100's Night?

It looks as though we are 100 days until our PCS (Permanent Change of Station) to Georgia (approximately). I feel like Jason and I were still in our "honeymoon" state of mind during our last move (probably since we had JUST gotten back from our honeymoon). I plan to be as organized and prepared as possible. I got my Military Spouse magazine in the mail yesterday and it could not have been a better issue. It was their "PCS Issue" and had a TON of wonderful information on what to expect and how to prepare for a new place. There was an article about a Navy Wife who PCS'd from Hawaii to Twenty Nine Palms in the desert of Southern California. She said she was angry and felt abandoned by her deployed husband. She talks about how she made their new base a home and got involved doing things she loved and meeting new people. She ends her story by this wonderful quote:

"As Military spouses, we have it made. We get to travel the world and meet wonderful new people we never might have had the courage to meet if we weren't thrown in feet first. It might take a while to adjust, but it will be worth the wait. So go find the gems hidden in your new duty station - believe me, they're there. Even if they are buried in sand."


There is also a wonderful article about the importance of keeping in touch with your friends from a previous base. It's like this issue was written for me! It goes to show that I am not the only one with these difficulties and questions about the big move.

God worked wonders in my heart today at church. I was feeling really excited about moving to Georgia, but I know myself well, and knew with all the excitement, I forget about the wonderful friends and church I will be leaving behind. I received prayer and was immediately overwhelmed with an equal sense of excitement and sadness. God has blessed us abundantly here in Bloomington, and I am 100% sure He will do so in Valdosta. BUT, with those blessings we have become close to people, and are not ready to leave them yet. Through my last few moves (Colorado, Back and forth to California and Indiana) I detached myself from everything in the last few months of our stay, but this time I am going to savor every moment with our "family" here in Indiana. Better get ready to see entirely too much of me, Bekah ;)

On an non-PCS note, Jason and I saw Act of Valor yesterday. It was amazing! It got awful reviews, but the guys in it aren't actors, they are active duty Navy Seals. It makes me so thankful that Jason isn't a Navy Seal, but also so thankful for the men who risk their lives in missions most American's don't even know happen. I would definitely recommend it :)

Georgia on my mind.

Yes, it looks like we are going to be heading to Moody Air Force Base in Georgia this June. We are SO excited that we finally found out (well, it's 99% that we are going there and you never know with the military...). We have heard GREAT things about this area of Georgia from guys who have been to the base and people who have lived in Georgia. I know God has a plan for us there and we can't wait to see what it is. But, at the same time, we are heartbroken that we have to leave our wonderful friends here in Indiana. We have created such wonderful, lifelong friendships here in such a short time, it's going to be really difficult to drive away from all of that.

We have already started looking at houses since we will be leaving in about 3 months! I feel like we are at USAFA all over again. Wait, wait, wait, then everything happens way too quickly. I've been in a state of constant prayer and feel really comforted about it all. Since we aren't 100% sure Georgia is the place, we are waiting a couple of weeks before we talk to anyone about houses. Base housing would be ideal, but that is not always available. We plan to take a long weekend to drive down there in the next month so we can look at the area and some houses. We won't be doing another "site unseen" like we did here in Bloomington.

The job Jason will be doing will really help his career. He will be one of two Public Affairs Officers at the base working with the rescue ops helicopter unit. And IF they decide to send him to tech school for Public Affairs, it will be in Maryland, so not too far of a flight for me to go visit :)

Recent Happenings at the Gabrick Home

Still no news on where we are going... We know less now then what we knew before. Our placement guy (that's his official name) told us that the list we were looking at was not accurate and that they don't have an accurate list up. So we are back to being able to go ANYWHERE in the world. I am still getting the dogs ready for a possible overseas trip, but it is so hard since every country (even Hawaii) have different laws on what they need done. I should be stressed, but I'm not. I know wherever we go we will be blessed!

