Washington

We stopped at the Montana-Idaho border to play in snow!

Half way thru the trip we started to go a little crazy!! :)

We had to stay in North Dakota for two days due to a snow storm. We didn't mind too much though.. We needed a break from the road! We had fun playing in the indoor pool.

Once the snow cleared we went out to see what the town offered. We stopped at an outdoor/sporting store that had a ferris wheel inside the store. Joel thought it was cool.

Chicago! My favorite part of the whole trip! We stopped for lunch (Chicago pizza, of course!) and we walked around Millennium Park. We also stopped by the Disney Store, which I'm pretty sure was Joel's favorite part. I definitely want to go back for a weekend to see more of the city.

Greetings From WA!

We arrived in Washington last Friday. So far it's not too bad... The housing is old though, which is a bummer since we had a brand new house in MS. Oh, and we don't have a backyard for Max like they told us we would. Our lease is up in 6 months so hopefully we will learn the area and be able to find a house out in town by then.

Our household goods arrived yesterday. I was worried the movers would break our stuff and well.. they didn't let me down. We still have tons of boxes to unpack but so far we know that they broke our [brand new] coffee table, a side table I had in our living room, and an Easter decoration that my mom bought me. I'm crossing my fingers and praying they didn't break anything else!

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great day! Once we get everything unpacked I will have to take some time out to catch up on everyone's blogs! :)

I've come to the conclusion that I am not a road trip type of person. We are currently on day 5 of our trip and I'm sooo over being in the car that I just want to cry. I don't see what's so appealing about it to some people.. Sitting for hours in a crammed car and only stopping every few hours to use the restroom (at yet another gross gas station) or to get something to eat (at yet another gross fast food joint) is not fun to me.

We should arrive in WA tomorrow and I can't wait.. I'm ready to set up house and start the countdown for the next 3 years to be over..

Moving Day

The mover's packed all of our stuff yesterday afternoon. It was my first experience with a moving company.. and let me just say, it was every control freak's worst nightmare! I had such a hard time sitting back and not telling them how to pack the right my way. Ha!

They just arrived to load all of our stuff into the truck, and I'm trying not to cry or have a panic attack. I'm having a tough time dealing with this move--especially now that I'm prego. (It doesn't help that I'm starting to feel the beginnings of the dreaded morning sickness.. ugh!)

Anyway, just wanted to let y'all know I might not be able to update for a while!

Bittersweet News

J called this morning and was excited to tell me that he received orders! I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders now that we finally know where his next duty station will be and when he is suppose to report for duty. Everyone has told us that we will love it there, and from all the pictures I've seen I think we will. This move will be very bittersweet for me though... I'm excited about it (mostly because J & I will finally be able to live like a normal married couple, and he hopefully won't have to deploy for three years), but at the same time I'm sad that I have to leave my family & friends. I've never been away from home for my than two weeks so I'm expecting myself to be homesick.. I just hope I can handle it. I also hope J will love his new unit and we will be able to make a few great new friends.. I think that will make things easier.

Good News, Bad News

Good News: J will be able to transfer in 2010.

At the beginning of the week J looked at his orders only to realize they said he was suppose to transfer in 2011 instead of 2010 like we thought. He has already been extended in the battalion longer than he is technically "suppose" to so he knew there had to be a mistake. Turns out it was just a typo! It was a huge relief because otherwise he would have to deploy again!

Bad News: Deployment might be extended.

J called this morning and freaked me out.. The first thing he said was "I need you to be strong for me ok." My first thought was something bad happened to him. Thankfully it wasn't anything too serious, but it's still nothing I wanted to hear. He received a warning order that deployment may be extended a couple months. He called me as soon as he found out because he didn't want me to read about it on the Internet. (I guess the rumors were posted all over FB and a bunch of wives unfortunately had to find out that way.) He was expecting me to be super upset.. and honestly I'm still surprised I didn't flip out.. but I just had a peace in that moment that I cannot & probably will never be able to explain. I do know where the peace is coming from though, and I'm so thankful for it Him! I guess it's just proof that God has definitely been doing a work in my heart lately.. because I won't lie, normally I would be very upset and I might even say a few mean things to my husband. (Hey, I never said I was perfect!) Yes it sucks that I will have to wait a few more months, but getting upset & crying about it won't change anything. All I can do is put my big girl panties on and deal with it.

Good News: J was able to choose his next duty station.

It's not official until he gets the orders in his hand, but so far it's pretty much a sealed deal.

Bad News: Moving away from home to be with your husband sometimes makes you the bad guy with your family & friends.

We will be moving very far away this summer. I'm nervous but excited. I will have to get on a airplane for the very first time, and I'm not too excited about it! To make it worse, when I told the one person that I needed to encourage me and be excited with me, I got a cold shoulder + a "well, it's been nice knowing ya." It hurt more than words could ever say. I couldn't believe the one person that is always preaching about submitting to your husbands was actually making me feel selfish for it!

* Mil wives -- how did you deal with your first big move? How did your family and friends react when you told them you were going to be very far away? Did you have friends try to make you feel like crap for being excited to move away with your husband? Did they list all the bad qualities about where you would be moving? If so, what was your response?