Remembering We're Blessed, Even When We Feel Absolutely Defeated...

We have had yet ANOTHER hectic, crazy past couple of weeks! After Brent's TBS graduation, we hugged mom and dad Watson goodbye, and slowly began our journey to Camp Lejeune, in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Before we journeyed there, we got the opportunity to stay with Brent's Aunt and Uncle who live about two hours from Jacksonville. What an incredibly fun and relaxing time we had. There's nothing better than hearing stories of my husbands younger days with his brothers. What a goofy group of young boys they were, and probably the best was hearing some unforgettable stories about my father-in-law, and the things my husband would say to his mother and father in his younger years. Now I completely understand why he was called, "Boris" all growing up. Describing him as ornery doesn't quite suffice. Mom and Dad, he was worse than ME! ;)

After our awesome stay with Aunt Linda and Uncle Gary, they made sure we were fully stocked with food and they sent us on our way to our new home area. We were going to Lejeune to attempt to get housing at Brent's new duty station. We had no idea what the housing office would say. We didn't know if we would be able to get a house on base, or if we would have to get an apartment while they put our name on the waiting list for housing. Well, we got lucky! The housing office at Lejeune (for some reason) had more than 30 homes available for immediate move in, and they were able to put us in a house right away! We even had the opportunity to go on a walk-through in the housing options (a one or two story house) before we committed to one. After walking through, what now is our house, we knew that's what we wanted! We went back to the office, and were told we could get the keys on August 6th, and we sat there thinking, "Hm...." Oh, no! We wanted the keys right then, but that wasn't going to happen. We had no idea what we were supposed to do for a whole WEEK until we got the keys to our house. But, mom Watson came through and saved the day, like she always seems to... I called her and explained how we had a week to spare before we got the keys to her house, and she was hanging out with a friend that owns a beach house at Ocean Isle Beach, in North Carolina, which was only about two hours away from base. My moms friend said we could go stay at their beach house for the week until we moved in! How amazing! We definitely lucked out with getting the opportunity to stay at a beautiful beach house for a whole week.

Annnnnnd, we have moved into our new home. We love it! It's little, and it's perfect. It is a one story, three bedroom/3 bath home on base at Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina. We have hardwood floors, a kitchen with nice new appliances, and a very BIG master closet! We also have his and her sinks. :) Our house came with a TWO car garage, and with our luck in the past three weeks, the garage is something that comforts us as far as security goes.

If you're curious what we mean by needing to feel an extra sense of security, here's the story-

We were robbed, again. Last time it was Brent's legacy sword and dress blues cover, and this time it was a little bit of everything. We drove out to Camp Lejeune a day early to attempt to figure out moving our things from Shawnee, KS to our new duty station, and also look into buying some furniture. We were excited! After all, these are supposed to be the exciting days of our lives! Moving in together after being newly married... We got our excitement toned back quite a bit after the robbery. We stayed at a local Jacksonville hotel the night before we got the keys to our home. We had my Acura filled with luggage and random moving things, and Brents Honda was also filled with stuff from his room at TBS. We just wanted a good nights sleep, and at about 5:45am we got a pounding on our hotel room door. It was the Jacksonville police informing us that they had gotten a call that one of our vehicles doors were wide open. My heart sank. It was Bren'ts car and sure enough when we walked out with the police, the doors were wide open. There were two suitcases in the back seats, and one bag in the front seat, and his trunk was FILLED with a list of very expensive uniforms and various items. The trunk was not open, so we had no idea what the robbers actually got away with.. We knew that Brent's Marine Corps Dress Blues were gone, and a ton of my clothes all of which were in the suitcases in the front and back seats of the car. We were told not to touch a thing, because the police were having try and get fingerprints. This just happened to us a little over a week ago and this Honda was turing into a nightmare for us. After fingerprints were taken, we were finally able to open the trunk and answer the question of, "How bad is bad?" I am thanking God still to this minute that the trunk had not been touched! Everything that was stolen is replaceable. I am thankful for that. We had another answered prayer happen when we called our insurance company to check and see if there was any chance car theft would be covered... Good news, our renters insurance, that I called and added to our policy the day before our theft was going to cover this theft! The adjustor on the phone said that our renters insurance came into effect less than eight hours before we called our insurance company. Praise God, or what?! Through the heartbreak, our ever-faithful God, our friends and our family were able to comfort us more than ever! Counting blessings even in defeat can lift your spirit more than you know!

This is the beautiful beach house we were able to stay at for the week we were waiting to get into our house!

