Patience grasshopper

2012 has proven to be an epic battle between my head and heart. I am trying my darndest to just be patient and see where life takes us, but let me tell you... patience is not this chick's strong suit!



Source: dropdeadchris.tumblr.com via Kristen on Pinterest

That about sums it up really. I just thought after graduating and getting married we were supposed to go into this magical state of togetherness. As in, we have all of our shiz togetherness.

Sadly, not the case. I have yet to figure out "what I want to be when I grow up." Or even what I would like to do to make money in the mean time, because this girl is TIRED of waiting tables! Hubs, bless his heart, is in the same boat.

Unlike me, he at least found a good job in the mean time that he's actually starting to like more and more.(Praise the Good Lord for that blessing!) He loves being in the Air Force and if you've been following our blog you know we've been trying to no avail for him to cross over from reserves to active duty. Initially the recruiter made it sound as if this would happen quickly and painlessly. I quit looking for jobs in our area, stopped decorating our current home, and braced our families for what seemed like the inevitability of an impending move in our near future. After what was supposed to be a "quick" transition has already turned into over 3 months of waiting, waiting, waiting, we are throwing in the towel to this last obstacle.

I think tonight we finally reached the conclusion that it just doesn't seem to be in the cards for us right now. Everything paper work wise is good to go until the re ran his credit report.

When Stephen was 18 and moved out on his own he had two credit cards in his name that he maxed out and only made minimum payments on. When he was out of work for a while when he was in his earlier 20s he had just quit paying them all together and basically forgot about them.(Hello, it's been 7 years people!). Well the popped up on his credit report but appeared to be closed because so much time had elapsed so the AF wanted a letter from both companies saying the accounts were closed and an essay basically from Stephen explaining why he had accrued the debt in the first place.

He explained the actual situation to the recruiter and initially they said the only way they could take him is if he paid them off. Um ya, we don't have that kind of money right now. So then they decided he could still enlist and set up an 18 month payment plan with the companies to get it taken care of. The catch is that he would have to show that he made three months payments first before they could approve his paper work and move on to the next step in the process.

Fine, ok, whatever. We can do that. Except for the teeny tiny detail that one of the companies isn't interested in a payment plan. Both companies are passed the point of trying to collect since the debt has been out so long, but one is only willing to have the amount paid in full. Just for curiosity I asked the lady on the phone how much that would be- $2,400.02. Uhhh, ya. No. We don't have that kind of money to lay down in one lump payment, we do still have other bills to pay.

So basically, what I'm getting at is our final shot at AD was shot down today.

We're both kind of bummed. We were actually looking forward to moving and getting into new adventures. Hubby wanted to be able to use the skills he learned in tech full time and be around his plane more than one weekend a month.(That boy loves him some airplanes, I tell you what!)

I guess I'm coming to terms with the fact that it just isn't in the cards for us right now. I think I've mentioned before but I can tell God is teaching me patience in 2012 and this is just one of those things.

Source: images.google.com via Tracie on Pinterest

Stephen hasn't called his recruiter to tell him yet, so I'm holding on to a teeny tiny sliver of hope that maybe there's something else we can do. But I need to just just wrap my head around it and accept the change of plans.

Now... if only I could see what the real plan is if it's not ADAF!

Don't you wish you just had a crystal ball so you knew what direction to go in? Or at least that God would make his plan a littleeeee more obvious so even us exceptionally dense people could follow better. :)

Source: fromupnorth.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I guess it's back to the job hunt for me and more patience for the both of us as we continue to learn that getting your act together doesn't just happen over night. Prayers for patience and clarity are appreciated!

Happy Thursday(almost Friday!!) y'all!

Crazzzzayyy weekend!

Long weekends around here always make me a little nervous! Stephen has some close friends that he made in Tech school that luckily got stationed about 30 minutes from us. They're single and live on base so any time there's a long weekend, I can expect a party at my house. Literally. For the whole weekend.

