Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

military life

Favorite Military Homecoming Outfits

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Favorite Military Homecoming Outfits

So…who has trouble coming up with the right homecoming outfit?  I always do!  I want to look pretty and cute but never really know the best way to do that. A lot of wives spend hours if not days searching for the perfect outfit. The secret is, it really doesn’t matter what you wear because your husband will be so happy to see you and you will be so happy to see him. However, spending the time to find the outfit passes deployment days and getting ready for the event passes the hours right before you get to go pick them up.

Here are some ideas 🙂

 

I also have a board on Pinterest all about this! You can visit and see some great ideas of outfits you might like. Some will be for you, others for your child. Some are very fancy and others are more casual. Go with your own style, what you will feel comfortable with and have fun with it 🙂

Follow Julie Provost’s board Military Homecoming Outfits on Pinterest.

Too Much Deployment

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Yellow Ribbons

I am sure by now you have heard about what happened in Afghanistan. An Army staff sergeant shot and killed 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children 🙁

There are a lot of reasons why people think this happened. Maybe he had been deployed too much, maybe he was having too many personal problems, maybe he just went crazy or maybe he just did something awful.

One of the first things I thought when I heard about this is that he probably had been deployed too much and for too long.

And he isn’t the only person to be in that position. There are a lot of Military men and women that have simply spent too much time over there. They are not given enough time at home. Not everyone can handle that although some can. What should the Military do about it?

Back in 2007, we were a part of a deployment extension. Our 9-month deployment got pushed to 12 months and then to 15. I still remember sitting with some ladies right after the news hit. We were in shock. We could not believe that our husbands were going to be deployed that long. Some friends of mine got pregnant on R&R and assumed that their husbands would be there for the birth. Not only did the husbands miss the births but they came home to 2-month-olds. My middle son was born in the middle of this deployment. Ben came home from R&R when he was 3 days old and said goodbye to him when he was about 2.5 weeks old. He didn’t see him again until he was 11 months old. I knew of other people that went over a year between R&R and homecoming. And then there is what happened up in Alaska. Some of the Soldiers had just come home, others about to leave for home and some still in Iraq.  All to be told that they were to spend four more months in Iraq.

The thing about this is that even though this was in 2007 and even though Ben has been deployed two more times since then, that 15-month deployment still stings. That was just too long of a time to have a husband deployed. Too long to have him in a war zone without any break. It was hard to them, especially when they hit the year point. They should have been getting ready to go home but they still had a few more months to go.

HomecomingI pray so hard that we never have to go through something like that again. When your husband joins the Military, you know they will be gone but you are still human and super long deployments just break you.

And now, it is 2012 and I think, “How did I get through that?  How did I go so long without my husband?”  I guess somehow you just get through things because you have to.

When I hear stories like the one up above I want to ask the Military to please make things a little easier for everyone. Please try harder to give people longer periods of time at home. Try your best to avoid sending anyone there over a year. And please, help those that are having trouble after deployments heal before they have to go back for another tour. I hope that is not asking too much.

Army Wives Season Six, Episode One & Two, My Thoughts

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Did you all get a chance to watch the first and second episodes of Army Wives Season Six yet? If you haven’t…please stop reading this post! I wanted to talk about the episode but I don’t want to ruin anything for you 🙂 If you would like to watch it you can do so online here!

Army Wives Season 6

 

Army Wives Season 6

I had my Army Wives party and got to watch episode one with some of my friends. Afterwords I had them write out what they thought. It was interesting that we all kinda thought the same things.

We really liked that David was now apart of the Burton family. It is so sweet to see them together and happy. We thought it was great that Michael decided to not take the Pentagon job so that Claudia Joy could work as a Lawyer. We also thought that it was nice to see Denise and Frank take Molly to Jeremy’s grave site for her birthday.

We thought that the scenes about waiting on orders and missing friends once you PCS was very true to life. Most of us had been through that personally. It is hard to wait on the Army and hard to say goodbye to friends once you or they have to PCS.

We all pretty much felt like Roxy’s accident scene was really unbelievable. We were all pretty much shouting, “Don’t leave him in the car!” when she left Finn in the car. But I guess you never really know how you are going to react in situations like that. We found it frustrating Roxy wasn’t taking the offers for the bar more seriously. I would think that if you were an Army wife, knew your husband was PCSing and knew you had to get rid of the bar that if someone was offering to buy it you would take them up on it. But as the episode showed she was having a hard time accepting the PCS.