This is our new home for the next few years! I can't wait to add some beautiful flowers and of course, our American Flag! (This picture is before I ripped up that ugly bush to the left of our front door.)

That's all for today!

Next Post? Freedom tour, our vacation to Kansas City and making our house a home (with no help to the moving company, of course!).


-Ogden Love

"How do I tell Dad his 31 year old sword was stolen?"

What a CRAZY week we have had!

To start it all out, we had the blessing of having mom and dad Watson fly in from Kansas City on Tuesday evening to sit beside me (Destiny) as my husband accomplished his SECOND major feat in his Marine Corps career. Besides Mama Sheila, I couldn't imagine anyone else I wanted to share my happiness and express how proud I was of Brent than my parents. It was also perfect for us to be able to show them around the town(s) I have been driving around in, living in and getting familiar with for the past six months.

After my parents flight got in, we drove them to the Marine Corps Museum where they were having Bravo Company & their families meet for guided tours, and just enjoy the company of other Marines in Bravo Company. Brent was so over everything though, he was ready to leave and get dinner, so needless to say, my parents didn't get the whole Marine Corps Museum tour that my dad was eager to get. Don't worry, we plan on taking them today before they leave town!

So, we headed to a nice relaxing dinner at Applebees, and afterwards called it a night to get some rest. Brent had to go back to his barracks and clean, so we dropped him off and headed back home to sleep!

They made it safely! 

Me and my freakishly good-looking husband! 

Wednesday morning we woke up and had to be on base by 0830/8:30am to begin the graduation celebrations. Good thing we have some smart planners in the Marine Corps, because they came prepared to feed and wake up the families with hundreds of boxes of Dunkin' Donuts and Dunkin' Donuts COFFEE! Anyone that knows me knows, I hate coffee... but I was happy my parents were able to enjoy a nice cup of joe to open their eyes. After all, it is an hour earlier for their bodies and minds!

We were able to get a tour of Camp Barrett, where Brent had spent the past six months training, so we of course walked to the O-Course (obstacle course) on Camp Barrett. We were able to have Brent walk us through the different obstacles, and if anyone knows me, I wanted to try!

Snapping a pic before I got all nasty and sweaty from attempting the O-Course!

He made it look WAY too easy! 

Dad giving it a go!

My mom as cute as ever, isn't she the cutest?!

This was very difficult! Hahaha 

This one wasn't what we expected- I was hanging very limp on my rope and we wanted a picture with both of us smiling at the camera, and well, my rope said, "Not in my house!" But this still ended up a pretty cute photo!

After our exercise at the O-course, we were ready to head back to the house and take a nap. Brent went to get his car and we drove to Mama Sheila's house to relax before graduation later that evening. This is where our day went way south immediately... When Brent got to Sheila's we were unloading his car so he could have his uniform in the house to get ready for graduation. As we were unloading the car Brent started to notice things were missing. One being his dress blues cover, and the other being his Mameluke sword, which is a legacy sword passed down from his father. This is the sword his father used while he was in the Marine Corps. It is a 31 year old sword that had both his father's name and Brent's name engraved in it. It was missing. Brent's heart sank and we both immediately started calling around to his buddies and thinking of all the possibilities this sword could have ended up. We called the barracks where Brent lived at TBS, they checked his room- nothing. We called his buddies and begged them to check their cars multiple times thinking there could have been a CHANCE their stuff got mixed up- nothing. We came back with nothing. As the afternoon progressed, we began accepting the fact that this sword, that had a irreplaceable value, was gone. Gone. Brent was supposed to be celebrating accomplishing some of the roughest months of his life, and he couldn't do anything but focus on how he was going to tell his father that this sword was missing. After Brent recited the previous evenings happenings in his mind over and over, we came to no other conclusion than it was stolen from his car. How could that happen though? On a Marine Corps training base? We couldn't wrap our heads around it and we were just heartbroken. 

