Back to the beginning...

So here's how it all went down...

January 16 - Bradley called me and said that all of the Oceana, VA spots were taken (which is where we were told the whole time that we were going next). At this point, the only other places that you can go for jets is Lemoore, CA (to fly the F-18) or Whidbey Island, WA (to fly the E/A-18 Growler). Since Bradley originally wanted F-18's, we were put down for Lemoore, CA. We were disappointed that we were going to Lemoore because it was the absolute last place we ever wanted to go. We talked about it that night and prayed really hard about it. We both felt like Lemoore just wasn't the place that we should be. There was a guy in Bradley's class that had gotten Whidbey Island that really wanted Lemoore, so Bradley told him our feelings and offered to switch with him. He was of course ecstatic so all they had to do was get it approved.

January 17 - I got 'the call' at work from Bradley that the switch was approved and we were officially headed to Washington. The amount of emotions that were running through our bodies were unreal. We were relieved that we weren't going to Lemoore, excited that we finally 'knew', nervous to move cross country, scared to death to move out of the south and absolutely broken hearted that it was time to leave Pensacola. With the switch, also came another huge surprise (and another emotion to add to the list!). Bradley's winging was scheduled for February so given the time frame of everything, we were told that our report date to our new duty station would be the beginning of March. I was going to work until mid to late February, we were going to be here when our best friends had their baby - everything was going to work out. You know the quote, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans"? Well, the same goes for the Navy. Except they actually told us our plans...and then they changed. Oh well! Anyways, so when we switched, Bradley's winging date had to be moved up in order for Bradley's squadron to meet their quota of how many people they were sending to WA. So on January 17, we found out that Bradley was winging in 11 days and I had to put in a 1 week notice at work.

January 27 - Bradley's winging ceremony (that I wrote about in the last post). Our family had a 10 day notice that we wanted them to come to Florida. Luckily pretty much everyone was able to come which we were very happy about it - but boy, was it a whirlwind! The call to my mom was hilarious.
       "Hey! So....we're moving to WA.....in 3 weeks....and Bradley's winging is now next weekend."
Crazy. Absolutely the exact opposite of anything we thought. Haha!

February  6 - Bradley finally received his orders and had to be on the road within 4 days in order to make it to Whidbey in time to check in.

February 7 - Our move evaluator came to survey our stuff.

February 8 - My dad flew in!

February 9 - The packers came.

February 10 - The moving truck arrived and loaded all of our stuff. We were off of our 7 day adventure of moving across this beautiful country!

February 16 - We arrive - after driving 10 hour days - to our new home!

February 18 - My dad left.

February 19 - Bradley left for 2 weeks of training in San Diego, CA (SERE for all the Navy wives!) :-) Absolutely the WORST 2 weeks of our lives.

February 24 - Our stuff arrived! All 83 boxes!

March 3 - Bradley made it back home and we started our new life here in Anacortes, WA!

March 5 - Bradley started the FRS. 


I really don't want anyone to think that I sound whiney or bratty about moving. Yes, it was a HUGE shock to us, but we are so blessed to end up where we did. Neither of us can imagine living anywhere but here - which just proves that we truly are where we are supposed to be and that God had bigger plans for us than we could see. We always knew that this was an option for us and although Bradley always wanted to be in the Growler, we were afraid to say that moving to WA would be neat because moving across the country is a big change. We are so thankful that Bradley has an awesome job that he loves and we are SO excited about living somewhere new and different! I'm sure my fellow Navy wives will agree that no matter where you get stationed - whether it's your first or last choice - the emotions/stress/worry/anxiety/fear, etc. are all the same. :-)

We made a video of our move and we are SO excited about it! We've had it finished for a little over a week and we have watched it so many times already! I'll be posting that in the next few days! :-)