Life Goes On.

I have wanted to write in so long, but it's just been too too much. Even now I am barely finding the time, but my Little Bear is taking a long summer nap induced by swimming, soccer, heat, and fun. However, lets not dwell on the past. New Beginnings!

Most of you know, the reason I have been so absent. The most stressful month of my entire life just barely ended. We were finally getting more settled, finally in a routine with our buddy, finally felt moved in, finally a real family. I have learned, the military life doesn't lend itself much to being settled. Literally the same week I found out I'd gotten the new job I'd been working toward (practically the job of my dreams), we were given 30 days notice of My Love leaving to tour the pacific on a MEU (big helicopter carrier to us non-military!) for 7-9 months. The rest of the team going had been preparing for months, but someone had a serious emergency at the last minute, and 'unfortunately' he's so good at his job he was recommended to go. So here we are...30 days to pack, move back in with my parents, get all of the pre-deployment paperwork and errands done, find a new daycare, end my current job, My Love still had to work a lot of those 30 days too, oh- and try to process all of the emotions and spend time together. It was RIDICULOUS. The best part was 2 days before he had to leave, Buddy came down with a horrible chest infection and gave the virus to both of us too. Literally the same day the boats left, I had to take a little coughing buddy to the doctor. My Love and I are STILL getting over being sick. But we did it, we said good bye. We came the next morning to watch all the boats leave and send love over the bay with the rest of the families and veterans. We cried. But we did it.

The day before Daddy had to board the boat, loading up his stuff 

We had to say good bye the night before the boats left. So hard.

The morning all the boats left, everyones families were at a special spot saying good bye

His Boat!

And now we wait. 

We are all sad, but things continue. Sadly we are used to Daddy being gone, and it's kind of nicer this time around because at least Little Buddy and I have each other to talk to about it and about Daddy. We pray for him every night, and sometimes throughout the day because one of us gets sad. "Where is my Daddy?" he will ask me. "You know where he is, where is Daddy?" I'll reply. "Oh he's on the big boat, he's gonna be gone a lonnng time" he says in the same sing-song voice I remember telling him in. I remind him he can pray if he's sad and misses him and Jesus will help him to feel better, so he does. And I hear snippets of "Jesus" "Daddy", "Boat", "Safe", "Love", and other sweet things amongst the baby chatter I know Jesus understands. The other day he just randomly started praying and when he was done I asked "Were you sad? Is that why you were praying to Jesus" and he said yes. Later he had a tummy ache and also prayed for Jesus to take that away and then said "all better!" hahaha! I love how God speaks to children. The ultimate comforter and lover. I only have so many hugs, kisses, and snuggles I can give- God is the true healer, even of His littlest. 

The best way to handle a deployment? Keeping busy. I started my new job 2 days ago, one of the MANY blessings despite My Love having to leave for so long and so suddenly was that besides 3 odd days, this new job is entirely remote for the first 4 weeks. So far its all really new and can be overwhelming, but being able to stay home and recover from being sick, plus use my lunch breaks to wrap up apartment items, unpack, run errands, tackle our mounds of laundry, etc- has been priceless. Plus the energy I have by the time I go get buddy that wasn't wasted commuting, sitting in an office, being annoyed all day, etc gets to go into us playing ball in the front yard, swimming, and having adventures. All things that help ease this transition. 

So thats our story. Thats where I've been. Every spare moment spent with my family. Preparing while still trying to enjoy the still moments. I miss My Love more then anything, its just been over a week but feels so much longer. The communication is really awful, no skyping and phone calls are rare. He stays up late to get 1 out of 3 computers on the entire boat so I do get the occasional email. Its going to be a long 7-9 months. But we can do it. We will grow because of it. We will continue to learn more about ourselves as individuals, a couple, and a family. We will not just survive during this deployment, we will thrive. We do it because we must. 

xoxo

Belle-Mére