The day carried on, and so did we.. we had to make it to Graduation by 5:30pm. We began pulling numbers for pawn shops in the area to just make sure they were aware to look for a sword if someone was trying to pawn it. We contacted Military Police but they said we would have to go in and make a formal statement, but that was going to have to wait until after graduation. Graduation was awesome, I was able to experience an amazing Marine Corps "tradition" and see my husband walk across that stage and know that WE DID IT. We made it through these horrible six months! (Graduation pictures will be posted at the end)

After graduation, Brent said his goodbyes to his buddies he's lived with and grown very close to over the past six months. He said goodbye to his "Guy Babes" as they all call each other. Aw, cute right? Hahaha (rolls eyes) ;). We made our way to the Military Police to make a statement about the sword. My parents waited in the car while Brent and I went in together, but after a while I decided to go check in with my parents and let them know it wouldn't be much longer. As I was in the car I was praying over and over for a miracle and that this sword would just show up! I held on to Brent's phone at graduation, so it was turned off and as I was waiting for Brent in the car I turned his phone on by the off chance that he may have gotten a message about the sword...? Well, sure enough God answers prayers! He had a voicemail from one of his buddies at TBS telling Brent to call another TBS buddy because he had info on a sword... MY HEART DROPPED! I didn't want to get my hopes up, but HOLY COW, THE SWORD! I immediately called the fellow Marine that we were told to call and I just blurted out, "Where is it?!" I pleaded for him to know or have it, and he said he didn't have it but he had the contact for the Marine that found it! We then contacted another Marine that we heard had it, but he said, no I don't have it but a 2nd LT in Bravo Company walked to his car this morning and found it, laying in the bed of his truck, ALONG with Brent's dress-blues cover! We immediately called the LT that had the sword and he was as confused as ever as to how this random sword ended up in the bed of his truck! We, ladies and gentleman, experienced a miracle! I RAN into the police station where Brent was writing a statement and I just said, "They found it! SOMEONE FOUND IT!" Unbelievable, really. The Military Police were just as shocked as the both of us. 

We don't know exactly what happened.  How did it end up there?  Did it sprout legs and walk over to the truck?  Did someone take it, realize it had two names on it and was thus worthless to them, and just dump it in a truck?  Who knows. There were countless visitors, Marines, and civilians on base yesterday.  Whatever happened, we're glad it turned up.  

So, our day ended with smiles on all of our faces and our hearts rose with extreme happiness and relief! 

TBS GRADUATION:

Brent Graduating

Me and HUBBY after Graduation!

Mom and Dad Watson, with us!

A few of the, "guy babes!" Wait, is Shulkosky smiling?

Now, Brent and I are off to Lejeune to sort out some housing! Brent has a month off, so we plan to relax and do some traveling. We will keep you all posted on our happenings and adventures. 

Keep checking back! Wedding pictures to come! :)

So, the journey continues......

.... and so it begins

If you're reading this, I have successfully posted our first, "blog post" on the new blog!

I had many reasons for wanting to start a blog, the main one being it will be such an amazing way for our family and friends to be in the "know" about our life as a married couple in the Marine Corps! I kept thinking to myself, "I can't keep writing novels on my Facebook status' about the happenings in our life, there's got to be a better way!" & here, I've found that. There will be ups and downs on our journey and I plan on being as transparent as my husband will allow ;)... But seriously, we are open diaries ready to be scribbled in, laughed about, and cried on.

To get a good start on this & to fully make it a successful post, I feel I need to express how the last six months has changed my life, and how my life has changed in the past six months. First of all, I was a child of civilian parents my whole life, so every single step I've taken into the life of a military spouse has been... different. With the help of my husbands amazing parents, & my brother-in-laws wife, (who have spent, and are spending a good number of years in the military as well), I've been able to keep my sanity, while keeping a smile on my face. I will have to keep my promise of transparency here-- this life is still hard. There's not another way to put it. I have military friends and family, and I see their struggles. I am aware in my days as a military spouse I will encounter hardships, but any life outside of a military life also encounters hardships, even though they are very different hardships. I have learned patience & I've been angry. I've learned what ghost turds are & I've learned all about the chain of command. I have cried, and cried, and cried. We have also been able to visit one of the coolest cities in America on a weekly basis! We have learned we are in this together & the journey ain't always gonna be easy. ;)

My husband is graduating TBS (The Basic School) on Wednesday! For anyone that doesn't know what The Basic School is, it is his second round of training in the Marine Corps. Officers go to TBS after they have commissioned, or in other words, taken the oath to serve & protect our America. At TBS Marine Officers learn the skills of provisional rifle platoon commanders. At TBS, the officers learn what their MOS will be (military occupational specialty), and he will learn all about their MOS. TBS is in Quantico, Virginia, which is about 40 miles south of Washington DC. It is a six month training school, which in my husbands words, "HAS SUCKED!" He has found out that his MOS is an adjutant. He has done a phenomenal job, but he and I are more than ready for the next phase! We have been living separate from each other for the first part of our marriage, so wifey is ready to have a home with her hubby. We are off to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina & we are ready!

So, the journey will continue.....