We've been notified....

On Friday morning, the day before JJ's baptism, I woke up to Jake scooting closer to me and holding my stomach to feel the baby.  My reaction of course was, "What are you doing so close to me in the morning?" :) He said he just wanted to be by me and asked if I was awake enough to read a text.  That made me nervous.

"Sir. Everything is complete. R u able 2 start ur career by the end of this month? You will be leaving on the 31st if u decide to fly 2 alabama or 5 days prior to the 1st of nov if  u decide to drive. I need 2 know asap HQ is asking! Thx!!"

"Oh Jake, how exciting!"  Happy and sad tears came at the same time.  We just laid in bed, hugging for a while and talking.  I could tell that Jake was hesitant about leaving and really interested in asking if he could wait.  I think he had convinced himself that the closer it got to Nov., there was no way he would end up going to that start date.  I was still always nervous about that until Nov. 1st came and went, but I think he was really in shock.  The text makes it sound like there might be an option in case he wasn't able to start yet.  I encouraged him to just go and do it (even though that was hard to do).  We discussed many aspects of it, if he should ask, got ready for work, and then Jake called his mom with the news.  She also was happy and sad too, and shared what advice she thought might help.  Then Jake sat down to call the recruiter and the recruiter was calling him right at that moment.  Jake said that it sounded like there might be an option to delay, and the recruiter said, "Well ya, but......" and continued to explain that he really, really would not recommend saying no or pushing off the date of his training.  On that note, Jake committed.

Jake's mom told the rest of his family, and Jake's sister got in her car and drove from her college in Cali to be with family.  His grandparents were on their way from Cali too for the baptism, and we were all able to spend time later that night talking and discussing the excitement.  Jake's grandpa had a career in the Air Force and has had a lot of advice and wisdom to share.  I called my dad that morning and told him the news while he was at work and he was beyond excited for us.  He said it makes him feel connected to Jake because he was also away for one of his children's birth, my sister.  My sister and her family were driving from Utah that day, also for JJ's baptism, so once Jake got off work, we all went to my parents house and told the whole family the news.  Again, sad and excited.  I was able to tell one of my brothers the next day on the phone, and my other brother lives in France, so it's always tricky trying to find the perfect time to tell them.  This might be how they find out! :)

We wanted to focus on JJ's special day on Saturday, which was wonderful and will be blogged about once I get pictures from family since I was too stressed and busy to take any! We had sooooo much wonderful family support from both family that could be there and family who couldn't make it.

Jake had to decide over the weekend and let his recruiter know whether or not he was going to fly or drive, which took a long time for us to decide, there are many pros and cons involved.  One allows him to have a car there and have someplace to store extra stuff but makes him leave 5 days earlier and put wear on our car, the other leaves him with little time to get to know the other officers and keeps him on base unless someone drives him around.  In the end, he's going to fly, which means he will leave on Oct. 31st and start his training on Nov. 1st.  Yes, in case you forgot, I am due to have our baby on Nov. 20th.  He will miss out on that. He does get to come home from Dec. 16th to Jan. 2nd, so that is a HUGE blessing that he will get to be with us and our newest addition for a couple of weeks.  He will go back and finish his training and graduate Feb. 17th.  Then he will come home and we'll get ready to go where we are assigned next.  He should find out where we will be assigned about halfway through his training.

We feel like we have tons of stuff to do, including soaking up as much time with each other as possible before he leaves, and now that we know we only have the short span of three weeks, everything feels like a whirlwind.  It feels like our lists and priorities are all shifted around, so I apologize if you try to get a hold of us and we aren't timely, we've got stuff to do people!!!