A Heartfelt Homecoming!

It has been over a week since TJ has come home. After a week of being absolutely carefree and now that we are both back to the everyday grind, it is time for our homecoming story!!

TJ's homecoming was amazing in every way. Let's start from the beginning. He was due home late Sunday afternoon at 5:30pm, lo and behold I get a text from TJ's mom that they are due home at 1:30pm. WHAT?? I know right? Are you as shocked as I that they were not late, but EARLY?! SCORE! So I decorate my car and off I go!

(It is hard to see but it says: "204 Days Later, I Finally Get to Kiss My Sailor!")

So at 1:00 I arrive at the Motor Pool where they are set to come home. It was amazing, I was really excited and anxious to be so close to seeing, holding and kissing the love of my life. So I walked around, snapped some pics, then sat my self down in the rows of folding chairs and waited.

While we waited the FRO was awesome. She told us how close they were and gave us updates, and just like clockwork at 1:30 the first bus rolled in.

At this point I start to cry. He is on one of those buses. This is truely happening! The crowd was awesome, people were cheering, laughing, smiling and crying.

And all five buses roll in and the Marines and Sailors begin to file out.

After this point I am crying so hard for many reasons. I was so overwhelmed with emotions I did not even know how to handle them all, so I just cried. This is why there is a lapse in the pictures, I was crying so hard and searching frantically for my baby I couldn't even hold my camera steady. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, and seeing EVERY OTHER wife, girlfriend, mother, father and child find their loved one I finally found mine! (Sadly there is no romantic first kiss picture because I was alone)

 I FINALLY HAVE MY BABY BACK!! But wait there's more. When he arrived and we walked hand in hand to wait for all his gear we walked up to the parking lot to this:

THEIR GEAR WAS ALREADY THERE WAITING FOR THEM!! And wait, even better, no formation or accountability shenanigans. No debriefing. No ceremonies. I got to whisk TJ away within 10 minutes of  his lips reuniting with mine. Needless to say we locked ourselves away from the real world for  a week and enjoyed each others company.

It is absolutely amazing to have him back. And because I know he reads this I have to once again say: Welcome Home Baby!

Another Blog About the Love of My Life

TJ called me this morning and it was absolutely fabulous. I wasn't expecting a call for a while because I was informed that their satellite phone was broken. We mostly talked about how excited he is to come home ad for us to each other, hang out and go on adventures like we used to. Also about how excited he is to sleep in a real bed and take a real shower and eat some real, homecooked grub!

After the call this morning (and after I went to bed, woke up and studied) I wanted to do another bloggidy blog about us. So I found this little survey and I thought it would be a fun little doo-dad about us.


 

(This is one of my favorite pictures of us. In July, 2009, we went on a massive family reunion road trip, needless to say we have a TON of memories from this trip. Here we are infront of Mt. Saint Helens in Washington.)





