Kuwait

Well, so it's 99% official that Chris will stay in Kuwait for his deployment! That is such a relief! It still really sucks that he is going to be gone for a year but I am so incredibly grateful that he will be staying in an area that is less violent that Iraq. It sounds like it will just be a small group from his unit that will be in Kuwait for the duration of the deployment while the rest of his unit will be in Iraq. He has got another 3-day long drill this weekend which is kind of a bummer but then he is done until January...which he said he has 2 drills in January...ahhhh! Seriously, all I want to do is spend time with him and the guard is taking a lot of my weekends that I have left! Oh well, I guess I will just have to make the most of what I have with him. Well, that is all I have for now! More to come soon I am sure......

2.5 months...

Wow, so the end of January is right around the corner and Chris will be in Washington state doing some training. I am so not looking forward to that day. My Nurse Practitioner told me that I would probably become more emotional and stressed as the date draws closer and she was dead on. I thought I was going to be so strong up until like the week before he left but I'm not gonna lie...my eyes start to well up at just the thought of it. I can only pray that it will get easier. I try not to cry in front of Chris if I can because I know it only upsets him when he knows that I'm upset. Sometimes I just can't help it though!


On a better note, one of Chris' commanders just went to Iraq to, as Chris put it, scope things out and see where his unit might be needed. It turns out they might stay in Kuwait afterall. The other part of his unit will probably be somewhere in Iraq. So his part of the unit might stay out of Iraq, which would make me feel a ton better knowing he was in more of a safe zone. Of course as anything with the military, nothing is for sure but even Chris sounds hopeful so if he is hopeful then so am I!


Finally, I am so glad this election is over! I did vote for Obama, mainly because I feel that he was the candidate that could affect my life the most whereas I didn't feel that McCain would be doing much for me if he were elected. Along with turning the economy around, I am truly hoping that he will start to pull our troops out of Iraq. I know that if he does start to do this it probably wouldn't affect Chris' upcoming deployment, but I am hoping that he would not have to go again. That's my only political stint! Time will only tell....


Anyway, that is all for now! I will keep the blog updated as I hear things from Chris!

Deployment Update

So I know it's been a week or two since I last posted but all has been pretty quiet on the homefront here. We just took a little trip to Door County this past weekend for our 1 year anniversary and it was absolutely heaven! We really wanted to take a little get away since we knew we wouldn't be spending our second anniversary together. We're definitely trying to spend as much time together as possible. Chris is gearing up for another week at Camp Ripley starting on Monday the 20th. He also just found out last night that he is leaving almost two weeks prior to his original deployment date. He has to report to Fort Lewis, WA February 2nd now instead of the original Feb 13th. This, of course, is not what I wanted to hear but then again the sooner he leaves, hopefully the sooner he gets home! I hate to think about it but these next few months are going to be crazy and sad and trying times for us but I am just hoping to get through them and keep on trucking. Well, I will try to keep this thing updated a little more often as Chris tells me more about deployment. Toodles until next time!

Home

So Chris came home Friday and it feels like home again! Of course he went to bed extremely early because they had been keeping him up until like 10-11pm every night and he was getting up before 5am everyday. I can't imagine! He also came home very sore because they were wearing body armour to practice some things that might happen when they get deployed. He said they basically had them stand in a squatting position for periods of time with this armour on and so he came home with his back and quads very sore. Other than that he said that the week wasn't really that bad and he was just glad to come home. So he's only got one more week like that and then he is done until deployment in Feb. Although, he will be gone again next weekend for a meeting in the Cities about the Family Readiness Group. I won't be able to go because I have to keep an eye on the animals but I am sure he will come home with some good information for us. Well, there is not much else new to report at this time! I will keep updated as things come up!

Alone time..

Well, Chris left this morning at 0530 to make is 3.5 hour trip up to Camp Ripley. It's so weird not having him here to do our "routine" weekend stuff but I accomplished it all without him! I can tell Boog, our dog, is missing him though. He just kind of give me that look like "where's my dad, mom?" That dog is just like a kid to us! He is my little cuddlebutt when Chris is gone though! Chris called this afternoon and seemed a little frustrated. It turns out that they are having a bunch of people showing up for AT who he doesn't know who they are and why they are there. Meaning, they aren't on his roster and he doesn't know what to do. I feel so bad for him. He thought it was going to be a pretty decent week until this mix-up happened. I just hope it gets worked out and the rest of the week goes smoothly. I told him everything works out in the end! Well, I suppose I should probably get going. I have a "date" tonight with my friend Kim who I haven't seen in like 2 months so we have a lot of catching up to do! More to come!

New to this...

Well, I thought it would be a good idea to start a daily or almost daily blog to kind of keep everyone updated on our lives as well as Chris' impending deployment to Iraq early next year. So here goes nothing! Not much is really new in our lives to be quite honest! The newest thing with me is that I took at new position at Mayo where I am part time an RN in our casting center and I am also a circulating nurse in Orthopedic surgery. I just started in the OR a few weeks ago and my orientation will be approximately 6 months. We are coming up on 1 year of marriage next month so that is exciting! Other than that, Chris is getting ready to do another week of training at Camp Ripley. This will be his second of three with the third next month. From what Chris has told me doing these week long training sessions are supposed to take off what would be an extra 6 months of deployment. Don't ask me how 3 weeks is supposed to take the place of 6 months but I will take him being home!! Well it is getting late and since I am battling an icky cold, I should get myself to bed soon. More to come!