Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

Julie

Walmart Holiday Salute to Military Families

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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Operation Homefront and Fisher House are coming together with Walmart to Join in our Holiday Salute to Military Families.

This is such a great thing because when you are going through a deployment during the holidays, you need all the support you can get. They can be a lonely and stressful time.

The “Holiday Salute to Military Families” will be spending 2 million dollars in grants for toys, meals and lodging assistance for Military families in need this year. They will also be helping with active duty service members to come home for the holidays to be reunited with their loved ones.

When a deployment comes to an end during the holiday season, it can add a whole new level of stress to a Military family. We wonder if they will make it in time. We want to plan for the day but not sure what it will look like. My husband came home the day before Thanksgiving in 2007. I was so stressed out. Even though I knew we could celebrate later, I didn’t want to be alone on that day. I was filled with so much relief when I finally got the call to pick him up.

Helping families in need during the holidays is such a great thing to do. I feel so blessed by the different organizations that give to Military families during this time of year. We have received meals and I know others have received toys and other items.

As we make our way out of the Military, I am hoping to be able to help Military families in the future by giving to these organizations.

If you would like to help Military families you can give on the Fisher House site or the Operation Homefront site.

Also, I would love it if you share this post on your social media sites and tag a Military member that you are grateful for.

Today is December 3rd and is also called Giving Tuesday! You can tag any of your social shares with #GivingTuesday 🙂

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Thanksgiving When They Are Deployed

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Thanksgiving when they are deployed

Thanksgiving When They Are Deployed

It was 2006 and my husband had just left for his 1st deployment. We were about three months in when it was time for Thanksgiving. We were in Germany on a smaller post so almost everyone I knew had a deployed husband. Instead of spending the holiday alone a bunch of us got together and spent the day talking, eating and letting the kids play.

It was the best idea we could have had. Instead of being sad about our husbands not being home we got to enjoy the holiday together. I was pretty pregnant with my middle son but I still really enjoyed myself. Some of the wives were even able to video chat with their husbands during the meal making it feel like the husbands were not so far away.

Even years later I think about that day and how it was a perfect example of Military wives working together to turn a bad situation into a good one. We all had each other and enjoyed spending the day making memories even though we had to do so without our husband there.

Another great thing about doing this is that we got to try new foods that might have been special to another wife that we had not ever had during Thanksgiving. It gave us a chance to share food or traditions that were special to us. This was a lot of fun and it was great to try foods I would never have thought to make for myself or my family.

Now I am looking at another Thanksgiving with a deployed spouse. I have plans to spend the meal with a very good friend, her family and a bunch of other people. This year it won’t be a group of wives with deployed spouses but I know we will have fun and will enjoy the day. We will be with friends and we will be making memories just the same.

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In other years we have gotten together with other Military families who did not go home for the long weekend. Not everyone can make it back home for Thanksgiving. It is nice to be able to do that so you don’t feel so alone in being without family for the day.

One of the things about being a Military spouse is that sometimes holidays are spent with friends, not family. You make the best of a situation and go with it. By doing this you become closer to each other because of the bond spending a holiday together can bring.

If you are going to be without your spouse this Thanksgiving, think about who you could spend it with. Think about how next year your spouse will probably be home and how this is just one year of many that you have to spend without each other. And remember, it is just one holiday and if you want to keep it small, you can do that too.

Have you ever spent a Thanksgiving with a deployed spouse? What did you do to get through?

Take A Vet To School Program

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My post for Everyone Serves for Blue Star Families will be about the Take a Vet to school program.

I think it is so important for younger people to understand what has come before them. To know their history and what others have done in the past. It can help shape them and give them different interests than they might not otherwise have.

I think the Take a Vet To School Program is a great way to help kids understand about the past. What they do is organize events on Veteran’s Day or leading up to it in the school setting. They can be just a one class visit or an assembly for the whole school. Students will get to learn about the history of Veteran’s Day and hear from vets about what they have done in their lives. Not everyone comes from a Military family so it is nice for these kids to learn more about what it means to serve your country.

