Memorial Day is For Remembering

So by now I'm sure many of you are out there enjoying your burgers and beer, seeing friends and family and turning up the radio or firing up the boat (wish I had one!). But, please, take a few moments out of your day to remember the reason you are off work and celebrating... in fact, remember the reason that you wake up every single day to a life where you are not oppressed, where you can go to any job you want, where your kids can hop on the bus and go to school where they can sing in the choir or play football to their hearts' content, where you can go to any church your heart desires, where you can call into a radio station or write an editorial in the local magazine just because you feel like it, where you can get home at any time of the night you want without fear of a curfew, where you can live a free life. But the price of that free life isn't free at all, is it? (I guess it's true that nothing in this life is really free!) Be the person in your group today who stands up and asks for a moment of silence. Or makes sure to include our troops in your mealtime prayer. Or takes your children to a military cemetery or a base or a museum and teaches them that this holiday is sacred and special. Too many people take today for granted. Let's us not make that same mistake, and use it to spread knowledge about the reality of the fact that in order to have a country that is the superpower of the world, our military members and their families sometimes make sacrifices bigger than our comprehension. Today I am remembering my great-grandfather (Navy, Pearl Harbor), my grandpa (Navy, Korea, USS Princeton), my husband (Air Force), and the countless other men and women we know who are currently serving or previously served. I'm thinking of them today; are you?

Milspouse Friday Fill-In!

Here are the questions for this week!!! Head on over to Wife Of A Sailor's Blog to answer the questions for yourself!!

1. Do you think civilians, in general, understand the meaning of Memorial Day?
No. And honestly, I think most people just think it's great because they get off work. I think you don't really understand the weight of the holiday unless you are a military family member or significant other. Every day I bear the burden of wanting to plan the rest of my life with my husband, while at the same time planning for things in case I don't get the rest of my life with him. It's a tough life to handle, every single day hoping for the best and yet planning for the worst. And the every day civilian most likely will never experience that. I wish more parents educated their children about what Memorial Day is really all about (and it's not picnics and booze).

2. What are your plans for Memorial Day Weekend?
Friday I am heading to Maxwell AFB to see a friend graduate OTS, and then I will be back at home getting the house clean and hoping that BE is doing well with his navigation classes he is in the middle of. I will be planting a tree in the backyard in memory of my grandfather, who was a Navy man during Korea and was a marshall on the USS Princeton. He loved the Navy, and I miss him every day.

3. What skill/talent do you wish you had? submitted by The 3 Turners
I really wish I could play the guitar. I've also always wished I could roll my "R"s, because I sound like a total idiot when I speak Spanish. People who can curl their tongues amaze me too.

4. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? submitted by I Married Into the Army
I would have to say the chicken. When you see Bible pictures, you don't ever see cute baby animals or eggs or larva. You see big animals. lol

5. What is the best thing about your post/base? The worst? submitted by Randomly, Robyn
The best thing about our base is that we have a lot of people that BE went through OTS with there with us, so it has made it easier for me to transition into the military lifestyle having people who were priors to talk to and ask questions, and then also people who are new like us and can sympathize with my stupidity about military life lol. The worst thing about NAS Pensacola is just that... it's a Navy base, not an Air Force base :(

Link-Ups!!

So Thursdays are also super fun because there are two great link-ups to join in!!

Over at Goodnight Moon's Page you can link up your favorite song from the week and then go and check out other blogs to see what's going on in their worlds (and get exposed to some cool new jams!) My song for this week is:

Also, for some more fun, head on over to Flip Flops and Combat Boots to link up with the Thursday Five!!! This week's five are five things that have been...

Great

Incredible

Inspired

Rewarding

Swell

It was GREAT to go home this past week. I really needed to see my family and get out of my house for a little while. Even though the trip is over, it was really refreshing and I loved it. There's nothing like a hug from mom (even though we hate each other sometimes).

