What You SHOULD Say (A Follow Up on Yesterday's Post)

After posting to my blog yesterday and including the link to the list of "Things Not to Say to the Spouse of a Deployed Soldier" (see previous post), I came across another article that will probably be just as informative. It is the opposite of the first and is called: "Things You Should Say During Deployment" 



For me personally, most of these probably wouldn't apply on a day to day basis as I am not an 'I-need-to-get-out-there-and-socialize-all-the-time' kind of person to begin with. For example: my husband has been gone for nearly a month and I've only driven somewhere twice since then. Once to pick up a package--and thereby prevent it's being stolen--at the house of a friend who is home with her family while our husbands are away at training, and to the grocery store the other time. So, as you can tell, I don't get out much. Ha ha! I don't expect that will be the case to the same extent in VA because I know my way around that area a lot more and am more comfortable driving there than I am here. But I digress, back to the original topic. . . . However, it is likely applicable to most military spouses, and may on occasion apply to me as well--though we'll have to wait and see, ha ha.

Anyhow, I thought it might be something worth reading for all of my non-military friends who haven't ever been around any military spouses while their husbands are gone.

Cheers!

Of Training and Deployment

So, here I am--again. It's been a month since I posted anything, and I don't really have a very good excuse as to why I haven't. Here goes. . . .

The Hubby left for more away training back at the end of July, so the Munchkin and I have been holding down the fort since then. Thankfully it is nearly over with and my husband will be home soon! I will be SO happy to have him home again! This past month has dragged by--despite my efforts to stay busy and get some things done around the house.

This separation has made the upcoming deployment so much more real . . . up until he left I was able to kind of 'keep the deployment at bay' so-to-speak. I could convince myself that it was still pretty far off and that I didn't need to worry about it yet--never mind that the days, weeks, and months have been flying by since just before we hit the 'scheduled-to-deploy-in-a-year' mark. However, the fact that that he's already been gone for nearly a month for training with a bit left to go yet, and that by the time he returns we will only have a few short months together before he leaves us for a year (more on this in a minute) has really been starting to sink in while he's been away. It's made for some moments of sadness here and there . . . but I just keep reminding myself that "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24) I don't want our last few months together to be filled with apprehension, tension, and stress. I'd rather that they be filled with fun times together and lots of good memories made.

Some of you who have heard about the Army cutting 3 months off of the standard year long deployment time may be wondering why my husband is still going over there for a year. Well, unfortunately, the 9-month deployment doesn't count for his brigade at this point due to many reasons (one of the biggest is probably due to the fact that they are an Aviation brigade--though I don't know that for sure, so please don't quote me on that!--they ARE trying to find a way to make it a 9-month deployment, but they don't sound very hopeful that it will happen before they leave. . . . That's not going to stop me from hoping that a miracle will happen though! We'll just have to wait and see). I truly am thrilled for the soldiers and their families who do get to cut 3 months off of their deployments though! I can't resent anyone else getting to have their husband/wife back earlier just cause mine has to stay longer.

While we are on the topic of the upcoming deployment though . . . as many of you know, the munchkin and I will be moving back to Virginia (to those of you who know where in VA--please do not post anything specific if you decide to comment on this or any future posts! Thanks!) for the duration of the deployment. Initially my husband and I were fully intending on my staying here, but more and more things kept pointing toward my moving back to Virginia, so after a lot of prayer and consideration, we decided that it would be better for me to move back for a year instead of stay here for that time. And, no, I'm not "running home to Mommy" as has been hinted at by someone I know. One of the biggest reasons I'm moving home instead of staying here is to give my husband peace of mind (and no, it's not cause he doesn't think I can take care of myself, ha ha) . . . there have been a lot of 'signs of the times' lately and in the event that some awful natural disaster affects Hawaii or if something horrific happens worldwide my husband feels much better knowing that for one thing, that I won't be completely isolated from friends and family--and also that I will be armed, because in VA I fully intend on getting another concealed carry license. There are other reasons as well, such as: why stay here surrounded by suburbs and city when I can move back the middle-of-nowhere where I'll feel like I have room to breathe again and not constantly be hearing traffic and sirens? Why stay here alone--considering the fact that all of the women that I consider to be my friends here are either PCSing or are also moving home for the deployment? Plus, why wouldn't I want to move away from the tropics to somewhere where the munchkin and I will actually get to enjoy snow?! Woo-hoo! :-p That wasn't facetious, by the way, I really am looking forward to being back in a place where it snows (if only it were under different circumstances! :-( ). So, there you have it: the abbreviated list of why I am moving back to VA.

