Operation Santa!

I am so proud to write, tonight, that my USMC Sisters in more than one chapter, have gotten together and adopted a couple platoons of Marines for Operation Santa!  Great job, Sisters!  Now, we are letting you all know that we are taking donations of these items, in order for our Marines to know that they are loved, appreciated and being thought about:

Jelly beans
Disposable camera
Rice Krispie treats
Altoids or mints
Beef jerky
Snack mixes
Sunflower seeds
Chewing gum
Nuts
Little Debbie's snacks
Ziploc bags (for keeping things airtight, watertight, and fresher)
Coffee
Gatorade (powder)
Jaw breakers
Playing cards
Dice
Dominoes
Canned food items
Footbag/hacky-sac
Smoked oysters and sardines 
Squeeze butter 
Pringles chips
Individually-wrapped licorice 
Microwave popcorn 
Ramen noodles 
Cereal bars/granola bars 
Microwave pasta that doesn't need refrigeration 
Hot cocoa/apple cider mix 
Soup mix 
M&M's (plain or peanut)
Koozies to keep water bottles and cans cool 
Stress relief squeeze balls 
Sewing kit 
Baby wipes
Hand warmers 
Razors
Juice boxes and drink pouches
Ink pens 
Notepads of paper
Word Puzzle books
Air activated heat wraps for sore muscles 
Foot massager
Icy hot patches 
Microwaveable plates, bowls, paper plates 
Foot powder


If you would like to donate any of these items, we have addresses to ship to! Easy Peasy! We have 276 Marines, so let's start giving! I can't wait to go shopping!
Email me if you are interested. usmcsisters@ymail.com


Jessica

November 8, 2010 7:11am

My best friends, back in the day.

So, I'm in California now! I am pretty excited about it! However, I know that I am going to miss my girls from back home! These girls have helped me through a HORRIBLE marriage, a divorce, counseling, a chocolate business, a rocky relationship, boot camp, MCT, MOS schooling, doctor visits and so much more!  We have seen each other through heartache, headache, stress, hate, love, tears of joy, tears of pain, tears of sorrow, lost grandparents, found loves, unrequited loves, sin, addiction, WAY too old guys, WAY too young guys, hopes, fears, dreams, crazy ex boyfriends, ugly ex husbands, dogs, cats, arch rivals, boot camp and soon to be MCT and MOS school. I love my girls more than anyone ever could and I know they love me, too. I know, without a shadow of a doubt that any one of my friends would take a bullet for me and I would do the same thing for any of them. Love isn't always a lot of work... Sometimes love just finds you, picks you up and holds you close, until you can stand on your own. I want to think my little sisters for doing that for me. Now, it's my turn to hold you girls up. I love you all very much and my life would never have been the same without you. You girls are the ones that I will have for my whole life and I couldn't be more thankful for you. I love you.


Xoxo - 
Jessica

My best friends today, forever and always.

November 1, 2010 10:07pm

Well, this last few days have been the most hectic of my life!  Now, after all of the packing and all of the people starting drama...  I am on my way to be with the man of my dreams!  How exciting!  A new chapter in our life together!  I will be there on Wednesday!  Just thought I'd share! :)

October 27, 2010 7:05pm

Goodness gracious!  This moving thing is scary and stressful!  I just got off the phone with Orion.  He and I had to do a lot of paperwork in order to get me moved there and everything.  It looks as if I will be leaving on Sunday or Monday...


It is difficult, on this day....  One of my Facebook friends has lost her Marine.  He stepped on an IED in Afghanistan and fought for his life, only to pay the ultimate sacrifice.  My prayers go out to Katie Sheldon and the family of LCPL Honeycutt.  He is truly an American Hero and I will keep you all in my prayers for comfort and peace in this horrible time of pain.  


Ladies, hold your beloved close and tell them how much you love them, Marine or not.  We are not guaranteed the next breath.  Remember that.  Say what you mean and how you feel.  You may not get another chance...


Many prayers....


Jessica <3

October 25, 2010 (2:25am)

My Goodness.  I can't believe it is almost 2:30am!  I didn't wake up until 3:30pm, so it still seems early.  I was up until 5:30am yesterday, watching one of our local B&Bs get investigated by the St. Louis Ghost Hunter Society.  It was pretty cool!  I'm glad they had a live feed on the internet equipped with a chat feature so we could ask questions and they would answer us on camera.  Pretty neat!  
When I finally dragged myself out of bed, I talked to Orion on the phone.  This whole moving thing is making me stressed out.  He graduates from his MOS schooling on November 3rd....  What's going to happen if we don't have the money to do everything we need to do?  Where is he going to stay?  What if we don't have the money for a deposit on a place?  If he does go somewhere...  He won't have anything to eat or cook because I have everything with me...  I guess I just don't know what is going to happen.  And, I hate that.  He is supposed to get leave as soon as he can and come get me... But, we need to fix our car before it will make it all that way.  I need to get the dog updated on his shots... I need to change my license and SS card to my married name.  So much to do in so little time with so little money!  I'm definitely not having a good time with this.  Yikes! 


Since we will be moving away from both of our families, I have decided to make wish list registries on Walmart.com and Target.com, that way nobody has to call and ask us what we need for Christmas!  However, if any of you are reading this, we are saving our money for this bed!  Feel free to donate to THAT fund! :)

LOVE IT!

Well, it's off to bed for me! Xoxo!

