Deployment Positive Monday- Week 10

Wow... Double digits for weeks already. As hard as it is to believe that we have reached this little benchmark, sometimes I look back at X-day and think "really?! Has it only been two months?!" Deployments totally mess with me that way, I guess. It's been so nice to have been keeping busy, but sheesh, this seems like the longest summer ever, er... Um I guess since the last time Andrew was deployed, and if we're really being picky, the summer before that wasn't exactly a walk in the park either. 

Lately our days (or nights, depending on which one of us you are talking to) have been spent planning for the glorious month we get to spend together between Andrews homecoming and SFAS. And let me tell you- if you thought I packed a lot of fun into this summer, wait til you see what we have got planned for that little snippet of time. We're still relatively unsure about when that will be (plus I can't tell you anyways because of OPSEC... Do we all remember OPSEC?) but it's just been exciting to look forward to it! 

This past week I was lucky enough to have an extended period of time off of work, so I went up to visit family in Pennsylvania! It was a great trip! As many people know, I'll take any excuse possible to visit loved ones! This trip was brought to you by the Dirty Girl Mud Run that I did on Saturday with Andrews sister and cousins! It was a blast! We ran 5k though all sorts of muddy obstacles and I couldn't stop smiling throughout the entire course. My army husband would have been so proud of me (loudly) encouraging ladies on other teams to get their bottoms down during the low crawl exercises... Mainly because that just meant they would get muddier, and wasn't that the whole point! 

At the end of the day, this was a fun thing to do for a great cause. They raise money to support breast cancer research and we even finished right behind a team with a breast cancer survivor who ran the race! Definitely a feel-good moment to watch her as she crossed the finish line with her 20+ teammates all cheering her name. 

Deployment Positive Monday- Weeks 7 and 8

Yep, well now I've just skipped an entire week. I've been petty disappointed in myself for my lack of blogging this deployment, but for some reason, I just can't get myself to keep at it. I really don't understand it because I can't even put a price on how much my book of the first deployment's blog posts means to me, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. It kills me to think that I just won't have the same experience with this deployment. 

Maybe it's because I have been approaching this deployment with a completely different mindset. Part of it still doesn't seam real to me for some reason.  Obviously I know Andrew is away and at war, but everything from our communication to my living situation to his job is different. There hasn't been a single day since Andrew left 53 days ago that we haven't had some sort of communication (hopefully I'm not jinxing it by posting about it). I am working a job that I absolutely love and coming home each night to a home that a share with my husband (and the hardest part of this is that I still haven't adjusted to the idea of cooking for 1- I made about 4 times too many servings of dinner tonight... Hello leftovers!). Andrews job is allowing for us to communicate more, and giving him a lot more down time. Lately one of our favorite activities has been to do the same crossfit workout (same workout for both of us, but he completes it with more weight) and compare times. I kinda love it and can't wait to have him home to workout side by side again! Another favorite pastime has been planning for homecoming and all the things we want to do and trips we want to take before we are onto our next duty station. It's a little weird to think that chances are we won't be living in Kentucky at this time next year, but exciting weird. We'll be on to bigger and better things and we are both so excited to move and explore a new duty station together for the first time. Depending on where we are sent maybe we will even become first time homeowners! The future is an exciting time for us Dolans!

But, not to get ahead of myself too much, I'm still doing my best to keep busy and travel as much as possible while Andrew is gone. Last week I had a great trip to the Jersey Shore with my amazing inlaws then had a friend visit from Nashville over the weekend. It was great to have a girls night and we even went to a wine and paint bar and painted ourselves some "funky trees". It was a blast! 

That soldier husband of mine has been keeping busy too. He has been getting care packages in an average of under two weeks which is great and even received his anniversary care package this morning. It's still pretty hard to believe that this time last year we were in last minute wedding mode finalizing each and every detail. Hopefully this time next year we will be curled up on the couch together watching American Ninja Warrior and loving life in a brand new state. I can't think of anything better than spending our second anniversary together. 

Andrew has been getting lots of time in with his SFAAT team and his Battalion Commander even posted this picture of them on Facebook earlier this week. Can you spot my handsome soldier? 

Deployment Positive (Insert Random Day of the Week Here)- Week 6

It's pretty hard to believe that we have already just about hit the 6 week mark of this deployment. I guess it's the same feeling I have always had during separations; day to day seems to go by slowly, but looking back I can't believe we've already come this far. 

