MilSpouses Rock! Blog Carnival~ Day 1

Hello and welcome to our blog! I am participating in the Wives of Faith MilSpouses Rock! Blog Carnival this week....

Today is Day 1 and the topic is "tell us about how you met your spouse and your milspouse story"

So without further delay, here is our love story:

We met in high school...I was a sophomore and Jason was a senior. From the moment we started "going together" we were inseperable. =)


A picture of us at a school dance 1994 (wow...we were just babies!)

After Jason graduated high school he stayed in our area and went to a community college. I graudated and we went off to college together. It was wonderful having Jason with me...we moved five hours from home and did not know anyone. He stayed 2 yrs then moved back home. Looking back at those times, I am thankful for those last 2 yrs apart...I had no idea how much it would teach me and how much it would prepare me for this military wife role. We learned a lot about communication and being apart.
Finally, after 7 years (yes, 7 years) of dating we got married



Our wedding day

and here we are...

16 years together (soon to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary) and still going strong...

My Mil Spouse Story:
Jason and I had only been married a few short months when the 9/11 attacks occurred. After those attacks, I think we both realized that we needed to serve something larger than ourselves. Not sure just what that was though. Well one day I went to pick up our wedding photos...and as luck would have it, our photographer's office was next door to an Army recruiting office...hmmm...luck??..haha... anyway..I got stopped in the parking lot...you know what comes next..."Have you ever thought about enlisting?" What came out of my mouth next was a complete shock...in my sweet southern voice..."no sir, but my husband has" (what...who said that???) So they get all our info (names, numbers etc) I leave...thinking oh they will not follow up (uh yea right who was I trying to kid???) I come home and tell Jason what I did...he looks at me like you better be glad I love you (and I am so glad that he does) Well they call...that evening to be exact (talk about being prompt) and the next thing I know, I am going to a recruiting office with Jason and watch him sign his life away...I had no idea what we were doing, but I knew that we decided this together (with a little jolt from me) I am thankful for how our story happened...it was a major decision that we did not take lightly and that we decided together.

So off to basic training and AIT Jason goes...long 4 months! We made it though...lots of love letters since phone calls were very limited. Jason completed all that in summer of 2002.

This picture was taken of us at Jason's graduation from basic training...don't you love the bdu's =) (sorry for the blurry pic...no scanner so I had to take a pic of a pic)


Jason is in the reserves and started attending drill right after graduation from AIT. Just a few months after he started drilling...we got the call...mobilization. So training began for Deployment #1.

This picture was taken just before Deployment #1 in 2003


Jason was gone most of 2003 (11 months and our shortest deployment yet) He returned and Dec. 03 we found out we were expecting our first child. =)

Welcome Home Ceremony after Deployment #1 ...notice the new addition =) The ceremony was not held until summer 2005...(not sure why so late)

So we adjust and get back in to the swing of things. Spring 2006 find out God is giving us another blessing and later that year Madeline is born. During all this time, Jason is back working his civilian job and doing the weekend drill thing. Then BOOM...another call in late 2007...mobilization...and so we prepare for Deployment #2. This time was a little harder...we understood the impact of being away from each other but we also had 2 children now...So Jason mobilized Feb 2008 and returned spring 2009...a very long deployment...it was hard on a good day but we made it because of our faith. We came through that deployment with a stronger marriage and I believe a closer walk with Christ.

This was taken at Ft. Stewart when I went to get my man at the end of Deployment #2 (gotta love those BIG smiles!)


The welcome home crew (our families) waiting at our house to welcome Jason home after Deployment #2.

Our story does not end here though...as we are preparing for deployment #3 (another 400 day deployment) I will say that preparing for this deployment has been WAY harder than the first two...maybe because Jason has only been home for a year and we still are trying to regroup from deployment #2, maybe because the thought of being alone for over 400 days is just too much to think about, maybe because thinking about the toll it is going to take on our children...who knows...it is just hard, but I am encouraged by the mil spouses that I have met online through blogs and more importantly I am encouraged by God's word and know that my strength comes from Him alone.

I am looking forward to reading other MilSpouses posts about how they met their spouse and their milspouse stories. Click on over to Wives of Faith and check them out.