Hi from the USS Stennis

Wow, it has been a long time since I have put anything on here. Does anyone even check my blog anymore? I am still on the boat so I decided to send Brenda this info and then have her update the blog for me. Hopefully if any of you comment, she will share the comments with me too.

So, I left for deployment on July 28, 2011. I have now been out here for 140 days! I am well over half way done, but I still have a long time left! I miss my family so much! I have missed out on so much of little Clara’s life. She was born in January and just a few days after her birth, I had to leave to go on a Detachment to the Stennis. That lasted 30 days and then I was able to spend about a month with Clara and my family before leaving for another month to go to Fallon. Another 30 days and then about another month at home. We then left for another detachment to the boat for another 30 days. After that, I was able to spend just over a month with my family and during that time we took some leave to spend time with extended family before I left on Deployment! Then I left! It has been very hard being separated from family, but very nice to have the chance to email everyday! Without that, I would have lost it long ago!

I have had the opportunity to send videos of myself home for the girls to watch. At first I sent them on micro SD card via the USPS, but I recently figured out that I could convert them to a small enough format to actually get them to send over the ship’s slow email. I do have to burn them to CD first because of the Navy’s policy on inserting flash drives into their computers, but at least I can get videos home quickly now! I don’t know how those who served before modern technology dealt with the separation from family. Brenda’s grandfather wasn’t able to be there for his daughter’s birth and the communication was strictly snail mail. I am so thankful for all those who served and sacrificed for us when it was even harder than it is now. I also have a new found appreciation to those serving currently, there are a lot of benefits that didn’t used to be available, but the separation from family members and some of the stupid rules they are required to deal with certainly make the life of those in the military harder than life as a civilian!

I have also had the opportunity to see how many people do kind things for those who are deployed and away from home during the holidays. We received special packages from the Madera girl scout troop 413 as well as packages put out by the USO. Today I got a bracelet from Survivorjoe.com. Apparently they have a program where anyone who purchases a survivor bracelet online has their name placed on a business card and another bracelet is shipped to the troops (sailors in this case). All of these things, even though just small tokens, are very nice and help me to be much more thankful that I am dealing with some things I would rather not be right now.

Even more than all of that, I am beyond thankful for how my family has supported me. I have received items from so many family members and they mean so much to me! It is hard to express how it makes me feel to know that so many people care so deeply for me. I think the statement “absence makes the heart grow fonder” has been proven true on this deployment. I also feel like being separated for so long from those that I love has given me a much deeper appreciation for them. When we are finally reunited and there are no more detachments pending, it will be a wonderful day. I am praying that God will help me to always remember just how much I missed my family and that memory will help me to never take time spent with any of them for granted!

I am really looking forward to something called Tiger Cruise right now. You are allowed to have a person meet you in Hawaii (it can’t be a spouse or girlfriend) and then they are allowed to ride on the carrier with you for the trip from Hawaii back to San Diego. My dad is supposed to meet me in Hawaii and I think we are going to have a great time.

I still have to go on at least a few more detachments before I am finished with my enlistment, but God will continue to provide and we must continue to trust Him! We ask for your continued prayers as this is obviously very hard on Brenda and I. Emily has been very good about trying to understand and has never lost her desire to have me come home. We pray that Clara will be quick to get to know me when I am finally able to be there for her again. We also continue to pray about what our future holds when we are finished with the Navy. I would like to go to school and earn my bachelors in network administration. We are currently thinking about the possibility of moving to Colorado Springs at some point as well. We will continue to trust God with our future and we appreciate all the prayers that you are offering on our behalf.

Well, if you made it to the end, thank you for reading. I miss all of you. Maybe I’ll post again in a year or two.

1. Starbucks in Kuala Lumpur
2. The Sandbox
3. Indoor Ski Park
4. downtown Kuala Lumpur
5. double rainbow seen from the flight deck
6. chili dhurka chips
7. 4 ships seen from the carrier

Over 6 months, I think that is a record!

I would say this is probably the longest I have gone without updating, and depending on your perspective, you may consider yourself lucky that I am sitting around waiting for a call from my LPO in this hotel. If I wasn't waiting on him, I probably wouldn't be updating this. Anyway, on to something somewhat more interesting.


