In the Beginning...

of leave that is! We are still on leave, but I finally have a chance to do a little blogging. So, I figured that I would start with the beginning of leave and fill you all in on what's been going on. Well, A got home in the first week of December. I was able to spend almost a week with him before I had to go back to VA to finish finals. After finals, I went back to GA to spend 5 days there before his leave began. Well, we were traveling to VA to celebrate Christmas with my family and then getting on the road the next day to NY to get to A's parents' before the holidays were here. Our last night in GA, we were having some friends over for dinner. We only had one car (his car was in NY during the deployment) so he had taken my car to work and then came to get me to do grocery shopping. He was only working half days so it was not a big deal. But by the time I get back to the apartment I really needed to finish cleaning up and starting things for dinner. A decided that he wanted to clean out the car some before being in it for 2 straight days. I totally understood, but there was no way that I could help with that. He had no problem with that and off he went to change the oil and vacuum the car. Much to my surprise...when he came home, he had cleaned out the whole thing, got a steering wheel cover, seat covers for the front seats, and put air freshners in. Isn't he something?! :-) A little early Christmas present. As he said, he knows that I do not really have time to clean it out with school and stuff, so he was happy to do it for me when he had the chance. He's so great! Well here are some pictures of the new stuff...

(New seat covers...getting covered with dog fur already. HEHE)

(New Steering Wheel Cover and Air freshner in the air vent!)

Thanks A for being so wonderful!

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of you!

I hope that you all have a wonderful day with friends and family. If you are away from your loved ones, I thank you for all that you have given and hope that you can spend it with them next year.
It is yet another holiday spent without A, but I am just thankful that it is another day closer to seeing him! :-)

I felt like this really says it all:
And this is just funny...hehe! -

Thankful Thursday!

I feel like there are times that I get so stressed about life, deployment, etc. that I forget to be thankful for all of the little things. Plus, I think I have quite a few things to be thankful for the past few days. So here it goes...

I am thankful for...

the fact that I have my car back from the dealership. It "just" needed a new battery. Expensive? Yes. But I have great family...plus it is looking like we should be refunded because I got a new battery less than 3 years ago and there's a warranty.

my wonderful family and friends that are helping me get through one of the hardest times in my life.

the fantastic Expat Girl and Mrs. G. I. Joe who I got to meet up with tonight for dinner and just getting to chat and hang out with them. It is wonderful having them close by during this deployment and dealing with struggles with EG and have the Mrs. to share her wealth of knowledge and experience.

my job which helps me pay the bills and keeps me busy.

my classmates and friends at school. I have become very close with many of them.

A and how great he has been through this entire deployment. He is thousands of miles away and in a war zone...yet, he takes care of me and worries about me? Really?! :-) Oh how I love him.

Happy Father's Day

(My brother with our parents at his graduation in May!)

Happy Father's Day daddy! I know how proud you are of both of us, but I hope you realize how proud I am to be able to call you my father. I would not be who I am today if you and mom hadn't raised me the way you are. You are a wonderful example for me. You have always been there for me (even when I asked you to watch Coyote Ugly with me at age 16!) :-) Thanks for all that you have done for me and will continue to do for me. I love you very much!