Day 0- January 5, 2009

I went to bed around 10 PM last night but woke up for an hour and read. However, when I wake up at night I always justify that I should wake up Josh so he can talk to me and snuggle. Josh never remembers me waking him but for some reason just telling him I can’t sleep brings me back to sleep faster.

Today was a different day. It started off with a continental breakfast and some morning stretches. Josh hurried off to his first part of his inprocessing at 9 am. Around noon he returned after learning more information than his mind was able to process.

He let me know that he will be leaving in about a month, but will first go through a couple weeks of training before he leaves. I of course was and still am a little shocked….(I think both of our hearts dropped) so after a few tears we decided that we had to make the most of this next month. Shortly after, a Specialist took us around base and showed us where everything was. We stopped by to look for cell phones and figured that it is best to get a phone plan with pre-paid minutes. Once we get our housing we will get a landline and will be able to call out from there for much cheaper.

It was very beneficial for me to get the tour with the Specialist today. Of course, I was the girl in the back asking question after question. I did find out that it is much safer there than I thought and there has been very few casualties from this base. That was very uplifting news for me. I continued to ask many more questions and apologized to Josh once we were dropped off at the commissary (grocery store) to grocery shop. He said it was good I asked them all and he would thank the Specialist tomorrow for his willingness to answer them all. J

So some good news….wheel of fortune plays here at 5PM , so no longer do I have to wait till 6:30 for my favorite show. Josh is being extremely good to me and has made it a point to do all he can to get me settled before he takes off. We both know that this change is only going to make us stronger and we know we have the Lord to help us and keep us safe and healthy.
We both have a full day of in processing tomorrow. I get to go tooJ I think I am the only wife processing right now so I am eager to learn about the base.

On a little different note, the weather is a lot like Minnesota but a little milder. The temp ranges from the 20-40s but today there was light snow all day, so it was very pretty and I didn’t have to worry about being in a car because everyone drives very slow on base. All the speed limit signs I have seen say either 50 (30 MPH) or 30 (18 MPH). The Specialist taught me a formula to convert so I sat in the back and converted them all in my head. That was my head start to studying for my driving test. J

Well I am off to finish my book “The Shack.” It has definitely put a lot of things into perspective for me especially at this time in my life.

Miss you all still and will write again soon.

Much love,
Gretchen and Josh