I'm not going to lie and say that I don't have any apprehensions about moving away from here though. Because I do . . . you see, when you live in a military community EVERYONE knows what you are going through and that can be an amazing support system. People know what topics are sensitive ones and what NOT to ask. It's kind of funny, military spouses have compiled lists of things that they wish their non-military family and friends wouldn't say or ask during a deployment. I'll have to see if I can find it and post it, because it's SO true (if you are a military spouse reading this, I'm sure you know what I am talking about! :-) So, yeah, the thought of being surrounded by a civilian community that doesn't have a clue what I am going through scares me to death. To any of my civilian friends reading this--I love you guys--please don't take offense to this, I'm not trying to offend anyone! I'm just being real here--I'm nervous about not having the support of other military wives going through the same thing as myself. Thankfully though, one of my good friends from here will also be moving home to VA, she'll be a few hours away, but at least I'll be able to see her every now and then--and we'll be in the same time zone, ha ha!

Well, I couldn't find the exact list that I was looking for, but this one covered the biggest ones:  Top Things Not to Say to the Spouse of a Deployed Soldier . Hopefully reading it will be somewhat helpful to anyone who hasn't experienced a deployment firsthand themselves.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll try to post some pictures in the *near* future, ha ha. If any of this post seemed kind of disjointed or random . . . I kind of didn't go back and proof read it to make sure that I finished my trains of thought. Hopefully it won't be too scrambled!

Not a Monday, but Still Miscellaneous!

So, I just realized that I haven't met my original goal of getting back into posting at least once a week, because it has already been a month since I posted last! Where does the time go? o.O


Anyhow...I'm way past due for posting an update! So much has happened this past month--and I really meant to blog about the events as they were happening, because I didn't want to forget any of them (which I'm quite certain that I have indeed forgotten something that I wanted to blog about). As you can tell though--it didn't happen!


Now to at least *try* to get caught up. Where to begin? .... Ah, I know: my sister. :-)

First some background; for years my sister has felt a calling to be a missionary--and more specifically--to go to India and use her life for God's glory working with the orphans and widows of India. So, last year after being disappointed by a door being closed at the last minute for her to go to Honduras for 6 months and assist a missionary couple who were already there, my sister was networking with native Indian missionaries to try to make some contacts and see if any doors would open. She began communicating with a man named Byju who runs an orphanage in Northern India. As they talked they began to realize that they had many of the same dreams and goals for what they felt like God was calling them to do with their lives. Byju asked my sister if she would think about marrying him, and after a while they began a courtship and--to make a long story short--earlier this month my sister traveled to India (along with our mom) to meet and marry her Byju. :-) They were married on July 10th and judging from the brief phone calls and Facebook statuses, my sister is blissfully happy and completely adores her new husband (but that's nothing new is it Sis? :-p). ;-)

 My beautiful sister and her dashing new husband on their wedding day!

If you ever read this Sis--congratulations again! We are so happy for you and Byju and can't wait to meet him (hopefully sooner rather than later)! Love you bunches! :-)

Well, in other news, Peanut Butter Cup has been cutting his canines (so far the lower left and upper right ones have broken through, but the other two are still below the surface) which that has been making him cranky, and is likely also responsible for his somewhat diminished appetite as well. We have been working on potty training (very slowly) since May, and have had some progress but still have a LONG way to go.... A very long way to go. o.O

My horse, Titan, is *possibly* going to be broken soon! I am SO excited about that, but am so sad to be missing all of his training. I'm hoping to find out an approximate date of when it is going to happen--before it happens (even if it gets changed and has to be delayed for any reason)--so that I can share in the excitement and anticipation of waiting for an e-mail or something to hear how it went. Silly, I know, but I feel like I'm missing so much with him and it would be so awesome to be able to feel more a part of such a big event in his life! Phooey--I miss my pony!!

My handsome boy! (Thanks to Karissa, one of my best and dearest friends, for taking this photo and sharing it with me! You're awesome!!!)

Well, I guess I should try to get some other stuff done before Peanut Butter Cup wakes up for the day. :-) I really will try to write again soon--and post more pictures! I'm so far behind....

