Today it has been 1 week since the kids and I took Blake to Crescent Junction to meet his recruiter. The day before we had tried to spend as much time as we could together having fun. We had our good friends, Cory and Crystal Raisor and their family come over for dinner that night. Afterwards, Cory gave Blake a wonderful blessing that made Blake feel ready to go. We had to meet his recruiter at Crescent Junction north of Moab since he was coming from Grand Junction. I think Blake had the hardest time saying goodbye. I don't think it seemed real to the rest of us yet. when we got back to Blanding, the kids wanted to go to the rest of school so I took them to school, and headed home to put Harlie down for a nap.
I went to pick the kids up at the normal time and when I got home there was a message from Blake saying that he had some news and would call me later. I could tell from the tone of his voice that this wasn't good news that he had to tell me. Luckily I only had to wait about a half hour for him to call me back. He very calmly told me that when they got to MEPS (place where he enlisted and did everything else) they said that his physical had expired and he wouldn't be able to fly out the next day. Instead he would have to re-do his physical and he would have to wait until the following Monday to fly out! We were both a little frustrated that they didn't have the sense to call and let him know his physical had expired before he came up.
He didn't know what he was going to do, but told me that if he had to come home he didn't know if he would make it back up. He had a really hard time saying good-bye and he was tired of being put through the wringer. At this time he was at the hotel waiting for his sister to come pick him up. He was going to have dinner at her house. I suggested to him that instead of coming back down and then struggling to go back up that he should just stay up there with his sister or his mom. I knew they would take care of him. So for the rest of the week he stayed one day at his sister Michelle's house and then rode the train up to his mom's in Ogden and stayed there until Saturday. He would call me from his mom's house while she was at work and he would be so bored. He was used to working all day and now he was just hanging out about to go crazy!
Luckily he made it through the week. He had to go back to the MEPS place on Monday morning to do get weighed and measured and then they took him to the airport to wait for his flight. I got a call from him around 12:00 in the afternoon on Monday and he's lucky I answered because the caller ID said private caller. He said that he had been dropped off about a quarter to 12 and his flight didn't leave until 5 p.m. so he had just been wandering around the airport. He had walked into a sporting goods store and started talking to the cashier who was asking where he was flying to. They started talking and when she found out that he was flying to Chicago for basic training she offered to let him use her phone so he could call me. I thought that was really nice of her to let him use her personal cell phone.
He said he was the only Navy guy flying out. He was a little bummed. He had hoped that there would be a few others that he could at least talk to. I told him that maybe he would have a nice person sit next to him and they could visit. His flight was supposed to arrive in Chicago about 8 p.m. mountain time. With it being snowy for most of the day I worried about him from about 5 o'clock on. He didn't know if he would be able to call me when he got there or what would happen. I kept the phone close just in case though. I didn't hear from him while I was up watching t.v and finally decided to go to bed around 10:30.
And then while I was peacefully sleeping, the phone rang. I had no idea what time it was, I just grabbed my glasses and ran down the hall to the office. Luckily when I went to bed, I had left the door to the hall open because if I shut it like I normally do I wouldn't have heard the phone. I got to it just as the answering machine was picking it up. I grabbed it and said hello and Blake said hi back. It was such a relief to hear his voice! I looked at the clock and it said 12:19. He said that his flight got to Chicago on time, but he had to wait for all the other flights to get in, and that was the reason for calling so late. He only had a few minutes to call which I was expecting, but he said he made it safe and he was doing good. He said he could call in a couple weeks. Then he had to go to processing.
After I hung up, I realized that this was really happening. There was no turning back now. The week that he was gone wasn't so hard for me because he called me just about every day. So then, after I hung up I knew that it was about to get very hard for me because I wouldn't be able to talk to him except through letters. I'm so proud of Blake and so grateful that he would sacrifice so much to give his family a better life. I don't think Brady or Harlie quite understand what is going on. Brady has asked where dad is a couple of times, so I'm sure it will take some getting used to. Cole is proud of his daddy. He made a promise to Blake that he would write him every week and read his Book of Mormon that Blake gave him.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
How we got here
I decided to start a brand-new blog to update everyone on how Blake is doing while he is away for training. But first off, I wanted to share our story of how we got to this point. I know several people have no idea why we chose to go with the military so I'm hoping that this will give all of you a better idea of what we have been thinking.
It all started about 2-1/2 years ago when both Blake and I got fed up with his job. Blake is such a good, loyal, hard-working person and having him come home day-after-day complaining about his job got pretty frustrating. We started looking for different jobs in San Juan county, all over the state of Utah, as well as in different states. We just wanted to be happy and find a good job for Blake where he was actually appreciated for what he did. So one day as I'm doing another job search; this time in the St. George area, I came across a page that listed several different types of jobs you could do in the National Guard. Neither one of us had ever brought up being in the military, so I was surprised when I actually thought it might be a good option for us.
