Amazing Feeling

When Jay re-enlisted almost a month ago we knew he would be getting a bonus for doing so.  His job is one of the few in the navy that gets a re-enlistment bonus and we have taken that as a huge blessing in our lives to have it.  Well they do the bonus in two phases: phase 1 is you get 1/2 up front (after taxes) and then phase 2 is every Oct for the remaining terms of your new contract (6 years for us) you get a part of the last half of the bonus.  Well last weekend we got to enjoy one of the MANY Navy screw ups and it has taken all week to get it even partially fixed.  I had gone to check our finances out, since I'm the one who keeps track of all of that for us, and verify that my written numbers were the same as the bank ones.  Well I got quite the shock when I accessed our account.  A huge sum of money was there.  But it didn't make any sense to us.  Then on Tuesday Jay went to talk to personel on the ship and began the massive headache of dealing with people who screw up other's lives.  Personel didn't read his re-enlistment paperwork correctly and only gave us 1/4 of what we should have gotten then procceded to argue with Jay, who was holding the re-enlistment paperwork in his hand, that he was wrong.

After finally getting to someone of  a higher rank to listen to him they put in an emergency request for that remaining portion.  Fast forward to last night.  Since it was pay day yesterday I did bills last night after the kids were in bed.  Its a great way to pass the time when Jay is gone (which he has been for the last few days).  Well I went to access our account to get going on creating the budget and there was the entire 1/2 of his bonus (after taxes) as well as his pay check.  It was like Christmas for me and not for the reasons most would think of.  The reason I was so excited to see that bonus there was because that bonus is how we just became 95% debt free.

We joined the Navy for two reasons, 1- because Jay couldn't get a decent paying job in Ut (and this was 4 years ago before the economy tanked) and was working 2 jobs to not even make ends meet, 2- because we were in so much debt it was the only option we saw for us to get stability in our lives.  Well the last 4 years of being in the navy have been literally living pay check to pay check because of the amount of credit card debt we had.  This bonus, just the 1st half of it, became such a huge blessing to us because we knew we could wiipe out most of our debt.  Sure enough what little debt we have left we will wipe out with the first hit of the remaining 1/2 of his bonus this Oct.  So by Oct. of this year we will be debt free and only be making car payments, which will be paid off with our tax return next year.  It is truly an amazing feeling to be debt free.  Our time of living pay check to pay check is finally over.

1 year later

Last year I had a bout of very bad kidney infections that resulted in me being in the ER 7 times in 2 months.  Due to all of the different meds I was put on during that time I put on a lot of fat.  So much so that I hated how I looked.  When Jay left for his deployment last summer I decided to work super hard and lose the weight I had.  Sadly, the weight stayed on but something else happened instead.  Since Jay's been home from that deployment I have been really frustrated with the whole still weighing what I did when he left (which has been a year now).  Until today, that is.

This afternoon when he came home from work he took one look at me and told me that I have my figure back.  This shocked me because I never thought about how I might have been actually losing all of the fat I'd gained from those meds I had been on for the infection.  So we took a few photos to show that I truly have lost so much in the way of fat that soon the weight should start coming off.

These two were taken last year (April) at my brother in law, Jared's wedding.  I'd just been off the meds for about a month at this time.

These two were taken today to show the difference in what my working out has done in the last year.

Small Update on life

Since our trip last week Jay's been super busy trying to find out what is going on with well everything.  We had tried to stay extended to the Nimitz, only to discover that would not be possible.  While at first I was a little disappointed we later discovered that not being extended with the ship is actually a very good thing for our family.  The ship is going up to WA later this year and while we thought it would be for 18 months or more Jay ended up finding out that its for only 10 months.  The navy will pay for the first move up to WA for the families, but due to being in the same fiscal year when they return back to San Diego the families will have to fork over the money out of pocket for the return move.  This whole chain of events over the last few days has gone to show us just how much the Lord is in control of our lives.

He has blessed us so much over the past few years of being in the navy and this just goes to show us that while right now we don't know where we'll be or which ship we'll even be on He is still the one in control.  We're also waiting on hearing when Jay will go to his C school and we hope that those answers will come next week when the right people are back from leave.  So we're doing the waiting part of the hurry and wait part of being a navy family. 

Making friends

I don't have the easiest time making friends, but the friends I do have I cherrish a great deal.  The friends I've made over the last few years I feel like I'll have for a long time.  So I'm trying something new: New Friend Friday.  Who knows what will happen.

Came home to earthquakes

So over the weekend we went to Ut for 4 days to be able to attend my cousin's wedding.  The trip was good for the most part and we are so glad to be home (I'll post pictures from that trip later on).  However not 2 hours after being home we got hit with 2 back to back strong earthquakes.  Both regestered at 5.7 and those suckers just unnerved Jay and I.  We had our back patio door open to air out the house when we heard this loud rumbing sound.  Seconds later the house started to shake and we knew we were being hit with an earthquake.  Right as we thought it was over the second 5.7 hit.  Again making us a little more unnerved.  We were far enough away from the epicenter to have any damage but that doesn't make what happened any less frightening, especially for the kids.