Jason's mom came out to the Hoosier state for a quick visit this weekend. She arrived Thursday evening and headed to Arizona this morning to visit some of her family down there. We had such a great time with her! We went to Oliver Winery and then headed to Indianapolis yesterday for lunch and to see Lucas Oil Stadium since none of us had seen where the Super Bowl was this year. It was a wonderful weekend with family!

Jason showing his mom around IU

Last weekend I had a great girls night with some of the girls from our church small group, and when Jason came to pick me up he told me he found a dog outside near our house in 15 degree snowy night. We drove around for a while trying to find the owner and posted some stuff online about a found dog but didn't get anything. This puppy was the noisiest thing I have ever met! She cried all night and all day. We ended up taking her to the Bloomington Animal Shelter the next morning to find out that out that she had been adopted out of there not too long ago and the owner was out across the street neighbor. Jason took her over there and they had NO CLUE that she had even gotten out. They were still hung over from the night before :( The poor girl would have frozen if we hadn't picked her up when we did. Some people just shouldn't own animals...

Jason spoiled me on Valentine's Day. I came home from work and he had made steak, potatoes, rolls and strawberry shortcake. I had a dozen roses, the new twilight DVD, a "I love my hubby" shirt and a box of chocolates. He even printed a menu for the meal he made :) I'm so blessed to have a husband like him.

Dinner table set for Valentine's Day :)

I love him! I HAD to wear pink scrubs to work ;)

Dinner menu.

Shirt from my hunny!

I love cherries so Jason got these soaked in Moonshine...

Not so tasty.

My roses :)

Work is finally starting to slow down a bit for me. I worked my 109 hours in two weeks, got really sick, missed some work, and now they are planning on hiring some one else to ease the load a little. It will be nice to be able to see my hubby once in a while. I even got a day off in the middle of the week (today) because the Doctor is sick.

We saw The Vow and Red Tails as a "double feature Valentine's date" last weekend. The Vow was AMAZING! I loved every minute of it, Red Tails was less then wonderful. The story was good (could have been better) but the acting was horrible :( We were really sad because we had heard it was good. Jason kept apologizing to me for making me see it haha. He made it up to me by seeing The Vow.

I've done two crafts since my last blog. They were pretty small and easy, but I love them! The first one I did was made a jar for all of our memories in 2012. Anytime we have something we want to remember or write down how we felt about an event, we write it down on a piece of paper and put it into this jar :) The other craft I did was one that I have been thinking about for years. I gathered all of mine and Jason's letters to each other from the Prep School basic and USAFA BCT, put them in chronological order and into a binder. It was so fun to go through all the old letters and see how much we have grown and how much in love we still are today. It was a hard 5 years, but we knew from the beginning we were going to make it through. I also put our first conversation into the front of the binder. Since we started out relationship on Myspace, we have it all written down.

I always loved to draw Jason fun pictures :)

I'm going to end this long blog with something that God has shown me these past few weeks. I have been working a lot and Jason has had a pretty light schedule, so I would come home to a clean house and dinner during the week. It was definitely trying on both of us, but God has shown us what it will be like for the other one for the rest of our marriage. Jason will be working long hours and I will be home with kids and (hopefully) a clean house and dinner. It put things into perspective for us, and I hope we will grow from it and remember what it was like for the other person when that time comes :)

And finally... Misty in cowboy boots ;)

Crafts and Combat Cam

Here we are in February already. I can't believe we are already talking about leaving Indiana. I feel like we just got here. No word on out next duty station yet, but the list is down to just six bases. NONE of them are out of the Unites States... which makes me happy but also a bit scared for the future. Our six remaining bases are USAFA, Denver, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, and North Dakota. There are pros and cons for all of them, but that is to be said for any base we could potentially be stationed at. We keep praying and waiting to see what our future holds :)

This past weekend Jason and I did some crafts (Jason's craft was gluing one thing.. and it took him about 5 mins.) We went to Hobby Lobby on Saturday morning to gather all the supplies for the two crafts I decided to do (found on Pinterest, of course). Here are the finished products!

