Is This Deployment Ever Going to End?

     I have just about decided the answer is no.  It seems like that every time I think that I might just might be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel it flickers and goes out.  I'm ready to see my husband.  The kids are ready to see their daddy.  We are getting to that point of the deployment that the tiredness starts to wear on you.  I need my second wind.  I need to know that it really is going to end.  I keep telling myself that we are under 200 days now.  That number looks huge.  I'm ready to be in the double digits.  Shoot, at this point, I will take being under 150 days.
     One of the boys was telling me last night that they wish daddy was home.  I replied that I do to.  He said that his friends have no idea what it is like.  I know honey.  Nobody, unless they have gone through it, knows what it is like.  We keep going because that is what we are to do.  We keep going because that is what keeps daddy going.  We keep going because we can do this.  We do this one day at a time, and there are times that we do this one minute and one second at a time.
     At least the Hubster is out of Afghanistan for now.  He is in Jordan working doing "Seabee Work" as he says.  I have no idea where in Jordan, but I tell myself that is better than where he was at.  It does make me feel better.  At least the communication is better where he is at now.  He does pay for his wifi, but that is better than not hearing from him.
     Ty starts drivers ed on Monday.  He turned 16, and he has finally decided that he wants to drive.  Keifer turns 15 in January, and he is already pestering me about drivers ed.  I told him I would find out when the earliest he could start drivers ed would be.  Ty won't be able to get his drivers license until he has had his permit for 6 months, but that is 6 months less of really high car insurance.  The girls are doing pretty good.  Ky-pie starts occupational therapy on Wednesday.  We began to notice that she has balance and fine motor skill issues back in January, and we went through a whole host of tests to check for tumors and other muscular diseases.  Needless to say it was a very stressful few months that we went through while daddy has been gone.  Bell-Bell is doing great.  She loves school, and she has lots of friends.  She has really become clingy and won't leave my side over the last month or two.  I'm guessing it is because daddy is gone.  She is ready for him to be home too.  As far as me, I had foot surgery back in May to remove a cyst from the bottom of my foot.  Please note that it felt like I was walking on a rock for nearly 5 months before they removed the cyst.  In other words, it hurt.  It hurt bad.  I'm now in physical therapy trying to make sure that scar tissue doesn't grow.  All of those nerve endings in your foot can really make your foot throb if it has scar tissue.  We have found another knot, and I go back to pt and the doctor tomorrow.  There was mention of having another surgery to remove the new knot.  Sigh...I don't think this is ever going to end.  I  took off a semester of college, and I start back on September 1.  I think I'm ready only because I'm ready to be done.  In a nutshell, that is what is going on in our house right now.  We appreciate all of the prayers we can get to get through the remainder of this deployment.

The Date Has Been Set...

     We started off the week with my mother-in-law coming to see us for a visit.  We decided to take the kids out of school Monday and Tuesday and go do something fun and memorable.  We ended up going to Great Wolf Lodge.  I found an excellent deal online.  The place was EMPTY.  We could get right on rides.  We were all pooped by the end of the day on Monday.  We had so much fun.  I love making family memories.
      Tuesday though was the day we found out just when the Hubster is going to be leaving for the deployment.  He will train for 3 months before the actual leaving the country.  He should be gone around 10 - 12 months.  I guess that there was a small part of me that wouldn't let me really dwell on this.  As long as there wasn't any actual orders or a date, then it was not really going to happen. Reality is kicking in.
     I can do this.  One day at a time.  One minute at a time.  One second at a time.  We will get through this

I Was Hoping I Wouldn't Need to Blog Any Time Soon

 A few weeks ago the hubby called me at work and left a message.  It was to call him as soon as I could because it was important.  He wanted to let me know that another battalion had called him wanting him to deploy with them.  He wanted to make sure I would be okay with it.  What can you really say but I'm fine with it?  I really am, but I am NOT looking forward to it.  It will be weird to not have any other spouses going through it at the same time.
     I have been in denial over the last few weeks because the official orders have not been submitted.  Friday that denial came crashing down.  Hubby had to go on base to fill out some paperwork that the Navy didn't like the way it was submitted.  This is the paperwork that was needed to get his orders.  I guess it finally hit that he really will be gone.  That this is really happening.  I guess it is time to buckle up, put the big girl panties on, and just do this one day at a time.  Because the faster it gets here, the faster we can get to the end.

Long time no post...

Life has been what you call busy.  There was a lot of change over the summer.  Keith decided that he would run cross country (which he does not like all that much) instead of playing football.  He decided that he would rather play football, but it is to late for that.  Bella turned a big whopping 4 years old on Tuesday.  I can not believe my baby is 4.  It doesn't seem possible.  I got a job working at the kids' school.  I am the librarian and a recess teacher.  Needless to say I am on my feet all day long.  I want to see how many steps I take per day because I am sure it is a bunch.  I travel from end to end of that school 3 to 8 times per day, and it is not small.  The kids have started off school with a great year.  They are both liking it which certainly makes my life easier.  They even have some great grades.  I'm very happy with their grades.  Other than that, not much going on besides work, school, kids, school, and then some more work.  My life is crazy hectic, but I am loving it.

School is officially...

OVER!

Everybody passed.  I'm now the proud Mom of an 8th, 7th, and Kindergartner plus a little K-3er.  I'm officially a sophomore in college.  Woot!  Made it through last semester with 3 A's and 1 stinky B.  Glad that the school year is over.