We have arrived in LeMoore and are currently staying in the Navy Lodge. We are hoping to get the paperwork filed for housing tomorrow and then we should be able to decide if we will need an apartment while we wait on base housing or (if it's a short wait) we may stay here or another motel until we can move into our house. We could still use a lot of prayer regarding all of that.

God never stops teaching me patience. I was hoping to get here today and be able to quickly knock out this meeting with my LPO and then spend the evening sort of relaxing and figuring out what tomorrow might be like, but now, here I am wondering if this guy will call back and hoping to get it done before too late so that I can have at least a little time to relax.

We had an uneventful drive down here today. It took us almost exactly 6 hours from leaving Neil and Alicia's to pulling into the Navy Lodge. Thank you for your prayers for the drive, they worked. The base housing is right across the street from the Navy Lodge and it looks very nice, can't wait to find out more about it. Brenda is still feeling very sick thanks to the pregnancy, we are praying that will ease up a bit. I am feeling a lot of stress right now knowing all that we need to accomplish over the next few weeks and really unaware of how to proceed. God will help us get through it, but I need some help remembering that!

We had a great time visiting with family for the last few weeks. That was really relaxing and helped me to feel "Normal" again after 8 months away from friends and family. Anyway, this is not a very exciting post, but hopefully it's informative. Please continue to pray for us! We will try to keep y'all updated as to what is going on with us.

Home for Christmas!

Well, this year is one of the first years that I have ever really felt like I was going "Home for Christmas"! It is kind of wierd too, because we don't really even have a home this year. I get to go back to Pahrump to spend Christmas with Brenda, Emily, Mom, Dad, Caleb, Lauri, Nanny and then a day or two with Justin and Katie. I am very excited. I may have previously mentioned that I have only spent 3 days (not even nights, just days) with any family in the last 3 months. This will be a wonderful time for me. I can't wait to get there!


I am currently sitting in the Pensacola airport and while spending many hours in an airport isn't usually very high on my list of things I like to do, today, it is quite pleasant. I actually left on an earlier bus than I needed to in the hope that the airport would have free wi-fi and it paid off! I have been sitting here for 3 hours researching some exciting topics, video chatting with the family, downloading stuff and just enjoying the internet. Now, I decided that since I have a little longer before they start boarding my flight, I would post a pre-Christmas blog real quick!


Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post at this time. I should have some after Christmas and hopefully I will get the chance to post again shortly after Christmas. We will be living down here then and should have internet at the apartment very soon after moving in. I am sure you will all be waiting on literal pins and needles to see my pictures, but, until then, you will just have to wait!

I survived Boot Camp!

It is true! After 53 days of misery, I finished boot camp and was allowed to see my beautiful wife and daughter for a few wonderful days. (My parents were there too, but I couldn't figure out how to incorporate them into the "beautiful" statement.) My boot camp was only 53 days, I believe it is usually 60 days, but God blessed me there by getting me into what they call a "PUSH" division. Basically, they only do graduations at specific times and they try to have full graduations each time. (This is all what I gathered from the small amount of information that I heard, it may not be 100% accuarate) We were fortunate enough to be put into an earlier graduation group than some of the other divisions that arrived at the same time and therefore, they "pushed" us harder to prepare us in time. I was thankful for this, because the hardest thing about boot camp for me was being separated from Brenda and Emily for so long. I was allowed a total of only 3 phone calls during this time and one of them was the night before graduation. The first one, Brenda had jury duty so I didn't get to talk to her. That leaves only 1 time in 53 days that I was able to speak to my wife! That was extremely hard on me!

Things are much better now. After arriving in Pensacola, I was told I was allowed to have my cell phone and my computer, so I had Brenda ship both of those items to me. The phone was a life saver, being able to talk to Brenda and other family members everyday keeps me happy! I am living in a barracks with about 600 other guys (3 to a room, 6 per bathroom). This is quite nice! I was in a room with 65 other guys during boot camp!


