On a Dime

Things change on a dime around here. Whether it's a kid's little attitude or the circumstances of our lives or the house going from clean to total disaster,  I just can't keep up most of the time. 

After my last post about leaving Iraq, which my feelings in general are still the same, our family got a major major miracle answer to prayer! What was supposed to be my Christmas day surprise was revealed a week earlier. I won't go into why it was revealed early. Some of you already know why and at this point it's trivial. It was trivial then, but it was big trivial until it was over. Okay...enough about that.

Our good news is that the man of the house will be coming home from the Middle East for good for now in less than a month! What?! Yeah, that was my response, buried under my emotional state during the conversation that led to the revealing of this little major bit of wonderful news. Needless to say, we are completely thrilled and excited and ecstatic that our little family will all be together again very soon.

The whole unit isn't coming home. The majority of these soldiers will sit in the Middle East until some time later in 2012. The circumstances of us getting our soldier home were mostly out of our control and largely based on the fact that as of October,  Cpt W was no longer authorized to be in this brigade based on personnel allocations of the Army. Because they were deployed, they weren't just going to send him home since his job was somewhat essential to their mission. (disclaimer: This is my understanding of the situation. He may give you some totally different explanation.) There had been discussion after they found out that their unit would be staying in the Middle East of the possibility of him coming home early, but those discussions ended between us a month or so ago. Apparently, our conversations ended about the same time that the paperwork was going into motion for it to really happen. That sneaky little thing!

Part of me feels guilty that we are getting this blessing because so many of my spouse friends will continue to endure life with their husbands away. However, I just have to credit this as an answer to my prayers and to so many of our friends and family who have joined with us in praying. Seriously, I have prayed more fervently about having him come home early than probably any other issue in my life!

To say this has been a rough 6 months would be a complete understatement. Following our last deployment, we always said that another deployment would be so much easier because the kids would be older and more self sufficient. We obviously failed to factor in the ever changing emotions and passions of a 2 year old girl and a strong willed 4 year old and a mother who has a difficult time managing my emotions when the heat is on! Let's just leave it at that. Even yesterday as we were talking on the phone about what his next assignment will be when he returns, I had these same thoughts that if he has to deploy again in the next few years the kids will be older and surely it will be easier! I'm not sure I'll ever forget the challenges the last 6 months have thrown our way.

There you have it - my current major surprise and proof that things are constantly changing in this little world that I live in! Now, I have to figure out what of my year long list of projects I can accomplish before the end of January. Looks like Cpt W may get to be part of the painting festivities after all. I can't wait to hear all his remarks while he's rolling paint on the living room walls. Maybe I'll hand him a paint roller with a big bow and a Welcome Home sign as he gets off the plane!