Went to the neurologist yesterday.  She is very concerned about the blacking/passing out when the headaches hit.  It happened again 2 more times.  She put me on a new preventative medicine.  I started it last night, and I'm supposed to avoid sunlight.  This is Texas people.  It is very hard to avoid sunlight.  It also can cause drowsiness.  I can attest to that.  Every time I've sat down and gotten still today, I've fallen asleep.  It is an awful feeling, and I still need to drive 35 minutes one way to pick up Hubster's final paycheck at his old job.  I'm dreading the drive, but somebody has to do it.  They said they could mail it, but that would be either late tonight or Tuesday.  No thanks, I will come and get it.  I do have to have a second sleep study done, so that has been scheduled for next Thursday.  Dreading that with every fiber of my being.  I despised the last one.  I'm assuming this is going to be even worse.

The Final Countdown...

The boys are in their last week of school.  Woo Hoo!  We are all very, very excited.  My mom was saying that I'm one of the few parents that is excited about school being over.  I really am excited.  I'm lining up my schedule for next semester.  I do need to go in and make one slight change.  I have decided to change my degree plan.  The Lord has been dealing with me for a bit, and I kept trying to not go the direction He wants me to go.  All I could think about was that going into education is a field flush with teachers out of work right now, but I've been praying about what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.  All I keep hearing is Him telling me that He has me covered.  That when I finish, I will have a job.  I'm going to quit fighting it and going with my logical mind and just do it.  If it is God's will, then I'm good to go.

In other news, we serve a very awesome God.  Just seeing Him work in our lives over the last week is amazing.  Hubster's job had slowed down a bunch over the last week and a half.  On Thursday, he got a phone call from a head hunter wanting to know if he might be interested in interviewing for another job. He is always interested, so he met the head hunter.  The head hunter sent his information onto the company Friday morning.  The company called him that day and asked him to come in for an interview.  They hired him on the spot pending a background check and urinalysis test.  He went up there on Monday afternoon to discuss pay and benefits, because the company he was working for didn't have any work for him.  He told them that he would like to give a notice to his old job.  When he contacted his old job they advised him that they didn't have any work for the next 2 weeks.  There is no way we could have survived 2 weeks without a paycheck.  They told him to go ahead and start at the new location.  God was looking out for us.  The new company is close to what we jokingly call "Midland" pay or more.  He thinks he will really like it there.  There is the opportunity for growth.  Our van broke down nearly 2 weeks ago, and we have not had the funds to pay to get it fixed with the 2 short paychecks from being gone.  We have borrowed my parents' vehicle.  I had a customer call me out of the blue on Saturday wanting to go on a trip this week.  I booked it for him Saturday evening.  It was a very nice commission.  He called me Sunday morning, and he needed to cancel.  There went my commission.  I got the mail today, and he had sent me a check for $500 to cover my commission that I lost.  He felt terrible about doing that to me.  That check was enough to cover the cost of my van to be fixed (whole other praise because we found somebody to do it for $60 less than we were expecting), and we can get completely caught up.  God has taken such great care of us.  We certainly don't deserve it.

Tyler made the high school drum line at school.  He is going to be doing the cymbals.  I think that is pretty awesome considering he is only in 8th grade.  Kylee's teacher is helping me on Thursdays during the summer.  I'm excited about that.  She does an awesome job with the girls plus she helps me keep the house in order.

I am only 60 pounds away from goal weight.  I'm hoping to be there by the end of the year.  I've lost a total of 120 pounds so far.  I really should post some before and after pictures.  Super excited about that.  I think that catches us up yet again.

Can we say....BUSY!

That is my life.  It hasn't slowed down at all.  I look back and I see that I didn't post 1 time in April.  I guess that can tell you how busy that I actually was.  I guess it is time for a quick update.

We decided not to move.  Praise the LORD!  I was so excited to hear that.

Kylee is in her next to last week of Pre-K.  The girl will be a full fledged kindergartner in the fall.  The boys will both be in junior high, and Bella will still be hanging out with mom most days of the week.  She will be starting preschool though part time.  Where oh where has the time gone?  My babies aren't so much babies anymore.

I have decided to start my own business, thus the reason I haven't been blogging.  I have been a travel agent for over 15 years, and decided that the little side business that makes me a couple of thousand a year needs to make me more.  That means that I'm working my tail end off trying to get name recognition out there and explaining just why it is beneficial to use a travel agent.  There have been three huge articles in major publications lately about the reason why to use one.

I have also been dealing with me having medical issues, again, geesh, I can't catch a break.  Keith broke his arm 4 weeks ago.  Kylee had to get 5 stitches in her foot because of an accident at school.  All of this happened in a 10 day time period.  Needless to say, we have met our catastrophic cap for the year already for Tricare.  Still having migraines, but they have been less frequent.  Thank the Lord for that.  That makes life easier.

We are leaving on a jet plane tomorrow for California for a long weekend.  Hubster's grandparents are celebrating 60 years of marriage.  That is pretty darn good if you ask me.  I haven't even started packing, and I still have 1 final in psychology, 60 problems in algebra, and 1 math test to go before Sunday.  Yes, I should be doing that instead of blogging.

That pretty much has been my life in a nutshell for the last month.  It is full of excitement, and I can't wait for summer break.  Ready to relax and enjoy my kids for a bit.