I've said it before and I will say it again... A large part of my sanity during Andrews time away has to be credited to my amazing family and friends. This past weekend I went up to my parents' house in New Hampshire and visited with them, my uncle, grandmother, brother and future sister in law! It was so great to catch up on lost time, and I love that my brother has found somebody who is such an amazing fit in our small little family. We spent lots of time talking about the upcoming wedding, which is one of my favorite pastimes!

Monday and Tuesday were strictly girls days. On Monday, Emily and I went down to spend the day in Boston and I met up with the greatest friends a girl could have. It was so great to see my girls from college and high school and pick up right where we left off. It's one of the best feeling in the world, knowing that months and months can pass and true friends are always there for you. It's amazing how we are all at different phases of our lives, but we hold a common bond of the past that will keep us together forever. Wow, that got sappy in a hurry... I guess what I am trying to say is that I'm a very blessed girl to have such amazing friends. 

Boston is probably my favorite place in the entire world, and this was the first time I had been there since the tragic events that happened at the marathon this year. To me, Boston has always had its own identity and there is some sort of unspoken bond between those who have called it home at any point in their lives. My heart absolutely swelled with pride and simultaneously broke into a million prices  when I watched the footage of the first responders and the heroes that emerged from the horrors of those events. I have never taken my roots in New England for granted, but I never ached as badly as I did in April that I wasn't there with my fellow Bostonians... Through the good and bad. It was amazing, albeit not surprising, to observe how the city has bounced back, and I am proud to always have a piece of Boston in my heart. Not only because it is where I met the love of my life, or because it is where he asked me to be his wife, or because of all of the little moments I have spent there over the course of my 26 years. It's because of the history of Bostonians, and what they have always been proud to sacrifice for the greater good of our fine nation.  It's the place that always makes me happy, no matter what. 

Speaking of things that make me happy no matter what, that husband of mine is still doing well over in the sandbox. He keeps telling me there isn't really anything new to report, but I suppose no news is good news. Next week I am heading to the Jersey Shore with his (excuse me, OUR) family! I can't wait for another getaway, but it definitely won't be the same without him. I sure do love keeping busy! Before we know it, he'll be home safe in my arms... And I can't wait!!'

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 2

Oops. 

I guess I am not completely used to being back at blogging again.  I will get better, I promise. 

This week, for the first time ever in my life, I am thankful for travel plans going awry.  I have spent the past couple of days with my amazing in-laws for a little getaway from my normal routine. The trip couldn't have come at a better time, as I could feel myself starting to slip into that inevitable sadness that this deployment is actually a reality for the next X amount of months. That feeling usually hits me about a week into any separation, and then after a couple of days it will pass once I am fully used to this each new phase of our lives. 

Visiting Andrew's family always makes me happy and keeps me busy.  Mom and I built in our tradition for the first deployment of treating ourselves to an afternoon at the Hotel Hershey Spa. How wonderful it was to just let go and relax for a while!

Last night about 3 hours before I was supposed to fly back to Kentucky, I got a call from the airline saying that due to air traffic congestion (really? This just seems like poor planning to me) my flight would be canceled. At first I was irritated because I thought I would be stranded in Charlotte on a layover overnight, but after talking to a not-so-friendly US Airways employee I got it changed to fly out this morning.  I'll be a little late for work, but in the grand scheme of things it was totally worth it. Lillia and Gavin had a sleepover and as I was reading them their bedtime stories I couldn't help but hold them just a little bit tighter than normal. These precious little children, hanging on my every word, trying their hardest to understand why their aunt is home and not their fun-loving uncle, were so worth the stress of yet another flight mishap. I wouldn't have traded that moment for anything. 

As I continue to get accustomed to this deployment, I keep reminding myself to look for the silver linings in everything. That is one thing I will always be thankful to the Army for- at a somewhat young age I feel that I am always able to find the positive in a difficult situation, because in our world that is survival. 

Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 44

This week has been absolutely fantastic. I have the best friends and family in the entire world, hands down, but more on that later.

Yesterday marked ten months of deployment gone boy. SCORE!

Today, our unit welcomed home our very first soldiers from Afghanistan! These are the times I wish more than anything that I was living down at Fort Knox, I can't even imagine the joy on those families' faces when their soldiers returned home to them. It was just a small group, but the wave has started, and will continue over the next two and a half to three months.

