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Turning 33

January 23, 2012 8 Comments

leaves

Last Friday was my 33rd birthday. It wasn’t the best birthday ever. The day was pretty stressful. We went to talk with the doctor about Drew’s diagnosis. I think that just kinda made the day difficult. Friday night the boys wanted to take to me Chick-Fil-A for my birthday so we did that. Love their peppermint shakes.

On Saturday Ben and I were able to get out for a date night which was nice. We went to Outback which is one of my favorite places. Sadly we left our gift card at home which was frustrating. After dinner we walked around a bit, went to a bookstore and went computer shopping. We really need a new computer and plan to use some of our tax refund to get one. I am just not sure what I want to get though. I need to do some more looking around. I would love a Mac but just can’t swing that right now. It was really nice to get out without the boys. Although we did talk about them a lot. We just can’t help it.

So I am 33 now. I feel pretty okay with that. I am pretty much doing what I wanted to do in life. When I was 20 I always said I wanted to have kids by 30. Here I am at 33, been married 9.5 years with three little boys. Although I never thought I would be an Army wife, I feel like I am right where I am supposed to be.

How about you? Do you feel like your age? Have you done everything you thought you would by the age you are now?

PS: Make sure to enter my American Armor Car Cover Giveaway :)

8 Comments Filed Under: Army Life, Life With Little Boys, Marriage, Military Life Tagged With: , ,

Fears of a Military Wife

January 17, 2012 8 Comments

Bible verseHave I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

I think this verse in Joshua is my life verse. Whenever I get fearful of things, worried about things or wonder how everything will work out, I should read this verse. It was funny, when I was pregnant with my own little Joshua and worried about a few things, I kept coming across this verse. It really spoke to me then, through the last deployment and even now.I think anyone who has lived the Military life has been afraid at some point. Deployments can be a very fearful time for us. We worry about the worst happening, we worry they will get hurt, we worry they will come home a different person. We try not to. We try to be strong, but deep down the worry is there.

We worry about the Military and how things could change. We worry about the Military cutbacks and wonder how they will affect us.

We worry about money. We worry that we won’t have enough.

We worry about our children. We wonder if this lifestyle will hurt them in some way. We worry that we can’t protect them from everything.

The worries really never end do they?

That is why I need to remember to keep praying and reading verses like the one in Joshua. I don’t want to be walking around worrying about everything. I want to embrace this life to the fullest. Worry gets in the way of that.

What do you worry about the most? How do you help yourself not worry as much?

 

8 Comments Filed Under: Army Life, Christian Faith, Deployment, Military Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

You Know You’re a Military Spouse When….

January 15, 2012 9 Comments

American Flag

You Know You’re a Military Spouse When….

-Someone asks when your Spouse will be home, you say July or August instead of 5 or 6pm.

-You live on your own and by yourself more after you’re married than before you were married.

-You know all of your Spouse’s co-workers by their last name…and rarely know their first name.

-You say “I’m going to the commissary” instead of “grocery store”.

… … -You need your I.D to buy groceries.

-You really want something but you say , well I’m going to have to wait for the 1st or 15th for it “.

-Half of your wardrobe has some kind of Military insignia on it and once belonged to your Spouse.

-The sounds of helicopters, and Jets flying over your house shaking your windows, surprisingly soothes you!

-Your Spouse’s work and dress clothes cost more than yours do.

-You only write in pencil because EVERYTHING is subject to change.

-You know that a 2 month separation IS short, no matter what your civilian friends say.

-You know better than to go to the commissary between 11:30 and 1:30 or on a payday unless it’s a life or death emergency.

-You know that any reference to “sand box” describes a deployment, not your kid’s backyard toys.

-You don’t have to think about what time 21:30 is.

-You pick apart uniforms on TV and in the movies for being inaccurate with your Spouse.

-You are asked to stop talking in acronyms and translate it all to English

-When your Spouse says they get to “Sleep In” and is referring to 0630

Saw this on Facebook and thought it was cute :)

9 Comments Filed Under: Army Life, Military Life Tagged With: , ,

Can deployments make a marriage stronger?

January 10, 2012 2 Comments

CoupleWe have all heard about how deployments can cause divorce. How the stress of going through it all can cause people to break up. But do you think that deployments can also make some marriages stronger? I think in our case they have. We have been through three of them. Each one has been hard it its own way. They were something in our past (and likely future) that we had to get through.

Communication has never been good while he has been deployed. Some of that is because of the logistics of where he was and all of that. The other part of it is something we as a couple struggle with. It makes life really frustrating when I can’t talk to my husband for days and days. I usually was fine going 4-5 days but then I would start to get really frustrated and annoyed by it. I just wouldn’t feel like myself. It was like hearing his voice or even receiving a letter from him rebooted me. I was able to continue on along that deployment road a little bit longer after I heard from him.

