20120901 - Joe Update

Hi! This is going to be super quick, but just letting you know that I got a Facebook message from Joe this evening. All he said is that he is alright, super busy, and won't be able to call for a few days because of that. I know... not much of an update, but it was SO great to get. I guess I realized how worried I actually was when I immediately cried out of thanksgiving, and then noticed the great weight that was lifted off my shoulders and mind when I got that note. Yes... there IS a negative to very frequent contact during deployment. When it stops suddenly, worry settles in quick! Thank the Lord that Joe was able (and was so thoughtful!) to drop me that quick note.  I feel like I could once again take on the world now!

Love, Us. 

20120807 - Joe Update

Joe iMessaged me at around midnight last night. Deo Gratias! I don't think he expected me to respond, but I'm a super easy sleeper, so I responded, knowing that I could fall asleep immediately afterwards. We each said about two things - he feels bad when he wakes me up, but he told me two really great things.

1 - He was able to go to Confession on Monday!

2 - He was able to attend Mass at his tiny little COB yesterday!

Woohoo!

Love, Us.

20120806 - Joe Update

First of all, please keep the prayers going. Joe has not contacted me in over 24 hours, and I know to most gals out there who have gone through a deployment that isn't a big deal, but to me it just means that he is still in harm's way. Either that or he had a really late night and he actually slept in enough to not have time to call... I'm hoping for that one! But I'm still sending up the Hail Mary's!

Oh... and just FYI - I've added a little "gadget" right under the top picture on the blog. I've linked all the entries that are Joe Updates, and now you can get to them by just clicking on "Deployment Update" on the top left there. Then you won't have to scroll through all of my pictures and every day stuff to find out the recent info on Joe. I thought that you may appreciate that. I know I don't always love ending up spending 20 minutes on a blog when I just went there to find out a specific thing!

Have a good night!

Love, Us.

20120614

OK... so here are the details of our crazy life. Up until about an hour ago, things were still unclear date-wise. But, Joe just officially received his orders to deploy to Afghanistan on June 28th - Yes, 2 weeks from now! Luckily, between us finding out about the possibility of this deployment and now, we have been able fly down some live-in babysitters (THANK YOU DAVE AND GAIL!) and have a few days just the two of us in order to try to get out heads back on straight and aligned before the separation. Things are being made a lot more complicated by the fact that we are moving on to post the same day he is deploying, but we will manage, as we always have.

Joe is actually very excited for this deployment, and it really does seem to be a better fit for our family than the option we were looking at previously. Before receiving these orders, we were looking at a 12 month deployment starting next June or July. At that point, baby Patrick would be between 7 and 9 months and would actually miss dad greatly. Now, however, the plan is for his deployment to only go until November, and what baby actually needs their dad in their first 2 months of life? Let's be honest... they have no idea they are there! So... we are both sincerely quite pleased with this deployment.

Well, I think that is all I have time for right now. Sadly, the kids and Joe and I were supposed to be in Oregon right now celebrating Adam and Hayli's wedding. It is very hard to be sitting here now instead, but we agreed to take on this lifestyle... sacrifices and all. To any of you who may be celebrating with them this weekend, though... give them lots of love and hugs from us!

Love, Us.

And I WILL have pictures next time. I promise.

20120517

Good Morning!

We got some more big news yesterday concerning Joe's upcoming deployment! Before I let you all know here, however, I'll need to privatize the blog. So... could you please email me (or attach a comment to this post) with your email and any family members' / mutual friends' emails who might not check often enough to email me before I switch over, but who would like to have access to it from time to time? Then I can get everyone possible on my "list" so that you can still see the blog. All you will have to do is sign in with your email. Feel free to give me numerous emails of yours, I can put any number of "members" on my list. Better too many than not enough.

Thanks!

Love, Us.