October 23, 2010 (3:03pm)

Romeo being Romeo. Shakespeare looks on. :)

Today, I am sitting on the couch, watching Dexter.  Yesterday, my dog ate a whole bag of chocolate chips, a piece of pizza and a Nutrigrain Bar while I was out of the room...  So, he was up last night, pacing because his belly was hurting, I'm sure.  Drove me crazy.  Last night, after my dog ate everything, but before the pacing, I went to the Desoto High School play, "Drop Dead, Juliet".  It was pretty good!  I was there, taking pictures of them getting their make-up on and being nervous before they went on.  This play was Romeo and Juliet, but this time, Juliet didn't want to die, so she wanted to change the story where nobody dies and all the boys are girls and she and Romeo live happily ever after.  Well, once she changed it, Romeo stays in love with Rosaline and doesn't like Juliet.  Tybalt and Mercutio still die, Romeo is still banished...  It sucks for Juliet.  So, it was a good time.  Especially because I know the guys who played Romeo and Shakespeare.

Juliet's Dagger with Romeo's mask

Romeo, daydreaming about Rosaline while Shakespeare and Juliet chat.

Nerves before going on, with Juliet's dagger.

October 20, 2010

Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in all of this chaos and sometimes I feel like I am on top of it all.  I don't even know how I feel about it today but I know one thing.  If ONE thing I do or say touches someone's life and changes it in a good way, then I will be overjoyed.  I just want to make a difference and help other people make a difference.  I want someone who may have had nobody and been lonely for 7 months, while her husband is deployed, get out there with her new found Sisters and have a BLAST!  I want her to be able to hold her head up high and say that she is going to make it through because she is a strong woman with a strong support system behind her, pushing or pulling her thought it, if need be.  That is what we are here for.  I want to spend time with each chapter, but I just don't know when that will be feasible.  I hope to get all of our chapters up and going strong, so that I can do that.  I want each of our chapters to have a shirt or even more than one shirt that the girls are so proud to wear!  I want this to be something to be proud of!  I certainly am!  I have never seen anything grow like this has!  We now have 19 chapters.  One of them is all the way in Japan!  Someone messaged me this morning and is thinking about starting a chapter where they are! We could have 20 chapters, soon!  How exciting is that?!  I am so happy to know that girls who probably would never have met, are talking because of USMC Sisters and it has nothing to do with me.  Sure, I spend a lot of time trying to connect people and get the kinks out of the system, with the help of my AWESOME Board of Directors, but it has nothing to do with me. It has EVERYTHING to do with you.  If you are reading this and you are a Sister, THANK YOU for putting yourself out there and being willing to be a part of my dream.  If you are not a Sister and are in love with a US Marine, check us out on Facebook and request to join!  If you are reading this and you aren't a Sister and are not in love with a Marine, you can still support us.  We will be taking donations as soon as we have our non-profit status.  You can volunteer to help ANY of our chapters with our fundraisers and community projects.  We will have Tshirts made, that you can buy, that say "I support USMC Sisters.  Helping them to help others."  The profits made from those will go toward helping Sisters who don't have the money to get to their Marine.  It goes toward community projects.  It helps us get our name out there so we can help as many people as possible!  We are here to love each other through it all and we are going to do it by loving our communities, too.

Each Sister is a blessing.  Each donation will be a blessing.  Every project will be a blessing.

I feel very blessed.
Jessica <3

October 19, 2010...12:00pm

Hello!  I wanted to create a blog for all of you to keep up with my life and I also wanted to let you in on my thoughts and ideas for USMC Sisters!  First of all, I think I need to explain why I started all of this...

It all started on May 08, 2010.
I was so nervous to be getting off of the train in California.  I had only been out there for his boot camp graduation and had driven back to Missouri that night.  I had people with me then, too.  This time, I was alone.  I knew nobody in California and was worried when I tried to call my husband, but he didn't have his phone on.  I knew he had been having trouble with it staying charged...  So, I got off the train in a place where I knew nobody and had no idea where I was going.  You would think it would be easy to find a US Marine, though... And it was.  Much too easy.  They were everywhere, and with the haircut they keep when they are in SOI, they all look the same.  So, I spotted someone else getting off the train with a "war bag" and he helped me find my husband.  He could have been anybody.  He could have been one of the bad ones.  He could have led me anywhere and done anything he wanted to me.  I would never have been able to overpower him if I had to...  Luckily, he wasn't one of the bad ones you hear about.  He had me stay with our bags and went off, into the crowd.  He came back, 10 minutes later, with my husband.  I don't know how he found the right man, but he did!  That was when I decided that something had to change.  There is a great need for a group of ladies that will look out for each other.  A group that is willing to be the shoulder that we all need, from time to time, in this lifestyle.  A group that will go out of their way to help one another and the rest of the world.  We needed a group that is loving and caring.  We had to make a group that would love each other through all of life's mistakes and failures and celebrate each other through the times of triumph and accomplishment.  We needed a sisterhood of wives, fiancées and girlfriends that would be each other's backbone when we are too weak to stand tall. I had thought about all of this for a while, once I got back to Missouri.  On May 19, 1020, I decided that it needed a name.... What was the one thing we all had in common?  A love/hate relationship with the USMC.... Okay... a sisterhood.... Sisters....  That was the day that USMC Sisters was founded.

Now, five months later, to the day... We have 17 chapters in the contiguous United States and one in Hawaii and one in Japan!  We now have a Board of Directors with a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Events Team, Marketing Team, Fundraising Team, New Member Administrator, Trustees and a Public Relations Representative!

How blessed I have been to be able to see this grow so fast that it makes me cry sometimes, that my dream has become a reality!

I am thankful, everyday, to these girls, the ones I am proud to call my Sisters.

Semper Fi,
Jessica Starwalt, Founder/President - USMC Sisters