This years veterans day is a little different from any year before for me. I’ve always appreciated our vets but this year, I take it personally. This year, my brother is at basic and my husband is looking ahead to the same. I have family who have served, but it’s hitting me in a different place this year.

To me Veterans Day, is a day to not just be thankful but a day to pause and reflect on what it means to be an American. It’s a day that should bring unity to our country. No matter what your political positions are, we can all look at our servicemen and appreciate their sacrifices. We can appreciate our country and what it offers to so many.

I know it’s not easy to be in the military. You have to go through a lot at basic, on deployments and everything in the middle. You have to leave comforts of home, leave your family… But you do it for the people you love.

They serve as a sacrifice of love.

We respond with respect and honor. This day is for you veterans.

Thank you.

And leaves for basic in less than two weeks.

Gulp.

I have a different emotion in relation to my brother leaving, than I do about my husband leaving.

With Ben, I know I will get to move with him. But with Josh, he will be so far away from me.

I have three brothers… and we are all very close but we are all handling it in different ways. I think my older brother is really, really sad. He feels like he is losing his best friend. My youngest brother, I am actually not sure how he feels. My Mom I know is doing her best to keep it together. She is trying to pretend to be OK, but we all know that she is already missing and worrying for her son.

As we are a close family, I have a special and unique bond with all of them individually. But with Josh, our bond is a little different. We are only 18 months apart in age, we have been only a few grades apart, and have done about 90% of the same activities through our lives.

I am protective over anyone I love and consider close to me, but for some reason I have always felt a different amount of protectiveness (if that’s even a word) over Josh. It is unexplainable… and probably the cause for my emotions towards his departure.

He knows I will always have his back, but I guess there comes a time in life when everyone has to spread their wings. I am going to miss my brother so much, but I am so proud of him. I think I’ve always known he would end up doing something like the Army, and I am just so proud of him for chasing his dream and believing in it.

He has gone after God’s will with his whole heart, and believed that there is no obstacle too big to overcome when it comes to his calling and destiny.

Josh, you inspire me. And I am so proud of you. Good luck soldier. And thanks for your sacrifice to serve this great country.

B and I aren’t even stationed somewhere yet… not even officially doing something in the Air Force yet, and we already feel like we are part of the community. It is so crazy how many people have a connection to the military in one way or another.

We have already been able to connect with so many people, and start friendships with people who know exactly what we are going through. I am so blessed to already feel like we are part of this new family.

I heard a quote the other day, “it’s a small World, but an even smaller Air Force.” We have already found this to be so true!

I am just so excited about this new journey we are on! If you have a connection to the military (in any form), do you feel the sense of connectedness and community? If so, tell me about it!

After we found out about Ben getting selected, we had a bit of a waiting period. Have you ever heard the expression about the military being a lot of “hurry up and wait”?

We have been quickly introduced to this, with a lot of “stop and go, hurry… no wait.”

So after learning the good news, we had a smallish get together to celebrate Ben’s success and then let things settle in a little. Then, it was off again! We have had to make sure we had all of our documents in order (which for us meant locating several documents… thanks to both of our Mom’s for helping out!), make sure Ben had all of his contacts updated, all of his forms updated to be ready for his swearing-in and security clearance (slash huge background check).

The swearing-in was a bit of a mess for him, he got off work and went straight to MEPS, started the process there and continued to run into problems. His parents, my parents and myself all waited for several hours for them to sort through the issues and finally get to see Ben swear in…. but it was definitely worth it!

Ben waiting to swear in

When we walked into the room for the ceremony (or whatever you want to call it), Ben’s back was towards us, but he looked so striking and strong. My heart skipped a beat and I was more proud of him than I have ever been.

He has worked so hard to get to this moment…. and I know there will be other moments where I will probably say the same thing, but in that moment I knew he had to feel so accomplished and I was so proud of him. (I may share more on our journey of applying in another post.)

Ben swearing-in

The swearing-in was very short, but now Ben is officially an airman in the United States Air Force! Now we get to hurry to the next thing on our list… which I believe includes a flight physical! Congrats baby!

I owe that sense of direction to my husband… and some things I haven’t been telling you.

For the past year (actually a little more) my husband and I have been working on an application for the Air Force officer board. I didn’t want to talk about it here on here yet, simply because I wanted to protect my hubby (just in case).

We found out on Friday that he has been selected for a pilot slot!!!

And because of that, I finally feel comfortable sharing about our journey! We are looking ahead to a whole new lifestyle and new experiences.

With that said, I hopefully will be writing a lot about all of these new things in our life! I know a lot can change, but we are really looking forward to everything!

I am so proud of my Airman! And I am so happy his dreams are becoming realities! Thank you to everyone who has supported us through the application process!

An entire post on how to make a ton of decorative balls from things you might have around the house.

Made with beans, a foam ball and glue! Then you can choose a color you want to paint with!

Split pea ball!! So simple, and can really bring color to a room!

All of these tutorials can be found over at Allison’s blog; House of Hepworths! I have been quietly following her for a while now, and she is always SO inspiring! You should check her out and make some awesome DIY decor!

Check it out and make yourself and a friend one!

Since we are on the topic of Martha…. why not do another diy and get some inspiration from her.

Our dear friend Martha has come out with a new paint line that is formulated to be used on any surface… and has different finishes too

Oh the thinks I can think! Oh… and there’s 160 different colors to choose from!! How AWESOME is that?!?! And just for extra fun… how about a coupon to Michaels where you can get this fabulous paint!?