Persistence pays...

(Disclaimer: This is NOT a post about tithing...)

If you know my husband at all you know he can be pretty persistent when he's trying to get something he wants.
Well while he was here we did (alot of) some shopping for him. He wanted a new backpack so we headed to REI...haven't heard of it? Well neither had I until he told me that's where we were going. Its like an outdoorsy type store. We got there and he picked out the backpack he wanted so we headed to the counter to pay for it....

Attempt #1 for a discount "So this is 50% off right?"....nope
Attempt #2.... "So I get a discount for being in the military right?"....No but you can sign up for an REI card and get 15% back at the end of the year...okay sounds good
Attempt #3....pull the I have a cute pregnant wife card....definatly a no
Attempt #4, 5, 6.....all a blur mixed into the very short conversation with the sales girl.

So I continue to pay for the backpack not paying any attention at all to the price and say Thanks and Goodbye, having been embarrassed one more time by my obnoxious husband. On the way to the car Nathan says "Did you see how much it was?"
"No I wasn't paying attention."
"So you just throw our money around like its nothing huh?"

Well we get to the car and Nathan makes me look at the receipt to see how much we paid...
Right there on the receipt it said "10% line disc." What is a "line discount"? We don't know and we don't care.

Nathan got us a 10% discount on a $160.00 backpack

because he's annoying.

Love you Babe!!!

Now onto the next phase....

Here's a couple pics of Nathan and Kaylin spending some quality time together...AT HOME!!!
We weren't expecting Nathan to be able to come home. The plan was for me to stay in Georgia until Monday when we thought he had to be back for Airborne training. Well the day of graduation they inform Nathan he doesn't have to be back at the base until Wednesday! So of course we immediately find somewhere with internet access so we could find him some airplane tickets! $800 later he was home with us! (He even got on our same flight home which was awesome!) Oh and I didn't get to use the $220 ticket I purchased for Monday when I found out he had the weekend off...which we didn't find out until like 2 weeks before graduation....gotta love the army!!! Anyway...money issues aside...Nathan was here from late Friday night til late Tuesday night. It was so nice! I really cannot wait til we get to be together as a family again...this whole thing sucks!

So as of right now Nathan is in "airborne holdover". He's still at Ft. Benning just waiting to start Airborne school next Thursday....Hopefully. Airborne school is 3 weeks long and if I go into labor at anytime I can call and they will send him home for 10 days. After he's done with Airborne they will be sending him to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina where he will be training for the Special Forces. He was 1 of 4 guys chosen out of about 300 guys to go try for Special Forces! It really is an honor! And shows what a great job he did during Basic. The first month is kind of the "try it out and see month" where he can say nevermind or they can say he isn't fit for this. If he makes it through the first month then he'll go through selections (where they choose guys out of the few that made it through the first month). If he makes selections he'll be in Special Forces (Green Baret) training for about a year and a half. We're hoping that after selections I'll be able to go live with him while he trains. If he doesn't make it through selections then we'll be stationed somewhere.

Whew...hope you made it through all that! And I hope you understood it all!

Graduation Day! April 17th!

The graduation was such a great experience! I can't believe it already came and went.
Here's the 2 platoons all lined up....they had to stand like this forever!!! It was crazy! Nathan's in the left group. He was in the front row too which was nice cuz we could see him the whole time. They line them up tallest in front to shortest in back...weird huh?? I'm not complaining tho since Nathan is 6'4!
Here he is...3rd one from the left. I just LOVE how he looks in his uniform!! I can't get over it!

Here they are walking around the field...they did this at the very end...the only time they got to move the ENTIRE time!!
Nathan's in the middle if you couldn't tell. :)
We got to go down to the field and meet up with him after the graduation was over. He DID IT!!! He said it was easy but I know he went through a lot to get to this point and I am SOOO PROUD!!! Wish you all could have been there!

Turning Blue Ceremony

Here's some pics from Nathan's "Turning Blue Ceremony". It's when they officially become infantrymen. This was the day before he graduated. It was pretty cool! I got to put the blue cord on his shoulder (which you can't see in any of the pics...sorry). Isn't he SOOO handsome!?!?!
First time in 15 weeks we were together as a family!!! (I HATE being separated like this!!) And yes, I'm VERY pregnant. 35 weeks in this pic....cut off day for flying is 36 weeks so I BARELY was able to go!
Hope you can see Nathan in this pic...this is when they first walked onto field. (He's in the second group on the far left)
OH MAN!! Just look at him!! I am so proud of my husband! He's doing an amazing job! (3rd from the left in the back)

Weirdo!!!

Here's my hott husband on his last pass. What is a pass you might ask...well its when the Privates get a few hours break to do things they need/want to do. Some examples of things they do on pass are...
Laundry...
Phone calls...
Sit on the toilet as long as you want...
Internet...
Write letters...
Shopping at the PX...
You know all the fun stuff there is to do at Boot Camp...
Well what did my WEIRDO husband do on his last pass? He RAN!! 4 miles with a 60 pound Ruck Sack on his back!!! WHAT!?!?! Haven't you had enough of that?!?! No wonder he's so hott!

He did send this pic and then call me after his run so I can't complain. I mentioned to him that he's there getting in the best shape of his life and I'm here getting bigger and bigger by the hour. And what did my sweet husband say? "That's just our jobs right now Babe." Man I love him!

He's still a weirdo though!

Scratch that....

I knew this was gonna happen. I spoke WAY too soon.
We are no longer going to New York! YAY!
Nathan is no longer coming home with me after he graduates...BOO!
He'll be doing Airborne training for 3 weeks after he graduates! YAY! (Airborne training is good when your in the army...for all you clueless people out there:)
He probably won't be home when I have this sweet baby girl. BOO! (Not because of the airborn training...he got selected for something but I'll tell you more about that when we decide for sure what we're gonna do about it)

Thats all I have to say for now......

I'll let you know as soon as I know whats to come after all this.

I'm completely relying on the Lord at this point and I'm so grateful to know that our lives are in his hands.