Going Private

I love blogging. It has been such a release and a great way to share with family and friends about this entire deployment process and army life in general. With that being said I feel that it is time to make the blog private. I know… I know I hate when blogs go private so not sure how long I will keep it this way. I guess we will just have to wait and see. If you shoot me an email I will be more than happy to add your email address to the list! Once I add you, an email will be sent and when you accept the blog invite you will be able to read the blog by logging in. I would love for everyone to still keep reading I would just like to practice “safe Internet use.” :)


I have an email link on the left hand side of the blog so you can just click that to send me an email! Let me know by next Wednesday because I am planning on making it private then!

Too keep you amused in the meantime, here are some pictures sent all the way from A-Town…

This is a picture of Wyatt and Wita, the unit's bomb sniffing dog!

I collect owls... and I love when Wyatt gives me them but I never thought he would catch a live one!

Check out the background.......ahhhh my sweet boyfriend in front of a very large field of marijuana.

Down to 2 months time until he gets home! WHOOOO HOOOO!

In the 10th Year of War, a Harder Army, a More Distant America

I read this article and thought I would share with everyone. It's long but thought it was worth sharing...

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/09/in-the-10th-year-of-war-a-harder-army-a-more-distant-america/

Happy Tuesday....

Oh yeah and tomorrow we are going to break through 100 days left until January! Whooo Hoooo!

Never the same

No one will ever forget where they were when the United States was attacked 9 years ago today. I was sitting in my history class at Green Bay Southwest High school. Each year that has passed since then I would say a prayer for those families that lost a loved one and ask God to protect our troops but that was about it.

This year it is different. It is personal. It is the reason why I haven’t seen Wyatt’s face in two months. A lot has changed in the past two months. I hate to admit it but I had my first break down about a week or two ago. Not breaking down because I miss Wyatt…which I do very much or because I am scared for him…which I am… but because I read somewhere that there were 7 casualties that particular day. As ignorant or immature as this might sound, it was the first time that when I heard the word casualty I associated it with real human beings. Ahhh I can’t believe I am admitting that. I am so embarrassed to be 23 years of age and just now realizing what a sacrifice our troops make for our country. It is easy to hide real lives behind a word like casualties. But that day I imagined those soldiers. That they were people that have a favorite football team, a place that they call home, friends that they drink beer and tell stories with. They have mothers and fathers. Brothers and sisters. And then, I imagined someone like me. Someone being head over heels in love with one of those soldiers and that’s when, for the first time, the tears came. I felt such empathy for those families. I was hurting for them. It is bringing me back to tears writing about it but I also know that those tears were a long time coming and it felt good to let them out. I think that it would not be normal to not have days like that and to feel that way when you really stop to think about it.

I will never be the same and I am forever changed. Today I again feel sadness for those who lost their lives that day and those who have since died protecting our country. You are not forgotten.

Wyatt's Birthday

24 years ago today...well tomorrow USA time... Wyatt Lee was born awwww! Happy Birthday Wyatt!

For the past week I have been coming up with a list of reasons why this birthday is going to be great!

• With the time change you have officially have an extra 9 and 1/2 hours to celebrate your birthday! Hints why this is posted on Friday and not Saturday!


• You don't have to worry about anyone throwing you a surprise party and you not "looking cute" because you were truly surprised.


• This is the first birthday that you have known me...so it is obviously going to be one of the best :)


• It might not be the beach but you can have a great day in the sand!


• The Army was sweet and decided to give you and your unit some time off this weekend!I have a feeling they don't do that for everyone's birthday! haha


• Facebook doesn't know you are in A-Town and will still let EVERYONE you have EVER known that it is your birthday!


• 24 has now become a cool number thanks to Kiefer Sutherland.


• Less than 24 weeks until you are back in the U.S. of A... we are closer to 19 right now!


• You get to have the Army themed birthday party you always wanted!


• Once you do get your mail...which might be weeks or months later...you get to celebrate all over again.


• Your amazing... wonderful... pretty girlfriend can’t embarrass you with a Birthday Video…oh wait… Yes I can! Enjoy! Happy Birthday Wyatt! I love you!
  

Wyatt's Birthday Click for Video!

Counting up vs. Counting down

Part of my daily routine is reading through the blogs that I follow. One in particular that I am ever so grateful for is Dana’s who has a “Happy Life as an Army Wife” (that’s the title of her blog) and for someone that I have never met, or even spoken to, she has helped me immensely through this deployment and really in a strange way I look up to her. And I say all this trying not to sound like some crazed Internet stalker…I don’t know how well I am doing haha.

I assume that she is in her early 20s and you would think that she has 100 deployments under her belt. She is creative and honest with her posts. On bad days she writes about them. On good days she writes about those also.

Today’s post was really... well really...convicting. She talked about a lot but at the end she had this…

"Anyways, I think that everyone who is having a hard time with deployment should make a list (I love list making) of everything that they want to accomplish, try, and develop this year. I know most of us have our deployment "to do" lists. But go a little deeper this time. What type of person do you want to be at the end? What do you truly want to accomplish? Deployment doesn't necessarily need the soul sucking demon we make it. Our trials are opportunities. "

Wow! What a great way to look at it...and I am not sure that I was too far from this before Wyatt left, but with each day that he is gone, I have been focusing more on counting down than counting up if that makes any sense. Just trying to stay busy for the sake of being busy... so busy that I don't have to feel the deployment. I would do this when I was in college but the problem is that eventually I crash. I can't afford to crash right now. Don't you worry I still have my paper chain and calendar that I cross off every morning (feels so great to say goodbye to August!) but I am hoping to spend my time now becoming the person that I want to be for Wyatt and more importantly myself. Right now...I have my To Do List listed at the top of the blog. A list of things, not to keep me busy, but to make me step by step closer to the person that I want to be. Plus anyone that knows me and my Type-A personality knows that I too LOVE a good to do list!

