Our life is crazy, but good...
2012 is the year for change---- and I dont mean the kind of "Hope and Change" we've been dealing with the past couple of years, but I mean REAL change for our Studer family.
The year kicked off with the biggest decision we could have made- to leave the Marine Corps after 9 years of service. There are many reasons why we have decided this..and even now sometimes, we ask ourselves if we are making the right decision?? The military is beneficial in so many ways...
Its scary.
Ive really only known my husband as a Marine, since we struck up our friendship officially the night before he left for bootcamp. Its a long, intricate story, but really the Marine Corps is all we have known together..... and without it, I am a little timid about what we will be. I know it doesn't define who we are or how much we love eachother, but it has become a lifestyle and an identity for Levi. He was just 18 when he signed his life away for at least a little while. He's been shipped all around the world and given a job title at such a young age and being told what to do and how to do it for so long.
Like many other military families, events the Marine Corps brought us to have forever shaped our lives. Who wouldve thought I would have to have my first baby without him by my side. I remember hearing stories of that happening {before it happened to me}, and I would sit with my mouth wide open and say "oh, I could NEVER go through that."
Well...I must have jinxed myself because the exact day we got notice he was deploying, I found out we were expecting....he left 2 days after we found out we were having a girl.We decided her name over dinner at a mexican restaurant the day before he left......he got to hear his first daughter cry through the phone my mom left on for his sake{without my knowledge}- wasn't too happy about that one.
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Fast forward a couple of years, and now we are a recruiting family in Arizona. No one seems to understand that Marines are everywhere. Even without a base, there are military families scattered throughout the United States, and yes, they are still Marines- just a tough as any other. The families often endure just as many hardships {and different ones} than those who are around a base.
I could make a list, but wont.
If you know a Marine, you know they are some of the hardest working men and women out there.
So, what is next? How will my Marine-man go through this new stage without "Sgt." before his name.??
I have a feeling he's going to be answering his phone with: "Sgt. Studer, how may I help you sir, or ma'am?" for quite a while.
As of right now, we are in the middle of a lot of pending things.
1)We are finalizing his resume
2) Searching for potential jobs
2) Trying to sell a house we had to leave behind 2 years ago in North Carolina that is sucking our bank account dry
3) Chasing down a hard-to-find insurance adjuster who owes us money from hurricane Irene's damage 7 months ago
...stick a demanding recruiting job, and 2 daughters on top of all of that- we have a lot on our plates.
Luckily, we have God who can carry a lot of plates...I kind of picture one of those amazing waiters/waitresses who has plates up and down their arms...heck, He can even carry them on his head if he had to.
For now, I just take one day at a time......and today happens to be my littlest beauty's Happy Half Birthday! How could half of a year fly by so quickly?
Today we celebrated with a trip to the children's museum where we had TONS of fun.
I am choosing to look past the crying the whole way there, the knick in my windshield I got ON the way there, and the full parking lot once we got there.
I have 2 amazing daughters.
I'd love to hear comments, if someone happens to ever read my blog. Feel free to share with a friend. In the midst of all of this change, I left my thriving crafty page to start what seems to be me just talking to the cyberspace... and that is ok too. ;)