Kevin's R&R Homecoming: Surprising KA

When we found out that Kevin would definitely be coming home for Christmas, we decided to try to surprise Kerriann at school.  Originally he was supposed to get in sometime Thursday morning, which would mean perfect timing for me to drop her off for the morning, pick him up, and then get back to Morgantown before her school closed for the evening.  Of course, as Thursday went on plans kept changing.  We decided to have Christiane stay the night at our house in case I needed to go pick him up in Pittsburgh during the night.  In the end, he ended up arriving around 9am on Friday.  This worked out all because I was able to drop KA off at school as soon as it opened.  I barely made it through parking and security to Kevin's gate before he deplaned, but I got there just in time.  Maybe 1-2 minutes after I got there he walked off of the plane.  It was such a happy reunion after a long three months!

Since we had some extra time, we stopped at the outlets on the way home to finish up our Christmas shopping.  It was so fun to walk around, just the two of us, and browse the stores.  I'm glad we had a few hours to ourselves before picking Kerriann up from school.

When we were finished shopping, we ran home to eat lunch and then picked up Christiane and Alana for Kerriann's big surprise.  They wanted to help videotape and be there to see her reaction.

When we got to school, Christiane, Alana and I went into Kerriann's classroom and Kevin waited outside.  When the camera was all set up, Alana went outside to tell Kevin it was time to come in.



She was so excited to see her daddy!  As you'll notice in the video, she has taken to calling us Kevin and Adriane.  I'm sure this is just a phase, but we have been getting some curious looks out in public.

Kerriann's class made Kevin a banner and a welcome home card that had all of their hand prints in red and blue paint.  Kerriann also gave Kevin a red, white and blue airplane when he walked in as you'll see in the video.  She was so funny and kept waving it around and yelling "fly, fly!"

One more picture to share from this amazing day.  Kerriann's letter to Santa that was posted on the door of her classroom.

I don't think any of us could have asked for a more perfect first day home for Kevin.  It was so great to be reunited as a family again, and it was a great kick off for the rest of the two weeks that we would spend together.

Kevin's R&R

As most of you probably know by now, Kevin was able to join us for two weeks in December!  It was a very last minute decision, and we kept it on the down low because he wanted to surprise his extended family at their annual Christmas party.

I surprised Kevin at the gate as he was getting off the plane and barely made it in time.  People were already getting off of the plane as I rushed through security, but luckily he was one of the last ones off.

It was EXTREMELY hard for me to keep this secret because I am so close with many of his family members, but I was able to hold it together somehow!  It was especially difficult because we decided to book a last minute trip to Disney World for five days the week before Christmas.  Between the end of the school semester, planning the trip, prepping the house, doing all of the Christmas shopping, wrapping and decorating as well as juggling Kerriann alone, I was slightly stressed!

But if you know me, you know I love to be busy, and I wouldn't have wanted this holiday season to go any other way.  I can't even put into words how amazing it was to have Kevin home for two weeks.  He arrived on December 16th (he was supposed to get in on the 15th but was delayed) and left on New Years Day.  We decided on this time frame even though it was so early in the deployment because it was the only time we were guaranteed that I would be off from school.  We could have requested for him to come back during my spring break, but it happened to fall almost mid way through the deployment and he knew that everyone else was planning to request at that time as well.  Even if he had been approved, I would have most likely been right in the midst of midterms during his visit.  I am so glad that he was able to spend the past two weeks with us. It was nice having him here for both holidays, even though we took it easy on New Years Eve since we had to leave for the airport at 6am.

I have so many pictures and videos to share.  I'm hoping to get most of them up this week before I go back to school on the 9th.

It's been a day and a half since we dropped Kevin off at the airport and I am still working on getting past the initial shock of being alone again.  This goodbye was just as hard as the first one, but completely different at the same time.  This time, I knew exactly what I was facing, where the first time was uncharted territory.  This time I knew exactly how hard it was going to be going from having him here to being alone, but it's worse in a way.

Now, we are back to the beginning of another countdown, except the first one was only three months and this one could end up being between seven and eight.  And having him home for two weeks was wonderful, but a hard reminder of how much better life is when he's around.  Of course we are hoping and praying that he will be home sooner than planned with all of the changes that are happening overseas, but there is no guarantee.  Just keep our family in your prayers until we are reunited again!

