We Made It!

It has been a long time since I last posted. I haven't been all that busy really. I've just been focused on surviving! Tony being gone has definitely been the hardest thing I have ever done! I thought I was prepared for it, but I wasn't! There is no way you can prepare yourself for your husband to be gone with very little contact at all! It was like he didn't exist for those 2 months. I wrote him a letter everyday, but the most I heard from him was pretty much once a week. I went the last 15 days with no contact at all!

I met a great group of 4 other ladies online who's husbands were graduating the same day as Tony. God brought us together for sure! It was so much help to have someone going through the same thing at the same time! We knew exactly what the other one was going through and how we were feeling. They made these last 2 months so much better. We were able to help each other through the dark days of BMT.

It got a little easier at the end, but that's when everything started going wrong! It was the longest 2 months of my life so far! While he was gone I only got one real phone call, and 5 letters. I got a couple of other "official" calls where he was getting or giving me information, but we didn't get much time to talk on those calls. Not like we had a long time to talk on his 1 "real" call either....only 15 minutes! Well...

WE MADE IT!!!

Tony graduated BMT on September 18th! That is the Air Force's birthday, which was pretty neat. I am sooo proud of Tony! He graduated as an honor graduate! Only up to 10% of the 799 people graduating were handpicked for honor graduate! He also got a perfect score on his final exam! He did awesome, and I am so very proud of him.

I left here on the 10th of September and went to Wichita Falls to see my best friend. I left there the next morning and went to Houston to see my sister and her husband, and then my aunt and uncle. I left Houston on the 16th to go to San Antonio!

We had a blast in Houston, in spite of my car getting towed from the parking lot of my sister's apartment! My aunt took the girls and I to the Houston zoo, and the downtown aquarium. The girls had a blast and they got to ride a train at both places, which they thought was pretty neat. At the aquarium we rode the little train through a tunnel aquarium where dozens of sharks swim all around and above you. I thought that was pretty neat!

When I got to San Antonio I picked up a friend of mine from the airport. Her name is Jennifer, she is one from the group of ladies I met online. Her fiance was graduating the same day as Tony. We finally got to meet the day before graduation, and it felt as if we had always known each other! After we got to town we went and explored the base a little bit, and then we split a hotel room that night. We got up super early the next morning to be on the base by 7:00am.

Thursday was the Airman's run in the morning. It was so neat to see! I couldn't pick Tony out of his flight, so I was a little disappointed about that. Then after what seemed like a very LONG time of waiting it was time for the Coin Ceremony and Retreat. All of this waiting in the hot sun was not fun with two toddlers, let me tell you that!! It was so worth it though!! After the retreat they tell you to go and find your Airman!! They have to stay in formation on the grounds, and all the families get to go and find them. I had managed to finally pick Tony out of the crowd I thought during the ceremony. Well they told us to go find our Airman, so the girls and I took off to where I thought he was standing...but when I got there it wasn't him!! I thought "Oh no! Now what do I do? I don't know where to look!" Then I looked closer at the person that I thought was him...and I read his name tag...and it WAS him!!! I didn't recognize my own husband!! He had lost 20 pounds, which wasn't all that noticeable I don't think. He was so tan! And the way he stood and carried himself, and he had no hair. I guess all of it combined made him look so different. Let me tell you though...he looked goo-OOD!!! :o) (Check out the pictures on the side) We got to hug for the first time in two months! But only for a second. There are very strict rules about any kind of PDA while he is in uniform. Plus we had to hurry to get to the ceremony honoring the Honor Graduates. After all of that he finally got "released" to us. We had some lunch at the mini mall. Natalie would not leave her daddy alone!! She would not let me sit by him, or by her for that matter. That was "for my daddy to sit" We had such a good time being back together! I was able to stay at the hotel on base, so we were able to go back to the hotel and have some family time. I got to get a real hug and kiss! The kiss was better than our first! :o) The weekend went by way to fast though.

Monday morning at 3:30 Tony was on a bus to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo(about 3 1/2 hours from San Antonio) Tx for more training. I met him there that evening to give him some of his personal things that he is now allowed to have. I left the next morning to come home, and left him there. Finally after 12 days and a little over 1400 miles, the girls and I were back home! We were all sick our first few days back. (Big surprise, huh?)

Because his school is so long, the Air Force is moving us to be with him! He will be at that base for 25 weeks. The movers will be here Friday! (Oct 2) I am so very, super excited! It could still be a couple of weeks before he is allowed to live with us, but we will be in the same town and be able to see each other every day starting this weekend! I'm happy with that for now! We have been able to talk everyday since he graduated which makes things a million times better than they were during BMT, but seeing each other everyday will be even better yet! I am working on patience for the next step- him being able to live with us! Each step is better, but I really want to be living in the same house again! Because of the no PDA rule, I am not allowed to even hold his hand in public when he is in uniform. So unless he is able to get permission to come to our house in his free time, there will still be no hugs and kisses for me for a couple of weeks! So will be able to see him everyday...but not touch him! So please pray for favor from his higher-ups, that they will grant him permission to come visit us at the house before he is able to live with us, and that the day that he is able to live with us is very soon!

I better run. Gotta get back to getting things ready for the movers to come pack it up! I don't know when we will have Internet after we move, but I will be in touch as much as possible. We should be finding out our orders for our next location any day! That is very exciting too! These next two weeks have a lot going on, and so much of it is unknown! That is the way my new life will be, so I am trying very hard to get used to it. I am so excited to take this next step! This week has been dragging!

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.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

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!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

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!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

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!