I think whenever a couple has to go through a challenging time, they either grow stronger or apart. Every time he has been gone, through all of the difficulties of the separation, we have grown stronger. We know that these deployments will make us stronger people. That is the way we have to look at it. If he is going to be in the Army, he is going to be deployed. There is nothing I can do to change that. I don’t have control over that part. I do have control over my actions and how I respond to him when he is gone. I have to remind myself that he loves me very much, loves our boys very much but that he is also in a very stressful situation. When I remind myself of this, the deployment becomes a tiny bit easier.

We will be celebrating 10 years of marriage in August.  I have been thinking a lot about our life and what we have done the last 10 years.  I have been thinking about what has made us a stronger couple.  And the number one thing that comes to mind is the deployments we have been through.

I am not looking forward to the next deployment.  But when it happens I want to make sure that we see it is as another chance for us to grow as a couple.

What have your experiences been? Have you been able to grow stronger through deployments and separations?

 

2 Comments Filed Under: Army Life, Deployment, Marriage, Military Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Military Love Pinterest Style

January 2, 2012 6 Comments

The more I am on there the more addicted to Pinterest I get…:)  Here are some Military finds I have pinned that I think are pretty cool!

Source: google.com via Julie on Pinterest

I love this cake! How cool is that?

 

Source: weheartit.com via Julie on Pinterest

 

Love this!

 

 

 

So sweet!

 

 

This just hits you!

 

Source: singingthroughtherain.com via Julie on Pinterest

 

What a sweet but sad goodbye.

6 Comments Filed Under: Army Life, Military Life, Photos, Pinterest Tagged With: , , ,

Top 10 Posts of 2011

December 27, 2011 Leave a Comment

Soldier and his babyI can’t believe we only have four more days of 2011! It has been a great year overall. We got through a five month deployment, bought a house and just enjoyed a lot of time together.

Here is a list of my 10 most popular posts for the year :)

#1 The first day they are gone- 2/13/11 I wrote this one the day after Ben deployed for the third time. That was such a hard day. The first day always is.

#2 This is for them- 5/6/11 I wrote this about all my friends who are also going through this Military life.

#3 Civilian Husband vs Military Husband- 2/7/11 Ben and I were married almost 3.5 years when he joined the Military so I wanted to highlight some of the differences based on my experience.

#4 Life as a Military Child- 6/8/11 I have three boys who will be raised in a Military family. I wanted to write about that.

#5 Can I really make it through this deployment- 8/29/11 I wanted to talk about getting through a deployment even when it doesn’t feel like you can.

#6 Things I miss during a deployment- 3/23/11 This post I talk about the things I miss when Ben is gone.

#7 I could never do it- 10/24/11 I had to write a post responding to something a lot of us Military wives hear.

#8 Deployment is over- 7/14/11 This is the best kind of post to write. Ben is home from deployment!

#9 Are Shorter Deployments Really A Good Thing?- 8/8/11 Thinking about the length of deployments.

#10 What is so good about a deployment anyway? 1/25/11 This was a pre-deployment post about seeing the good in a deployment.

Looking forward to a lot of new posts in 2012! It should not be a deployment year for us. We also will not be pcsing anywhere. The first year in a long time that we are not going to have any big changes. It should be a good one.

What are you looking forward to the most in 2012?

 

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Army Life, Blogging, Life With Little Boys, Military Life Tagged With: , , , ,

$25 gift certificate giveaway to PatriotSurplus.com

December 19, 2011 8 Comments

Baby Military ClothingI am excited to share another giveaway with everyone!

PatriotSurplus.com is owned by Steve Berg, a former US Marine that started the company in 2004.  They have a website and also have a physical location in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Army ACUThey have everything from Acus, Bdus and Abus to paintball gear to Novelty items.  You can even find some cute things for the kids.  They offer free shipping on all orders of $79 or more.  They will ship to the lower 48 states as well as APOs and FPOs.

 

Now for the giveaway…How would you like to win a $25 gift certificate to Patriot Surplus? You could put it towards some new ACUs, buy a t-shirt for yourself of pick out something fun for the new year.

It will start right now and end on Tuesday December 27th at 11:59pm central time.

To enter…

Mandatory entry: Visit PatriotSurplus.com and tell me what item you would like to buy if you won the giveaway.

Extra Entries:  

* Tweet about the giveaway.  Make sure to use @armywifejulie in your tweet so I can see it. (1 entry per day)

* Like Soldier’s Wife, Crazy Life on Facebook (2 entries)

* Like Patriot Surplus on Facebook (2 entries)

Good luck everyone!  I will pick a winner using Random.org

Disclosure badgeThis giveaway is provided by Patriot Surplus.

