What would you do without friends?

My friend Tammy is an amazing woman. She has been coming over everyday with Kyle since my surgery. Tonight she's cooking dinner for me. I'm so grateful to have made such a great friend in Tammy. We met about 4 days after I moved here 2 years ago. Our husbands roomed together for a few months in Afghanistan 3 years ago.

I was fortunate that when I came back to Italy in February, she asked me to babysit Kyle when she went back to work. He was able to stay in his own house and not go to day care right away. It was a fun time and I just love him.

So today I thank God for Tammy and Kyle. I know that no matter where we move in this military life, I will always have Tammy in my life. So to you Tammy I say thank you for being such an awesome friend and for taking care of me after my surgery.

Surgery Day

Well today was the day. Tammy picked me up at 430 this morning and then it was off to Aviano Air Force Base about an hour and a half away. I went through the series of questions that repeated about 4 times with 4 different people.

The anesthesiologist ( i know i spelled that totally wrong) gave me this LOVELY narcotic to help and boy did that help. Supposedly I kept asking questions, but I have no memory of it. Tammy thought it was hilarious and so did the 6 doctors and nurses standing around me. I was the first surgery of the day, so I got the attention!!

Anyway, they found that my ligaments were a bit looser than they expected so they did a bit more work. I was out of surgery in under 2 hours.

I'm now at home and this is what i'll look like for about 2 weeks. I don't think i'll move from the couch tonight...i may just sleep out here. Keep me in your prayers, as I'm alone and the pain is just starting.

Until next time...

Ankle Surgery

This is my right ankle that will be having surgery tomorrow. I call it my wrankle - wrecked ankle. Anyway here it is all swollen and sore. I did get a pedicure for the surgeon and for my toes to look pretty sticking out of the cast.

Surgery is scheduled for 615 am tomorrow. Way too early, but then i'll be able to be home at a decent hour. I'll post pics afterwards so that you can see the cast. I'll be non-weightbearing for about 2 weeks. Then I'm 6 weeks in another cast. Oh the joys of being in plaster in the middle of the summer.

We're counting down the weeks until Michael comes home. It's about 4 weeks away. We are planning on coming stateside for about 12 days in August. Haven't booked it yet, but we're excited to be able to see as many people as possible. We are also planning on showing up at Star Lake Music Camp to see everyone.

Hope all's well with each of you. Until next time...

Have you ever....

Have you ever seen a cat sleep with flip flops?? Anytime I take my flip flops off in the living room, Stud makes his way over to them and lays on them. I think it's quite strange, but it's also funny. He actually put his paws through like you would put your feet through.

That's about all the excitement here. This is a busy week for me. VBS starts tomorrow and I'm helping with the pre-schoolers. We have 110 kids participating on post, and there are 24 pre-schoolers so they're separated into 4 groups of 6 with crew leaders for each group. I can only be there for the first 3 days, but it's going to be alot of fun.

Ankle surgery is scheduled for this Thursday. Please keep me in your prayers. I've never had surgery before. With Michael still deployed, I'll be alone in the house trying to manuever on crutches and take care of myself. I'll be fine though. This surgery needs to be done and they've actually said that my left ankle needs to be done next. All I can say is once I'm healed I'm going shoe shopping for heels!!!

Michael is doing well. The countdown has started. We've got about 4 weeks left, give or take. There's another meeting on the 30th to talk about the guys coming back. We're both just ready for this to be over so that we can get with life and have some time with each other.

Hope all's well with each of you. Until next time....

Advanced Party Arrived!!!

Today the advanced party arrived to post. They come in about 2 weeks before the guys start arriving to get things prepared and ready for the first wave of soldiers. Above is a group of spouses from our company meeting Ludwig who came home! We were all so excited to see him. There were actually 2 other soldiers with him but they went off and we didn't know who they were. All three are single soldiers so we wanted to make sure they had a warm welcome. I was all choked up and a few of us were ready to start crying. It's just so surreal knowing that he'll be home in 4 weeks. Not sure what to expect, but we've all decided to be there to support each other at their arrivals.
The 2 buses arrived safe and sound from the Air Force Base in Aviano.
Then they get into formation. Now this is a small group compared to those groups that will be coming in the next 2 weeks.

Now in case you're wondering, Michael was not part of this group. He's not expected for probably another 4 weeks'ish. I just wanted to share this with all of you just in case I don't take pictures the day Michael arrives....I may be too nervous for that.

Until next time....

Happy Anniverary Michael!!

Two years ago today, Michael and I got married. And in those 2 years, I think we've spent a total of 6 months together. But understand the whole time we dated, we were apart. We know that no matter what, we'll have the rest of our lives together.

So to Michael I say Happy Anniversary babe! Can't wait for you to come home!!!

Home

I bought this sign at a bazaar at the Air Force base a few weeks ago. I had seen a sign like this in Patti's aunt's house. I thought this would be perfect for our home.

And that leads me to this post. Our home will be changing in about 6 months. About 2 weeks ago Michael received orders that we were moving to Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX. Now I know some of you are thinking TEXAS???!!! My initial reaction was exactly the same. The Army is sending all medics to hospitals in order to give them a break from deploying. I am grateful for that, but it's Texas. Michael had found this out while I was in England on vacation....so being the wonderful husband that he is, he did some research on where the local corps were, Starbucks, and malls. He checked on housing situations and airports too. So some of you are thinking, Great, they're going to Texas. But the story doesn't end there.

Michael and I are both East Coast people. And he wants to be closer to family and have the opportunity to jump more often. So he made a few calls and send some emails to see how he could get the orders changed. So as of this week, we are now moving to Ft. Bragg, NC. We are both so excited for this. We'll be about 9 hours from Philly and Jersey, so long weekends will be spent with family.

"Home is where the Army sends us". This is now my life. When I had just started getting used to the idea of 2 seasons - hot and hotter - we'll maybe have 3 seasons in NC. So keep us in your prayers as the next step in our adventure happens. Who knows, his orders could change again!!

Until next time....