Our FRG (Family Readiness Group- the wives of the soldiers in the unit) is sending out more emails than ever lately, all with new messages about homecoming and block leave and returning to "normal life" once the brigade returns home. It's oddly comforting to know that there really is a light at the end of this seemingly never-ending tunnel, it's not just me imagining it's there. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in a moment in time, and I forgot that this deployment will eventually end. It's almost our turn!

Now, onto the most amazing weekend EVER!

On Saturday morning, Mom Dolan and I set off for a Scrapbooking day at Dottie's (her best friend who lives a few towns away) house. I had my huge scrapbooking box with me (decoupaged with newspaper clippings from the Sox 04 World Series Run- one of my favorite home-made projects ever!) and as we walked in the door I was slapped in the face with the sound of "SURPRISE!!!!!" by what seemed like a million women.

I'll admit, the three seconds before I realized what was going on felt like they lasted for-ev-er. I walked into the room, and put my box down, just as I realized "oh, is this all happening for me?" and as I put my sunglasses on my head, I saw them. My girls. My roommates from college, and my best friend since the first grade. Not to mention the countless family (Em, that includes you!)

It's one of the strangest feelings in the world, and I'll never quite be able to describe it, but seeing people I cared so deeply about, here in an environment that I had never seen them before (nor did I ever think I would see them before our wedding) absolutely blew me away. Thank you thank you thank you girls for coming down and making me feel so loved. I am so very very blessed to have you all in my life.

The last time we (my seven roommates and I) were all together was our graduation from Stonehill in May 2009. I was a wreck. We all were. We had just spent the 4 best years of our lives with some of our greatest friends (and senior year with a couple of legitimately crazy boys living down the hall who loved to put fireplaces in our stairwell) and none of us could accept the fact that that chapter in our lives had come to a close. We huddled. There was nothing else to do, we didn't want to let go of that moment.

So what do you think we did the moment we were all 8 together again for the first time in nearly two and a half years (after I got over my initial shock, of course)? Yup! We huddled!

My Bridal Shower was nothing short of phenomenal! I can't describe the joy I felt that day! I really wish I could post a video of my reaction, but I'm having technology issues at the moment, hopefully I'll figure it out someday.

Thank you so very much to everybody who made this day happen! I feel so blessed to be loved by my family, my friends and to be coming into a family who is so loving as well. Saturday was probably one of my favorite deployment days, and I can't help but smile when I think of myself walking into that room and being completely bombarded with love!

Here I am with my Lexa Lou and my rehearsal bouquet! She did an awesome job!

Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 43

It just occurred to me that I could be down to single digits with DPTs I have left! WOW! If that's not a positive, I don't know what is.

For the time being though, I'm going to stick with my promise to let all of you out there in bloggie-ville get to re-live our amazing two week R&R through posts and pictures.

On the first Sunday that Andrew was home, I was finally confirmed as a member of the Catholic Church and took my first communion. As with everything else in my life, I had waited a long time for that special moment, but man, was it worth the wait. I can't even let myself imagine what it would have been like to take such a huge step in our joint faith without Andrew. It felt great to have him physically behind me as I was welcomed into our church.

It was so nice to have both of our families be a part of such a huge day for us! Other than the actual day Andrew returned home, it was definitely the most emotional day for me. Everything happened exactly as I had envisioned it, including the song "Come Back to Me", which I've had my heart set on being played at both my first communion and our wedding since the first time I heard it way back in March... remember?

I really want to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has been there for me during this process. The entire parish has been more than welcoming and accommodating to both Andrew and myself.

Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 35

I think I have intentionally been avoiding my blog lately. It would have been easy to have a huge long post about the significance of September 11th and what it means to all of us each and every day, but by now my opinions are pretty clear to those of you reading my blog. It was an emotional day, and for some reason I just didn't feel quite right bringing it to the blogosphere.

I will say that I was touched to see our country once again come together and show the unity we once had. I wish it could be like that every day, not just on certain dates we mark on our calendars, but I suppose we are taking a collective 'baby step' in the right direction.