Pictures of Munchkin's Stitches and Some More Experimenting with Photoshop

 

 Please forgive the mess in the playroom.... I probably should have cropped most of it out, but in the end I didn't (obviously, ha ha!). :-p

 Playing soccer with Daddy in the field near our house.

 Taking a break and inspecting a piece of grass.

"I think there is something here."

I'm Back!

Whew!! Long time, no write!! At first I didn't mean to be away from the blogosphere for so long, but then I decided to take a bit of a sabbatical.... Only I never actually got around to posting and letting y'all know that! I'm not even sure if anyone even checks my blog for new posts anymore. Sorry about that everyone!

Life picked up for a while, and I just didn't have the time or energy to write anything. I did THINK about things I wanted to write about, they just never made it to the computer. :-p I actually started writing this post back in May, and it's taken me this long to get a chance to finish it!

Anyhow, here's a quick update for anyone who may still be reading this blog -- or randomly stumbles across it, ha ha. Peanut Butter Cup turned 18 months old in May, and less than a week later he decided that it was high time for him to be climbing out of his crib, so as soon as his daddy got home from some away training a couple of days later Peanut Butter Cup's crib was made into a toddler bed. It was an interesting adjustment to say the least, but it didn't really change his sleeping habits much aside from the very first night when I had a nightlight on so he would be able to see if he woke up in the night and got out of bed--the light was too stimulating for him and we ended up having a five hour party-time instead of his normal 1-3 hours. Needless to say, we were both exhausted the next day, and he actually slept for about 11 1/2 hours straight the next night (a rarity to be sure!), for which I was VERY grateful.

Now things are pretty much back to normal and he actually sleeps through the night on occasion--sometimes several nights in a row which is SO wonderful! I can't wait until he sleeps through the night every night.... It will make planning out my days and nights a little bit more predictable than they are currently. :-)

Peanut Butter Cup is in the process of cutting his four cuspids and then all that will be left are the very back molars. Teething is another thing that I can't wait to be done with. It will be a huge relief to know that he isn't hurting from cutting teeth anymore!!

June 4th was quite an eventful day--not only was it my husband's birthday, but it was also the day Peanut Butter Cup got his first set of stitches (not something I'd care to repeat for a VERY long time). So, how did it happen? Well, we were Skyping with my husband's parents in the play room while Peanut Butter Cup ran around playing like he always does, only this time he tripped and hit his forehead square on a toy (one that was supposed to be safe because it had rounded edges...he just happened to find the one sharp joint underneath the rounded edge). Because it was a head wound it instantly started bleeding quite a bit which of course shook me up because he's my baby and I can't stand the thought of him getting hurt like that. My husband took charge of the situation and told me to get tissues and put pressure on it. Peanut Butter Cup was thrashing around quite a bit though and I was scared I was going to hurt him more so my husband took over that and told me to get ready to leave so we could go to the emergency room. I think we were out of the door and on our way within about 7 minutes of it happening. I sat in the back with Munchkin on the way there and tried to distract him and keep him calm while I tried to clean most of the blood off of him. He had stopped screaming by then, but started crying a few times during the short drive, fortunately though he was pretty easy to distract so that kept him from crying the whole way there.

By the time we had gotten to the clinic (my husband had decided on the way that he probably didn't need to go to the E.R.) and had signed in, Peanut Butter Cup was pretty much back to his normal self--wanting to run around and be chased, all the while giggling--which was a huge relief to me (and my heart--which I think had stopped momentarily when he fell and I saw all of the blood).

He ended up having to get three stitches, and let me tell you--he was SO brave. He didn't whine or fuss when the nurses swaddled him, or had to clean it out--or even when they had to numb the area, which was the point at which they said things usually started to "get interesting". I think he would have been fine during the whole stitching process as well, but they insisted on covering his face up with a cloth--which is something that he absolutely hates. He was very upset by that and by the time the nurses had finished stitching him up he had exhausted himself, was beet red, and had soaked the sheet under his head in sweat and tears. I felt so bad that he had to go through that and was very relieved when they had finished and would finally take the cover off of his face.

His stitches are out now and it has been healing very nicely. Now, hopefully God and Peanut Butter Cup will both have mercy on me and there won't be any more injuries for a loooooooooooonnng time.

I'll post pictures soon!

I've missed blogging...hopefully I'll be able to get back into posting at least once a week here in the near future!