Oh happy day!

Praise The Lord! My husband is back! Today marks exactly two weeks from the day we say goodbye to this dear (and grueling) chapter in our lives. Looking back I can't tell you if it feels like it's gone by slow or fast. I'll go with fast for the most part. I'm sure E would go with slow. 

For E this has been one of the more difficult experiences of his life. It tested him mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I'm so happy to say he is leaving here a stronger, more confident man. Oh, how proud of him I am for sticking it out. 

As for me, I know I'm leaving here a better woman too. Independent, social, and tidy. I learned a lot about supporting someone emotionally. I also learned how much I enjoy taking care of things for E like cooking and cleaning (things I dreaded before). 

Now we have Harper. I was a little bit nervous at first that i had made a mistake in getting her. But she really has been a blessing. She is there to release stress for E when he feels like he just can't keep going. She's there to keep me company when E is away. She is calm when we want to cuddle, and playful when we want to play. 

I'd be lying of I said that I wasn't nervous about the next chapter of our lives (at least the next few months) but I am confident that it is all going to be alright. I am blessed to have my little family with me on this journey. Most of all, my best friend who never ceases to amaze me. 

I guess that is all for now. Stay tuned for more adventures ahead!

Winding down

I suppose not a lot has happened since my last post. E is still gone. Hopefully he will come home today or tomorrow. I have been thoroughly occupied in the time that he has been gone. Having several sleepovers in a row really takes it out of me. We even crafted! 

 

Now we have only 17 days left!! On October 4th there is a formal event that we have to wear fancy dresses to. So we are going to try to rent dresses from post. Too bad I didn't just bring mine...

I'm still waiting to hear back from that job. And every day getting more excited to see family and friends!

Girls only

This week E is gone.  He is off doing his last training, and last graded event for BOLC! Yay! We are so close!  The last week was very stressful, and both E and I are so very happy that it is over and that he survived it!

This week it is Harper and I.  I spent time cleaning today and now I will watch movies all night.  I have been looking for places to live in Washington all week, and looking for jobs.  Today I found a promissing job.  It is for a bilingual case worker (spanish/english) working with refugee children.  So up my alley.  So I applied and now all I can do is pray about it.

This past weekend E and I celebrated our one year anniversary.  Hooray! Saturday we spent the day outside with Harper and with new and old friends.  We went for a walk by the river and watched the pups play in the water, then went to a park and had a barbeque and played KUBB all evening.  Later on we went to a movie in the new movie theater with the fancy reclining leather seats!

Sunday E had a little studying to do after church.  After that E and I went to Rolla to a little place called "A Slice of Pie" and had, can you guess? A slice of pie!!  We then came home and made some dinner together and watched movies for the rest of the night.  Relaxing.

Yesterday we went out to eat with friends, for one last good hot meal before E had to be gone all week eating yucky MRE's.  Good thing I went to the store and got all kinds of goodies to send with E to make sure he wasn't running on an empty tummy.  I got all kinds of individually packaged nut mixes.  Some were breakfast, others just full of protein.  I was sure to send protein bars, energy drink mio's to put in his water, and a few of his favorite coffee drinks.  I love doing this kind of stuff for him.

I really don't have plans for my week, other than to hang out with the other wives.  Tonight we are all doing our own thing, but tomorrow fun will be had.  Muahaha.

I am really looking forward to seeing my family when I go home.  I also can't wait to see my darling kitty cat.  I do miss snuggling with her.  Harper just doesn't sleep on my feet or cuddle with me on the bed or the couch the same (probably because I don't let her on the couch and bed).  I miss her cute little kitten meow.  I of course miss my human family too.

I really don't have much to share this time.  I guess I will just ask for extra prayers for E as he is finishing his last hard week here at BOLC, and for myself as I look for jobs.

Can you believe it? Less than a month to go!

A little blue

Harper has been keeping me pretty busy lately. Last you all heard E was gone away at camp and MW and I were hanging out with the dogs.  We were going to have a sleepover but the puppies just wanted to play all the time and they wouldn't settle down so we couldn't sleep over. Which was just as well because the boys ended up coming back early because there was a heat advisory. E said that it was too hot to do a lot of things and ended up sitting around a lot. He came back early which meant we had an extra long long weekend. On Friday we didn't do a whole lot because he wanted to have a rest day. I'm Friday night we took Harper to the dog park. This is E's first time at the dog park and he really enjoyed watching all the puppies play.