INCREDIBLE doesn't even begin to describe the amazement and awe of God that I felt when I realized that my grandfather (who I love more than life itself) overcame TWO massive heart attacks this past week. The minute I saw him when I got home, I cried. Nothing compares to getting that extra hug that you almost never got. 

I was INSPIRED this week by two friends of BE's and mine who are beginning the process of adoption (and are actively trying to find a birth mother looking to find a family) despite the fact that they are in the military. Their strength and perseverance and faith that the right person will come into their lives and give them a child to love is really like no other. Please visit their site at http://prowsehouseadopts.blogspot.com!!

Knowing that I am finally finished with college is REWARDING, especially since I am the first girl in my family to finish college and get a degree. I worked my butt off for that B.S.N after my name, and I'm so proud of it. 

BE and I will be on a cruise next month, and that is going to be SWELL!! Our honeymoon was kind of a bust, since bad weather prevented our ship from docking in the ports, and we ended up just sailing around on the waves and 66 mph winds of the Caribbean for five days. I'm so glad that we are getting this opportunity to go again before he begins the next leg of training. After him being gone more than 4 months of our 6 months of marriage, we need some alone time together!!!!!!  

Hope you go link up!!!!!

A Special Mission

So today I have a special mission. Today, I want to introduce you to some amazing friends of ours. Their names are Brinn and Blandon, and they are beginning the long and difficult process of adoption. Blandon went through Officer Training School with BE, and I will not hesitate to say that they are one of the best, most loving, kindest couples I have ever met in my life. They have a son (who is ADORABLE) but are unable to have any more children themselves, and so have turned to the blogger world to try to find a birth mother who is considering adoption and wants to find a beautiful family to love her child. I am putting my entire heart behind trying to help them as best I can, so please please please spread the word about the "Prowse House". They are running a blog HERE that you can visit and cry over their amazing story like I did! We love you, Brinn and Blandon, and know you will be blessed with another child to pour your love into - you deserve this dream and we are thinking about and praying for you constantly!!!

Prayers Needed!!

So I may be a bit absent from the blogger world for the rest of the weekend... a few days ago my grandfather had chest pain, went in to the hospital and ended up having to go through surgery to get 5 stents put in (which keep vessels open going to the heart). They look like this:

It's actually a neat procedure to watch (I've seen many as a nursing student). They go in at the groin and feed a guide wire with a balloon on the end of it all the way up into the coronary arteries. The stent is wrapped around the deflated balloon. Once the doctor determines that the balloon is in the right area of the heart, they inflate the balloon, which expands the stent. This holds the artery open so that more blood can pass. My grandfather already had 5 to start with, now he has 10 (which is a lot!!). So they did the surgery and sent him home.

Well, today, one of the stents collapsed, and he had a massive heart attack. They had to shock him a few times to revive him on the way to the hospital, and he had to undergo another surgery. I am closer to my grandfather than probably anyone else in my family, so this has really hit me hard, especially since the one person I lean on (my husband) isn't here to be with me. Please pray for my grandfather as he recovers from this and hopefully gets to go home in a few days. This is one thing I hate about military life - it makes you too far away from your family sometimes to do anything or be where you feel like you need to be. I have great friends and a great church group who have been there for me though!

On a side note, please also pray for my patience, because the past two nights I have had neighbors that have kept me up literally all night. Last night I had to call the cops on the neighbors behind me when their rampaging party (complete with blaring rap music and a strobe light on the back porch) went past 3 a.m. (and I had to be up at 7). And now I'm in a hotel room listening to a family of 20 (taking up all 5 rooms around me) hoots and hollers and yells and slams doors in the hall at 1 a.m. I'm so sick of no one allowing me to sleep. I called the front desk and the guy came down and told them to go back in their rooms, but that doesn't help because their rooms are right next to mine. I really need sleep after such a stressful day. So, on that note, please pray!!

