well, the truth is that I was so excited to have Ben home again after the time apart that it was somewhat hidden in my mind. It wasn't until almost a week later that I looked at him one night and said, "Oh yeah! I have something to tell you." He sat down and asked me what it was. I nonchalantly said, "I'm okay with you joining the military now." He was quite puzzled, so I, of course, spent the next 20 minutes explaining what God and I worked on while he was away. It was then that he blew my mind, by saying, "Really? Because that's been on my heart and mind for some time now. I just never thought you'd be okay with it!"

That's when the real faith assessment began...