Getting Ready

Welcome to our blog about our next 50 years together... The last 50 were pretty good years, I must say.  But we have just embarked upon a WHOLE new life and we hope to share some glimpses into our adventures with you. 

First, let's get everyone up to date and on the same page...  Nearly 5 years ago, Trip (John) and Jade were stationed at Kodiak, Alaska, with the US Coast Guard; his first boat assignment was on the Alex Haley. While Trip's family was in Alaska, Kyle joined the US AirForce and ended up moving our Sarah to Las Vegas.... WAY FAR AWAY... :(  Adam and Kimberlee moved to Eileson Air Force Base in Fairbanks a couple years ago.  With ALL of our kids and grandkids VERY far away, we began talking about our options...

Visits and trips to Alaska and Vegas are pretty expensive, and the company where I worked wasn't real "free" with their leave days....  Could barely get 1 day earned and then had to use it for one thing or other.....Some other professional issues going on within the state of MS also played a bit of a role in choosing to leave the state...

 After Trip and Jade finished their Haley days, they moved to Ft. Gratiot, MI, where they have spent the last couple years in service on the Hollyhock; they Hollyhock patrols the Great Lakes and adjacent waterways.  After the Bering Sea, let's just say, Trip wasn't all that thrilled with his "lake patrols"  LOL.....

While Trip and Jade lived on Kodiak Island, their middle child, Carter was born; that was when we took our first trip to Alaska; GORGEOUS, BEAUTIFUL, STUNNING, & BREATH-TAKING are the best words I can think of.... they just are not enough to describe the views.  We fell in love with the state then, although we'd always been enamored and intrigued.

When Trip told us last summer that he was going back to Kodiak, my heart absolutely SANK to the depths!  My goodness!  Sarah and Kyle were so far away in Vegas, Adam & Kimberlee are way up at Fairbanks, and NOW the last of the kiddos were moving that far away too!!! OMG!  My heart was breaking!  I moped and pouted, rarely talked for about 3 days.... praying, "God, just don't let it happen."  But alas..... God gets His way... LOL  and Trip really did get official orders to move BACK to Kodiak....

After I prayed and prayed, pouted and moped, cried and felt sorry for myself, I picked up by bootstraps, and said, "by God, if they can move to Alaska, I can too!"  and thus began our journey into job-hunting, house/apartment hunting, and selling out nearly 30 years of STUFF to move to Alaska.