Home Sweet, New Home!

We made it!

It seems - surreal? - odd but nice? I am not sure the exact word to use here. We love it here and are very excited to be here, of course! The home we are moving out of in Mississippi was our "first home". It is the only home Baylee remembers. We loved it but strangely was not sad as I left, even knowing it was probably the last time I would "live" in that home. I am sure at some point it will hit me but it just hasn't yet. The only odd feeling is having our things in a different place.

We left out about 0600 yesterday morning an arrived about 1745 last night. Just in time to pick up our keys. I am very glad that we had planned ahead & gotten everything taking care of. It was interesting trying to get the uhaul trailer close enough to unload the things we had packed. God was good though, as usual, and no sooner than we had the door open on the uhaul a downstairs neighbor had her husband go get us a dolly. (Is this even how you spell it? I don't think I have ever had to write that before.) They said "hand truck"...or something like that. I dunno. You know I say odd things...as my husband says...like an 80 year old. Oh well, 80 year olds are cool. So there's that.

Next, a guy about our age walked out on his balcony with his daughter and offered help in which I declined. However, he put on his shoes and was downstairs helping before we knew it. They had just moved here from Jacksonville, FL a few weeks earlier with his wife's job. Brian promised him a grilled steak when he gets back to Texas...so yeah...excited about that. That man can grill a mean steak!

We have everything unloaded out of the uhaul and his truck. We took the uhaul back last night & had Del Taco for dinner (Think Taco Bell with less grease & fresher ingredients). Brian LOVES Del taco...that man. We parked my car, which is still full to the roof...quite literally...in our garage which happens to be huge & we are excited about that! We will have plenty of room for things to be stored there, as well as our bikes and Brian's things out of the garage at the house.

So today's game plan: 

•Clean the bathrooms (Yes, they look spotless but I am not chancing it!)

•Unload the Tahoe

•Pick up our things in storage 

•Go buy new mattresses for both rooms

•Map out my path to work & other important locations before Brian leaves Texas

•Continue to unpack

Tomorrow I have some HR things to do at the hospital & afterwards we might sight-see since Brian & Baylee leave Wednesday morning.

Wednesday my mom flies out here & she will help me finish unpacking & we will get everything decorated (Brian wants things to look nice but gets aggravated with the whole girl decorating process of move something 10 times before you find a spot for it which happens to be the first spot you picked anyway.) We got cash & gift cards as going away gifts so we will put them to good use in our new home!

Over the next month or two Brian & Baylee will continue to work on the house in MS & packing anything we left behind. We will have it up for rent hopefully soon!

I think I covered most everything now! I have more to say but this post is already way too long but I promise to check back in soon!

We are all doing great & we appreciate all the prayers, love & support our family, friends & coworkers have provided for us!

Until next time...love from the Garretts.

Our New Family Member

How could you not love these two faces? These are my two favorite boys in my life right now! Ruger, our newest addition, fits right in. Brian bought him for me for Valentines Day. Yes, I know, *swoon*...sorry ladies ...he's mine! :) Last year my baby boy Storm passed away. I had missed him terribly and my sweet baby knew it so he brought another sweet boy into my life! So when you read about "the boys"...here they are & Ruger is now the baby around the Garrett house! He is already spoiled! I am not sure if they will miss me or him more while I am over in Texas the next few months!

San Antonio Bound!

Hello Family! We can barely believe it but in just two short weeks we will be moving to San Antonio! This has been something we knew was on the horizon but now that it is finally here, it seems surreal.

Brian won't be transferring military units until the fall but we wanted to get there before then to get settled in, find a church family and get Baylee involved in the community before she starts school in the fall. I applied for four different jobs and God blessed me because I was offered all four. This allowed me to pick the one we felt was the best fit for our family. I will miss my current work family terribly & my new coworkers have big shoes to fill! I have no doubt they will be almost as great as my current coworkers!

Many people have asked us, " Why San Antonio?" I am not sure that is a question that is easily answered but I will make an attempt. After Brian's last deployment, we knew he wouldn't be at the Station in NOLA long. We also knew wherever he transferred to, we would want to live close to that area because long distance life is for the birds! Neither of us want to be away from each other too long. Brian has always liked Texas and wanted to live there. I am indifferent but knew Texas would accept my nursing license. That began the journey towards Texas. We ultimately decided on San Antonio. At the time, neither of us had even visited the area. We have since been twice and fell in love! I believe God has a season and place for everyone and right now ours is San Antonio. We are very excited about all the attractions, wildlife/natural areas and culture the city has to offer!

Baylee has had a tough few years at school and is very excited about hitting the reset button in Texas. We had decided as a family, due to several circumstances, that we want Baylee to restart tenth grade in Texas. By doing this, it provides her a more stable foundation as well as better opportunities for growth. God is really moving in this area for us.

Currently, our plan is to rent an apartment while renting out our home in Mississippi. Brian & Baylee will take me over to get the apartment settled and then they will come back and get the house ready before they ultimately move to San Antonio with me. Should we decide to stay in San Antonio, we have researched and talked to several home builders & will build a house in a neighborhood in the same community we will rent our apartment in. (West San Antonio area.)

We are in Nola for Brian's drill weekend. Time to pack up and get out of here! We will keep everyone update on us via this blog. If you are interested in being notified when new posts are added, add your email address to the mailing list on the top right corner of the blog. You will have to follow the instructions to make sure you are added properly. (You will probably have to check your junk email to finish the process.) Also, even if you don't blog, you can comment at the bottom of each of my blog posts. Should you have to use the anonymous feature, make sure to at least put your name at the bottom of the comment so I know who it was from and can answer you! Be on the lookout for more posts!

Love y'all!

PCSing: Reserve Style!

For the non-military PCS stands for "Permanent Change of Station"...which is kind of a strange term to me because the change of station is very rarely "permanent" but anywho....

Usually when you hear PCS you think of the active duty side of the military but not always the case. There are different orders that the reserve half can get that makes it very similar to PCSing on the active duty side. They hubby made E7 just a few months ago and now they unit he has been at since 2004 no longer has a spot for him so orders were cut for him to go to another unit in which he was not crazy about.

Now our family is considering taking on an active duty position. Two have been offered up to him over the past two years but it was never the time. The two places were in North Carolina and Jacksonville, FL. Both places were offered before he made E7 so we are not 100% sure how things will work out now that he has advanced. If these don't work out there are others (for instance Charleston, South Carolina - and other places I am not sure if I would be willing to go yet!).

Our family has prayed & decided that we feel a move to Jacksonville, FL would be a good change of pace for us. We have spoken to our family about it and they are being very supportive. We DO NOT want to leave forever but for a few years it would be nice. Money is a huge factor in going but not the only one. It puts us closer to some of our best friends that we don't see often enough. It also puts us closer to my dad and to my sister in law. It is closer to the beach and we have researched the schools & churches and think there are some good options for our family. 

Right now we are in a holding pattern waiting to hear if we can go there or not! It is so annoying to finally have all three of us and our families on board and not know! :/ Anyone in the military will tell you that is the military life. The hubby hasn't spoken to anyone that "calls the shots" at the new unit yet so sending up prayers and keeping fingers crossed that we find out this week something! I would be disappointed if it was a no but at least it could give us the option to start looking at other places. I hate to even research other options until we know it is a "yay" or "nay" in Jacksonville, FL.

I will update once we know more! I hope once we do move (if it is in God's will!) to use this blog to keep our family updated with our little life! :)