New Orders and My Wifey and Bosom Buddy

Not even 12 hours after my last post, we received our new orders. QUANTICO! It is exactly what we were praying, hoping and longing for. That makes our stay in this home four years total! My Mr. is so excited to be an instructor and have the chance to mentor young Marines. I think this assignment is right up his alley. God has blessed us once more. I can not help but shake my head in AWE of His great plan for us. I have to admit the idea of being in one place for FOUR years makes my head spin. I have not lived in one house, apartment, or room longer than a year and a half in over 10 years (and then usually it was a three year stint at most). Just to clarify, we did spend three years in Okinawa but moved to a new apartment half way through our stay. I'm a nomad by birth, an Army Brat and now Marine Wife. Four years seems like an eternity!

Now, in order for you to share completely in my excitement today, I have to go back in time and share a bit of our Okinawa history...

Lonely and depressed while Justin was away fighting in Afghanistan, I forced myself out the door to a birthday party. There was a sweet girl at the party who just didn't fit in with that particular crowd. As hard as she tried it just wasn't happening...she was just pure sweetness, the kind that many people are skeptical of, asking "is she for real?" I moved my chair over to sit by her and keep her company and was delighted to find a humorous, upbeat, and delightful new friend. The following day was Mr. and I's anniversary and I decided to plan a brunch with friends to keep me from feeling so lonely and sad. My new friend attended the brunch and as we finished up, I mentioned how much I didn't want to be alone. She sweetly said "Can I go home with you?" Well, we ended up talking ALL day, we went out to dinner, came back to my place and chatted late into the night. We had similar experiences, our husbands were both deployed, we were both faithful Christians and it just seemed like our friendship was meant to be! I recall my mom saying "Jennifer, you never know who there is in Okinawa that needs you to be her friend." Well, this little lady needed me. And I needed her just as much. She started a part time job and would come over for dinner announcing "Honey I'm home!" as she entered my apartment and I was there, ready with dinner on the table. We laughed, cried and played the deployment away and secretly worried our husbands wouldn't get along...until the time came for both to come home. My Mr. arrived first and two weeks later I helped her get ready for her Mr. Our worries were soon put to rest as the men in our lives hit off and have been friends ever since. I call this sweet friend my Wifey. My deployment wife. The only one who will ever understand what that time in my life was like, how it changed me, and how it changed my marriage.

Fast forward a month, I had started work as a substitute teacher and Wifey was busy working as a travel agent. With the husbands home it meant less time together...and then one day Wifey declared "I met this new girl and she is WONDERFUL! You HAVE to meet her. You'll LOVE her." I wasn't so sure...they started spending a lot of time together and I'll admit I got a bit jealous. Well, Wifey planned a dinner party and invited this new girl. The day before she sat me down and said, "You have to meet her and spend time with her. I just know you'll love her. Stop being silly." So, I decided to put forth my best effort at the dinner party and see how great this new girl was. I loved her. She was sweet, sensitive and I just had a good feeling about her. I offered to show her around the island and get her out of the house while her hubby was away. We bonded pretty quickly and this awesome lady is who I call my Bosom Buddy. The fact that she had a love for Anne of Green Gables sealed the deal.

So the three of us became very close friends! Our husbands got along famously...and often got themselves into trouble with their manly antics. We called ourselves the "Bigg-Frick'n Hoodenpyle" gang (a compilation of our last names). We had fun exploring the island together and breaking bread after church. Fast forward a couple months, I found out I was expecting our first child. Two weeks later, Wifey found out she was expecting her first child. Later that same month, Bosom Buddy was expecting her first child! All unplanned, unexpected and welcomed surprises! The three of us bonded together through our pregnancies, complaining, rejoicing and eating away the months as our bodies changed. All three of us were having GIRLS! And now we will be Belly Buddies for life!

Fast forward a year and a half: I live in Quantico, my wifey is in Arkansas and my Bosom Buddy is in transit to QUANTICO! AHH! I'm so excited to have her back in my life. She is a grounded, wise woman of the Lord and I find such comfort in her grace and gentleness. She is truly another answer to my prayers because I sincerely miss all my Okinawa ladies (Katie Jill and Melissa are more great stories but too much for one post!). So, on this beautiful but very cold snowy day, I am dancing around like a little girl wishing she was a ballerina because I have something very special to look forward too. My Wifey wrote saying she is planning to visit us in June for Becca's birthday! Ohhhh, how fun it will be to have the three little girls together as they enter their second year of life! I am giddy and excited and had to share, because I just KNOW this is going to lend sweet stories to share in the future, or at the very least, darling pictures of wee friendship.

TOP: Bosom Buddy, Wifey and Me

Bottome: Adabelle, Riley,  and Rebecca