The three hearts are Northern California (met and married)

Colorado Springs / Air Force Academy 

and Bloomington, Indiana (our first home together)

Since I am always leaving my flat iron and blow dryer on

the counter, when I showed this to Jason he was all for it!

He glued the magazine holder to the inside of our bathroom

cabinet door and behold the perfect holder! 

Jason and I have talked at length about what he will be doing in the Air Force after we leave Indiana and he told me his dream is to become a Combat Camera commander. He would be in charge of a squadron of  airmen who take video and photos of combat for historical and training purposes. Here is a video of what he would love to be doing.

Work has not slowed down for me since the beginning of January, but I only have two more weeks of this crazy schedule before I go back to my normal days. :) Jason's school is going well, he is ready to be done with his master's and back in the Air Force, though.

"The Lord himself goes before you..."

Well, the new year has started out very busy! I can't believe we are already over halfway through the month. Jason's birthday was the 13th, and we went to an Indiana University basketball game. They have won 5 NCAA championships and were doing really well this year, so we wanted to see a game since IU is known for basketball. It was a great experience, and quite different then attending USAFA football or basketball games. Probably because attendance is not mandatory at IU like it is at USAFA, so the people who go really want to see the game. Anyway, they played Minnesota who are an unranked team (IU was 6 or 7 at the time) and they lost. Oh well, we saw a game. Here are some pictures...

Had to wear "Crimson" :)

We have a list of 15(+/-) bases that we can possibly get stationed at after we leave here. They range from Germany and England to North Dakota, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Washington and Colorado. I know I am forgetting a lot, but even with this list there are so many possibilities. I feel like I should be stressed about it, but I am not. I got an amazing text from my friend, Bekah, the other day. I have been worried about going to Japan because of traveling with the dogs and not sure what to expect going to Asia for three years. When I told her they took Japan off the list this is what she said.

"That is such good news, I have been praying that God keeps you from there and that wherever you go there will be a community of believers. Just felt that God would give you a better understanding of His church as you move from place to place. That He would even care for you guys through His church"

We have only been here six months and I don't want to leave. I have grown so much in my walk with Jesus these past months. But God will bless us wherever we go as long as we keep our eyes on Him and not lose focus that He has a reason for wherever we will go. Even Japan. Not sure that is a possibility anymore (it was taken off the list) but I am at peace with going anywhere. 

I bought a book called "Faith Deployed... Again" it is the second book full of daily encouragement for Military wives. I have only read about 20 pages or so in it, but it is amazing! It is written as stories from a bunch of military wives in all the branches. It reminds me a little of the Chicken Soup books but they also have questions to ask yourself at the end and ideas on how to pray about changing what you are struggling with. One that hit home for me and my current situation of the unknown is called "The Reluctant Military Wife" and the verse is Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." The wife writing the story tells about how her husband was in the reserves and then went active duty after 9/11. She said no. But felt that God would not release the calling He had for her husband to go active duty. She was terrified, but God kept reminding her of Joshua 1:9.  Another verse she quoted in her short story was Deuteronomy 31:8 "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave of forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged." God will go before us to every base we will ever live at. Now if that's not comforting, I don't know what is! 

Jason stared his Spring semester last week and he told me it is going to be a pretty laid back semester. He still has to be putting out at least 1 story per shift at the WTIU news station, but he was already doing that last semester so it's not a huge change. After this semester he has one summer class he needs to take before we head out. We know it starts first thing in the summer, but we don't know when it ends... which is the important part. We will have to leave the day after he finishes school, so we are anxiously awaiting the end date of his program. I have been working my poor little life away. Three days a week I am gone for almost 12 hours and the other two I am gone for about 11hours. I only have to be working these long hours until February 20th when out third assistant comes back from maternity leave. More hours = closer to future baby Gabrick! ;)

2011 - A Year to Remember!