Both of my grandpas served in the Military. They are no longer with us so I can not ask them about their time in the service. The Take a Vet to School program can allow children to hear stories from the peers of their family members that might have passed away. They can hear about what it was like to serve during the same time one of their own family members served.

If you are interested in this program you can visit Got Your Six for more information.

What better way to educate our youth on Military service then to connect them to the people who have been there and served their country proudly? And although Military children might be used to the uniform, civilian children might not be. This is a great way to bridge that divide between Military families and Civilian ones.

 

Follow Blue Star Families on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ and build a support network so you can keep your family and personal community strong throughout the duration of the entire deployment life cycle.

Do You Want A New Phone From TMobile?

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Very excited about sharing this giveaway with you guys 🙂

Do you need a new phone?  Do you just want a new phone?  Do you want it for free?!

I have partnered with TMobile and a pretty amazing group of bloggers to get you a new phone!

T-Mobile’s new Blackberry Z10 might be one of the coolest phones on the market and Blackberry has consistently been the go to phone for the military.  It is one of the only phones that has been tested and approved by the DOD the be used on the secure military networks and we want YOU to be able to have one!

T-Mobile has an awesome program for military families!  You can check it out by CLICKING HERE

But why stop at one?

T-Mobile has also offered up a surprise second Blackberry Z10 to go to the second place winner!!!

So, without further ado, meet the team of bloggers who are working to spread the news about this amazing giveaway:

But what do you have to do?  How do you win the phones?  It’s pretty simple!

Make a 15-30 second video about why you deserver, want, or need a new phone and why T-Mobile should give you one.  Then tweet the video with the hashtag #TMobileIWantaNewPhone.  For the entry to be valid, be sure you copy and past the URL of the tweet into the first entry option for the Rafflecopter widget at the bottom of this post.

Want extra entries?  The contest entry widgets have lots of cool ways you can follow the awesome bloggers putting this shindig on for easy extra entries!

Want to win the second phone?  ENTER TO WIN!!!  And remember, you CAN use the same video entry to win both phones, but you must tweet the video with the contest hashtag a SECOND time and use that second URL as your entry.

That’s pretty much all there is to it!

Join in the fun, enter to win a super cool phone and meet some new bloggers.  And don’t forget to check out the general contest guidelines HERE

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*All videos will become property of A Boy, A Girl and the Marine Corps and may be used by her or by T-Mobile for promotional purposes.

The Military Community And Why It Matters

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30011-2My post for Everyone Serves for Blue Star Families is going to be about the Military community and why it matters.

 

The Military community. Other families going through what you are going through. It matters and it is important.

Our first duty station as a family was in Germany and the Military community over there is a lot closer than in the US. You have to be. You are all over there together making your way through deployments and other Military adventures. No one really can just go home during the weekends. A trip back to the states is expensive and a lot of people don’t even make one during their time overseas. There are less service members stationed at each place and in some cases are only made up of one or two brigades. Because of that most of the community deploys together.

After all of our deployments I can tell you that having a strong Military community is so important. The stronger it is, the easier it is going to be for the family when their loved one is away.

Yes there can be drama and no you do not have to take part in every aspect of it. But it is nice to make friends with others that know what you are going through. Who know what it is like to miss someone so badly that you want to cry your eyes out. Who know what it is like to be afraid every time someone knocks on your door. Who knows what it is like to go from deployment to deployment wondering when you will get a real break.

It helps to meet others who may have given birth without their husband, who left everyone they have ever known to PCS to an unknown place, and someone who also gets frustarted when their spouse has missed all five of their son’s birthdays just like your spouse has. It is just nice to find people who can understand all of that.

The military community matters and it is very important to the welfare of the service member and his family.

How have you been connected in your Military community?

 

Follow Blue Star Families on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ and build a support network so you can keep your family and personal community strong throughout the duration of the entire deployment life cycle.

Just A Simple Doctor Who Birthday Party

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Just A Simple Doctor Who Birthday Party

My son turned nine so we gave him a little birthday party. My parents were in town so we invited a few friends, ordered pizza and had some cake.