The weekend of September 11th was also spent celebrating my birthday! Yup!! The big 2-5!! It's hard to believe that little old me is really that... Old... But I guess I'm getting used to it. I had a great weekend down in dc with my brother and his girlfriend (who, if I havent previously mentioned, I LOVE!) and we went to the Toby Keith concert on Saturday which was my actual birthday. He is amazing live, I highly recommend going to see him if you have the opportunity, but being that it was the "eve of September 11th" as he said so many times, it was particularly emotional and special for me. He is probably the most patriotic country singer who has ever lived and watching him pull soldiers onto the stage and sing songs like "American Soldier", "Courtesy of the red white and blue" and "Made in America" brought tears to my eyes. Hearing Toby say "thank god for all our heros fighting out there every day so that we can be here and have some fun tonight" gave me chills. It was a tough moment, and it made me miss Andrew almost more than I had at any other time this year.

Missing a soldier is hard to explain to people who don't live our life. It's not like when your husband goes on a business trip for a week or when your daughter studies abroad for a few months. Yes, there is an element of worry, but you have to put that out of your mind to a certain extent. Going a whole year without Andrew can sometimes be easier than just a week or two. It's hard to explain, but since it is such a long time, you just go through the motions without him here, almost like droning. You become numb to the "pain" of missing him simply because your body won't let you feel that way for months on end.

But there are moments in these long separations that my mind kicks me right back to the "I need him here now" mentality and I hate it so much. That concert was one of those moments. I didn't want to wait another second. Another was when we lost a solider in the community a few months ago. Or when one of the kids says something particularly cute about how proud they are of their ranger. I guess I go into emotion overload and that barrier I've been keeping up for so long gets torn down.

So yes, I did shed a tear or two at that concert, not only because I missed Andrew, but also for the devastation our country going through ten years ago. (andrew will give me a hard time about that for sure, but it's the truth so whatcha gonna do?) Here are some of the highlights from the weekend:














Life for me other than that lately has been busy Great and busy. I'm looking forward to a few days of relaxing with my mom in town this weekend, then gearing up for a big Yankees Red Sox weekend in New York before we kick off another event for work. I'm looking forward to the event being over, not only for the post-stress relief I will feel, but also because it means I am that much closer to seeing my soldier.

Oh yeah, that soldier of mine. Remember him? He's busy too, just loving life and kicking bad-guy butt! Leave got moved AGAIN, but this time because we asked for it, and the army actually granted it, which is pretty out of character. Leave will happen a few weeks later in the month, but it allows us more flexibility (and I was worried about crossover between leave and our conference for work) and by the time Andrew goes back to the sandbox, it will be november! Huge mental milestone!!

My Marching Aunts!

I know I've written a lot about how amazing and supportive Andrew's entire family has always been, and not just during deployment and Ranger School, but all the time, but I just have to brag a little bit more about my soon-to-be in-laws. After all, what's the point of being spoiled if you can't share your joy with others, right?

On Friday after a long week of work, I came home to a bright red gift bag on the kitchen table. I didn't think much of it until mom said that it was a special gift just for me. I knew it would be a good one when she wouldn't let me open it until she got her phone to take a picture!

I waited patiently (something nearly impossible for me to do when I know that something exciting is about to happen. also why I know the last month of deployment is going to drag on for-ev-er) for her to get the phone then first opened the paper rolled up and taped together with American Flag stickers.

The aunts go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!

The aunts go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!

The aunts go marching one by one,

They stopped to make the countdown fun

And they all go marching around and around....

Still slightly confused, I opened the other wrapped portion of the gift and started tearing up almost immediately. My favorite picture of Andrew out on a patrol a few months ago looking as happy as I had ever seen him before, in a frame that said "My Hero".

Thank you so much, Aunt Mary, Aunt Kathy and Aunt Lori! You guys are the greatest, I am so lucky to have you as family members, bowling teammates and friends!

Moral of the story: my in-laws are better than yours. And I'm not sorry!

Deployment Positive Thursday- Weeks 25 & 26

So we meet again. Things have been slightly busy around here the past two weeks to say the lest. Between a Trans-Atlantic vacation, getting caught up at work, and trying to get back into my routine, some things (eh hem, my blog) have seemed to fallen by the wayside. As we begin to gear up for the second half of this deployment (YUP, this is really happening!) I find myself getting more and more excited for the fall! The poor kids must be so sick of me asking them how excited they are to start school up again, but what's a girl to do? I've got to have things to look forward to.

Maybe it's foolish, but as we hit the 6 month mark, I keep having to remind myself that it's not over yet. I guess this is the beauty of having midtour leave late in a deployment. Not only that, but I have been planning lots of smaller milestone trips as well with friends and family. Plus with the Holidays seemingly right after midtour is over, it'll be 2012 before we know it. And I couldn't be happier.

