Bye-Bye 2009

News media headlines at the new year of 2010 are of how rough the previous year was for many, how glad people are to put it behind them, and how welcome the new year is. While we do welcome 2010 with arms-wide-open, we see how truly blessed we are when we look back over the previous year.

We began 2009 in the middle of the construction of our house, and living in North Little Rock. Our future home in Sardis would feature 3 bedrooms, one of which will serve as an office, while the other will be the guest bedroom. Our guests will also have their own full bathroom. Our main concern in the early months of the year was having our home completed before I departed for flight school on April 3rd.

March 4, 2009 presented us with the surprise of our lives...we were going to have a baby. Over the next month, I did a lot of soul-searching about leaving for the next year and a half, and had pretty much talked myself out of going to flight school. Sirron was such an amazing wife and friend, and wasn't hearing of it. She told me that I was going, and has been nothing but completely supportive the entire time.

I left for Fort Benning, Georgia on April 3rd and started the 7 week course there on April 5th. Sirron had her first doctor appointment on April 6th, where we surprised again to find that she was 12 weeks along, and we got a great, first picture of our unborn child. Our wonderful families and friends moved Sirron out of our apartment that had been home for almost 2 years, into our newly-completed home the last week of April. Once finished, our home now featured a guest bedroom/office, a nursery, and our unborn child's/guest bathroom. I flew home for the first weekend of May, where we spent the first night in our home on May 1st.

I finished at Fort Benning on May 21st, and reported to Fort Rucker, Alabama on the same day. I came home that weekend, and on Memorial Day, we found out that we were having a little girl.

I moved into my Alabama apartment on June 5th, and we began our temporary 600 mile separation. Throughout the summer we kept the roads hot and heavy, traveling back and forth to see each other. We went to the beach in Florida numerous times, a Razorback baseball game at Florida State University, and frequented the city of Birmingham, AL as a meeting point.

Sirron had her one year working anniversary at Dean/Jolly/Bannerman Dentistry in June. We are so thankful that she has such great employers and co-workers, and that she enjoys where she works. I know that she is the best at what she does, and that she truly cares about her work. I am so proud of her.

We hosted an open house in June, and celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary in August. Sirron worked during her pregnancy, while I bid my time and chipped away at flight school. Sirron went through the final 6 months of her pregnancy without me at home, and didn't hear a word from me during the final 3 weeks. She is so strong and supportive...again, I am so proud of her.

September 29, 2009, we welcomed Caroline Ainsley into the world...our little miracle. I had no idea that I could love someone so much in such a short time. She immediately became our world, and our relationship has grown immensely through parenthood. We spent one week at our home in Sardis, then departed God's Country (Arkansas) for Alabama. We lived together there for a full month, and were able to spend the vast majority of that time together...such a blessing.

Sirron went back to work the second week of November so we once again live 600 miles apart. Thanksgiving provided a few days together at home, and we ended 2009 together at home for the holidays. During our time at home, we are so thankful that we have been able to spend time with our families and see friends that we haven't in some time. My best friend Darrell and his girlfriend Shyann, who live in Branson, came and spent the day with Caroline and me. It was their first time to meet Caroline. We also got to see our great friends Brad and Nancy Evans, who we hadn't seen since last Christmas...additionally, we got to meet their little boy Everett, who was born in June, and they got to meet Caroline.

We enter 2010 in anticipation of many milestones...crawling, eating solid foods, walking, talking...the true joys of life. I will finally be a helicopter pilot, and hopefully be home before the year is over. We hope to be able to spend as much time together as possible, and for our continued safety and health. We are thankful for all that we have, and we know that all the good things in our lives are from God. We are glad that we get to share our lives with each of you, and we are sincerely thankful to you for taking the time to visit and read our blog.