Trouble In Paradise and the Weekly Fill-In

Ok, so today has been stressful, to say the least. The hubs had his first flight today out at IFS (Initial Flight Screening)... well, he really didn't give me any info on it other than the fact that his flight would last an hour. He texted me around 9 this morning saying he was heading out to fly... and by 1:30 pm I still hadn't heard from him. I called around (freaking out because, wouldn't ya know it, my biggest fear in the whole wide world is airplanes! of course.) and everyone else I talked to had heard from their husbands a while before in the day and seemed confused when I said I still hadn't heard from BE. I about went crazy. I started crying, feeling sick, the works. I finally tracked him down through someone else's husband who had seen him and knew he had landed. BE KNOWS how I am about airplanes (it takes drugging me up to even get me to go INTO an airport... even if I'm not the one flying) and then he can't even take two minutes to step aside and shoot me a text? By the time he found out I was mad and called I was LIVID. And then he dares to say to the snarling dragon "I just figured you knew it would take four or five hours." Um, excuse me. Last time I checked I wasn't the one in the Air Force. I don't just "know" these things. I don't know anything unless you tell me. So yeah, it's been a long day. So, on that note...

Each week, Wife of a Sailor will post a list of questions on Thursday (so you can have your blog ready on Friday). Head back on Friday and enter your blog post into Mr. Linky so others know who else participated and we can all visit other blogs.  And please feel free to use the button above!
1. What is one of the things you always do special when your husband returns from a deployment? submitted by Keep Calm and Soldier On
Well, we haven't been through one yet. But when BE came home from IFS I cooked the dinner of his choice. We never go out to eat on the first night home.

2. What do you do to help your spouse and/or yourself readjust after after a deployment or long separation? submitted by Diapers, Dogs, and Deployments 
After long separations, and especially OTS, I just had to learn to be sensitive to the fact that his sleep schedule was TOTALLY OFF, and try to adjust mine. We also try to work out together, so that I can feel like a part of his routine. And for the first week back we always eat dinner together at home.

3. Are you a crazy coupon-clipper? submitted by Married My Airman
No, but I am a CRAZY CASE LOT SALER!! I saved 52% just by working our latest case lot sale, and I have lots of actually necessary stuff (unlike a lot of those shows on tv) that will last me until the next one. I only spent 230 dollars for over 500 worth of stuff! I call that awesome. But I would like to learn how to coupon (not in huge bulk but just for our little family).

4. What's your most treasured memory of you and your spouse (not counting your wedding - that's a given)? submitted by Scrubs, ACU's, & One Crazy Ride
Ok, so this is going to sound totally cheesy. But we met online and then dated long-distance from AL to NC for months before we ever met. When he came down to meet me we went out on a triple date with some other couple friends of mine. As they were chatter boxing, I happened to look over at BE, who was sitting quietly taking everything in. At that moment, he grabbed my hand under the table, smiled, and winked at me. My heart just melted!! Ever since then whenever we're out in a group he makes a point to catch my eye and wink at me, which always makes me smile because it's like a little secret just between the two of us even in a crowd.


5. If you could live anywhere overseas, what would you pick and why? submitted by Little Moments Like This
Definitely Italy. Love the food and culture, and it would definitely be nice to have access to all of Europe whenever I wanted a vacation!!

Everything's Gonna Be All Right...

So, okay. Yesterday was quite possibly one of the worst (and most hilarious) days ever. My car, which I always brag runs like a champ, decided to quit on me two nights ago around midnight when I was getting home from a friend's house watching a movie. I barely made it to my driveway and all of a sudden the power steering goes out, the car shudders, and the engine dies. I knew it wasn't the battery though because the lights and radio were still on. I turn the key and it cranks just fine, so I'm confused. But the minute I can get it up into the driveway, it happens again. So here I am, midnight, on my first night with BE in training, with a dead car, and NO idea what to do next. Then I go into my house and stand in my bedroom, only to hear something start running on top of my roof, back and forth and back and forth. Obviously, I freak out. It's way bigger sounding than a squirrel. I pull the gun and do a shaky circuit of the whole house (yeah, I checked every closet and under the beds - you know you would have too). So then I call Tracee over to help me canvas the outside of the house because I'm going insane, and we walk all the way around my house. Finally I'm satisfied that there's no creepy man in a black trenchcoat standing on my roof, and go inside (where of course I didn't sleep...instead, I watched Mob Wives).