I can't believe 2011 is over! I feel like Jason and I have been waiting for 2011 our entire relationship and now it is over and we are moving into the next phase of our life. 2011 was very good to us, and to a lot of our family and friends. But I am ready for 2012 and all the wonderful blessings God has in store for us. We know it's going to be a year of a lot of changes and another move, but we are faithful that God will provide for us and send us to the place where He wants us and where we will prosper :)

Christmas was a wonderful time for us this year. We were not sure how we would feel being home here in Indiana, but we were happy to spend it together without all the stresses of traveling during the holidays. We were able to Skype with both of our families, which made it feel like we were together :)

New Years (for me) was not quite as fun as we had planned. I got sick with the flu the night before New Years Eve and fell asleep around 8pm. To make a bad situation worse, Jason's friend, Palmer, was here for a visit and I felt like I hardly got to spend any time with him. Thankfully, him and Jason went over to our friend's, Michael and Bekah's house for New Years Eve and had a great night of fellowship and Bag of Nouns playing.

Jason starts his Spring semester tomorrow! This semester he is taking Visual Communication and the final course for his Digital Journalism Practicum. I can't believe we are already halfway done with our stay here in Indiana. It's going to be bittersweet when we leave here. We have grown to love our life here in Bloomington and all the amazing friends we have made. I know this is the life we have signed up for with the Air Force, but that does not make it any easier. Jason will have a summer course to take, but that can be over as early as June or as late at the end of July. We have a list of 15 bases that we can potentially go to next. They vary from Germany, England and Japan to North Dakota, New Jersey, Colorado, Washington, California and Texas. So really, we still have no clue where we are heading.

Here are some pictures from Christmas!

Christmas Eve in Downtown Bloomington

Christmas morning - Misty waiting patiently for her toy.

His & Hers coffee mugs from Jason :)

Snuggie love!

New purse from my mom.

Weights for Jason

Cooking dinner.

Jason bought this recordable book for our

future children.

Ready for dinner.

We're pretty awesome.

I know that if 2012 is half a wonderful as 2011 was, we will have a great year. We are really looking forward to the new adventure that we have ahead of us this year. I know there will be ups and downs, but we will keep our eyes on God and keep loving each other through it all!

Blessings, Christmas Tree and WTIU

This morning I was reading my Bible and praying about money and how much more we need in order to get to a place to expand our little family. I finally felt like I actually gave it up to God. Sometimes I will pray something and say the words, but not really mean them. I meant it with all my heart this morning. And God is so good, this afternoon at work I was offered two extra days per week working the front desk. I only work three (sometimes four) days per week and this will put me at 40+ hours and full time work. I knew I was going to get four full days, but the extra day just shows how much control God has over everything and He knows what is best. I was beginning to have second thoughts on if this job is where I should be, but now I have no doubt at all.

"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

We bought our Christmas tree this past week! It was so exciting bringing it home and watching Jason set it up. It felt like home having our own tree, and it will make our little Christmas that much better. I love opening ornaments because I always forget about some and it's a surprise when I find ones that I love but don't think about throughout the year. My mom gets all her "kids" and herself a new ornament each year and I love seeing the change every year.

All finished decorating -- after searching in four stores for 

more lights and a tree skirt :)

Lumberjack Jason!

2005 - 2010 minus 2007 which works since that was 

the year my mom had pneumonia.

Seems like just yesterday :)

The first ornaments we put on the tree.

Mine is a childhood unicorn (with a broken horn)

Jason's is the Air Force one he made.

Beautiful!

Jason finished his Feature Story this past week and it was published online. The story is about a man whose wife passed away from an unknown cause of death and he is seeking answers from the hospital. Jason did an amazing job on the story and spent many long hours on it. I'm so proud of him. Here is the link to the story. 

http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/spencer-resident-campaigns-answers-wifes-death-24562/

Jason is finishing up his fall semester this week. We can not believe how quickly our time here is going by. He was on live television last week to help with the WTIU pledge drive. He did such a great job and when we get the DVD of it, we'll share :) For now, here is a picture.