 

 

 

8 Comments Filed Under: Army Life, Giveaways & Reviews Tagged With: , ,

WLC Graduation at Ft. Campbell

December 15, 2011 2 Comments

Today my husband graduated from WLC!  WLC stands for Warrior Leader Course.  I am so proud of him!  He has been waiting to go to WLC forever it seems.  For one reason or another it hasn’t worked out until now.  Baby J and I were able to attend the graduation ceremony today.  I sadly didn’t see Ben during the actual ceremony.  I just knew he was in the back row and he knew that we were there. It gave me chills when all the men and women started singing the Army Song.  What a great feeling that was!  To know Ben was apart of something like this.  That he was entering into a different role in the Army.  That he will be moving on to new responsibilities both when he is at home and when he has to go to war again.

After the ceremony they gave us 10 minutes to spend with the soldiers but it took me about that long to find him.  When I did I gave him a hug and a kiss and told him congratulations.  I am glad that the training is over.  It will be great having him around for dinner again.

WLC Graduation

WLC Graduation

WLC Graduation

WLC Graduation

2 Comments Filed Under: Army Life, Military Life, Photos

I can’t get over it

December 13, 2011 3 Comments

I can’t get over it.  I can’t believe he is turning FIVE tomorrow.  My little Germany baby is going to be five.  Where did the time go?  When I think of childhood I think of five as a turning point.  You are now a real big kid.  No more toddler stuff. He will start Kindergarten in less than eight months.  He loves everything Lego Star Wars.  That is pretty much all get got for his birthday.  I hope the next five years don’t go by as fast but I am sure they will…

Newborn

Little Newborn-His hair was the darkest out of my three.  He was also my biggest baby at 8lbs.

Daddy Home on R&R

My favorite picture-Ben home on R&R to meet his little boy.

One Year Old

One year old-Right after Daddy’s 1st deployment.

Two years oldTwo years old- Right after Daddy had to deploy for the 2nd time.

Three years old

Three years old-When we first moved back to the US.  He still talks about our orange Germany house.

Four Years Old

Four years old- At the zoo

Four years old

Pretty much five-Taken last week.  He is of course wearing a Star Wars shirt.

3 Comments Filed Under: Army Life, Baby, Life With Little Boys, Military Life, Photos, Stationed in Germany Tagged With: , , ,

Christmas when they are deployed

December 11, 2011 1 Comment

Christmas pictureHave you ever had a Christmas with a deployed husband?  I am sure most of you have.  It can be very difficult to get through the holidays when your husband is gone.

We have done it twice.  Once in 2005 (although not a deployment, he was in Germany and I was in the US waiting to join him) and once in 2008.  In 2006 we got lucky since I had a baby and they sent him home on R&R over Christmas.

 

Here are some ideas to help make the holiday season a little less lonely:

1) Plan to visit family or have them come visit you.  If you can’t be with your husband on Christmas morning, family might just be the next best thing.

2) If you can’t be with family or don’t want to be, make plans with friends.  This is what we did in 2008.  My parents were coming in January so it was just the boys and I for Christmas.  We had our time opening gifts at home and then we got together with my friend and her kids.  It made for a fun day.  Lots of playtime for the kids and lots of emotional support for us moms.

3) Make a fun gift package to send to your husband.  Check the dates to make sure he will get it in time.  If for some reason you can’t send him something, make him something and save it for him.  Even if he is going to get home in the Spring or Summer, he will still enjoy it.

Christmas picture4) Video tape the festivities.  He may not be able to be there in person but at least he can see how the day went.  Have the kids create a special video message for him too.

5) Think about the military life and how some years you will be apart for certain holidays but the next year you might not be.  Think about the holidays you have spent together.

6) Create new traditions.  Maybe you will save the stocking for later when he is home.  Who cares if it is February?  Have your Christmas a month early if he is leaving right before December.  Don’t worry about celebrating on the actual day.  As military family our lives are not normal, why do our holidays have to be?

7) Remember you are not alone.  I know it is easy to think that you are the only one without your husband during Christmas but it just isn’t true.  There are a lot of other spouses in your shoes.  Some in the military, some are apart for other reasons.  You aren’t the only one, even if it feels like it.

For more tips to get through the holidays, check out the Care.com Interview Series.  Also check out the Care.com Military Families page for a lot of great resources for Military families.

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1 Comment Filed Under: Army Life, Christmas, Deployment, Life With Little Boys, Military Life Tagged With: , , , ,
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