Graduation!!!!

Friday, July 25, 2008 was the ceremony. We drove to Great Lakes on Thursday night. It took us 7 house to get there.
Cameron went with us and he was pretty good on the long trip.
The ceremony was pretty neat. Nathan looked 10 years younger because he had lost 38 lbs. We walked around after graduation and then went back to the hotel to wait for him to move over to the base. He will be staying in Great Lakes for his "A" school.
He got everything moved and was able to join us for dinner at the hotel at about 6. My mom and dad had gone over too so they joined us. After dinner he went back to the base and we went back to the hotel.
The next morning Eddie picked him up from the base and brought him back to the hotel for breakfast. Mamaw and papaw joined us and then headed home. We drove around seeing the city, then had lunch at Olive Garden. Cameron was wanting nothing more than to play at a park so we drove around some more and tryed to find one for him. All of the driving put him fast asleep for a couple of hours. We ended up going back to the base to look around and see what all was there. We not only found a playground but also a beautiful beach on the lake! We went out and walked around in the water for a short while and then took Cameron back to the playground to play. He had a great time until he was stung by a bee. That pretty much ended our stay. We took Nathan back to his dorm and headed home. The trip home was only about 5 hours. Nathan is now a realy sailor! I will post some pictures.

Nathan got his cap!

Well, he made it! Nathan had his final test over the last 24 hours. He passed! He called at 3 this afternoon and he had been up since yesterday morning at 5 a.m.. He was very tired but happy to be done. After passing his test he said they had a ceremony where he was given his cap and he is now an official sailor. One week from today we will go and watch him in his pass & review ceremony. We can not wait to see him!! He also told me he has lost 35 lbs since the first day of boot camp. We may not recognize him! He will start his "A school" Monday July 28.
May God be with him as he serves for the next 5 years.

Poor Nathan

Today is Wednesday so we usually get a letter from Nathan. He is still in boot camp so he can only mail letters out to us on Sundays. Today we got 2 letters. The first he had been able to write on July 4th because they had a free day due to it being a holiday. The second was written on Sunday as usual. Both were mailed out on Sunday so we got them together, thank Goodness. In the first one he told us he had been ill for a few days and they had told him he has pneumonia. He said he felt terrible and had ask other recruits to pray for him. In the second he said he was feeling much better. He said when he asked for the prayer things seemed to take a turn for the better. He was down in bed for 6 days. Had he been down for 10 he would have to add two weeks on to his training but as it sounds for now he will still be able to graduate on Friday, July 25 as planned. If you are reading this post I ask you to pray that his health improves.

Nathan called!!!

Last night, Nathan called. He called my cell phone as I was just arriving at work. As cell phones are so great at doing, mine didn't ring, just beeped and told me I had a missed call! I looked at the missed call and about died. I recognized that it was his calling card number. Luckily he called back within a few minutes. He was supposed to get 1 hour but his group has not done very well so he only got 15 minutes. That was long enough for both Eddie and I to talk to him. He sounded good. Says it is hard but he really likes it. He has been made Yoeman which means he has been put in charge of 84 recruites medical needs. He says it keeps him extra busy and gives him extra responsibilities and he loves responsibilities! Also he sent letters to Us, Cameron, Kimberli, Matt & Alaina & Daniel, Ben, Matt and both sets of grandparents. He has very little time on Sundays to write but tried to at least write to everyone that have written to him. Hopefully we will hear from him again soon.

Nathan's address

We got Nathan's address today so anyone who has an extra minute, please write:

SR Barr, Nathaniel, A.
Ship#5/Div 261
Recruit Training Command
3610 Illinois St.
Great Lakes, IL 60088-3118

Swearing in

Yesterday May 28, 2008, Nathan was sworn in to the United States Navy. It was very hard to let him go. The night before, Eddie, Ben, Cameron and I took him up to stay at a hotel. We went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then dropped him off at 8:00. There were kids there that were going too and they looked so young! We were the only parents/family that seemed to be there. After dropping him off we drove back home. We took Ben to his car and then went home with Cameron. He ate pop corn and watched Blue's Clues and got into bed around 11:30. WAY later than he is used to. We got up early yesterday and left the house by about 8. We arrived at Fort Ben around 9. It was a long wait and a lot of organized activity before he boarded the bus to leave at around noon. We followed the bus as far as we could and Cameron was yelling "have a nice trip" the entire way. That evening I received a phone call from Nathan letting me know they had gotten there ok. He was allowed 2 minutes on the phone and he told me then not to expect to hear from him again for 2 to 3 weeks. For everyone reading this let me ask please pray for his health and safety. He plans to be in the Navy for 5 years.