Hanky Alert!!

Thirty Days of Thanks...

Today, as ever, I am thankful for the men and women who have served and sacrificed and made this country of ours GREAT.

John and I both grew up in families where the United States of America was (and is still) honored. Both families have strong ties to the military, with many cousins, uncles, and a few women, too, wearing the uniform.

Now, to borrow a line from my cyber-friend, Monica--

Some heroes wear capes....MINE WEARS COMBAT BOOTS!

my favorite soldier

Deploying Again?

This week John got word that he got "Involuntarily Deployed." That means he didn't volunteer for it. You can volunteer and have a tiny bit of control over deploying time. Almost all of his engineer group have been deployed this fall (they are being pulled out of this group to join bigger units). One got word on a Monday and was deployed by Friday. It took about 2 hours to get into John's work email from home and find out just when his deployment is. I even offered to drive John (who was dog-tired) back to work to get into his email there! Finally we had the date: not until January 10. John's retirement date from the Army Reserves is June 2, so either he'll only be deployed about 5 1/2 months or they'll decide to deploy someone else all together. There is an outside chance to keep him for the entire 12 month deployment, but that is extremely unlikely.

5 1/2 months sounds really easy to those of us here at home. We've done a 6-month and a 12-month deployment.


Of course, John's safety is in my mind foremost. But these other things ran through my mind in the 2 minutes following John's phone call:

• JT will get his gerbil (the indoor pet promised if Daddy gets a 2 month or longer trip)
  
  
• The boys need to take their cell phones to Disney World in 2 weeks so they can go on scary rides without having to spend the whole time in line getting Princess autographs with Luci
  
  
• Bryan can get his license and drive Dad's truck while he's gone (Bryan's 16, but hasn't finished his driver's ed materials)
  
  
• I can sleep in the big bed, not in Luci's little bed--still having major sleep/abandonment issues
  
  
• Luci will be completely potty-trained when John gets back
  
  
• No birthdays missed this time!
  
  
• Another Christmas missed-this would be #3 (this was before we knew the Jan 10 date)
  
  
• I'll finally get all the ironing caught up (most of it is John's work shirts)
  
  
• JT's gerbil will have to wait until after Thanksgiving, when we go see John's folks for a couple of days
  
  
• Thought of who I could call at church to give me a "kid-break" once in a while
  
  
• There will be some extra cash to let the boys do all the teen stuff at church--doing everything is just out of the question now
  

It is kind of funny, because I wasn't panicking. We've done this before and know that it just happens. It's a necessary thing. (Now, please don't hit me with politics.)

Something worth fighting for:

QotD--Show Us Your Favorite Person in Uniform

My favorite picture from John's travels with the military. Kabul, Afghanistan. John and his group of engineers aided an orphanage. Here's a little man getting a toy from this kind soldier.