Ben's view

Ben is enjoying his time working with different troops!

Our route to California

We have mapped out our tentative route from Jacksonville to Camp Pendleton. Here is what our game plan looks like!

Day #1. June 29th Jacksonville, NC to the Young's in Knoxville, Tennessee

Day #2. June 30th (Happy Birthday Kendall!!) Somewhere between Knoxville and Springfield, Missouri.

Day #3. July 1st Springfield, Missouri To visit with Ben's sisters and family.

Day #4. July 2nd MO to Oklahoma city

Day #5. July 3rd OK to Albuquerque, New Mexico (one of my favorite stops from our first cross country move!!)

Day #6. July 4th (happy birthday to our niece, Bethany!!)
Grand Canyon

Day #7. July 5th to Aunt Charity's in Phoenix, Arizona

Day #8. July 6th onward to Camp Pendleton!!

New to us

Ben has spent countless hours searching for an enclosed trailer for our cross country move.
All his hard work paid off when he found this! He got it for about $1000 less than what a new one would have cost us.
We will be using it for a "partial ditty" move. Basically, the items we are bringing with us instead of sending with the movers.
When we get to California, we will use it to store the items we cannot use in our new home. We couldn't believe how much cheaper this option is as opposed to a storage locker!
More from our Camp Pendleton or bust journey soon!

Amazing comfort.....

January 17, Ben again rocked my world. We were VOLUNTOLD that we would be going to Camp Pendleton this summer.

While I enjoy visiting California, I didn't like living there the first time and it wasn't even in our top 10 wish list for orders.

I am trying to be positive for our kiddos sake and of course overpreparing & researching it.

What is amazing is our family devotional the past 5 days and how it seems to be speaking right to my fears......

Ben's promotion

We do not remember days, we remember moments.

-unknown

 

I am desperately carving out time to update the blog not only for our family that is not on facebook but also for our family memories that I am trying hard to capture on here.

July 2012, Ben pinned on major.

It was so neat that his current CO (commanding officer) was also his CO when he was promoted to captain. It is a small marine corps!

The oath

I cannot imagine what life would be like without this man in my life.
I must admit I wasn't certain what I had signed on for when I vowed,
Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.
But I am so glad that I did!

Punching in those oak leaves

A smoosh for my love

Our older two were at Grammy and Pappy camp during the promotion. We pray that if Ben is blessed to be promoted to LtCol we will have the family there to celebrate!



The end of my title: Captain's wife

Benny will be promoted this week to Major.
It is so very hard to believe that he is at this point already. I remember meeting him as a 2nd LT & it really doesn't feel that long ago!
This will be my first opportunity to pin anything on him so I am pretty excited! We wish that the kiddos could be there but they will still be with my parents on their summer vacation.
It is fun to know that the Marine Corps is definitely a small community as the same man that promoted Ben to captain will be doing his promotion to major.
Ben's promotion will be this Friday at 0845 if any of our Jacksonville friends want to attend.
Stay tuned for pictures and more!

A little bloggy TLC

I am not even going to look at the date of the last post....ok I already did and I know that I am a few weeks overdue in posting!

We have been BUSY!!

-Trip to West Virgina for my cousin's wedding

-Halloween/all the parties & festivals that come with it

-The Marine Corps Birthday Ball

-Trips to the maternal/fetal specialist

-a camping trip with our Life Group

-CRAZY prep work for my upcoming craft fair

So I will give those family and friends who follow this because they don't have facebook a glimpse of some of the happy memories!

Kendall as Rapunzel with a little face paint mixed in!

Isaac as Iron-man with a batman face

18 weeks pregnant being whatever would fit me!

19 weeks pregnant and man did that dress not hide anything!

Before the Marine Corps Birthday ball

My crazy Benny trying to keep my belly button from poking out! (It will eventually flatten out and disappear before this pregnancy is over!)

We were lucky to have great friends at the ball this year!

Hard to believe it is our 9th ball together!

We found out at 20 weeks that we are having another little girl!

