Movin' on up...

Is that super annoying "Movin' on up" song in your head now? Sorry, peeps. It's in mine too, if that's any consulation to you!

ANYWAY, Doc and I heard from the Navy housing office that we've been offered a new home in the super-incredibly-awesome-best-military-housing-I've-EVER-seen housing here! The timing correlates perfectly with when our lease is up here, and the Navy has offered to move us FOR FREE! How amazing is that?!?! We were expecting to get to move in there within the next 6 months or so, but sooner is definitely better!

I know people with opinions from one end of the spectrum to the other when it comes to military housing, but I've gotta say, for us, this is a great thing for our family! The Washington cost of living is through the roof, so renting out in town usually costs way more than your alotted housing allowance, plus utilities, depending on how many kids you have, how much space you need and what you're able to suck-it-up on. The waiting list for the military housing was long when we got here, so we had to get something out in town. We drove around for days looking at houses, and neighborhoods, schools, etc. When we chose this house, we chose it because of the neighborhood. It's a suburb, very small-town, and there are minivans all over this subdivision, so we were expecting families everywhere. And there are families everywhere. The only problem is that none of them speak to each other! It's not that they hate each other or anything like that. They just don't have time, for the most part. Most are 2-parent working households and they're so pressed for time that everyone just puts their nose down and sticks to themself. It's inconvenient for them to have friends.

The military is really such a sub-culture. We're very fellowship oriented, especially coming from the Marine Corps. I certainly can't speak for all Navy spouses when I say this, because my husband's job is very different than 95% of the Navy. In the Marine Corps setting, we know our husbands are going to deploy. We know they're going to do very, very dangerous things on that deployment, and we know that (unless we're stationed really close to family) we're going to need each other to get through that. The minute a new family pops up, we're all over them. We NEED to get to know them. They NEED to get to know us. We need relationships and friendships that we can count on, because we know that we may HAVE to count on it at some point. This is not to say that everyone just grabs hands and sings Kumbaya. We get to know everyone and friendships form based on similar interests, etc., just like any other large group.

Doc is currently on shore duty, with no deployments (praise God!) on the horizon. This definitely changes the dynamic of our military frame of mind. It's not quite so intense when we're meeting new people. Though we're not in a combat deployment setting, that IS the lifestyle we're accustomed to. There are a lot of practical things you learn when you live in that setting, and the importance of fellowship (regardless of your circumstances) was one of them!  We're needing that fellowship here. We definitely DO have it with our bible study at our church, and occasional other gatherings, but not nearly as much as we'd like. We're hoping that moving to this housing will help that! We'll have more space to host things (my FAVE!) and more neighborhood people to invite! We're already planning to host a new bible study around the first of the year, and we're really excited about the content! Details to come on that!

Fellowship is a biblical thing. Doc and I's Ohana (small group) in Hawaii really brought out the importance of this! Proverbs 27:17 says "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another". It also tells us to "admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all." (1 Thessalonians 5:14.) Doc and I have found, through wonderful personal experiences with wonderful people all over the country, that fellowship makes a huge difference for us.

We're excited to fellowship! And have a giant house! And 2 parks within walking distance! And a yard! And.....you get the idea :) This is a huge blessing, and I wanted to share the news with you all! I hope all is well for all of you!