Update!!!

I can't believe it has been 2 years since I last blogged. As I sit here typing, I cannot believe how much has changed. I am now a mom. I knew 9 years ago when I first met David, that he would be the father of my children. It took us 4 very long years to conceive, but little miss Emma Nikole was worth every minute of waiting. So much has changed though. I never in a million years thought that my baby girl would grow up not having a chance to meet one of the most influential people in my life, my dad. I know that he would be so proud of who I have become, it is just so hard every day to look at that tiny face and know that she will never have a chance to hug her grandpa. Another big change is my weight. As you all know, 2 years ago, I had gastric bypass. I went from a size 28/30 weighing 323 lbs to a size 8/10 weighing 162 lbs. I have 12 lbs to go until I reach my ultimate goal. I want my tiny human to be proud of her momma. I go to fitness bootcamp 2 times a week and I love every minute of it. Hard work and dedication definitely pay off. What else is new...David is deployed again, we are anxiously awaiting word on where the Navy plans to send us May 2014. I decided that when we get settled in our new duty station, I will be going back to school for early childhood education. I cannot wait to finally get a degree! I think thats all for now. Love y'all!!

Life as we know it....

Things have been very crazy since I last blogged. I got a new job working at the Veterinary clinic on base, and I dont think it is possible to love your job anymore than I do right now. My boss and coworkers are absolutely amazing. We have been gearing up for our next deployment, along with getting ready to welcome our friends into our home. In my last post, I had decided to go through with gastric bypass surgery. I lost about 23 lbs before my surgery and on June 23, I went under the knife in a surgery that has changed my life for forever. I am so excited about the results so far. I have lost about 70 lbs since the surgery and I feel like a completely different person. My hubby has been super supportive through the entire process and I dont know what I would do without him here. He leaves pretty soon for deployment and I am going to miss him like crazy. Luckily, my great friend and her son are moving in with me while our hubbys are gone and in December, I will be by her side as we welcome her newest addition into the world. We just got back from spending 2 weeks at home with out families, and it was amazing. I had so much fun and enjoyed seeing everyone so much. I dont know where we would be without support from our amazing friends and families. I think that is all for now. I will try to blog a little more often now that things are looking up :)

Whats New in my Life

Wow. I think I kind of fail at blogging... Lets see, where should I start. Things have been good. We got to go home in October, and did the race for the cure in memory of David's mom. It was amazing. November 9, I had ankle surgery and I feel soooo much better now. Thanksgiving and Christmas were great. We didnt get to see family, but we spent the holidays with great new friends. Now, I have decided to undergo bariatric surgery. I was pretty much told by the doctor that we probably wouldnt be able to get pregnant unless I lost a considerable amount of weight. And if I did get pregnant at my size, it would be a dangerous pregnancy for me and the baby. We talked it over and met with the surgeon and made the decision together about 2 weeks ago. I have started a 5 month preparation process that will get me ready for the big day. They said I should be scheduled for surgery in May or June. Thats about all thats new. So long for now!

Moving foward together

I know it has been a long time since I made a post, so here goes. I FINALLY got to move in with my husband after 2 long years. We made it through everything that was thrown at us, and then some. Homecoming was amazing, and we were able to get into housing immediately. We have settled in our own place, and are slowly making it a home. I found a job in Jacksonville, and have made friends. I honestly didnt think that I would so quickly, but I am very glad that life is starting to feel normal again. Last week, David and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary, and it was an amazing feeling.

March 2010

Well, I got to see David for a whole month. It was the longest amount of time we have gotten to spend together since November 2008. It was very bittersweet. He came home to say goodbye to his mother. She was a very strong and amazing woman. She lost a long battle with cancer on March 5, 2010, and will be very greatly missed. He made it home in time to spend about 10 hours with her before she passed. He has handled it so much better than I have been. He left at the end of March for the last leg of our first deployment. Now it has come down to the wire. I have to start trying to find a job and a place to live in about 2 months in a city that I have never even visited. I am so nervous about the change and everything. Thats all for now.

Enlistment

Ok. So as you all know from my introduction, David enlisted April 2008 and left for basic in November. What you don't know is the story of his enlistment. First, a little of our background. We met in October 2004 and totally hit it off. We had a rocky first year of dating, but we made it through. We hit a few more rough patches, and decided to take a break because we both had so much going on in our families. Then in February 2006, my dad passed away suddenly. The first person I called was David. He was about 2 hours away from home for work, and it felt like it took him 45 minutes to get to my house. We weren't even together and he was still there for me. He stayed by my side, and I have no clue how I would have made it through that without him. We got back together shortly after that and got engaged almost immediately. He got an amazing job, and I thought things were looking up. Then in April 20008, he got laid off. He wasn't actively looking for a job, so I told him that we couldn't get married until I knew that he would have a stable income so he could support a family. He then told me he wanted to go talk to a recruiter. We went the next day and I found out from listening to him talk that it had always been his dream to join the Navy, but he never had because his family talked him out of it. He wanted support in his decision, and I told him that I was behind him 110%. If it made him happy, it made me happy. I would never hold him back from his dream. That night, we went to his parents house to tell them that he had decided to enlist. They did not seem at all happy about his decision. I felt like they were unhappy with the fact that I was supportive about his choice. Here is my opinion: You tell us our whole lives that we can be whatever we want to be when we grow up, but then when we make our decision, you don't approve. That's not right. The next day, when we were supposed to go to the recruiters office for David to go enlist, he decided he didn't want to do it anymore. When I asked him why, he would never really give me a straight answer, but I feel it had something to do with his family. We had a huge fight about it, and it almost broke us up. We both calmed down and talked and decided that he would at least go into the reserves to see how he liked it. So that Saturday, he went to MEPS, and I went to run errands with my mom. Around 14:30, he called me and said "Baby, I enlisted!" and I said "I knew you were going to...reserves, right?" He said "No baby..I went active duty. I leave for basic in November. Let's plan a wedding." And the rest is history. I asked him the other day, if he knew that everything that has happened over the past year and a half was going to happen, would he still have made the choice he made in April 2008, and he said yes. That made me the happiest woman on the planet. I love him more than anything in this world, and just seeing him realize his dream made me jump for joy. Don't get me wrong, I miss him more than anything, but I am a strong woman with a stong support system and I know I will survive.

Introduction

My name is Karlene. I am 24 years old, and I live in Tennessee. I have been with my wonderful husband for a little over 5 years, and we got married in August 2008. He enlisted in the Navy April 2008 and left shortly after we got married for basic training. He has been gone ever since. He went from basic training to ATT school where he was on hold for 4 months. He then was sent to A school for 6 months. Then, upon graduating A school, he picked his orders. Little did we know at the time, but the squdron that he got assigned to was currently stationed in Maine, getting ready to deploy and then transfer to Florida. So yet again, I had to say goodbye. He is now on deployment for 6 months. Hopefully, in June or July, we will be done saying goodbye for a while. I have been kind of down in the dumps during the past year or so without him here, so I figured maybe blogging would be a great release for some of my frustrations. I am currently semi unemployed. I pick a young man up from school Monday-Friday. I have great friends and family that try very hard to keep me busy and keep my mind off of everything. That is all for now. Hope to see you soon!