Saturday was a big day for us. One of the E's classmates volunteered to watch Harper and we went to St. Louis for the day. We got there just in time for lunch so we went to an Irish pub and I had fish and chips and E had corn beef. After that we went to the old Courthouse Museum  on our way to the arch. At the arch we had to wait for a really really long time to get our tickets but somebody had told us a way to get one for two tickets so we didn't have to pay for two tickets. After getting our tickets we went and got some fudge at the gift shop went to the museum underneath the arch to kill some time. We had to wait for about an hour and a half to two hours between the time we got there and the time we actually got to stand in line for the arch. We thought that once we were standing in line that it wouldn't take very long for a ride to the top. However it was really deceiving because you couldn't see what was in front of you. Ended up waiting in line for about an hour before we got in the little pod. The pods were teeny tiny and we were glad we weren't very tall otherwise our heads would've touched the top. We found out that those pods were actually the original ones from when it was built. We finally got to the top it was super crowded and the windows were really tiny. We had to wrestle our way to a window to take pictures.  About 5 to 10 minutes later we were on our way back down.  As soon as we got back down we looked outside and it was pouring down rain. This was so weird because when we were at the top of the arch we couldn't see any rain in sight. My trusty umbrella from my purse came in handy once again. We stopped briefly in the shelter of the arch for E to check his phone to see where we were going to eat. We were so glad that we wore our tevas because it made walking in the rain a little bit more bearable.

We ate dinner on a rooftop restaurant. Was really really nice and a fun buzzing atmosphere. The restaurant overlooked the baseball game which was pretty cool too. After that we made one more stop before going home. Went to a chocolate bar that some of E's friends had suggested that we go to. They had chocolate drinks and really really yummy chocolate desserts. E and I ended up sharing a sample platter of all kinds of fancy desserts. It was love at first bite!  The whole place was so romantic with roses candles and tables for two all over. We headed back full and exhausted. 

Sunday we went to church and spend the rest of the day lounging around. On Monday E worked on some homework for the whole day.  Tuesday was a big day. I spent the day with MW. We got a scary text saying E didn't pass something, but just after that they said he did pass. As t turned out, his instructor wasn't listening when E was presenting. So when the instructor was going down the list of reasons for why E didn't pass his classmates started chiming in telling the instructor that E did say all of those things. So he really did pass. Praise The Lord. 

Because E passed, it means he doesn't have to brief any of the other ones. He has like 5-6 of them. He has been much less stressed because of that. Many of his classmates are startling to get SSRd. That is the review board where they decide if you have to be recycled or just done with the Army or given one more chance. This happens if you get too many No-gos. If E had failed he might have had an SSR and who knows what would have happened. We would appreciate your prayers for E to have confidence and competence. 

On Friday MW traveled to Lawrence Kansas to sail. MW had never sailed so I thought it would be fun for her. She ended up having a good time despite getting a little motion sick. Being home meant that E was in charge of Harper. Even though he hates doggy dooty duty I thing he did fine. He still loves going to the dog park. We went again when we came home from sailing.  

Sunday night E had to finish some homework so he stayed up all night. I stayed up for a while but passed out around 2am. Monday I did nothing, which was wonderful. E had a good day too. 

Today I went to Rolla with MW to pick up some stuff for the boys. Now I sit. I've been so busy and had so much social time that all I want is peace and quiet. 

I have been getting a little bit sad at the thought of BOLC being over. I have gotten along with MW so well that it makes me sad to know they will be so far away. They are moving to Italy. :( we have many things in common, but the funniest thing is that MW is just like E in so many ways and I am like her husband in so many ways. Go figure we would get along so well. All the time we are surprising each other. 

Things feel like they are coming to a close with just a month left. On to more adventures. I'm feeling nervous about having no clue how we are going to make the next step. Hard to get a place to live without a job, and it's hard to get a job without living there...I know it will all work out somehow, but I don't know how to plan. I don't know what will happen in the next 30 days and I have no control over it. Scary. Good thing E doesn't seem stressed. I trust him. 

That is all.