She is breech right now but we are hoping that will change!
HR 153 beats per minute

We are still trying to come up with names right now.
Her middle name will be Mae in honor of my Grammy Heider (Shirley May)

I really like the names
Kimberlynn
&
Harper.....
waiting on Daddy to approve!

She definitely did not want to be disturbed. Kept putting her sweet little hand over her face.

Isaac was so excited to see her waving at him!

Her sweet little feet

Kendall's kindergarten picture
This mama is not liking how grown-up she looks already!

Loving life on our camping trip!
More memories to follow as our schedule allows!

Promises of a military couple

I saw this today on facebook and so had to share it! Semper Fi!

A Marine's Promise ...

I cannot promise you every night of my life. I cannot promise to be beside you for every difficult moment, every trial, every hardship. In truth, I can promise you that I will not be with you for most. I will leave you at inconvenient times. I may miss the births of our children. Any special date to us may be tainted with the anniversary of the death of one of my friends. I will ask you to take over whatever life we have built together for months and years at a time. And will then crash back into that life that you have used your sweat and your tears and your heartache to keep together and try to take it back as I knew it before. I will shut you out at times because it will be the best way for me to hold it together at that moment. I will lie to you. I will tell you I don't know things when I do. I will not always tell you where I am going, when I will be back, or who I am with. I may not call you for weeks and months and you will not be able to call me. You will ask questions that I won't answer. You will know answers to questions that you will hope you never need. I will share things with my brothers that you will never understand. They will know things about me that you never will. They will be a support to me in some things that you cannot be. I will miss birthdays. I will miss anniversaries. I will have to get to know our children over and over again. I may need time to process things that seem natural to everyone else. It will seem that someone - or something - will always take precedence over you. You may lose me long before you ever thought possible. I will uproot you and ask you to re-establish our family anywhere in the world, in any season, at any time - over and over again. Sand and mud will be tracked through your halls from the boots I am too tired to take off. I will leave you when you beg me not to. I will stand at attention while you cry beside me. I will not turn my head and I will walk away. I will knowingly break your heart. And I will do it again - and again.

I cannot promise you all of me. I cannot promise that to our children. I cannot promise you much of anything.
But if you will have me, I can promise that as I march away from you it is not without sharing your heartache. I promise you that every time I break your heart I will be breaking mine. Every time that I cannot answer you I will be protecting you. Whenever you want to call and you have no number to dial I will be wanting to do the same. I will protect everything that we have created together with every fiber of my being while you do the same back at home. I will honor you in everything - every moment that we are apart and every moment that I am with you. I will fight harder and push further knowing that I do so for you. I will see the faces of our children in every life that I protect. And I will carry you with me in everything until my sandy boots once again sit just inside our door.

A Marine Wife's promise ...

I cannot promise that I will not become frustrated when you leave me and the world seems to fall apart around me. I cannot promise that I will not curse those who sent you when the dryer breaks, and the transmission needs to be replaced, and the dog eats the couch all in the same week - most likely the week after you deploy. I cannot promise that the sand and mud that cakes my floor will not cause me to give you harsh looks and rude thoughts. I cannot promise that my heart will not be torn in twelve different ways when you march away from me. I cannot promise that I will not let my anger show when you refuse to answer questions. I cannot promise to understand why you share things with your comrades that you will not share with me. I cannot promise that there won't be times when my heartache makes its presence known before my pride can mask it. I cannot promise that I will not show my worry and my concern when it is best for you not to see it. I cannot promise to understand why you do so many of the things you do.
But I can promise that for as many tears of sadness and frustration and anger that are shed there will be double that of tears of pride. I can promise you that for every time you are away from me, I will learn to cherish the times that you are with me. In everything I will honor you and honor your sacrifice. I can promise to teach our children to do the same. I will use every moment that you are not with them to show them the amazing man that you are through my actions and my pride. I can promise that there will never be a night where you are not the subject of my final prayer and the keeper of my dreams. I promise to try to be understanding that there are many things I will never understand. I promise to keep you with me in everything and to do my best to keep grace in this life. I will be strong for you as you are strong for me and I will carry you with me in every moment until your sandy boots again sit just inside our door.

