Grains of Gratitude

I wasn't sure if I was going to do a gratitude post today as it's a little hard to find things to be grateful for when your husband deploys! The more I thought about it though I realize there are some things to find to be grateful for (and yes, some of these are just tongue-in-cheek!)

1. I'm grateful for the surprise phone call I received from Joe during his layover in Bangor, Maine. I wasn't expecting to hear from him until he actually got in country. The surprise phone call was made possible because of the Maine Troop Greeters. I remember seeing a video news clip of this group several months, maybe even a year, ago. I had tears in my eyes watching this story of this group, not even realizing Joe was going to experience this first hand. They are a group of volunteers who greet every troop leaving and returning from a deployment. As it says on their website that Maine is the last stop on US soil for troops leaving for a deployment, and the first stop on US soil upon returning from deployment. They are welcomed with cheers, handshakes, cookies, free cell phone usage, toiletries etc. You can read more about them on this link. What a wonderful thing this group does!

They also try to take pictures of every single person from each of the flights, of course that is not always possible, but they do their best. Today I got on to the photo gallery and found pictures from Sept 6 and thought I would check to see if I could find Joe in any of them - and I did!

Ugh! As soon as I copied these 2 links the site went completely down and hasn't come back up since! Not sure what is wrong with their photo gallery site. I should have saved the pics to my desktop instead of just copying the links! As soon as the site comes back up that's what I'm going to do! (ok it seems to be working now!)

Joe #1

Joe #2

I can't believe how wide-awake and full of energy he looks in those pictures! Especially considering Maine was the 4th stop since he left here! Maybe he was just so appreciative of all the greeters. Thank you Maine Troop Greeters for the service you provide to our troops!

2. I'm grateful Joe has safely arrived in country - what a long couple days that was! Once he left here he had 5 layovers before finally landing and then a 6 hr wait to clear customs - ugh! He was able to call for a few minutes to let me know he was there and talk to Kayla too.

3. I'm grateful that this is only a 4-month deployment. I know the Army deploys for 15 months and I can't imagine that. A lady on our MOPS Steering team just found out her husband is leaving for 3 months of training and then 12 months of deployment. He just got back from a 6-month deployment in Jan and is going for 15 months now. They have 4 girls and their youngest just turned a year old in July. Putting things in perspective 4 months really isn't too long.

4. I'm grateful Joe will be back in time for the birth of our 2nd child; I know a lot of guys miss out on that special event.

5. I'm grateful we'll be able to easily keep in touch with phone calls and emails.

6. I'm grateful there will be less groceries for me to buy with Joe not here! LOL Less things to worry about buying for lunch (especially because Kayla eats lunch at school 4 days out of the week!)

7. Grateful there will be less laundry to do. Admittedly Joe does wash his own uniforms, cycling, and PT gear, but still. Without him washing all that the detergent will last longer! And I don't have his regular clothes to wash.

8. I'm grateful the thermostat can stay where it is and not be turned down at night (like Joe likes to do!) and make me feel like I'm freezing when I go to bed LOL (and FYI honey, in case you're reading, I've actually left the thermostat exactly where it was when you left- so I haven't turned it up!)

9. I'm grateful for extra money. Joe will get some extra pay while he is deployed. Not only will he get this extra pay, put his paychecks will all be tax-free while he's gone. How nice! I'll be able to sock that money away in savings and maybe we'll take a nice vacation next year!

10. I'm grateful Kayla and I had a nice time yesterday during the kids workshop (see post below this one).

11. I'm grateful football starts today! Ok I know the season technically started Thursday (and I know college already started as well), but for me, the season starts today! I follow 3 football teams (long story) and two of them are televised in my area for today.

12. I'm grateful I was able to get Kayla's sports physical done on Friday and get her registered for soccer...it starts Monday. I think she's going to enjoy it! It's only 1 day a week for 6 weeks, so it's not too long, but something to keep us busy!

Ok I think that does it for my list on this Sunday!

Oh yeah, I'm 16 wks today - this is pretty much what I looked like when Joe left so imagine how big I'll be when he gets back! I know it isn't much of a picture, but I'm still trying to figure out the best place to put the camera, get it centered and focused, and then use the auto-timer for me to get belly shots while Joe is gone! And yes I purposefully cut my head out of the frame because this was first thing this morning!