Congrats Lt JG Fromille!

Today is promotion day for Sam! Not to mention a hefty little pay raise:) This is kind of an "automatic promotion" that everyone gets two years from commissioning, but I am still really proud of him. He has now been through all his training and has almost completed his first deployment... I'd say he deserves the promotion! Congrats to all our friends being promoted today as well:)

It also happens to be my Dad's 55th birthday and Memorial day! So Happy Birthday Dad! And I hope everyone has a lovely Memorial day and enjoys some yummy grilled food!

Achieving the "Impossible"

As of yesterday I officially completed all of my course work for this term and passed all my exams! I completed 11 classes in the past 5 months in order to meet the May 31st deadline for Jan 09 student teaching eligibility. When I told my mentor my plan at the beginning of the semester she told me it was "not only ambitious, but completely impossible." Pretty much everyone else agreed with her including my family and most of my closest friends. However, my wonderful husband believed in me which helped me to keep going when I felt like quitting. I was also blessed to have a good friend close by who happens to be a math whiz and when I got stuck on a math problem he spent hours trying to figure it out with me. Thanks John!

Also, I talked to my school after returning from the Hawaii housing meeting this week to see if I could change my student teaching location from NH to HI based on the new information I got about the boat's schedule. I fully expected them to say no... but to my pleasant surprise they were very understanding and accomodating. So now I will be moving to HI in January and hopefully begining my student teaching there if all goes well next semester!

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers this term! And for those of you who have had to listen to me whine and complain and worry all term about either school work or pre-clinical experience or student teaching or the Navy or when we will move.... thank you so much, having good friends and family to support me means everything!

Visit to NH

I flew up to NH Tuesday for a Hawaii housing meeting with Sam's boat. I am glad I went because I got a ton of information about our future move to Hawaii that will be very important to us in the future! I also finally got to meet some of the wonderful officer's wives I've been emailing with for the past few months. One of them even picked me up from the airport and let me stay with her and her husband! I was really nervous to meet everyone because I've never been in this type of military situation, meeting my husband's bosses without him even being present. But everyone was so nice and I know they have all been in the situation of being the "new guy" before so they all made me feel very comfortable. All the guys had such great things to say about the boat leadership so I know Sam will love it there. I flew back Wednesday, but will be driving back up next Wednesday to move into our new apartment!

Family Road Trip

My last grandparent, my mom's dad, passed away on May 1st, just two days before his 90th birthday. Fortunately, my mom had been in Mississippi visiting with him when it happened. He recently had started having mini-stokes and his heart was only pumping a small percentage of what it should have been. We don't know exactly what caused him to pass away, but we are all greatful that he is now at peace with the Lord. (My mom is on the far left and those are her three sisters with her)

My dad, my sister and I drove out to Mississippi to meet my mom for the funeral and it turned into a grand tour of all the places our family has lived. First my dad and I drove down to Williamsburg, VA to pick Megan up from college because she had just finished her exams. While there we enjoyed dinner at one of our favorite local spots, Paul's Deli (see picture), and our favorite Williamsburg treat, Sno-to-go snow balls! After staying the night in Megan's dorm room, we then we dropped off my car at the Richmond, VA airport (we also lived in that area) and motored on out to Memphis... but not without stopping for dinner outside of Nashville, where we were born.

Even though it was a sad occasion, it was great to see my mom's side of the family. We haven't all been together since our wedding two years ago. It was especially fun to see my cousin's kids who have grown so much in two years! Hope is the one I am holding and she said she wanted to make friends with me because she wants me to take her to Hawaii with me when I move... haha:)

I will say that the trip down South was a "cultural experience." I almost died when we pulled up next to a beat up pick up truck being driven by a little old man on oxygen... while smoking a cigarette! And that is only one of the many examples of our "cultural" experiences while traveling!

On the trip home we stopped in Black Mountain, NC which is a town my parents are considering moving to when they retire. It is in the mountains right outside of Asheville and it is just the cutest little place with lots of quaint shops and restaurants. We stayed in one of the "top three" bed and breakfasts in the South according to Southern Living magazine and I highly recommend The Red Rocker Inn to anyone in the area looking for a great place to stay. The breakfast was truly amazing... probably one of the best meals I have ever had!

Now I am back in Maryland trying to finish up my term and get ready for my move to New Hampshire in a couple of weeks. I am flying up there next week for a Hawaii housing meeting and am so excited to meet all the wonderful wives on Sam's boat that I've been emailing with over the past few months. I can't believe Sam will be home in less than a month! I can't wait!

Praise God!

I finally was able to get in touch with an administrator at Portsmouth Christian Academy, my #1 choice for a pre-clinical experience site, and I am tentatively all set to do my pre-clinical experience there in the fall! I have a meeting with the asst. principal once I move up there to officially set everything up. I can't wait, the school looks awesome and their philosophy and beliefs totally line up with my own!

A BIG THANKS to all of you who prayed for me in this situation! I am feeling WAY less stressed now that is taken care of:)

PLUS... now that it is May... Sam comes home next month! YAY!