And He's Off

Well, Chris is officially gone. Last Thursday he left from the Inver Grove Heights armory around 8am. He is now out at Fort Lewis in Washington state for about 6 weeks and then he will be headed overseas and expects to be there the beginning of April. It was incredibly sad and hard to say goodbye but I am glad that that part is done. There was a wonderful sendoff ceremony at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul for the troops and they had a nice dinner for all the soldiers, friends and family members afterwards. According to the press there was almost 7000 people there! If you would like to read more about Chris' unit you can visit their website at http://www.theredbulls.org/. I really haven't cried since that morning and I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing! I am trying to stay strong and I did go back to work today after having a week off and I think that will keep my occupied. I am fortunate enough to have a great group of friends here in Rochester and of course my family back home. I am still trying to figure out how to get pictures up here on this thing and hopefully I will do soon because I know blogs are way more fun when there are pictures to look at! I have also encouraged Chris to try and blog on here occasionally...so don't expect him to get on here a lot but maybe a posting here and there! Well that is pretty much it for now. I will post more when I hear from Chris!

PS: If you would like to send Chris some mail please send me a personal email and I will let you know his address! My email is lindsaymeeusen@gmail.com

It's almost time...

Well, just a little over a week from now, I will be sitting in my home all by myself and Chris will be on a flight to Washington State. I am really not looking forward to this long journey but I am hoping that it will go as fast as this date has approached. I really don't like this being in limbo business either. What I am talking about it the 10th-12th where Chris has to report for duty at the armory and he has to stay up there too because we live more than 50 miles away from the Cities. So while Chris has to be there I am kind of obligated to stay up there too until he gets off because it makes no sense for us to have 2 vehicles up there. I just don't know what I am going to do while he is at the armory all day. On the 10th though, they are having a dinner for the members' family and friends and fortunatly Chris' parents and my dad are able to come to the dinner as kind of a last goodbye type thing. My mom will be in Arizona visiting her sisters so she won't be able to attend but I'm glad, and I know that Chris is too, that my dad can at least come. I know my dad is really excited that he can give his son-in-law a good send off. There will be lots of picture taking I am sure and I just have to figure out how to put pictures up on this thing so I can keep everyone updated!!

I am also kind of sad that I don't get to see him off at the airport either! Chris pretty much told me that I just get to drop him off the morning of the 12th at the armory and that's it.... :-( I know my mother-in-law, Jane, is very worried about me driving home that day.... I know I will br crying, a lot, but I told her not to worry as I will have my trusty waterproof mascara for those 3 days!

Well, I suppose there is no sense in dwelling on it as it is inevitable no matter what! I really just wish it was this time next year where I could be writing to you all that Chris is coming home soon....hopefully it will go by super fast! I best go start that grill as I have to make Chris his last homemade steak dinner he will get for awhile! I will post more soon! Thank you everyone for your prayers and support..... :-)

New Year, New Challenges

Well, it's a new year! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and joyous new year! We started off the holidays with a bang. We spent one weekend, well day I should say, driving home to have the annual Semb-Althoff Christmas. We decided to leave really early from Rochester to drive to Rockland, which is about an hour and 15 minute drive, because there was an impending snow storm. I was insistant that we go and get back to try and beat the storm, or most of it anyway. Well, we had a wonderful time at home and we ended up driving back in less than ideal conditions. Our normal drive time was nearly doubled! I really wish we had 4-wheel drive that day although it didn't seem to help everyone! Our Jetta handled quite nicely I must say! Between Rockland and La Crosse we saw at least 6 accidents. Closer to Rochester, we saw a big Tahoe flipped on his roof and no one had stopped yet, so, being a nurse I legally have to stop if no one has or there are not emergency vehicles there. Luckily, the driver was just fine and his only passenger was his dog, who was also fine. On Christmas Day, Chris' family came up and spent the day with us. I made a big dinner and we just relaxed and exchanged gifts.




Not going to lie, it is going to be challenging being apart from my one and only for a full 365 days but I know I will make it. Since this is Chris' first deployment I am trying to figure out everything that I need to do to have all my ducks in a row. For example, insurance with work, bills, and I am hoping we can get our taxes done before Chris leaves so I don't have to try and struggle through those without him. I am just hoping that I can get everything squared away before he leaves. Although I am not looking forward to Chris leaving, I would almost like for him to just go so he can be back sooner. I am taking the week off that Chris leaves and I am looking forward to spending some time with him before I won't get to cuddle with him again for a full year. To be honest with you, if I didn't have the animals, I think I would go nuts! When Chris was in Georgia a couple of years ago I had Beanie with me the whole time and he was my sanity and my little companion. Well, now I have Middy and Boog to keep me company too. Well, I suppose..Chris should be getting home soon and I should maybe think about getting something made for dinner. More postings soon!

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!