Don't get me wrong, I love these guys! I love the fun, the camaraderie, the silliness that ensues when this bunch gets together. It's like having brothers I never had(or really wanted, but that's ok! HA) What I don't necessarily love is the havoc that is wreaked on my liver by the alcohol consumption or the mess that ends up strewn across the house. But livers recover and messes can be cleaned, right?

Friday the guys all got off early so they were at my house before I was off work. Once I finally made it home and got ready we all headed over to Stephen's parents' house to celebrate his sister Brittany's, 22nd birthday! We love that girl and it was a fun night with family and friends to celebrate another year! We all got an extra surprise when Stephen's little brother Shawn was home from school for the weekend for Brittany's birthday!

Brittany, Stephen, Shawn at our wedding

Somehow we ended up taking the party back to our house when the whole gang decided to come play beer pong, flip cup, and just hang out. It was a lot of fun, but we were up later than anticipated and consumed a few more cocktails than planned as well!

We were all a little tired, groggy, and hungover on Saturday morning. I had switched my work schedule to have the whole day off and we were supposed to spend the day in Mobile celebrating Mardi Gras(one of my favorite times of year!). But unfortunately, the weather had other plans. It was a monsoon from here to New Orleans! I had 4 bored guys on my hands, and they had one thing on their mind. Road trip. I gave in and off we went to Malbis to Bass Pro Shop.

Seriously, that store is amazing. We spent probably an hour and a half walking around looking at everything. Including this little beauty that I legitamitely want!

After they finally bored with Bass Pro, they managed to convince me to continue our trip to Biloxi to do a little gambling at the casinos. We headed to the Beau Rivage. I'm pretty sure we spend less time in the casino than we did in Bass Pro! No one was particularly lucky. I, in particular, managed to lose money extra quickly and was ready to leave before they took any more of my money!

We started the road trip home. We stopped on the way for way too much food at Mellow Mushroom. Then somehow on the way home got the idea to build a pillow fort, bake cookies, and watch movies for the rest of the night. So that's what we did. The movie watching didn't last too long considering how tired everyone was, but it was fun nonetheless!

Sunday was supposed to be a recovery day. I had to work 10-4 again and I figured the guys would head back to base. Nope, not the case. I got a text from my husband shortly after I got to work suggesting we head to Mobile when I got off work to catch the last parade and go out for a little bit.

So that's what we did. They met me at my parents' house when I got off. I stole some clothes from my sister's abandoned closet upstairs(since my husband forgot the clothes he was supposed to bring me!) and we headed over to Mobile.

We lucked into a good parking spot and caught the last parade. We drank wayyyy too much while waiting for the parade to start, and then kept it going after the parade when we hit up some of the bars in downtown Mobile. We had a blast and we can all say we had our fill of Mardi Gras for this season!

However I can't wait til next year! I'm determined we're going to make it to New Orleans to celebrate. Something about Mardi Gras just makes me happy! I'll leave you all with some pictures of our crazy Mardi Gras night.



Happy Fat Tuesday y'all!

Pardon me...

But where did 2011 go?!?

 Part of me feels like I blinked and it was over, and the rest of me feels like it was a lifetime ago. It's hard to believe last Christmas I was just getting going with the wedding plans and now this year we've been married for 7 months and celebrating our "first married Christmas".

It's hard to believe that last year Stephen was still in tech school in TX and was only home for 2 weeks for Christmas. This year he graduated tech school, worked 6 months at his reserve base doing seasoning training, and is now working with a recruiter to start as an Active Duty Airman after the first of the year.

Last year I was finishing up finals, setting up an internship, and putting the finishing touches on my last semester's schedule. This year I graduated and have been looking for a full time job.

Last year Stephen came home just 3 days before Christmas and this year we've been together for the last 9 months. It's amazing what a difference a year makes!

I can only imagine what this next year will bring us! We don't even know now where we'll be in a year. It's kind of been a whirl wind in less than a week. But after talking with a recruiter Stephen learned that it is possible for him to go into the Active Duty Air Force. He had a meeting this morning that lasted a couple hours and has spent the rest of the day running around getting everything together. He has another meeting Thursday morning to turn everything in. The recruiter wants to have him up to MEPS by the first week of January. After all that comes back he can have his position lined up in a matter of days.

