Goodbye Brent *February 7 2010*

We had so much fun with Brent when he was home on 'boot leave'!! The above picture is him opening his Christmas gifts. He took Britton and I out to eat and then we and watched "The Green Hornet" in 3D, we went to Jumpys one morning, we laughed and joked, we heard many stories of his adventures which weren't always so grand btw, we ate many wonderful meals by my mom and he gained at least 10 pounds! He got to go skiing and hang out with friends and be on fb and watch movies and the superbowel and eat anything he wanted. He got three haircuts and text and text some more! :)
He had two of these and then a garment bag and a carry on. The above bag was so heavy! I couldn't even lift it and I usually can lift heavy thing. When he got in Jacksonville NC last night he had to carry all that outside to a taxi by himself.
The usual picture spot :) He didn't wear his uniform leaving because he didn't want to get it wrinkled or get it dirty during his flight so he was going to change when he got there.
We always have our birthday party together since our birthdays are 8 days apart. There will be no reason to celebrate this year!
A few last words from Dad. We got security passes to go back to the gate and wait with him.
He just finished up his supper. We didn't want to go to the gate quite yet so here is really where we said goodbye instead of in front of everyone.
Waiting, with him nervous about what lies ahead and us nervous to say goodbye. But this is what he wants to do and he is really good at it! He love the adventure part of it! We want him to be happy and although we may not all agree on certain things we are so glad for our precious freedom and someone has to keep it that way. Probably 5 people asked him, " What branch are you in?" and "Thank you for your service young man" and to which he would reply, "Marine Corp" and "Thank you sir or mam"
Waiting at the gate. We saw 3 other Marines in the airport and one was sitting with his family behind us and I looked over my shoulder once and he had the same look that Brent did. Nervous about whats to come.
There he goes! And we don't know when we will see him again :( He might come home for Christmas? He doesn't know and those kind of goodbyes are the hardest. While we were hugging goodbye there was several people crying around us wiping tears. Maybe they had a family member in service but they all knew what we knew that this goodbye could be forever.There are some Marines that won't make it back home. And when someone you love hasn't accepted Jesus into their heart it makes it much sadder to say goodbye. He did stick his Bible into his carry on bag. Please pray for his soul and that Jesus would keep knocking. We talked to an old lady at his graduation and she said, " I Love people! I don't always Love what they do but I love them anyways" What a great example of Jesus!
He is headed to Camp Gieger in North Carolina for more training. It wont be like bootcamp because they are Marines now and will be treated that way but it will still be tough and they will haft to pass. They will have a graduation after this camp but its not as big or as important so we probably wont go. He is signing in at 1:00 pm today. He does have his cell phone so hopefully he will call today and let us know he got there safely. Then for this next month we will not hear from him. They will hike out far somewhere for a month. He said they wont take a shower for a month! wow! They only eat the packaged rations. So he will probably loose the 10-15 pounds he gained on leave and quickly get back into shape. He will be at this camp for 3 months. Then he will be stationed on a base in Hawaii, California, or North Carolina for a year. Wherever they have a need in Security Forces. He is hoping for his top choice Hawaii. He gets 30 days leave a year and he has 20 days left this year. My prayer for him is that he finds Jesus. Life is nothing without Him! And once you figure that out your life has a much bigger meaning!
Please join me in prayer for ALL of the service men and women that are keeping our country safe.