.

The Yankees are here!!

September 29, 2011 marked another milestone for Marine Corps aviation. The first three UH-1Y (Yankee, Venom, & a few other nicknames for the newest huey) landed at MCAS New River.

Ben just returned from California a few weeks ago from his training on the new "bird." Just a few short years ago, he had voiced the aspiration of flying this new aircraft before his career was over. Little did we know that he would be getting orders to do just that A LOT sooner than we expected!

Ben has a few more months of completing the syallbus on these bad boys then he will be transitioning the UH-1N pilots to the new aircraft.

Sometimes I let the blog get to be much more about the kids and I, then I neglect to let you know what is going on in Ben's life. Since this is a HUGE part of it, I thought I would blog on it for posterity sake!

Here are a few of the local articles on the fly-in! 

ONSLOW COUNTY -- Three advanced choppers touched down at New River Air Station Thursday, giving the Marine base the first UH-1Y helicopters on the East Coast.

The new helicopters, nicknamed "Yankees," arrived at the base in formation and touched down before a crowd of thrilled Marines.
"You can definitely feel the power when you're piloting the aircraft," Major Christopher Chown said. "The Yankees are a huge improvement over their predecessors."
The UH-1Y is the latest Huey class helicopter, capable of carrying more than 18,000 pounds. The older UH-1N helicopters, known as "Novembers," cannot lift as much weight, and often had to carry supplies and troops separately.
"Now we can do both tasks simultaneously," Captain Patrick Sise said. "We can carry rockets and guns as well as troops. Missions are now easier, more efficient, and the Yankee is more fun to fly."
The Yankees will eventually replace the Novembers, choppers that were built shortly after the Vietnam War. Pilots said they can feel the difference in the new chopper's capabilities as soon as they take flight.
"It's a smoother aircraft to fly," Sise said. "It has better power, and that allows us to better support the Marines on the ground."
The Yankee can travel 230 miles per hour and carry up to 13 Marines in addition to the crew. Yankees are used to guide troops on the ground, fly reconnaissance missions and target terrorists.
"We'll go out armed with guns and rockets and prosecute targets the ground commander wants us to shoot," Chowan said.
The Yankees are now part of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167. No date has been set for the new choppers to be deployed overseas. Each Yankee costs $21 million.

ONSLOW COUNTY -- Three advanced choppers touched down at New River Air Station Thursday, giving the Marine base the first UH-1Y helicopters on the East Coast.

The new helicopters, nicknamed "Yankees," arrived at the base in formation and touched down before a crowd of thrilled Marines.
"You can definitely feel the power when you're piloting the aircraft," Major Christopher Chown said. "The Yankees are a huge improvement over their predecessors."
The UH-1Y is the latest Huey class helicopter, capable of carrying more than 18,000 pounds. The older UH-1N helicopters, known as "Novembers," cannot lift as much weight, and often had to carry supplies and troops separately.
"Now we can do both tasks simultaneously," Captain Patrick Sise said. "We can carry rockets and guns as well as troops. Missions are now easier, more efficient, and the Yankee is more fun to fly."
The Yankees will eventually replace the Novembers, choppers that were built shortly after the Vietnam War. Pilots said they can feel the difference in the new chopper's capabilities as soon as they take flight.
"It's a smoother aircraft to fly," Sise said. "It has better power, and that allows us to better support the Marines on the ground."
The Yankee can travel 230 miles per hour and carry up to 13 Marines in addition to the crew. Yankees are used to guide troops on the ground, fly reconnaissance missions and target terrorists.
"We'll go out armed with guns and rockets and prosecute targets the ground commander wants us to shoot," Chowan said.
The Yankees are now part of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167. No date has been set for the new choppers to be deployed overseas. Each Yankee costs $21 million.