I also wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from my visit to Germany. We crammed a lot of fun (and food and beer) into 5 short days, but it was great to see family again. These are mostly in random order, but I tried to just pick my favorites. Hope you enjoy:



Cemeteries in Europe are a lot different than in the states. There is something so beautiful about families owning a plot and taking care of their loved ones and making it their own.




My Omama and Opapa Hilsbos & Opa Jakob





Creative "Tombstone"... this was one of my favorites.





The house my mom grew up in just outside Dusseldorf




My "single" hotel room. 




Gut Hahn for lunch





At Gut Hahn with my Oma and Dad




Ein Pills, Bitte




Empty Beer





My favorite meal; Filet mit Pfefferlinger und Rosti







German Countryside




Kaffee und kuchen





My Oma and Opa on their wedding day in December 1943




A rainbow on our last afternoon




And a beautiful sunset walking back to the hotel



Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 24

Well, I think it is safe to say that the summer has been a busy time for me- and honestly, I couldn't be happier about it! Just looking at my blogging, or lack there of, it's easy to see that I haven't had a spare moment the last few weeks. (I'll admit though, that my scarce blogging habits can also be blamed on the fact that we just don't have all that much to report- it's still hot and sandy in Afghanistan, and I'm still not-so-patiently waiting for R&R.) To make up for my lack of posts recently, I'm blogging everything that's been floating around my mind lately in one mammoth post. So today's DPT is a BOGO, if you will.

To start, I have to admit, I am loving that I am able to honestly say we are about halfway done at this point. It's so funny because the last 5 1/2 months have been such a blur, but also have seemed to drag on at the same time. Now with the promise of midtour leave seemingly right around the corner (obviously still a huge exaggeration at this point: we still have over three months until October even starts), I feel like we are finally making some real headway.

Sometimes it is hard to imagine that 2012 will ever actually get here, but yesterday for the first time ever, I saw a commercial for a line of 2012 Chevy cars and trucks! Hearing the word 2012 mentioned in a commercial for a product that is actually available to the general public RIGHT NOW was an amazing feeling; it's hard to explain, but it makes everything real. It's like when you are a kid and all you want is for Santa to come, but it's only December 1st and you still have 24 whole entire days to wait. You never think you'll actually get to Christmas Morning (at least, I never did when we started our Advent Calendars), but as more and more families begin to put up their Christmas Trees and decorations, you realize that soon Santa will come. That Chevy commercial made me realize that this deployment will eventually come to an end, that this lonely feeling will not always be my reality, even though sometimes it doesn't feel like it.

As June comes to a close, it feels like ages ago that we were in Disney. But today is a day to celebrate, not only because it is the last day of another month that we can forever bid farewell, but because of two very exciting events that happened in the Dolan household today. The first: Mom finally got her voice back after being told by an ENT not to talk at all for the past six weeks (we cheated a little at Disney, but who wouldn't) due to swollen vocal chords. And the second: Dad's big 60th birthday! We had the whole family over tonight for dinner and dessert by the pool and it was just a perfect evening. A great way to close out a pretty bum month!

And, with the start of July, brings another trip for me! Tomorrow I leave for 6 days in Germany visiting with family and friends. We grew up visiting my grandparents every summer, and as Mark and I grew older it got harder and harder to find time for all of us to go. I haven't seen my Oma in three long years (since I took a weekend trip to visit her while I was studying in Florence in '08) so I am definitely ready to wrap my arms around her. Mom Dolan helped my pack tonight (have I mentioned I hate packing? Literally I did dishes for as long as humanly possible tonight just to avoid it, then stomped around the house groaning about how much I was dreading the task ahead of me for almost a solid hour) but miraculously I fit everything into a single carry on suitcase! I'm pretty darn proud of myself.

I told Andrew that after post-deployment block leave and our Honeymoon, Germany is a vacation priority. It kills me that it is such a huge part of my life (and family) that he doesn't know. I dream of the day when my grandmother can finally meet him. Since my grandfather was in the military during WWII, she knows what it is like to have the love of her life away fighting a war, and she often tells me what a tough journey it is. She finds it so hard to fathom that Andrew and I are able to communicate so often and quickly. In her day, it took weeks and weeks (sometimes months) to get letters to one another, and she and my Opa wrote every.single.day. That is what I call love, and I think it is an excellent example they set for us.

Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 21

A Message From a Far Away Place...

"To my family and friends - Thank you so much for the cards you sent and the support you have shown both me and Kristina while I have been gone.  I think I can speak for everyone over here when I say that it means a lot to know that we have all of you in the states rooting for us and watching our backs while we are gone.  I feel extremely blessed to have such a strong network of friends and family back in the states.  Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you all as soon as I can."

And my positive for the week...

I recently realized that we are officially more than halfway to Andrew's midtour leave! I can't believe that next week will mark 5 months for this deployment, it doesn't seem like things are going quickly by any stretch of the imagination, but this is a huge milestone!  It feels great to have such a big chunk behind us... plus the summer is bound to fly by on the homefront. I've got lots to look forward to and keep me busy so really, when you think about it, fall is right around the corner!

Also, I would like to add that this is a fabulous time to be a Bostonian. Bruins are on a roll and the Sox are kickin it in New York! That's more than enough to make me and my soldier two very, very happy fans!

Happy Birthday to my One & Only

In case you couldn't tell by basically every other post in this blog, I am a woman who is completely, madly, head-over-heels in love. What I don't say often enough is how lucky I am to have a man like Andrew in my life; someone who fights for what he believes in, who is strong yet caring, and absolutely perfect for me in every single way. Forget the Army and separations and deployments... nothing matters to me except for that feeling I get when he wraps his arms around me again and every second, every tear, and every worry of the time we spent apart completely disappears into thin air. I feel so blessed to have found my missing puzzle piece so early in life. I know you are going to say I was way too sappy on this, but Happy Birthday, Andrew, I love you so so much!

A little over a month ago, I started collecting birthday cards from family and friends for my favorite soldier. All told, I received 52 cards. Yup, you read that right. F-i-f-t-y T-w-o!! Enough to make up a whole deck of playing cards! You guys are amazing! I bundled all the cards up, along with some other birthday surprises and sent them off to Afghan-land three weeks ago to allow for ample time for shipping. I was ecstatic when I found out he had gotten the package last Saturday, exactly one week early! Andrew decided to wait until today to open his cards and eat the cake so I don't have anything to report on that yet, but I can't wait to hear what he thinks... more on that later.

I also had a little bit too much spare time on my hands, so instead of designing Save-the-dates one afternoon, I decorated the inside of the care package as well. Your birthday only comes once a year and I love to go all out!

Hope you enjoy pictures in my posts, cause you're about to get a ton of them:



Most of the cards before I sent them out





Ransom note style letter... "Read me first" 




With Andrew's Favorite type of puzzle inside. I used to make these all the time when I was studying in Italy (and one during Recycle at Ranger School) for Andrew to complete. I only gave him one letter and he figured it all out! 




CAKE IN A JAR!! Andrew's favorite- Carrot! I also attached little poems to each gift inside the box!





I had so much batter, I made extras for us to eat back home with the kids. I saved these for today so that we could all be celebrating Uncle AJ's birthday together! For 3-week-old cake, it wasn't half bad!




Fork & Knife to eat it with :)




Candles that spell out his name (the "W" is behind the A, don't worry, he is not going by Andre!)




I really wanted to make my own cream cheese frosting, but all the recipes needed to be refrigerated which is only slightly impossible when shipping packages to Afghanistan... so I settled for Duncan Hines which got the job done.




Red Sox Fans are from Mars, Yankees Fans are from Uranus - Why Red Sox fans are smarter, funnier, and better looking
Couldn't pass this book up!





The inside of the Care Package





...which of course I had to plan out





Stuffed to the brim with goodies and cards!

 Even though I didn't get to talk to Andrew at all on his birthday, I have to keep reminding myself how spoiled we are to get to communicate as often as we do. I took today as just another lesson to never expect anything when it comes to deployments or the Army. Obviously nothing is going to stop because some Lieutenant's fiance somewhere wants to talk to her soldier on his birthday. After being blacked out on May 17th (our weirdly special day, read about it here) and today, I've decided to pre-prepare myself for no communication on my birthday, our pre-versary (1 year til our wedding date), our anniversary and the date he proposed. This way, if I do get to hear from him on these days, I'll be absolutely positively giddy.

So with that, I think I'll call it a night. A million thank-yous to everyone who sent a card for Andrew's birthday and for everyone's continued prayers and support.