The cliffhanger at the end of episode one got us! We couldn’t wait to see the next episode!

Army Wives Season 6

I watched episode two with one of my friends last Sunday. We loved the scenes with Jeremy. It was also sad knowing that what she was dreaming wasn’t what happened. It was sweet to see Jeremy act like a big brother and see the family grow up. At one point I wondered if that would continue all season. Just having Denise in this other life. But at the end it made sense that she was drawn to staying with her son but also drawn to be with her daughter and husband. I thought they showed this well and in the end I was very happy to see her wake up and be alright.

We knew once they started talking about how badly Ft. Hope was hit that they were going to keep Ft. Marshall open instead. It was the logical thing to do. Although in real life the Army doesn’t always do the most logical thing. We also felt bad for Claudia Joy. She thought she was going to have her chance to forward her career but in the end she has to stand by her husband and wait a little longer.  The Pamela story line was a little confusing to me.   Her house might be unlivable but it didn’t seem like she was thinking about heading to California earlier than planned.  Instead she ends up at a shelter.  I guess if I was in her shoes my first thought would be that we would need to leave and head to California earlier than I thought we would.

I think this is probably going to be a very interesting season! Now that Ft. Marshall isn’t going to close I wonder what other situations they are going to have to deal with? I wonder what Army Wife will be gone forever? And do they mean gone forever gone or emotionally gone or what?

What did you think of the first two episodes?

Since it is Saturday we only have one more day to wait to find out what happens next!  It airs Sunday night at 9/8c!

And don’t forget to enter my Kindle Fire Giveaway!

Cooper and Me and the Military book review and giveaway

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Cooper and Me and the Military

 

Raising children in a Military family has its challenges. It is nice to come across anything that can help in that journey. Books are a great resource for children in the Military. I was given the book Cooper and Me and the Military by Monique and Alexa Peters to review.

Cooper and Me is a children’s book series was started by a young girl, Alexa Peters (now 13), who has always loved to write stories and draw pictures about her experiences as a means of expressing her feelings. Cooper and Me grew out of Alexa’s gift for storytelling and compassion for other kids. The mission of Cooper and Me is to both entertain young children and help them gain emotional resilience as they navigate the challenges of everyday living.

Alexa Peters (age 13) was inspired to write a story about family friends who were separated by deployment. She wanted to write this book to help kids process their feelings about loved ones being away from home and honor those in service.
Overview:
Meet Trooper, Cooper’s best friend, and learn how he was adopted by Gracie and Joe and their parents, who both serve in the military. Find out how this family stays close despite being separated.
A must-read during patriotic holidays and for anyone with friends and family in the military, this book helps children know, that even when loved ones aren’t with us, they still love us and think about us. This book, along with all the other books in the Cooper and Me series, includes these interactive features:
• A Special Memory Creation
• Life Lesson
• Connections
• Learning Together
In addition to a fun adventure, each Cooper and Me story teaches an important Life Lesson and features interactive materials at the back of the book to drive the message home. Included are activities that help children name and process their own feelings about what they’ve read.
Julie’s thoughts on the book:
As soon as I took the book out of the mailer I knew I was going to love it. The cover is bright and has some pretty cool illustrations on it. The story is interesting and I think a lot of Military children can relate to it. My son said it was “cute” and enjoyed it. I also really liked that at the end of the book there were questions I could ask my son about it. One of them was “Have you ever missed someone? How does that feel?” I thought it was a great way to connect with your children through the book.
I know we plan to check out other books in the Cooper and Me series!
Please visit these sites to learn more about the book:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/cooper_and_me

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above 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.”

You Know You’re a Military Spouse When….

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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 🙂

The Journey Of An Army Chaplain Family

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This guest post was written by Janet Pryor of http://www.militarymilestones.com/

The Journey Of An Army Chaplain Family

The Journey Of An Army Chaplain Family - Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

In 1973, my world changed very radically, but it was a change that we welcomed and looked forward to from the beginning. My husband had desired to become a military chaplain all during his last four years from college into graduate school (seminary). Now that dream was coming true.

