Going Home

Justin's Grandmother died Saturday. We've been expecting this because she hasn't been doing well these past two months, but it was still a little sudden. Out of all the people in Justin's family, she was the one I knew the best. She was a very sweet, honest and Godly woman. Justin was pretty close with her so this hit him pretty hard. That's actually one of the things that was the hardest for me. Just seeing Justin sad and crying... it just makes me want to hold him tight and tell him everything is going to be okay. I've never had any of my grandparents die so I can only imagine how hard it must be. But if that isn't hard enough, trying to figure out if we can go home for the funeral is almost just as hard.

The first thing Justin did when he found out his Granny died was tell his Sgt. We were hoping to get emergency leave as soon as we could. His mom sent out the Red Cross and he got a call from them on Sunday. His Sgt told another Sgt and the word went up the chain of command. Later that day, Justin's SSgt called him and told him that he more than likely wouldn't get Emergency Leave because it wasn't an immediate family member that died. I thought that was the end of it... but then his SSgt told him that what they would do was try to get him regular leave and get it approved by noon on Monday. That right there amazed me. I'm so used to getting screwed by the Marine Corps, when they do something like that.... it's just a miracle. It just reminds me that, yes, you do get screwed a lot by the military, but overall, they do take care of us.
Then came the challenge of how to pay for the tickets. Now, Justin and I had checked on tickets before but when we did they were weeks in advance. They were averaging around $600 each. When Justin and I checked flights Sunday night, they were at least $1200. Each. $2400 to go home. That was heartbreaking. There was no way we could afford that. But Justin had a plan...

Monday morning, after doing a few things at work, Justin went to Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society to see if they could help us out. They ended up finding us flights for $600 each. It was absolutely amazing!!! Thank you Jesus!!!

So we're going to be back home in Chattanooga, TN until the 8th! This is the first time Justin and I have been home together since we got married. Over 1 year!