I didn't say anything to Blake for a few days because I thought he might think it wasn't such a good idea. However, when I asked him about it later that week, he said that he had had a similar experience at work. A friend that he worked with was in the National Guard and had talked to Blake about joining. He told him about the benefits and other things and got some ideas into Blakes head that he really liked. He admitted to me that it had been a few days and he still hadn't told me because he thought I would be the one to say no.
So that's how it started for us. We both started doing research to figure out if this was really the right choice for us. We had made a lot of not-so-good decisions before and we wanted to know as much as we could about this before jumping in. We both felt really good about him doing this from the very beginning. Blake did as much as he could to lose a bunch of weight so he could qualify and no matter what he did it just wasn't enough. so finally, after 2 years of not getting anywhere he was finally able to drop enough weight to qualify. He had been told he should go in as an officer because he already had a bachelor's degree and the pay would start off a lot better.
But the day Blake went to talk to the recruiter about his decision to go in as an officer he found out that there were no officer positions available in Utah. His recruiter told him he could either look out-of-state or go with a different branch. He didn't really want to move out-of-state for a part-time thing, so started looking into other branches of the military. After he researched and read as much as he could find about the Navy he decided that was what he wanted to do. He did however, have to go through the Navy reserves because he has too many dependents.
After a few attempts to get in, and a few bumps along the way, Blake enlisted in the Navy Reserves. He was scheduled to leave for basic training in March, but requested to leave earlier if a spot became available. We found out a few months later that he would be leaving in January. Along our journey to this point, we have both felt like this was the best thing for us to do. After countless prayers, and trips to the temple we know we are doing the right thing. I am so proud of Blake and what he has accomplished thus far. He continues to push himself farther everyday.
We made this decision for our family and hope that everyone will support us. We are so grateful for our friends and family who support us. Now the time before he leaves for basic is only 8 days away, and even though I worry about my ability to care for my family for 5 months alone, I am excited for this new adventure! This will be an experience that neither one of us will forget, and one that will change our lives forever!
It all started about 2-1/2 years ago when both Blake and I got fed up with his job. Blake is such a good, loyal, hard-working person and having him come home day-after-day complaining about his job got pretty frustrating. We started looking for different jobs in San Juan county, all over the state of Utah, as well as in different states. We just wanted to be happy and find a good job for Blake where he was actually appreciated for what he did. So one day as I'm doing another job search; this time in the St. George area, I came across a page that listed several different types of jobs you could do in the National Guard. Neither one of us had ever brought up being in the military, so I was surprised when I actually thought it might be a good option for us.
I didn't say anything to Blake for a few days because I thought he might think it wasn't such a good idea. However, when I asked him about it later that week, he said that he had had a similar experience at work. A friend that he worked with was in the National Guard and had talked to Blake about joining. He told him about the benefits and other things and got some ideas into Blakes head that he really liked. He admitted to me that it had been a few days and he still hadn't told me because he thought I would be the one to say no.
So that's how it started for us. We both started doing research to figure out if this was really the right choice for us. We had made a lot of not-so-good decisions before and we wanted to know as much as we could about this before jumping in. We both felt really good about him doing this from the very beginning. Blake did as much as he could to lose a bunch of weight so he could qualify and no matter what he did it just wasn't enough. so finally, after 2 years of not getting anywhere he was finally able to drop enough weight to qualify. He had been told he should go in as an officer because he already had a bachelor's degree and the pay would start off a lot better.
But the day Blake went to talk to the recruiter about his decision to go in as an officer he found out that there were no officer positions available in Utah. His recruiter told him he could either look out-of-state or go with a different branch. He didn't really want to move out-of-state for a part-time thing, so started looking into other branches of the military. After he researched and read as much as he could find about the Navy he decided that was what he wanted to do. He did however, have to go through the Navy reserves because he has too many dependents.
After a few attempts to get in, and a few bumps along the way, Blake enlisted in the Navy Reserves. He was scheduled to leave for basic training in March, but requested to leave earlier if a spot became available. We found out a few months later that he would be leaving in January. Along our journey to this point, we have both felt like this was the best thing for us to do. After countless prayers, and trips to the temple we know we are doing the right thing. I am so proud of Blake and what he has accomplished thus far. He continues to push himself farther everyday.
We made this decision for our family and hope that everyone will support us. We are so grateful for our friends and family who support us. Now the time before he leaves for basic is only 8 days away, and even though I worry about my ability to care for my family for 5 months alone, I am excited for this new adventure! This will be an experience that neither one of us will forget, and one that will change our lives forever!
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