home sweet home {Virginia Beach, VA - Dam Neck}

{home #4}   Virginia Beach, Virginia (Dam Neck)   May - August 2013 AIOC

Here is a little about our time living in Virginia Beach combined with a little "life lately" update of the past 3 months we spent there. We were not there long, but we managed to come out with some great memories. 

 We only lived in Virginia Beach for a little over 3 months and I can't believe how quickly it felt like home to us. Knowing that you're only going to be living somewhere for a very short period of time makes it difficult to want to open up to new people when you know you'll be out of each others lives in such a short time.

I love knowing that our church is the same all over the world! That is one place of people I know I can rely on. My first Sunday there, I went to my usual classes and the kids loved going to nursery. I tried to keep to myself, because after all, our stay there was so temporary. Towards the end of church I went into the bathroom and just cried. I cried because even though i didn't want to make friends, friendships were already being made. everyone was extremely welcoming and nice to me even though they knew I wouldn't be staying long, they genuinely wanted to get to know me and be my friend. We were invited to dinner a few times, to the water park, and to the zoo. I made some life long friends here and so did Chris. One of his friends lent us his car the whole time he was in training so that we could go out as a family whenever we had the chance and when he left VA, my friend from church lent us her car.

We loved our home there. even though most of our things stayed in storage and the walls weren't fully decorated, it still felt like home. It was so nice sleeping next to Chris again and seeing him play with the kids. Home really is wherever your family is. 

So here is what we've been up to for the past 3 months...

•walks to the beach •park days •searching for insects •splashing around in the pool •barbecuing •petting sting rays at the Aquarium •lots of baths •having dance parties in our pj's •observing animals at the zoo •buying slurpees often •dining out •making weekly trips to the commissary •and just enjoying our time together as a family

Happy 237th Birthday, Marines

                                    

       

me and the handsom Leiutenant Seymore

 

the officers' ball at the Richmond Convention Center

"posting the colors" - flag ceremony

 

the beautiful wives at our table

 

our yummy dinner

 

Becky and little baby King

 

I got the chance to wear my family heirloom that my dear grandmother gave me

birthday cake

 

one last picture together before we end the night

 

Halloween {part 1}

Fallon threw a fun little Halloween play date at the park yesterday for the kids. She made these yummy spider pot pies and I made some mini mummy hot dogs. It was so nice having our hubbies there too!

Isn't this the cutest little turle, rain cloud, chick, and skunk you've ever seen!?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life Lately

this week we...

PEAKS:

• the weather has been so beautiful. It's still not too cold so we've been going out for walks around the block this whole week.
• we had some fun time with our friends and they even made us a cake!
• i did something pretty courageous about something pretty crummy and i'm pretty proud of myself. i'll give you details on that later...
• chris' feet are doing great! he does have a few blisters and sores but definitely better than last time.
• i bought myself a box of oreos for next week! 

PITS:

• no cali... (i won't bring it up again, i promise).
• this week went by  s o o o o   s l o o o w w w  l y. . .
• chris had to go into work saturday morning at 4 am and will hopefully be home some time today (sunday).
• i had to go to church alone with the kids and we were 32 minutes late.
• i didn't work out at all this week. but i have had a violent cough which resulted in sore abs.



thank you bailey {the flores garden} for letting me steal your "peaks & pits" idea!!

the Dreaded Text...

...I received from Chris late Tuesday night

 

translation (for my non military friends who've been asking what this means): 

we are being moved to Camp Lejuene in North Carolina where we'll live for about  3 years. Chris' job is ground intelligence and apparently the only the infantry guys received their their duty station (where they will be living/working from). So we're hoping there is a possibility this will change.

I've been having a really hard time accepting this right now. I was really looking forward to going back home to California and that is all I had my mind set on. Our plan  was to drive across the country for the holidays with all of our belongings after he finished IOC. The kids and I would stay with family for a few months while Chris finished GIOC in Virginia Beach. I would find us a house and we'd be settling in by the time he got back. We had no other plans. There was no question in our minds that we would be going anywhere else, especially Lejuene. I say especially because at the beginning of this course we were asked to list the top 4 bases we'd prefer and it when like this: 1-Pendleton, CA; 2-Kaneohe Bay, HI; 3-Okinawa, Japan; 4-29 Palms, CA. Lejuen wasn't even on our list. The first thing that came to mind were my kids. I was so sad that they would be so far from family. I don't want them to be that distant relative that gets mentioned ever once in a while. I want their grandparents and aunts and uncle to really get to know Lincoln and Ella's cute and silly personalities and REALLY love them, not just love them because they're family. I was jealous that their cousins would have such a great relationship with their grandparents and my kids would be missing out on that special bond. I just wanted to go back home.

It's been hard for me to even talk about it. My mom and I haven't even spoken about it because I know neither one of us would be able to speak through the tears. My friends were sending me messages and texts trying to cheer me up, but I couldn't even take hearing it.

This was the main reason I didn't want to marry into the military. I moved around A LOT when I was younger (I'm talking 11 elementary schools! ((give or take a couple)). I have no idea what it's like to grow up in a certain neighborhood with the same friends, in the same school or church. At some schools I was the cool kid at others I was the outcast. That was the last thing I ever wanted to put my children through. When Chris and I were dating, almost engaged, he was looking into joining the military. I told him that I couldn't do it. As honorable as it is, I just couldn't be a part of it. I wasn't strong enough to handle that life style and I really didn't want anything to do with it. I told him I couldn't marry him if he joined the military. I know this sounds harsh, but I felt I was doing the right thing. I didn't want to string him along and get married hoping he'd change his mind, and give him hell when he did join. So we both thought a lot about it and Chris ended up looking into other options and finishing up school. I didn't hear again about the military until about 2 years into our marriage. It took a lot of praying and crying for me to realize that this is the job for him. I fell in love with a courageous, noble, fearless, strong, brave, loyal, inspiring man, and no desk job would be suitable for a guy like that. It's times like these (days/weeks/months without my husband, making and losing friends, moving far from home) that make it challenging for me to accept this life, but it makes it easier knowing that it is the right path for us. I'm working hard to embrace this life style, and there has definitely been some improvement.