So fast forward to yesterday. I get up and start making phonecalls about my car - to BE's old shops where he worked to get opinions, to my dad, to dealerships. Finally I get my car towed to the Honda dealership down the road. 4 hours later they call me... and tell me there's nothing wrong with my car. Even the guy in the tow truck couldn't get it to stay on long enough to back it out of my driveway!! But they said they ran tests and everything diagnostically is fine - there's nothing for them to repair. So I asked them to keep it overnight and check it again in the morning, because it will be bad news bears if I'm driving around town two weeks from now and my car just dies.

Anyway. So while I'm stuck at home with no car, I decide to be an awesome wife and wash BE's mustang (complete with wheel shine, window cleanings, and a hand-dry, so there are no spots of course). Satisfied with my 3-hour long job, because BE is anal about his car, I proudly manage to pull it back into the garage (it's a stick and I don't drive stick), which is impressive enough in itself. So I park it, and decide to go with Tracee to Wal-mart. Since I have a keyless entry to my garage and I know the code, I decide to leave my keys at home. I go out through the garage door and put in the code to shut it, and go on my merry way to Wal-mart. Well, I come home, walk up to the garage, put in the code, and NOTHING HAPPENS. I try the code again - nothing. After a third try, I convince myself I must have the code wrong, and try a different one. Still nothing. About that time, Tracee looks down and sees that my garage door is bowed out a little bit... on the side that BE's car is on. OH. MY. GOODNESS.That's when Tracee asks me the Big Question: "Um... AM? Did you maybe forget to put on the parking brake?" You've got to be freaking kidding me.

So here I am stuck locked out of my house with a garage door that won't open because my husband's car has rolled back into it. So I don't want to force the door open because it will scratch the back of his mustang all up (unforgivable). Of course, I'm super paranoid about the house, so every window is not only locked, but has a piece of wood jammed in it. Of course, every door is locked (with double-sided deadbolts, I  might add) and the keys are never even left in the locks, so even if I broke through the window there would be no key to turn. I am officially screwed. So I call a locksmith.

The locksmith shows up and works on my front door. They are new locks, and he can't get it. We go around back. He finally gets in, and I go to the garage to see the damage and to push BE's car off the garage door. What do I see? The car, sitting right where I parked it, emergency brake on, and NOT against the garage door. So we go back around front, try the garage door again, and IT OPENS RIGHT UP. ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW??????? All I could do was burst out laughing. Same code I had tried literally four times earlier. So here I have this locksmith who is about to charge me an arm and a leg to open a house that I wasn't really locked out of.

Luckily, he broke the bottom lock in one of my doors (which really doesn't matter because those can get broken into with a credit card - I still have the deadbolt... I also didn't tell him that I have spare locks in my garage that I replaced it with right after he left), so I get him to agree that we will just call it even, and I didn't owe him anything! He did get a really good laugh at me out of the bargain though. So now I realize that I got out scotch free - the car wasn't actually damaged, I didn't have to pay for the locksmith, so in reality I would never even have to tell the hubs about any of it... but in the end, it's just too good of a story. I'm so grateful I had friends offering to help me and give me rides (and even stay with me the whole time). I was able to laugh about it and not cry or get frustrated, and that's a huge accomplishment in itself. BE even told me he was super proud of me for handling everything :)

So yeah. That was my Saga of yesterday. hope you got a good laugh!! lol. Today we went to Eglin and I found the most awesome coin holder for all of BE's challenge coins!!! It is in the shape of a pentagon and has six or seven levels on it, and it spins!! I figured it would be a great way for him to start displaying and building his collection :) Tomorrow I'm going fishing and also starting a workout routine that I'm really hoping I can stick to - my goal is to be able to jog/run a 5K. Here's hoping!!!