♥ What are your middle names? Jissel and John. Contrary to popular belief, we didn't plan the J's.
♥ How long have you been together? Just shy of 1 year.
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? 1 week or so, well, more like 3 days.
♥ Who asked who out? Well, we actually had no choice. My friend Courtney went to go pick up her friend Austin when he visited California (he is also Troy's best friend in the whole world).  So Courtney asked me If I wanted to come with her to the airport and I was not working that day so I tagged along. That's where I met TJ (I actually kinda met him once before at a party, but I don't count that. It's an embarrassing story that maybe one day I will muster up the courage to tell). Subsequently, the next week turned into one perpetual week long, absolutely perfect, double date. =]
♥ Whose siblings do you see the most? Well I live with my sister, so I win this one
♥ Do you have any children? No, but lots of babies are in our imminent future.
♥ What about pets? Ew, I have never really understood the point of pets. But I would enjoy having a cat one day
♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? Deployment sucks on both ends for sure
♥ Did you go to the same school? Negative.
♥ Are you from the same home town? Nope, He is from Utah and I have lived my whole life in the good 'ole Orange County
♥ Who is the smartest? I think he is smarter than I in many different areas, but I am definitely a better writer.
♥ Who is the most sensitive? Me! EVERYTHING makes me cry. Once we were in the car and I started crying because I was having a less than desirable day. After a few minutes of comforting I started to cry again and all TJ could say was "Are you really crying again?" That's like every other day for me. TJ has seen me cry hundreds of times. I've seen him cry twice. 
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? Taco Bell. Don't laugh haha, it's his fav.
♥ Who is the neat-freak? Definitely me, he just drops things anywhere and I pick them up, haha, but it works for us.
♥ Who hogs the bed? Since TJ is quite bigger than I, naturally he takes up more room. He also has this really bad habit of rolling over my face when we sleep. It's weird, don't ask haha.
♥ Who wakes up earlier?Sheesh, close my blinds and let me sleep till noon, thanks!
♥ Where was your first date? Our first date was a week long adventure where we did everything from San Diego up to LA. It was beyond perfect in every possible way.
♥ Who has the bigger family? He has 4 brothers and sisters. I have 1. But our extended families are equally as huge.
♥ How did you spend the holidays? With him being gone I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family and New Years with his in Utah. TJ and I shared the holiday joy via e-mail and satellite phones.
♥ How long did it take to get serious? 96 hours.... =]
♥ Who eats more? TJ is a bottomless pit, he also works out all the time, so that may have something to do with it.
♥ Who does/did the laundry? MEEE! Call me crazy but I actually enjoy doing laundry and I have been doing his from the moment we met. BUT TJ did do his laundry the night before he deployed. I was so proud.
♥ Who drives when you are together? I hate driving, especially in places I don't know very well. So I would say 75% of the time he drives.

This was fun! It definately isn't everything about us but it sure does sum us up pretty well. I'm counting down the days untill he comes home!

Much Love,
Delainey

A Penny for Your Thoughts?

I am not exactly sure why I am essentially speechless right now. Maybe it's because I have so many thoughts running through my head about children, religion, life and lifestyle choices in general. One thought that has come across my mind is why do people choose to a certain lifestyle or beliefs. What makes a person choose a certain religion over another or a certain way of child rearing? For example, during a night out with a few friends and we touched on the subject of stay at home moms. And by touched I mean punched square in the face. (Apparently the ideal of a stay at home mom is quite controversial.) A friend and I feel like mothers should stay at home with their children and partake firsthand in raising them, while another friend felt strongly against this idea. Stating that children AND stay at home moms are another large expense to add on the list of adulthood. Now this turned into quite a large argument which ended in a delicious midnight meal at Harbor House. But anyway, my point is, what makes me and my friend know we are right and what makes the other friend adamantly oppose? Is it our surroundings that make us choose a certain way to live? Or is it simply our life experiences? Whatever it is it has been making me think, and possibly over think, about the life ahead of me and what is going to shape my decisions on how I, or we rather, raise our family, live our lives and stick with a certain set of beliefs.

Just a thought, more like a compilation of thoughts, that have been weighing heavily on my lately. Maybe all these questions are apart of discovery of what God has in store for me and my life. Whatever it is I guess we will have to wait and see.

A Very Special Valentine's Day

"Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible -- it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could." ~~ Barbara De Angelis

Ahhh, So as Valentine's Day has come and gone I have come to find being so far away from the one you love makes you truly appreciate EVERYTHING they do. No card, flower arrangement or box of chocolate, even if it is Godiva, can convey love like the memories of every smile, touch, tear and loving gesture. With TJ gone I had the chance to reflect on all the times we have had together, especially when we first met. I am so grateful we both decided to take that leap of faith. (For some background, when we first met I thought he was incredibly cute but I was sure I wasn't his type at all and TJ thought I was way out of his league. ALAS! we both took the chance and here we are almost a year later!)But, I did get one amazing gift, a phone call. I was about two minutes long, he said; "Happy Valentine's Day, know I love you. I can't talk for long, if you watch the news you will know why." Although the phone call was a somber reminder of what he going through overseas. Overall, I must say, yesterday was, by far, the greatest and most meaningful Valentine's Day to date. Who would have ever known that 4 small words could mean so much;

"Know I love you."