We had been married when I was 20 years old and when we were halfway through college.  We finished college together and my husband went on to Seminary while I worked as an elementary teacher. To become a chaplain, one had to go through an endorsing agency, a denominational headquarters of religious hierarchy that would vet and train a potential candidate for the military chaplaincy.  In addition, one had to have a college degree and at least 90 hours of graduate (seminary) training. That pretty much amounted to a three-year master’s degree.

We were able to accomplish this, but our endorsing agency was a small group that only had 1/2 of an opening compared to other endorsing agencies that had hundreds of potential openings to get into the Army as a chaplain. How does one get into the chaplaincy with 1/2 of an opening when we already had about 5 chaplains in despite that 1/2 opening?  Well, the way it was done was to use other denominational openings that they could not fill. So, the chances were slim that we would get in. But within a few months of applying there was an opening and on December 16, 1973, my husband was sworn in as a Captain and a Chaplain in the United States Army (his favorite branch of the military).

Since our denominational headquarters were small, there was not the vetting and training that others provided. Most would take a couple and train them for up to a year of what to expect and how to understand the world they were entering. We had had none of that training.

In January of 1974, we entered the military world. The first step was that my husband was sent to New York for Chaplain basic training. We were to be apart for up to nine weeks. The first challenge for me as a 24-year-old mother of one with a second child on the way in 6 to 7 months was figuring out what I would do during those 9 weeks. I headed to my parent’s home.  They had retired near Augusta, Georgia.  For a gal from the north this was a real culture change but one that proved to be enlightening and encouraging. Those nine weeks seemed to take a long time, but they were filled with fun surprises as my husband would surprise me a couple of times with being able to fly from New York to Augusta for weekend passes.

After some time, I was able to head to New York city for some weekends there at the Chaplain’s school in Brooklyn, New York. I am sure to most military personnel the Chaplain’s basic was rather easy compared to what most soldiers would encounter. It was a school of learning officer training and understanding but still had lots of physical requirements and testing involved there. But, when we were able to be together on those special weekends it was magical for us to step into a world we had not envisioned or knew. In March, 1974, my husband graduated from the Chaplain’s course.  His father flew in for the ceremony from Michigan (our home state) and I flew in from Georgia. It was a proud day as our plans and hopes for military life began.

Looking back, it was a challenging and crazy time, but it was an important time for my husband and I, and we wouldn’t have traded it for anything.  To all of you military wives out there going through challenging times, hang in there.  I am living proof of an army wife who has experienced the fruit of a life in the military.  Love your husband.  Love your kids.  And have hope in the positive things of life.

Janet and Jerry Pryor live in Northern Kentucky, where they spend time investing in their children and 12 grandchildren.  They are also co-owners of a custom military rings e-commerce store at MilitaryMilestones.com.
The Journey Of An Army Chaplain Family - Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

The Journey Of An Army Chaplain Family - Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

 

 

If you would like to write a guest post for my blog, please contact me.  I love to feature guest posters 🙂

Military Care Package Resource Guide

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Military Care Package Resource Guide

 

A great article from JustMilitaryLoans.com 🙂

Military Care Package Resource Guide
With 145,000 troops on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan1 there’s no doubt that many will feel the heartache of being away from family and loved ones during the holidays.  Here at Just Military Loans we know the value in any type of gift, but one of the most simple and profound gifts are the kind that travel a long distance.

military care packages

photo provided by Support Our Military

A Movement Starts With One Person
Katrina Pesek took the time to do this.  As a proud military wife and mother, she sent a care package to her husband during his first deployment in Iraq.  After sharing all the goodies with many of his Marines comrades, he told her the shocking news that there weren’t too many other servicemen who receive anything mostly because of high shipping costs.

This statement struck a chord with Katrina. She had just assumed, as most of us probably do, that all of our troops receive care packages. In reality, some troops go a 7-12 month deployment without receiving a package filled with some of the small comforts of home. This inspired Katrina to start her own grass roots care package effort called Support Our Military.

It all started in 2009 when she sent extra care packages to her husband which he would distribute to fellow Marines. She continued to do this while she also balanced a full-time job, a household, and family.  Over the years, with the help of her community, she has managed to send out 328 care packages to troops overseas.  Like her husband always says, “one care package means more to any deployed service man or woman, than none”.