What A Day...

So the TDY has officially begun... so OF COURSE my car would die in the road last night after coming home from a movie with friends. Luckily I made it to my street and was able to get it to my driveway (thank God for that!!) It was so weird though - my power steering went out, the whole car shuddered, and then the engine died - but the lights and radio stayed on! So I knew it wasn't the battery... and it started back up with no problem, but then it just shakes and the lights dim on and off and if I try to make it go it dies again. Of course this would happen in a new place where we don't know anyone. I am so fortunate that BE used to work and manage shops before he joined the AF, so I ended up calling his past shops and getting advice from his friends, and they gave me cell phone numbers and everything and told me that if the dealership quotes me to call them and tell them because if they think the dealership is trying to rip me off they will call them and intervene for me. We are SO blessed to have such amazing past employers and friends!! That was a huge relief to me. So please pray today that they are able to get to my car before close today so that I can have it back soon!

See You When I See You...

"Let's don't say goodbye...I hate the way it sounds. So if you don't mind, let's just say 'For now'..." Well, it's off to the next phase of training for BE and the guys, but at least this time it's not as long as OTS was so I think I will handle it ok. Waking up at 3 a.m. for the airport run wasn't fun though! I'm hoping I can find some things to do during this TDY. I have a huge quilt in the works for our bed and didn't get as much of that done last time as I wanted to, so that's on the agenda; some of the ladies from BE's OTS class are considering putting a trip together, and that would be super fun (if it's somewhere I can afford to go!), and then I have two weddings to go to (it's going to stink going alone though) and then I have friends in Auburn I could go see as well as family (if they can squeeze me into their busy schedule). Honestly, what's sounding better than I thought it would right now is going up to stay with BE's parents for a while. They live on the side of a mountain up in North Carolina with a gorgeous waterfall in the background and some swings on the front porch looking over a view that will take your breath away. Nothing better than that to renew and relax!!! Plus, they are so sweet! I wish everyone had in-laws as great as mine are.

So, options are open, which is nice. I'm about to register for the Kaplan course that teaches strategy for taking the NCLEX, which I'm hoping to do by the end of summer so I can get my RN license and get to work. Lots of possibilities. Lots of things to do. Places to go. Projects to complete. All of which sounds awesome to me! Nothing like a busy schedule to pass the time! Plus, it's sunny out today, and the beach is calling my name :) Gonna stay positive!!

It's Been That Long Already?!?!

So tonight BE is taking me out on a very special date :) Since he will be gone for our actual 6-month wedding anniversary, we're celebrating it just a smidgeon early and going tonight! He's taking me to see Water for Elephants (which I've been DYING to see!!) and then out to a fancy dinner somewhere in town! I'm getting really excited! Just thought I would share ;) It really doesn't feel like a whole half a year already, but that's probably because he's been gone most of it! We have really enjoyed the time he's been home though, and we're hoping that IFS goes fast! They allot them 4 weeks but technically it can take only half of that time depending on how the weather goes for their flights, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed but told him not to tell me when he's coming home so I can be surprised. It is still surreal looking back at our wedding pictures and remembering that day and feeling so proud of how far we have come as a couple since then. But that's one good aspect of the military life - learning to grow together and work as a team, and always support each other and love each other no matter what. I feel like we have such a strong marriage and one definitely based on trust, and I wish everyone could experience that. Hope everyone is having a great Thursday!!

I Believe In Auburn, AND LOVE IT!!