The moment the shaking was officially over we quickly went to check on the kids, as they had been asleep until it hit.  Kaden was shaken up and a little scared and Annabelle just seemed to need a hug.  Luckily this morning they are completely over what happened.  This morning the news called the earthquakes from last night aftershocks from the Easter 7.2 quake.  Yup that is right, we're still getting aftershocks and some of them are quite strong.  I am hoping that this will be the last of them for a while, but this is California and that likelyhood is quite high that there will be more.

Re-enlisting Ceremony

Yup that title is correct.  This morning Jay re-enlisted for another 6 years with the Navy.  The last few weeks have been a bit on the stressful side as we waited to see if everything related to him re-enlisting would go through or not.  Luckily, Jay has an amazing Chief who worked really hard to make sure that everything went through in time.  So this morning we, the kids and I, watched Jay re-enlist in front of his normal division.

Currently, and for the last year, Jay is TAD (temporary assigned duty) with a different job on the ship and has not been with his normal division, which is something we've both missed a lot.  The Chief over his normal divison, when not TAD'd, worked really hard on getting things set up and even going as far as to personally make sure all of his paperwork got signed by the right people and then personally turned it in.  So it was really nice to see the people he usually works with for both of us, since I do personally know quite a few of them.

Here Annabelle stood by Jay while we waited for everyone to show up for his ceremony.

Jay being honorably discharged from the Navy.  This is protical that before you re-enlist, usually 24 hours prior, you get honorablly discharged from the navy.  They forgot to do it yesterday so they did it this morning.

Jay and his Warent Officer with his honorable discharge certificate

The really nice thing is that for the wives they give a certificate of appreciation for my "unselfish, faithful, and dedicated assistance" during Jay's time in the navy signed by his Warrent Officer.

Jay saying the oath of the military.

Continuing to say the oath.

Getting his list of rewards for re-enlisting from the captian and his certificate for re-enlisting.

The certificate of re-enlisting

Annabelle had to attach herself to Jay more than once during the time we were there.

Shaking his Warrent Officer's hand at the end of the ceremony.

He got some really nice gifts for re-enlisting including a nice congrats pen from the ship.

If you are wondering why there is white out on Jay's uniform that is for security reasons.  His name is right there in normal times, but when posting photos I must  remove it to keep him and those around him safe.  Now that he has re-enlisted we're waiting on word as to when he'll be leaving for 2.5 months for C school which is part of him re-enlisting.  Once he complete's the school he'll become a Petty Officer 2nd class, which is going to be very nice.  He's missed the cut off for advancing by taking the advancement test every time he takes it so this is quite honestly the best way for him to go up in rank. 
The other thing we're now working on is getting extended with the Nimitz for the 2 years of required sea duty.  Due to going to the C school he is required to remain on sea duty for 2 years more than normal.  After those 2 years we'll go to shore duty for 4.  Hopefully we'll get to extend with the ship since later this year it will be going to WA to drydock for at least 18 months.  Only time will tell with that.  So this is the big news that our famiy has been waiting to share with all of you.

Life in general

Today the advancement results came out from the test Jay took back in march.  He didn't advance, but that is okay with us we expected it.  At the time the test had taken place he had been insanely busy and had no time to study.  In fact we'd been making jokes about him advancing this way.  Luckily we've had plan B set up for weeks and that is the route we'll be going for him to advance.  Plan B is a program where he'll go to school for a few months and at the end of the school he'll advance to Petty Officer 2nd class.  So by the end of this year he'll be a 2nd class.  The approval has already gone through, had to for him to put in for his re-enlistment, and so now we're just waiting on word as to when he'll be gone for the school.

The other good news (yes we consider that good news) is with Kaden.  Last week we had an IEP meeting with Kaden's teacher and the staff he's been working with during this last year at school.  This was to determine what help, if any, he would need for kindergarten.  We got FABULOUS news at the meeting.  Kaden gets to fully intergrate into a regular kindergarten class and will only require speech therapy!!!!!!!!!!!  We are so happy and proud of him.  He'll have speech therapy every day for 50 min once school starts in the fall.  He has come such a long way in the last year that wouldn't have been possible without all of the help we got through the ABA people and school.  Kaden is so excited about going to kindergarten and keeps asking when he gets to go. 

Life has been good for us and we've had many blessings come our way.  Next week will be truly an exciting week for us.  Jay will be re-enlisting and the kids and I will be attending the ceremony.  I can't wait to see him do this, we know its the right decision for our family.  It was a decision we made together, like all choices we make in life, and I support him to the fullest.