Douvas Update

Dear Family and Friends,

I am so sorry wasn't able to get Christmas Cards out this year! Time slipped away from me and we didn't have much of an update for me to write in a letter, but now we do. So, I thought I'd write a little update for you all.

Since venturing off to Quantico, VA for Alex to attend The Basic School, our plan was to do our three and a half years and then get out of the Marine Corps. Well, little did we know how much we were actually going to love this life style and all of the friends we'd make along the way. God has really done a work on our hearts and we are so excited to share with you all that we have decided to stay in the Marine Corps for at least another three years, and we'll see where we are at that point as to what we decide after that.

With that being said, we found out last week that we will be moving, sometime this Spring, to the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, CA. Miramar, for those of you who aren't familiar with where it's located, it is in San Diego, about ten minutes from Sea World and The San Diego Zoo. Where we are hoping to live (which is on base), will be about 15 minutes from the beach! We are so excited to be near the water again, but most importantly we are excited to be near civilization again. If you've never been to Twentynine Palms, we are literally in the middle of nowhere. We are about 50 minutes from the freeway, 35 minutes from the closest Walmart (and it's not even a very good one), about an hour and ten minutes from the closest Target, and about an hour and twenty minutes from the closest Mall and Trader Joes. So, being near all of these places again, will be a welcomed change.

We've been talking about our upcoming move with Madison and she is so excited. One of the things that has been fun is that one family from our community group out here (that we host in our home) will also be going to Miramar. They will be getting there in the middle of March and we will just be a few short months behind them, so we'll already have friends when we get there. Then a couple months after we arrive another family (that we met while in Quantico) will be moving to Miramar sometime in August or September. It will be great to reconnect with them and to meet their little girl.
Madison will be turning three this summer and so we're in the process of researching preschools and fun activities in the Miramar area, such as dance and gymnastic, since she will now be three and that seems to be the magic age to be able to do any of those fun classes.

We are so thankful for all of you and your support as we've been on this journey. Your friendship and prayers have meant and still mean the world to us. We hope to see you all at some point and if you ever want to take a trip to San Diego, we'll have an extra room and would love to see you :)

Blessings,

Stephanie, Alex and Madison

***Once we have a new address, I'll send out that update, but we probably won't know that for a little bit***

***If you didn't receive this email it's either because I don't have an updated email for you or because you were one of the ones my address book decided to ditch when I tried to update it...sorry....please either leave me a comment or email me with your current address, so that I can update my address book! Thank you and so sorry!***