The day after finding out where we'd be moving to, my friends invited me over for dinner. All I wanted to do was lay around in my pajamas all day and cry. I have the greatest friends! They threw me a "pity party" with a cake and all. They shared my pain and let me vent which is exactly what I needed. I felt so much better after that. Have I mentioned how amazing they are! Thank you so much, Kim, Crystal, and El for making me feel like what I was going through was normal and putting a smile back on my face.

So what are our plans now? Well, Chris and I don't have a plan... He has been so busy with work that we haven't even had a chance to talk about it... Or maybe neither of us is even ready to talk about it yet... I'll keep all of you posted as soon as we figure things out ourselves. I did however, make a few calls to a few important people, but that's a whole other post.

I have the best group of friends - have I said that yet?! They were all so quick to cheer me up and make me feel better about it all. I really couldn't ask for better people in my life. Thank you all for your kind words and being so great to me!

 

So lets start with some pros to living in North Carolina:

 

-I know some great wives already living there.

-the housing market is cheaper so we can buy more property there

 

...that's all I've got for now... 

 

New Outlook

i survived this week!...barely. one night, after going through the house and checking all the door and window locks for the third time, i forced myself to go to bed. i just kept praying for peace and comfort so that i could get some rest. i was finally in a deep sleep when ella woke up screaming and crying. i jumped up and screamed so loud which made her scream even more. i was still so out of it, i screamed "ella!" then i went and picked her up and realized no one had broken in and tried kidnapping my baby. ugh! my heart was racing like never before. i checked on lincoln and put her back to sleep. i was dreading going back to bed. i checked the time hoping it would soon be time for us to get up... it was only 11:48 pm. i was so bummed. i said another prayer, and tried not to be so paranoid. that was probably the hardest night for me, and thank goodness for under eye concealer.

the kids and i kept pretty busy this week. it was mainly the evenings that i wasn't looking forward to going back home alone. i did buy two cartons of ice cream and ate straight from the box - my loneliness got the best of me. but besides that, i'm surrounded by the greatest "wives" and i love spending time with them.

there was a spouses brief late thursday night and i can't even tell you how much i enjoyed it. i went to the last classes spouses meeting and i was tearing up the whole time because of how scary they made IOC sound even for us spouses. this time around it was completely different. the captain in charge, capt. cummings, was so friendly and he answered any questions we had (and we had a ton of questions). you could just tell he really cared about us and our husbands and that just brought me so much comfort. i left the meeting happy and in a way pumped with the feeling that everything is going to be ok. i had a new outlook on things and i just want to enjoy this time in my life as much as possible. maybe i was really excited too because captain cummings said he might have our orders to us by monday. so... i made it a point to go up to him after class and personally request that he send us the pendleton, ca! woo! i hope my dreams come true and i get to go back to the best state in the u.s. oh, and i get to be near family again. ha ha. 2 more days.... hopefully! (do you know how long i've been waiting to find out where the next few years of my life would be)?!

it is so nice to have chris home. it's amazing how much safer i feel at night with him by me. i just love feeling him near me, even if it's just my cold feet are touching his, or i have my hand reached over touching his side or only our figure tips are touching. what a difference it makes in making me feel so loved and protected. one good thing i'm getting out of being separated is learning to appreciate the little things and the things that truly make me happy. i'm really going to look at things in a more positive way. life really is great!

there are only  10 weeks left of IOC! i made this count down for chris with quotes, words of encouragement, and coupons from me. every week he'll tear one link off and we'll get to see how much closer to the end we are. (this might be more for me than him)!

 

Dear Monday...

...please go easy on me.

it's a new week! the kids and i are up early (not my choice), and we have a busy week ahead of us. i'm trying to stay positive and occupied as much as possible. last night i went to bed with anxiety about this upcoming week, and i usually never get anxiety about anything. i know i need to stay close to the Lord...i'm going to need all the help i can get. i have an amazing group of friends still here in VA and i know i can always go to them if i need anything. thank you kim, crystal, fallon, shannon, and even those far from me for being so supportive and making me feel like family.

 

in other news -- it's payday!!! that means i can finally buy the shirt i've been obsessing over! (buying stuff always makes me feel better) ha ha!

 

happy monday everyone!

 

My Little Lady's 1st Birthday!

Our little cupcakes turned 1

  Yesterday we celebrated Ella's birthday along with two other babies turning ONE. Little Gerard turned one on August 8th, Makai's birthday was August 9th, and my little Ella is one on August 15th. It was such a last minute combined party but it turned out so nice. It was a fun evening with our military family!  



I had so much fun crafting for Ella's table!

Fallon did a great job on Geradrs table too!

She was so delicate and dainty with her cake...

...then she started really digging in!

There's Gerard enjoying his yummy cake!

and my Linc-a-dinc with his chocolate cupcake!

Happy 1st birthday to our beautiful Ella-Bella!

cuddles with Dana!

with our pretty Camille and Marie

Girl time with Kim, Addie, Kerri, Bella, and Dana!

               

Jon, Kim, and baby Addie

Click here to see some more of her special day!