So yesterday was one of my proudest days!! I can't thank everyone enough for the support they have shown me for my graduation! On Sunday afternoon I was pinned by the faculty, and "officially" graduated from the nursing program, which was super emotional, especially since it was Mother's Day, and my mother was sobbing because she had always wanted to be a nurse but had never gotten the opportunity to go to college and instead had my little brother and I. Plus, I was also the first girl on either side of my family to go to college!! In my little speech, I got to credit her for my success since she had stayed at home with me until I was school-aged, and then has been my biggest supporter throughout the huge stress that is nursing school. She cried and cried and later gave me a hug and whispered "Every mother always wants to see her children do better than she did, and today you have done what I could never do, what no woman in our family has ever been able to do." I also got a card from my dad, who is very quiet, and who I spent my whole school career working my butt off in the hopes of getting more than a simple, "Good" from, and the card was so long and actually said the words "I'm very proud of you." I instantly burst into tears. It was the affirmation and praise I'd been dreaming of my whole life.

Then, the next morning (WAY too early, I might add) BE and I got up to head back to Auburn from our hotel so that we could get a good parking spot, and so my parents, grandparents, and godparents could all find good seats since we graduated in the football stadium. This, I thought, was going to be an awesome idea. However, it wasn't and whoever decided to make graduation right in the middle of the day in an open stadium in Alabama should be fired. It hit 90 degrees very early on, and it was terrible for those of us in our heavy black gowns. And of course, the school of nursing was second to last, so we were there the whole time. People were passing out left and right, and EMT's were coming around distributing water and telling people to leave after they got their diploma and walked across the stage! Luckily my family had brought umbrellas and lots of Gatorade. But man was it hot! It was so good though to see them cheering and so happy!! Plus, BE got to be there and I am BEYOND THANKFUL for that!! Especially since more training looms here soon. But it was important to me that he was there to share in my success that he encouraged me through and God made sure he was, and that's a great thing :)

I Have Arrived

So, tomorrow I get to have the ceremony I have been waiting on for four long years - my pinning ceremony from nursing school. I am so excited I can barely stand it. Then, by Monday afternoon, I will officially be the first woman on either side of my family to graduate college. WOW. What a huge weight to carry on my shoulders, and what a huge reputation to uphold. My mom is ecstatic - she says I never could have given her a better Mother's Day present than seeing her daughter be the one to achieve that. But I told her that it's in large part due to her - she stayed home with me until I hit school, and constantly worked with me every day so that I was far past my developmental level for the grade I was in. She was my first encourager. By the time I hit 6th grade I was reading at an "above 12th grade level" and they had to bring in books for me from the high school so I could complete my number of reading hours I had to meet for my middle school class. She's the one who sat with me at the bar in our house for two hours every single day after school helping me with my homework. My parents really struggled financially to send me to Auburn, because they said that after graduating high school with a 4.2 GPA and a 32 ACT score, I deserved to go wherever I wanted to go. I felt that succeeding in college was simply a way to show them "I appreciate that you have sacrificed for me to be here, and I'm proving to you that it hasn't gone unnoticed." So now here I am, on the eve of one of the happiest days of my life (other than the days my little brother was born, the day I adopted my dog, and the day I got married), all ready to go with a brand new dress and pair of shoes (thanks, BE!!). I think it will give me a whole new perspective on life not being in college anymore. Granted, I still have my boards to take for my licensure, but it's going to feel so weird (in a good way) to just be a wife for a while. I wish that this day wasn't shadowed over by the fact that BE is off again soon. But it will be ok, I'll survive, and it'll be over before I know it. IFS is a partially self-paced thing, and dependent on weather, so the number of weeks he's there is dependent on quite a few factors, so I told him to not tell me when he will be back home ahead of time so that I don't get my hopes set on a date that he may get there and just not be able to meet. Plus, then it gets to be a surprise, and I love surprises :)

Hope everyone has been having a great weekend, and a special Happy Mother's Day shout-out to my mommy wives out there!!!! Hopefully one day soon I will join your ranks :)


Verse of the day: Proverbs 16:3 "Ask the Lord to bless your plans, and you will be successful in carrying them out."

