A Visit to North Carolina & a Baby is Born

North Carolina

This past weekend I visited Chet in Goldsboro, North Carolina. On Friday I flew into Raleigh, rented a car and drove an hour in a half to see my love. We spent three nights together and it was awesome! We both missed each other so much.

We enjoyed out time relaxing, eating and attempting to find a beach, but ended up on a dirt lot in front of a Church. Our tom tom was incorrect.

Saturday night we had delicious east coast ribs that were yummy. Sunday night we stayed on base at Seymour Johnson AFB because I had to get up at 2:30am to head to the airport. It was a very early morning and I was only running on three hours of sleep. The drive was the worst part because I felt sick the entire time. Unfortunately, I threw up a couple times but afterwards I was fine. Thankfully, I made it to the airport, returned the car, made my flight and arrived in Texas early so that I could go home before work.

God's Miracle

I was excited to go to work that afternoon because while I was in North Carolina the Kellie had her baby, Jordan. the original plan was for me to watch Jackson and keep him at my mom's house while they were at the hospital, but God had a different plan. When I landed in North Carolina Friday morning I received a call from my mom telling me Kellie is in labor. UH OH! I felt so bad that I couldn't be there to help. But it all worked out perfectly, because my mom and Ron watched Jackson for me. Jackson was a trooper and had a blast with my mom and Ron. Jackson gave Ron a new name: salt and pepper! He thought his hair looked like salt and pepper and couldn't stop laughing about it. Mom and Ron were a lifesaver.

Jordan Cross is just perfect! He is mellow and sleeps a ton. His cycle is eat, sleep and poop, which is every newborn's life in the beginning. It's been nice helping out with a newborn, and I feel like I'm learning a lot. This is all god practice for the future! :-)

The Plan

Chet is in North Carolina another 15 days. He graduates February 11th, and flies to Kalispell Montana that afternoon. He spoke with his staff sergeant in Great Falls and she thought it would be a good idea for him to fly into our city and spend the weekend with me! And we get to spend Valentine's together. I'm so excited! A weekend with my husband, in our very own apartment in Montana.......woooo hoooo!!!!!

As for me, I'm still in Texas. I have one more week of nannying and then I'm done. I plan on flying to Montana the day after super bowl (if I can make a flight) that way I can get to Montana before Chet and try to work on our apartment. The countdown is almost over and we couldn't be more happy. Once we're in Montana, Chet has one month left of training in Great Falls. He will be finishing around March 17th or 18th. Yaaaahhhhhhhooooooooooooooo!

Moving On!

Well the time has come for Chet to move on to North Carolina. He graduated today at Wichita Falls and flies tomorrow morning to Raleigh, North Carolina. Congratulations Chet! He will take an hour in a half cab ride to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, in Goldsboro. He doesn't start class until next Thursday, so he will be there for 5 weeks! This is exciting for him because he is ready to get out of Wichita Falls and it means he's closer to being done with his training, but it's sad because we will no longer be two hours away from each other and wont be able to see each other every weekend. :-( What do I do with my weekends now???? Every weekend I spend with him........ :-(

For me, I'm still here in Texas nannying for three or four more weeks. The mom I nanny for is expecting her second boy January 30th and I agreed to watching Jackson while they're at the hospital.

If all goes according to plan I will fly out to North Carolina a week from tomorrow to visit Chet for a quick weekend trip. I will have to fly back that Sunday afternoon in order to get back to work on Monday. It will be a very short trip, but totally worth it! The weekend after that my sister and Nick will be with us in Aledo to go to the Fort Worth Stock Show and rodeo! Hopefully I can go visit Chet the first weekend of February and then pack my bags the week after and head to Montana.............for good!!!!!!! I can't wait. Once Chet graduates from North Carolina, in mid-Febrary, he will be flying to Great Falls Montana to complete his season training for a month. Thankfully, I will be able to live with him in Great Falls........finally! I mean we are married. Shouldn't we be able to live together.

We have been separated way too much during our first year of marriage and I can't wait for this separation to be over with. They say your first year should feel like the honeymoon stage, but it sure doesn't to us because we are rarely together. I guess we will experience that when all his training is done end of March. So there's the plan!

Time is a Commodity

The day after Christmas we (the Todd family) went to Church in Kalispell and our pastor had a great sermon on how time is a commodity, which is very true. People (including myself) say that there is never enough time in the day to get everything done from your checklist, or you don't have enough time for your daily devotional or not enough family time, etc. I could go on and on for a while, but you get the point. The amount of time we have is enough. God chose 24 hours in a day for a reason. We just need to take a step back and look at where all or most of our time is being spent. Is it being spent on perishable things or things that are everlasting? Think about that one.