Football

As I drive around Auburn I get excited because I see the University getting ready for the fall semester A.K.A football season. The RV lots are ready to go! Regular hours for Starbucks and students are back on campus. Everyone is posting the latest Auburn Football Video (I like this one the best!) to get their fellow alumni pumped up for the season. I can’t wait!

With another football season approaching, I can’t but be reminded of how much my up bringing as a “coaches’ kid” has prepared me for sharing a life with Wyatt in the military. Just about the time that Wyatt left for his “Business Trip” my father reported to training camp. Both …if all goes well...GO BRONCOS…will finish in January.

This was normal in my household. My dad was pretty much gone for five months out of the year. He would get home late. Way after we had been put to bed and would leave before we got up for school in the morning. My Mom had to run the household on her own. She showed me how to be independent. She can fix things probably better than my Dad now! Here are some of the things I have to remember...

1. Home is not a house. Home is being with the people you love. Home for my family has been in many cities and I know I am not done moving around.

2. Holidays don’t have to be celebrated on the actual day. Okay I know this kind of defeats the point of a holiday but if we got upset about every time we had to open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve because Dad had a game on Christmas Day. Or watching my poor mother pull in and out of the oven the turkey because the game just went into overtime and Dad won’t be home for an extra hour; life would be hard. Or what about how one of the two years our team made it to the Super Bowl my birthday lands right smack on game day. I know you are thinking “Wow what an awesome birthday.” Well rethink that… and pretend that you are a 13 year old girl who could care less about football :)

But the truth is…we celebrate with everyone when we can. Birthdays, Christmas, or Thanksgiving we just wait until we can all be together…even if it is three or four days late.

Well in the case of Wyatt's birthday, five months late. This is something that was getting me down. I wanted to make it really special like he had with my birthday. But with the mail being less that dependable I am going to have to wait for him to get his birthday celebration! But it is A-Okay because when we do celebrate it…we will be together and that is way better than anything I can send to him!

3. You will make time for the ones that you love. One of my favorite childhood memories was getting up before school and going to breakfast with my dad. BayFamily Breakfast....Green Bay's finest! We both loved this time that we got to spend together that it didn't matter that we had to leave at 5:00am to make sure that we would get to work and school on time. Wyatt and I don't get much talk time now a days but when we do, it is special.

4. Don't read the news paper! When you are a coach, one day you could be the hero and the next day the dumb bum that should have never been hired. It is just part of the job and it is printed and read by everyone. I stopped reading the paper after we left Green Bay. Not many kids have to read about their parent's job performance in the newspaper. This was something that I forgot for the first few weeks of deployment. I would watch the news on my lunch break...NOT A GOOD IDEA. It really will just upset you. But hey I shouldn't be so hard...sometimes the media will surprise you with THIS.

5. Support Support Support! My mom couldn't have been a better role model if she tried. By far one of the most supportive women I know and has been there with my father in thick and thin. You better think twice about saying something rude about my dad because she is as loyal as they come. And don't worry...she will tell you that what you said was wrong. :)


Today marks 10 months... I got a sweet phone call from the man I love. I couldn't ask for more. I think I am even going to treat myself to dessert tonight!

Week 1 Done!!!!!!

Yayyyyy! Week One of Deployment is Officially over!

This week was....

...Filled with text messages, facebook posts, and phone calls from friends and family! We are so lucky to have such supportive people in our lives! As Wyatt put this this evening..." it is humbling to have people you don't even know pray for you."

...Cleaning Cleaning Cleaning! My house has never been so clean. There is something relaxing and soothing about cleaning. Ranger on the other hand, who is afraid of the vacuum cleaner wasn't feeling the same. Dished are done... laundry is folded and put away!

...Paper Chain count down is up and running. Yes I did... I made one hundred and eighty one perfectly cut one inch strips and assembled them into a paper chain. Right now it is a little long but before I know it the chain will be gone and Wyatt will be home!

This weeks goals....

...Attend my workout class everyday this week. Last week I was four for four!

* They don't have class on Friday. :)

...figure out what I am going to get Wyatt for his Birthday. What do you get your boyfriend for his birthday while he is in Afghanistan? If anyone has ideas PLEASE send them my way! Another challenge is that even though his birthday isn't until September I have to get something in the mail soon if I want it to get there in time!

Week 1 done 25 to go!

Deployment

Well the day finally came. Wyatt had to leave last Sunday for Paktika, Afganistan. Below is a map of Afganistan because like most of yall I thought to myself " where the heck is Paktika?" It is located on the eastern part of Afganistan.

It is hard to believe he has only been gone for four days. It seems like months have passed. I try my best to stay busy. I have attended a workout class everyday this week and have taken Ranger to the dog park!


I have been lucky and have been able to talk to Wyatt everyday since he left in some way or another. Gchat, Email, Facebook, a broken but very appreciated skype session (it was so great to hear his voice and see his face).



We are so thankful for all the love and support from our friends and family. Everyone has been so kind.



As Wyatt heads into the field in the next couple of days please keep him in your prayers.