Right now the open positions include a crew chief position, a recruiting position, and an EOD position. If it's available he will have to take the crew chief job because that's what he's already trained to do. He's kind of hoping that it's not and he can take the recruiting job because he feels like he would enjoy that job more.

Either way we'll most likely be experiencing our first PCS very early in 2012. I couldn't be more excited! We've both lived here our entire lives and a change would be nice. Stephen doesn't like to talk much about it yet because he said he doesn't want to get his hopes up... but I can't help it. I'm a talker. I'm a planner. Mostly, I'm a day dreamer and I keep thinking of the possibilities of where we could end up... it will be an adventure no doubt, but we're so excited for this new chapter!

If all does go as planned and we PCS my plans are to get a part time job and look for a good school to study radiography or ultrasound. Can't really decide anything until we know more, but I will definitely keep everyone up to date as we learn more!

Prayers are appreciated for us over the next few weeks as everything gets straightened out. Prayers that everything goes as planned and as smoothly as these things can go.

Hope everyone is enjoying this time leading up to Christmas and isn't letting the stress get you down! Remember the reason for the season!

ONE YEAR

ago today, Stephen and Bryan boarded that plane and headed to San Antonio, TX for 8.5 weeks of Air Force boot camp!  WOW! I just can't believe it's been a year. Some days it feels like forever ago, and some days it feels like just yesterday. The craziest thing is even though he's been home for a few months now, I can still feel the way I felt on the day he left. It's the weirdest feeling and you'll never fully understand until you feel it yourself. But it's like being crushed. I was exhausted for that first week just because I was so emotionally drained. I cried at the drop of a hat. And not just boo hoo'ed either, I sobbed uncontrollably. I cried at work(they had never seen me cry before, I think they were all a little concerned!), I cried in the car, I cried at night the most. I had been dreading him leaving since we found out his dates for boot camp, but thought that I would be ok, 8 weeks is no big deal. Nope! Wasn't as prepared as I had hoped. The minute they left to go inside to board the plane, my throat tightened up, my stomach felt sick, and my heart just hurt. I managed to keep it together pretty well on the drive back since Stephen's Mom and brother had ridden with me. But as soon as I dropped them off, I sobbed the whole home, and laid on the couch and just cried until I had to be at work. Unfortunately, it didn't really stop then either! I cried on and off all night at work. We really hadn't been apart longer than a night or two since we started dating almost 3 years earlier. So the thought of 8 long weeks... I can't even describe the feeling. Especially since I constantly had the fear that anything could happen and his graduation could get pushed back. The military loves to change dates! That not knowing when you'll see each other again, is like a black hole. There's no tangible thing to count towards. Anyone that's gone through a deployment knows what I mean. It wasn't all terrible though! I had a wonderful support system. I pretty  much lived at my parents. If it weren't for Natty I would have slept there every night! Natty dog was the perfect protector/cuddler/shoulder to cry on. I had friends that helped keep me distracted. And the mail! Oh goodness, I have never been more excited about letters in my life!! It was hard, but it is cool to look back on those now and read them, and we'll have them forever to be able to read over.

My wonderful husband made it through basic with flying colors! He got expert marksman and graduated right on time(minus one little incident that I found out about later that is now a funny story I will have to tell later!). I am so proud of him! Words can't even express.. I was always in love with him, but I fell in love with him all over again that graduation weekend. He had really grown up into a man of honor over those 8.5 weeks and I loved it! I try to remember to tell him often, but I don't think I say it nearly enough! I am one very proud Air Force wife! :) Congratulations on all your hard work paying off, baby! I am so proud of you and I love you!

That's enough mush for one day! I will leave you with a recap of pictures from the day Stephen left. Can't believe it's been a year, but I'm SO glad it's behind us now! :) Happy Wednesday y'all!