While she never expects a response, she has received several thank you notes and e-mails from her deployed adoptees. Here is an excerpt from a note she received from a Marine stationed in Iraq:

“We live on a remote outpost 4+ hours from the nearest civilization so we have no way of buying anything and we depend heavily on mail like yours. Which comes 2-3 times a month.  In a war that doesn’t gain much public support in the U.S., it means a lot that we still get so much love from folks like you and all. You really have no idea how much of an impact you make on these Marines. You really help the time pass by and make our deployment easier.”

military care packages

What’s In A Box
Like this grateful Marine stated it’s hard to get additional supplies. Surprisingly, baby wipes are at the top of the list for most needed items. Not all of our deployed have the luxury of a bathroom or running water so baby wipes are sometimes the only means of a bath. Also, foods like cookies, snacks, canned tuna and even hot sauce are highly sought after items as they help break the MRE (meals ready to eat) cycle and offer a small reminder of home.  Click here to find the full list of Care Package Wish List.

How You Can Help
This holiday season Katrina is working on sending a little holiday cheer to our deployed with some special holiday care packages. She plans on raising funds through auctions and the sale of designer jewelry and handbags by Gorjana in order to send out as many holiday care packages as she can.

There are many ways you can get involved:  run donation drives at your place of employment, local church or school, or within your community.  If you’d like to be a part of Support Our Military’s care package effort, they are always accepting donations of wish list items or homemade items. Monetary donations are always graciously accepted as each package costs $12.95 to ship.  Visit their website for more information:  Support Our Military.

A Military Wife

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A Military Wife

 

 

A Military Wife

 

Lots of moving…
Moving…
Moving……

Moving far from home…
Moving two cars, three kids and one dog…all riding with HER of course….
Moving sofas to basements because they won’t go in THIS house;
Moving curtains that won’t fit;
Moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours.
Moving away from friends;
Moving toward new friends;
Moving her most important luggage: her trunk full of memories.
Often waiting…
Waiting…
Waiting…
Waiting for housing.
Waiting for orders.
Waiting for deployments.
Waiting for phone calls.
Waiting for reunions.
Waiting for the new curtains to arrive.
Waiting for him to come home,
For dinner…AGAIN!
They call her ‘Military Dependent’, but she knows better:
She is fiercely In-Dependent.
She can balance a check book;
Handle the yard work;
Fix a noisy toilet;
Bury the family pet…
She is intimately familiar with drywall anchors and toggle bolts.
She can file the taxes;
Sell a house;
Buy a car;
Or set up a move…
…..all with ONE Power of Attorney.
She welcomes neighbors that don’t welcome her.
She reinvents her career with every PCS;
Locates a house in the desert, The Arctic, Or the deep south.
And learns to call them all ‘home’.
She MAKES them all home.
Military Wives are somewhat hasty…
They leap into:
Decorating,
Leadership,
Volunteering,
Career alternatives,
Churches,
And friendships.
They don’t have 15 years to get to know people.
Their roots are short but flexible.
They plant annuals for themselves and perennials for those who come after them.
Military Wives quickly learn to value each other:
They connect over coffee,
Rely on the spouse network,
Accept offers of friendship and favors.
Record addresses in pencil…
Military Wives have a common bond:

The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands; his commitment is unique.
He doesn’t have a ‘JOB’
He has a ‘MISSION’ that he can’t just decide to quit…
He’s on-call for his country 24/7.
But for her, he’s the most unreliable guy in town!
His language is foreign
TDY
PCS
OPR
SOS
ACC
BDU
ACU
BAR
CIB
TAD
ABU
And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his.
She is the long- distance link to keep them informed;
the glue that holds them together.
A Military Wife has her moments:
She wants to wring his neck;
Dye his uniform pink;
Refuse to move to Siberia;
But she pulls herself together.
Give her a few days,
A travel brochure,
A long hot bath,
A pledge to the flag,
A wedding picture,
And she goes.
She packs.
She moves.
She follows.
Why?
What for?
How come?
You may think it is because she has lost her mind.
But actually it is because she has lost her heart.
It was stolen from her by a man,
Who puts duty first,
Who longs to deploy,
Who salutes the flag,
And whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military Husband,
She will remain his military wife.
And would have it no other way.
–Author Unknown