I could not ask for anything more.

My Ramblings about Deployments, Love and Finding an Apartment

Well it is officially February. There are a few things I think about this, which I will not go into all of them because my ramblings would go on forever. The most important thought I have on February is that we've got through another month of this (RETCHED) deployment. YAY US! TJ will be officially gone for 5 months on the 5th. We are both incredibly amazed on how fast time flies. So all he has to do is get through the next two months alive and I have to get through the next two months with my sanity then *boom* he is home! Although it is still 2 months away its surreal and exciting might I add, to think he will be home soon.



While my baby has been gone I have have had a lot of time, not just to focus on school and work, but also hangout with my family. Let me start by saying I LOVEE my family. I never understood those people who declaring an undying hate for their parents or siblings. I must say, mine are the BEST! One day I went to just lay in bed with my mom to have a "snuggle chat". I walked into my parents room to see her laying on my Dad's side of the bed. I have NEVERR seen her lay on his side of the bed so when I asked her what she was doing on that side she told me, "I am keeping it warm for your father when he comes to sleep." That was the most amazing response I ever heard. After 23 years of marriage my mom is still doing little thoughtful things like keeping his side of the bed warm. This day I realized what everlasting love is. The love my parents have for each other. I am terrified to grow old but I am excited to grow old with TJ the way my parents have grown old with each other. (Just to clarify, my parents are not old they are in their 40's but you know what I mean =])



Now this brings me to my FAILED apartment search. Well I wouldn't say I have completely failed, but I definitely am at strike two. After what seemed like years of searching for something affordable to me Apartment number one was in this absolutely adorable historic inn in San Clemente. Incredibly cute from the inside but, oh my gosh, the inside was absolutely terrible, it was 10 X 15 shoebox that smelt like smoke and mildew-y socks. The second apartment, this is a funny story, the agent took me to the wrong place, so we walked inside this absolutely BEAUTIFUL apartment with a full kitchen, nice counter tops and perfect carpets. Turns out that was the wrong unit, instead he took me to, literally, a closet off the previous apartment we saw. It was a room off the other apartment (it still had a connecting door!) not to mention it was the size of my parent closet. So naturally that place was a no. Finding a suitable apartment at a reasonable price in South Orange County is literally impossible. If you are looking for an apartment on a budget I would advise you STOP right now if you want to keep your sanity or double your budget.


Now I am done with all the ramblings, for now =]
Much Love!
Delainey

Our First Deployment

So, I am completely slacking. It has been 2 months since my last post. Although I'm almost certain no one is actually reading this. As of right now life is pretty much sucking. Sorry for the lack of eloquence but in all honesty that is the best way to describe it. T.J deployed on Friday and since then I have been a huge wreck. As much as I want to be viewed as a strong girl, I need a support system and my main support is now overseas. I cried 3 times before I made it to class, twice in the morning and once in the car. I hold his tags and say a prayer for him every morning. God are you listening? Please keep him safe over there. Why is this so hard? It is only day 3 and I am a wreck. Hopefully this will ease up and I will stop worrying. I will be sending my first letters and package very soon. I am pretty worried that it will not make it there, I guess we are going to have try to find out, yeah? Last I heard he was at some Air Force Base at some country outside of Russia living the high life. Food 24 hours a day mixed in with workout sessions and video games. Sounds great to me. The tough stuff is coming soon though and I know he is in the prayers of friends and family. I even went as far as to put his name on the Prayer Roll at the Newport Beach Temple (Summer kindly showed me how and programmed the number in my phone). So, hopefully all the prayer and good energy equates to the love of my life coming home in one piece. 7 months and counting down!

You'll be hearing more from me, promise.


Much Love,
Delainey