A Word of Appreciation

HAPPY MILSPOUSE DAY to all the other amazing military spouses out there :) People really don't realize how hard our job is. Saying "see you later" every few months, learning to relive your life when they leave and then relearn it again when they come home, constantly changing role expectations, for some the battle of juggling kids alone, the tearful nights spent with their shirts and cologne, the counting down of months and days and weeks. We really do have a tough job, but then again, we are TOUGH PEOPLE!! Military members, and especially spouses, often don't get the recognition out in the civilian world like I wish they would, but at least between all of us, we know the sacrifices that are made and the effort put into our relaitonships/marriages, and we know that it's worth it for the love that we have found in our significant others!! Plus, better yet, we have each other to lean on and learn from and I personally have found it to be the best group I could ever have been a part of. I love you ladies and am blessed to know you, and I wish you all the happiest of days today.

BE has finally cranked up the new grill for steaks tonight, and I am going to enjoy a nice dinner just the two of us (and Buster Brown, of course) before I have to face him being off to more training here very soon. But it's going to be a great weekend and nothing is going to get me down!! I also graduate on Monday morning from Auburn, and will officially be a BSN graduate!!! I am so excited. I will be the first girl on either side of my family to finish college so it's a pretty big deal :)

Flight Suits and the "Man Grill"

So BE was issued his flightsuit, helmet bag, and flight bag yesterday. Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but I am really torn as to how to feel about it. He is so so excited, and I want to be that excited for him, but a part of me has hit a new level of terror now that it feels "real". I had tried to get him to not go to OTS and stay with me and get a "normal job" way back in the day when we were first together. My biggest fear of all time is airplanes, in general. I have to be heavily medicated to even go near an airport, even to pick someone up. Being that close to a plane makes me super nervous (I think God is probably STILL laughing at the irony of making the man I was destined to marry a flyer). After he explained to me that he wouldn't feel fulfilled in his life unless he served his country, and this was really in his heart how he felt called to serve, I realized that I had to put my personal preferences aside and support him regardless. I have no place keeping him from his dreams, and when friends of mine ask me how I live with the fear of someone showing up at the door to tell me he had been killed, the response I give them is that I would rather him die at 25 knowing he was happy with what he was doing and felt like he was answering God's calling for his life and had no regrets than to have him die at 100 years old an unhappy businessman who hated his job and felt like he had never really made a difference in the world because he had sacrificed a dream because I was a scaredy-cat. Not going to lie, that doesn't make the fear totally go away, but it helps. I like seeing him happy, and I like seeing him happy with his job. Not many people can say they love their job. But seeing that flight suit hit me like a lead brick. It was that moment of "oh my gosh, this is really happening," and I froze up. I wanted to celebrate with him and ooh and aah over it, but my fear really gripped me. Has anyone else ever had a moment like that?

Anyway, the "man-grill" (as it has been officially dubbed) is now taking up half of our garage lol. BE refuses to put it outside until we find a cover for it, so he's parking his car outside instead LOL. Boys. So I've been promised a steak dinner tomorrow, and I'm pretty excited about it! I also just got a coffee grinder, and I love it! It really does make the coffee taste fresher, and I thought all that stuff was just a way to get you to spend money on their product. But it was sooooo good! I'm a believer. I'm also debating whether I should combine my two blogs (I have another one for family recipes) or just leave the food one a separate thing... thoughts? Well, love ya'll, I'm gonna go help the hubs do dishes :)

You Wish You Were Here

Since we all need a laugh this week... here is a really funny video from the USAFA. Definitely made my day!! Oh, and so did this:

It's so awesome to be able to watch the Blue Angels practice from my back yard, and be only seconds to the base to see them perform!! Also got to meet a fellow milwife blogger today!!!!!!! It was so great! Definitely found a new drama-free partner in crime ;) GO see her page here :) It was my first air show, so needless to say I was impressed. BE really wants me to see the Thunderbirds too, but they are about to go on an overseas tour, so it will probably be a while til I get that opportunity... until then, seeing the Blue Angels fly over my house every morning practicing will suffice! I hope everyone is having a marvelous Monday!

p.s. The Grill is supposed to arrive today, and BE is practically about to pee himself from excitement. I will update you on the situation as it unfolds LOL

And In Case You Hadn't Heard...