Here is a shot from out side of our barracks, you can't really tell, but all the barracks are shaped like H's. If you look up "NATTC, Pensacola, FL" on Google earth, you can get a pretty good view of the shape of the barracks and the lay of the land.

It is a pretty small room, but the beds are comfortable and we have a ceiling fan!

It is not fabulous, but far better than boot camp! I have been able to take some runs on the beach and while I don't have any breathtaking pics of the beach, I do have a few to give you an idea of where I am. I also took one of a swampy looking place that I thought was cool.







As you can hopefully gather from the tone of this post, things are looking up for us! I do ask for your continued prayers regarding getting B and E moved down here with me and regarding getting a good final duty station after school. Just to ease your minds, if you haven't already heard, we have rented an apartment here and Lord willing, B and E will be driving down with me after spending Christmas with my parents and then the 3 of us will live together down here. As I said, please keep praying! THANKS!!!

Christmas is Rapidly Approaching!

OK, so Christmas is not really approaching that rapidly, but I am leaving pretty soon and I really have no idea whether or not I will be home at Christmas. God is still blessing us in so many ways. Last week, our vacation to Tempe was wonderful. We were able to spend almost a full week with Grandmom and Granddad and on top of that we were able to visit with all but two of our relatives down there at least twice. (Sorry Alison, you did not get to see us twice! And Jay, I really feel for you, you did not get to see us at all!) Anyway, we are very grateful for such a relaxing vacation only a few weeks before my departure to boot camp!

We are still praying about the sale of our house, we really don't know what God has in store for us there, but we know that all things work together for good for those that love Him and are called according to His purpose. We trust that He will resolve the issues that we currently see in His time! Please continue to pray with us.

Now, back to the title of this post. For those of you who have frequented my blog in the past, you know that every year I have done a digital Christmas list. This year will be no exception, but I have to post it a lot earlier than usual. I did decide to put a list up for each one of us (Brenda, Emily and me) on the same site so it is easy for y'all to find. Mom and Dad, since y'all are the only people that I know for a fact have used these in the past, if you have any questions, feel free to call me. If the rest of you have questions, just lump it! Just kidding. Here is the link!

Thanks again for your continued prayers and moral support!

A Brief Vacation

Well, with only a month and 2 days remaining before I depart for boot camp, we figured it would be nice to go visit some family we haven't seen in a long time. On Saturday August 22nd we will be leaving for Tempe, AZ. We will be staying for around a week, although our departure date is not yet set in stone. We are very excited because Emily has never visited Grandmom and Granddad at their home. She will love the swimming and the puppy and the playing and probably within a day or two or arriving, she will love Gmom and Gdad too. (It takes her a while to warm up to people) Anyway, we hope to see a bunch of you Arizona folks while we're down there. We are expecting a fairly relaxing time hanging out and are very grateful to be able to do this before I leave. We love y'all and look forward to seeing you soon!

Philippians 4:6&7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:6-7 NASB)

Wow! God is truly amazing! This verse has been proven so true to me over the last few weeks. In the midst of struggles that seemed as though they should have weighed me down very heavily, I felt strangely at peace with the situation. That peace truly surpassed my understanding! I am usually quite stressed out by things not half as big. Thank the Lord for His overpowering peace!

Yesterday I went down to MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) and endured the longest day I have had in a long time. Throughout the day, many of the prayers that I have asked you all to pray were answered. First of all, I did well on the ASVAB. (this was a huge relief) Secondly, I passed the physical. I had never had a physical prior to yesterday, so I was worried about it. Thirdly, I had been very worried about the lack of available Navy jobs due largely to the current economy. I had heard a rumor that the next available job was to start 9 months from now. Not having a job right now, this would have been very hard on our family. There are many details to this story, but in an effort to keep this post somewhat short, I will leave it at this. After being told by the job counselor that there would be nothing available prior to May of 2010, she made a phone call and God provided a job that I would enjoy starting September 22nd, 2009! I will be leaving for boot camp on this date. God provided everything that we needed and more, He is truly awesome!

There are still some concerns for us, selling the house being the most bothersome, but we know He can do anything and He will be there for us no matter what He chooses to do. Continue to pray for us, but give thanks that God is an awesome God!!!!!