This year I was going for simple. I asked my son what kind of party he wanted to have and he said, “Doctor Who.” This made me very happy. I love that he loves Doctor Who like I do but there was an issue with having a Doctor Who birthday party. I couldn’t just go to my local party store and get everything. If I wanted to go all out I would have to pay a lot online for the stuff or be super creative.

Now I don’t want to knock anyone that can get super creative with birthday parties. I just don’t really have it in me. I see what people can do, but this year I wanted simple and I wanted to keep it inexpensive.

This is what I ended up doing.

I went to my local bookstore and bought some Tardis lights. Yes they were more than I wanted to pay but I figured we could put them up in my son’s room after the party. My friend makes cakes so she made a Tardis birthday cake for him. I also got blue plates, napkins, cups and all of that.

The kids came, played, had cake, watched him open gifts and then left with a small goody bag.

It was lovely and a lot less stress for me.

Doctor Who Birthday Party

 

 

 

Doctor Who Birthday Party

 

 

 

Doctor Who Birthday Party

 

Doctor Who Birthday Party

 

Doctor Who Birthday Party

 

Doctor Who Birthday Party

 

Do you like to go all out for birthday parties or would you rather keep them more simple?

Homecoming Banner Signs.com Review and Giveaway

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned below for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Well…it is almost that time to start seriously thinking of homecoming.

One thing most people do to prepare for it is to get some type of banner. I have usually had a mix of a banner that I had ordered and banners we made by hand.

The banner I had used in the past only has two of our three boy’s names on it so I knew I wanted to order a new one this time.

When I was contacted by Signs.com to review on of their banners I figured it was perfect timing.

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I decided to go with an camo looking banner although they have many other types to choose from. You can go with a Military theme, animals, holidays, real estate and more.

If you have a banner need, they should be able to fill it.

The ordering process was pretty easy. I just needed to decide on my background, what I wanted on the banner and the size.

How would you like to win your own banner? Enter the Rafflecopter bellow to win your own 4ft by 2ft banner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also you can get 15% off your order for entering the code “SWCL15” in your order.

If you don’t need a banner right now, Signs.com also has yard signs, vehicle decals, magnets and more. If you have a business you might want to check out the vehicle decals to put on your car. You can find a premade one or customize it from scratch.

Distance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

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He has been gone four months now. 120 days.

I miss him so much as you can imagine.

I miss his jokes. One of the first things I noticed about him was his sense of humor. It is silly and cheezy and I miss it.

I miss it when he holds my hand. Whether we are walking in the mall or going out to lunch.

I miss telling him about my day and all the stupid things no one else really cares about it. I tell that man everything and for four months I have not had that.

I miss him with the boys. From playing outside with Daniel to trying to get Drew to laugh to helping Joshua on the playground.

Army CoupleI miss him drinking more coffee than I do.

So far during this deployment we have been pretty much been able to talk with each other on Facebook each and everyday. I have not heard from him since Monday. Usually I can go about 3-4 days before I get upset about not talking with him. So that is about where I am at. I am trying not to get upset but it is hard. It is so difficult to not be able to talk to your other half on a regular basis. There have been so many times when I have something to say to him and can’t say it.

I almost feel like our relationship is “on hold” in a way. Not that we are currently not married or anything like that. Just that we can not have anything close to a normal relationship while he is gone.

They say “distance makes the heart grow fonder” and I think it has been true for us. You get to a point in the deployment where you start thinking about everything nice you have done together over the years. You remember all the things you fell in love with and you look forward to the future when you can be normal again.

As homecoming gets closer you think about how it will feel to be in his arms again. To be his wife, not just in name only. To be able to act like a couple instead of just remembering it.

This homecoming will be very special for us. It will be the last one for us. In the past when he has come home from deployment I always thought, “He is mine, for now…” This time, I will not have a future deployment to think about. That makes me even more excited for him to come home.

As I look back over the years I wonder what our relationship would look like if he had never left? If we were one of those couples that had never spent a day away from each other. I also wonder what it will be like when he doesn’t have to go anywhere ever again. After years of him being home and then not, will I miss that independence? I just don’t know.

Have you felt that distance has made you and your spouse stronger?