Missing Daddy

Before Tony left we took the girls to the Bear Mill and got them puppies in an Air Force Blues uniform. I put Tony's cologne on them so the girls have a little reminder of Daddy while he is gone. They love them, and Natalie is always saying "It smells good! It smells like my daddy!"




Daddy and his girls and their "Special Dada puppies"


Gabbie and her puppy watching Veggie Tales




I got my first phone call from Tony yesterday! This is the dreaded 30 second scripted call where he gives me his address. We actually got to talk for 2 min and 11 seconds! Yay! He was not very scripted, and there was no one yelling at him in the background. He sounded really good! Now I can write him letters. That makes me feel better, but we still miss him a lot.

Today...

..Is the first day of the rest of our lives! We have officially become a part of the Air Force! We are so excited, but it is also a difficult transition for us. Please keep us in your prayers.
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Getting Ready...

As you can tell from my countdown on the side, Tony is leaving very soon! Thankfully he was able to take the last few days off of work and still get paid, so we have had a little while to get things ready for him to go, and also enjoy spending some extra time together.

About a week and a half ago, any time I would think about Tony leaving I would start to panic. How am I going to survive for the next 2-3 months all by myself? Well our couples life group had a special prayer time for us last week. They shared words that God had given them about us as well.

Some of the things they said-

God was impressed with Tony on the amount of prayer and seeking God and his will, in making this decision. Because this is HIS will for our family, we will be blessed and successful! (We joined this life group after we had decided to join the Air Force, and haven't really told them our story, and just how much we had sought God on this decision. ) It was so good to hear our leader say this. It is confirmation that his word did come from God.

He said that Satan knows that there is a "Hedge of protection" around our family. Job 1:10

They prayed peace over me, and said that they felt that God was going to make this time go by very quickly!

During the prayer I felt His peace. The fear and anxiety left, and I am feeling pretty good! I really feel like this is going to be a great time of growth for me as a person, and better time spent with God. I think it will also be good for our marriage, as we will better see how we take each other for granted, and don't appreciate each other as we should. Don't get me wrong...I will miss Tony a lot, and I'm sure that I will have days that I am ready to pull my hair out and I will be clinging to that peace by a small thread. However, now I think I have a much better perspective on the next 10-12 weeks. Please keep praying for me! I feel them already.

Now I don't want to come across as complaining in any way. We are very excited about our new life, and are willing to make this small sacrifice. I know that someday deployment will come and we will be apart for longer than this. So many women have gone through what I am facing and so much more! I know that I am nothing unusual or special in this case. This is just the first time that we have been apart more than 1 night since we have been married. It will probably take some getting used to! I'm not sure if adding 2 little girls to it makes it easier or harder. I will be busier and not as lonely, so that will make it easier. On the other hand...I will have two toddlers all by myself! Yikes! Definitely pray for me on that one!

Tony has to meet with the recruiter at 4pm on Monday. From there he will check into a hotel in town. We will be able to hang out with him there a little bit. We plan to try to take the girls swimming, if there aren't too many other guys there waiting to leave as well. After we eat supper, then we plan to come home and put the girls to bed and then I will take him back to the hotel. He has to be at MEPS at 4:30 the next morning. We don't know what time his flight to San Antonio is yet. That is the plan anyway...we'll see if it actually happens!

We'll keep you posted on this new chapter of our life.

Is it Summer or What?!

The heat has really hit us here all of a sudden! Today was 102. Tomorrow is supposed to be 105, and the forecast for the next 6 days is all 100 or higher. Not a cloud in the sky.
I think it will be too hot for the girls to even play in the pool. We played out there today, but I got burned pretty bad. I put sunscreen on the girls, so they only burned along the part of their hair, and Gabbie has a couple of strange splotches where I missed getting the sunscreen on well. Poor babies.
It is still 91 degrees now, at 10:30pm.
It's dry here, so that is better than humid 105 degrees I guess...but some clouds and rain to cool it off would be so nice!
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This is a test...

So I am supposed to be able to E-mail a post to my blog from my phone, or other E-mail device. Although if you have access to your E-mail on a computer, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to post directly on r blog. So I guess this is mostly for your phone. This is a test to see if I have actually figured it out! If you can see it, then I guess I have!
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Where Did June Go?!

Wow, this month has gone by so fast for me! I can't believe that it is July already. June seemed even busier than May was, and it definitely went by faster to me!

I want to start by saying hello to my new followers! I now have someone other than family members following my blog, Yay! Now I just need to give them something interesting to read... Hang in there, not all my posts will be about my kids! :o)

We finally got the tubes put in Gabbie's ears. She is doing great.

My parents are in town for awhile, so we are enjoying spending time with them. The girls of course are getting lots of Mimi and Pawpaw time which they love!

Tony's parents came to visit for a few days as well. They lived in South Carolina and came to see us on their way to Japan! Tony's dad is a MGySgt (Master Gunnery Sergeant) in the Marine Corps and they are PCSing (moving) to Okinawa for awhile. It was great to see them. We haven't seen them since March of last year. Gabbie was just a tiny baby last time they saw her! Both girls took to them right away and had so much fun with them. It's hard to believe that Natalie may be 6, and Gabbie will be 4- older than Natalie is now, next time they see them!
Yesterday marked exactly 3 weeks until Tony leaves for BMT! I am only a little nervous so far, but if I think about it too much than I get a lot more nervous! I have plans to visit some of my family while he is gone to help keep me busy, so hopefully those 2 months will go by fast. Right now we are just trying to get everything taken care of that we need to before he leaves. We have a list of stuff we have to get done. Once he leaves, he will not be back here to live! I will be moving everything myself in the fall. That's where things get a little nerve racking!

It seems like I had something on my calender a few days out of every week in June. It was crazy! July so far is pretty empty! That is good though. It will give us a chance to get stuff done and have some family time before Tony leaves. We are leaving on Friday after Tony gets off work to go to Wichita Falls for the weekend. Our good friends moved there several weeks ago, and the guys have days off that line up, so we decided to go! It will be a short trip but I am looking forward to getting out of town. I told Natalie yesterday that we are going to see Katie, her best friend and she is super excited!

Have a happy Fourth of July everyone! Be safe and remember all the men and women that make sacrifices to make this the great country that it is! Thank you!