So, now that everyone knows the BIG NEWS and has had a day to reflect, I wonder what the blogosphere thinks about the reactions they have seen from others out there. Personally, I watched the news in shock. I was out in my driveway talking to our neighbor when I got a text from a friend who is dating an Army man, and literally lost my breath. Instantly all of us ran back inside and I yelled at BE to hurry it up and find the news. Sure enough, there it was in big red letters on CNN - Osama bin Laden is dead, killed by U.S. Navy Seals yesterday. My first reaction was total and complete shock. I just listened and listened to the news reel, and swore I was dreaming. We have been waiting for this day as a nation for so long. After that, I felt joy; joy that all of those families of people killed on 9/11 and all the troops killed in the war since then, can finally say that a huge mission was accomplished, and that they have (at least a small bit) been avenged, even though I know that they can never get their loved ones back and nothing can ever, ever replace that or take away that portion of their pain. I'm sure that even a decade later it is still hard to wake up in the morning and bear. Then, I'll admit I got a little scared. What about retaliation? Obviously there are going to be some realllly pissed people over there. Then came the questions, Will my husband be deployed? Will they speed up his training? What about our troops over there now, are they safe? What will the next step for the country be? I know everyone has their questions, but at the end of the day, I had to realize that there's really nothing I can do about any of those questions. If they call, my husband will go, proudly and quickly. If they speed up his training, oh well, not like anything else about his military career has stuck to its original timeline anyway. I gave up being Type A a loooong time ago. Our troops, of course they are in a dangerous place, but then again they have been in that same dangerous place for years now, and I have ZERO doubt about their competence, so I know that they will take care of each other and do the best job they can do (like they have been for the past ten years already). As for our country, I don't know what the next step will be. I know security is already heightened, because all the bases moved up to FPCON Bravo yesterday (my husband was wondering why he got that message yesterday afternoon). As much as I sometimes disagree with what our political leaders do, I'm sure that they have thought of a possible retaliation and have taken measures to prevent it. Our military makes it possible for us to lay our heads down peacefully and sleep every night, and they will still be doing the same thing every other night. Last night when I was getting worried about everything, my husband just turned to me and said, "It seems crazy right now, but everything will be all right. Don't you have faith in God? Don't you have faith in us [the military]? Just trust them. Pray and trust them." I was so calmed by that!! It's true. We have a great God and a great military, both of which I trust immensely.

I am reminded of Matthew 8:26, where Jesus said, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

Please take the time today to thank any servicemen and women that you know - it is because of them that we can say we live in the mightiest of nations, and because of them that we could go about our daily lives today as if nothing had ever happened. And, pray for them, and for our political leaders. Because, "Where two or three gather in my name, there I will be in the midst of them." -Matthew 18:20. GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!!!! (p.s. and a HUA to our troops! love, your ever-faithful Air Force milwife)

Meet the New Baby!

So, we have a new edition to the family thanks to my parents and grandparents chipping in for an OTS graduation present... meet Weber!

haha yep, this is the new love of BE's life. Personally, I don't care if she gets all the attention, as long as I get some steaks (and I'm not the one cooking dinner for once!) We are also thinking about trading in his car too, so we'll see how that goes. Only a few more weeks before BE leaves for IFS, so I'm trying to soak up every second I get with him! He took me out to a really nice dinner last night and I was impressed! If you live in Pensacola, you need to go to the Grand Marlin by the pier... it was outstanding!!! Anyway, I really hope ya'll had a great weekend!!

Remember, Military Spouse day is May 6 :)