Here's a story that deals with what I chose to spend my time doing.

Yesterday was a very long day for both Chet and I. We both had 6am flights in Kalispell, so we woke up at 3am to give us enough time to get ready and get to the airport early. The worst thing is to miss your flight. Well the first little bump we experienced was when we were about to leave our apartment we couldn't find Chet's phone. After calling his phone 23 times we found it in a bag wrapped up with the sheets. So that put us a little behind. The next bump in the road was when the Todd's car wouldn't start. The battery was completely dead! There were no jumper cables and we couldn't get our car out because the Todd's car was in the way. It snowed so much the night before that we couldn't drive our car through the hanger door. So we had to call Murphy to pick us up and take us to the airport, and remember this was at four in the morning. Chet and I felt so bad, but we had no other option. At this point we both thought we were going to miss our flights. I was flying stand-by so I didn't mind too much if I missed it but Chet couldn't because he had to get back to the base by 10pm. Thankfully, we got to the airport, went through security, and made both our flights. We said a quick good-bye and went on separate planes. I made my second flight to Dallas, Texas and landed at 11:30am. Chet's plane was landing at 4:45 and initially Mom and Ron's plane was supposed to land at 6pm but it was delayed until 8:30pm.

I wanted to see Chet one last time before saying goodbye until Friday so I decided to spend my time waiting at his baggage claim for 5 long hours. I spent my time reading a new book, doing my devotional, typing recipes, and knitting. :-) Chet landed in DFW safely, but the only problem was he had to take the next bus ride, which meant we only spent 5 minutes together. I waited 5 hours to see my hubby for only 5 minutes, but I have to admit it was worth every second of my time. I then took a $70 shuttle ride by a scary man, but at least I made it home.

And that's where time is a commodity comes into play. I decided to spend 5 hours of my day waiting to see my husband because he's whats important to me.

So what's important to you that you spend a lot of your time doing?

Our First Christmas, in Montana!

Chet and I spent our first Christmas, as a married couple, in Montana! It was amazing!!!!! One of the greatest gifts Rick and Mary gave us was our first apartment. We have been married seven months and this was the first time having our own place. It was so exciting for the two of us. We got to the Bed and Breakfast on December 22nd and Dylan did two amazing things for us: he put our brand new king size bed together and cut down a Christmas tree and put lights on. I so badly wanted a Christmas tree, especially since this was our first Christmas but Wal-Mart was out of tree stands so I thought it wasn't going to work out this year. But once I saw that tree it made me so happy. The next two days were spent putting furniture in our apartment and unpacking at least 25 boxes. We were going non-stop, but it was all worth it.

Christmas day was perfect. We exchanged our gifts in our adorable, cozy apartment and then opened gifts in the B&B with his family. Chetters spoiled me and got me a new macbook laptop. My previous laptop was in horrible condition and I was in need of a new one. And now I'm typing this blog on my new one and I love it. Chet and I made breakfast in the B&B for his family. We figured it would be good to start our practice now. Later that day we went for a walk to the lake and it was gorgeous. All the trees were covered in snow. That evening we had a big Christmas dinner and some of the workers came to celebrate with us.

The following day my Dad, Em, Chris and Lexi flew up to Montana and they stayed with us for five days. Of course, when they came the fog came in and it snowed everyday, but we still had fun. We rode the snowmobiles, Lexi made a snowman, the boys built an ice fort, we relaxed, shoveled lots of snow and ate a ton. It was great having them visit us for Christmas.

We had a great New Year's Eve that was spent with Dylan and Mary. The two of them joined us for our first happy hour in our apartment and then Mary took us to the fancy Marion Grille. Following dinner we watched a movie and went to bed by 10pm. It was an early night, but I loved it.

Our last couple days in Montana Chet and I spent together just the two of us. Yes, we enjoyed it. The time spent in Montana was great, but just too short. We both can't wait to get back to Montana and start living together. We've already gone through five months of his training and being a part. Now only 2 1/2 more months and then we can get settled in for good! Yiippppeeeeee

By the way, Montana in the winter is B-E-A-uuuutttttiiiifulllllllll! The coldest it got while we were there was negative fifteen, but I have to say I still liked it. :-) You just have to bundle up and wear the right type of clothes.