Goodbye Afghanistan!!

We have finally said goodbye to Afghanistan!! =) Paul left yesterday and has arrived at his next stop. He will be there for a little while longer before he moves closer to home! His flight time keeps changing, but hopefully he will be here by the end of the weekend. I will update the post as soon as I know more!
Please pray for a soon and safe arrival!! =)

Still waiting....

Paul is still in Afghanistan... I got really excited because I got a phone call from the FRG (Family Readiness Group) to let me know that Paul is due in by the end of this week. They gave me a 3 day time frame to expect him in. I will get another phone call a day or two before he should be here. However, Paul has not left Afghanistan because his group keeps getting bumped from their flights. I'm not quite sure why, but that's the Army for you. So... as of right now, he should be home by the end of this week if he ever gets to leave Afghanistan. I will keep everyone updated as I find out more.

Swimming in Afghanistan

It has been raining for the last week in Afghanistan, kinda like the weather in Delaware, and the weather is starting to take its toll on our Soldier. He is ready to get home and the weather is just adding to the frustrations. He has been moved to the tents in order for them to make room for the new soldiers coming in, and is sleeping on cots. Apparently the one tent he was living in yesterday flooded, so they had to pack up and move everything again. Soon he will be home and shouldn't have to worry about his home flooding! =)

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and is safe travelling. I am in Delaware until Friday morning and then Im heading back out to Tennessee. There are a bunch of things that I need to take care of before Paul gets home so I want to make sure Im prepared and that I allow myself plenty of time!!

Working his way home...

Paul has begun moving his way towards home. He is still in Bagram, so he hasn't really started his journey, but he did get moved out of his room. He is living in a tent until he is scheduled to leave. His flight is scheduled for after Thanksgiving. He should arrive back in Ft. Campbell the following week. This is all I know for right now. I will keep the blog updated as I find more information out.

Nothing new...

Well.. not much has changed. Just the same old routine day in and day out. It has gotten me through the last couple of weeks so I can't really complain. I have been hanging out with Janelle and her family (our neighbors) a lot and we joined the local YMCA. I have been going to the gym everyday and cannot stand it when I don't get to go.

I painted an accent wall in our living room last week. It is a burnt orange and looks great. It was a bit much at first but its growing on me. And Paul loves it!!



I have been doing Christmas shopping the last couple of weeks, which includes buying Christmas decorations. I am soooo excited for Christmas this year... probably because Paul will actually be home!! I have a couple more things to finish up and get but I still have plenty of time. Paul is looking foward to helping me wrap all of the presents when he gets home. =)

I leave on Friday morning to head home for Thanksgiving. Most of our Christmas decorations are still at my parents' house, so I will have to bring all of those back with me. It will be a quick visit with everyone because, as of right now, I am planning on leaving Thanksgiving day to head back and get things ready before my soldier returns. His flight is still planned for the 29th, which is the Sunday after Thanksgiving. From the time he leaves Afghanistan, it should be 5-7 days before he arrives at Ft. Campbell. I will get a phone call with all of those details within the next couple of weeks. There's still a lot that needs to be done before I feel that Im prepared for him to come home, but he is more than welcome to come at any time!!

Paul is doing really good... their schedule at work has changed and he is now working every other day. He has most of his stuff packed up and is waiting for his flight home. I will update the blog as a I get more information.

Reintegration Update

I have been getting emails this week about Paul coming home. It seems like it is going to be an even bigger mess than when he left. I should know 8-10 days out when to "expect" him back at Ft. Campbell, however, that does not mean that he will be here at that time. Then 24-48 hours out, I will receive another email/phone call letting me know the details of when he should arrive. I will have to be there 2 hrs before the projected time because there is always a chance that he could arrive sooner. I am supposed to drive to hangar 6 or 7, and then catch a bus over to hangar 3. This is where the Welcome Home ceremony will take place. After everyone gets done talking, we get to meet our soldiers and spend some time with them (approximately 15-20 mins.) Then, they will be called back into a formation and will have to go turn in all of their sensitive items. I guess during this time, they will brief the families on signs that we need to keep an eye out for, and how we should not let our soldiers drive, and all the other stuff along those lines. After all of this, we have to get back on the bus and go back to hangar 6 to meet our soldiers again. At this point, I think I get to bring him home.
Starting the day after he gets home, he has to go to his Reintegration meetings. These classes are 7 straight days (even on the weekends) where they will do a medical check and basically counsel the soldiers. Apparently these meetings are only supposed to be half days.
According to these emails, Paul should not be back to Ft. Campbell until December 12th. This is likely to change a couple of times before then. Also, there is a chance that he will come in before the Army predicts. It is because of this that Paul will be getting his cell phone mailed out to him so he can call and keep me updated. I will be sure to keep this updated to let everyone know what is going on.

Paul has switched to days so has more to do at work. He has been keeping pretty busy, which I hope means that time is going by faster for him. He got his flu shot yesterday, which he does not react well with, and was starting to feel the effects when I talked to him last night. His day off is tomorrow, so he will get some time to recover from that. Other than that, he is just counting down the days until he gets to come home.

I started work this last week and I am enjoying it. I have very sweet kids and look forward to the time I will get to spend with them over the next 8 weeks. I have been working on organizing the house in my spare time and am starting to see a huge improvement. Im sure it will go back to chaos when Paul gets home, so I guess as long as the existing stuff is put away, we should be fine! =)

Wow.. it's been a while! =/

Ok.. So I feel terrible about not updating. I fuss at Paul for not updating his and then I don't do much better. At least it hasn't been 8 months! =)

Nothing much has changed here in Tennessee. They have been doing field artillery drills for the past week/week and a half and it sounds like the base is being bombed. It is just lovely! I have been busy with school work and training for my job. Im not quite sure about school.. I guess I will get in the habit of things at some point in time. The job seems like it is going to be a lot of fun! It is a bunch of emailing back and forth right now, but once I get to work with the kids, I think it will be worth it.

I have been walking with a neighbor down the street and it has been a lot of fun. It is something to keep me active and it gets me out of the house. It's nice having a friend two houses down! We signed up at the local rec center and go there on the crappy days to walk around in the gym. They have a weight room, but it all seems like it is from the 1980s so Im kinda afraid to use it. We are going there tonight, so maybe I will be brave!

Last weekend, we added a new member to our family! We found a free kitten and thought it would be something to keep Kahlua occupied. Her name is Reis (named after Reisling, the white wine).



Kahlua and her have soo much fun together. When I first brought her home, Kahlua was giving her kisses, so now Reis thinks Kahlua is her mommy. They are adorable!!



My friend, Amy, came to visit this past weekend, which was a lot of fun! It was nice to have someone else here. She helped me shop for some fall decorations, which was awesome!! I got a lot of cute, inexpensive decorations to make the house feel more like a home. However, the only thing I really wanted to buy was Christmas decorations. I am really excited for Christmas this year.. mainly because a certain someone will be home!!



Parry and Cindy (Paul's Dad and Stepmom) are coming out this weekend and then I will be riding back to Delaware with them. It will be nice for Cindy to actually see the place, and for Parry to see all of the decorating that has happened since he left. We will probably do some sightseeing around the area, and they are bringing some yummy scrapple to enjoy!!

Paul is doing great.. He is supposed to be reenlisting today. So more Army time for us!! We are pretty satisfied with this decision. He has found something that he truly enjoys and that means a lot when we are talking about Paul. He got to meet some celebrities this past week, which I am super jealous about. However, now I have a picture of my two loves... the love of my life and my celebrity crush, Major Frank Sherwood (from Army Wives)!



That's about it. I will try to be better about updating more frequently!! =)