Military Spouse Advice

While browsing Pinterest, I came across a pin linked to a blog post titled Mission Possible: Staying Together While Apart.  Of course this pin peaked my interest so I decided to take a few minutes to read the post.

I am so glad that I did.

If you are a military spouse dealing with separation whether it be due to a deployment or training exercise, I encourage you to read this post by Marshele Carter Waddell.

A few of my favorite pieces of advice from this article include:

• Listening to your song (or favorite songs that hold special meaning to you and your spouse) while writing a letter to your spouse telling them how much they mean to you
• Take time to write not only emails, but hand written letters
• Keep a blog and update daily while your loved one is away to help them feel connected to your daily routine
• Choose a rare naturally occurring event such as spotting a shooting star or a rainbow and let your loved one know that whenever either of you sees one of these, it should serve as a reminder of your love for one another
• And last but not least, plan a couple's getaway for soon after their return... I would love for us to be able to take our honeymoon once this deployment ends!

I know this was a little more sappy than my usual posts, but hopefully those of you who have never had to deal with a long separation will excuse this, and those of you who have/are currently dealing with one will be able to relate and find Waddell's article helpful!

In other news, I forgot to share that last week I received my first handwritten letter from Kevin.  It was a great surprise and I can't wait until we are able to get an address for him and start sending him letters and care packages.  We'll keep family and friends posted whenever we do get contact information for him.

Home Is Where the Army Sends Us

This morning while Facebooking around 6am (Kevin's alarm woke me up and Kerriann was still sleeping), I stumbled upon a photo that one of our friends from Ft. Rucker had been tagged in.  It was of a home decor item that said "Home Is Where The Army Sends Us" and listed Ft. Rucker and their current post below it.  I've seen similar signs before, and love the idea, just didn't think one would really work for us since Kevin is National Guard and we aren't required to move every three years like active duty military families.

Seeing this sign got me thinking of all of the places we have been and lived over the past three years.  It made me want to list them out here so I don't forget them someday.  Right now it's all so fresh in my mind, but I know it won't always be like that.  Hopefully we will be able to really settle down somewhere after this deployment, but I never want to forget what our lives were like during this time.

A few days before January 1, 2009, I moved to Baltimore to live with Kevin.  We originally thought we would be there at least until July (and that Kerriann would be born there), but the Army (and God!) had other plans for us.  Soon after I moved there, we found out that Kevin needed to report to Ft. Rucker, Alabama by April 1.  So I quit my amazing internship in the city, we packed up and headed south where we spent the next 19 months.  While we were living in Ft. Rucker we lived in two different houses.  The first was a rental that we found and moved into within two days of arriving, and the second was what I like to call our first "home."  We bought a beautiful house with a pool in the backyard which happened to overlook Shell Field.  We still own and rent this house.

In October of 2010 Kevin completed flight school, ending the chapter of our lives at Ft. Rucker.  It was hard leaving the place where Kerriann was born and where we made all of our memories of her first year, along with all of the friends we had made there, but that's the way Ft. Rucker is.  Everyone is only there for a short period of time.  When we left Ft. Rucker we did some traveling over the holidays to visit family, and then settled in with Kevin's Aunt Patty for a few months until we could figure out what our next move would be.

In February of 2011 we got word that Kevin would be up for his first deployment around the start of the next year.  We decided that the best move for our family would be for him to work with his unit to prepare and forego the civilian job search for the time being.  We moved to a beautiful little condo in Havre de Grace, Maryland.

And that brings us to where we are now.  After learning two weeks ago that Kevin will be deployed much, much sooner, we are gearing up for another move.  And going into this move I know that we will be moving again in another year when he returns.  But hopefully this will be our final move for awhile.  I am so ready to settle down and have a real family life.  I'm really looking forward to Kevin holding a civilian position with regular work hours and actually being able to spend time with Kerriann and me.  The past three years have been crazy, but I know that they have been necessary to get to the place where we want to be as a family.  And if I can just survive one more year I know all of the moves and this crazy on the go lifestyle will have been worth it.

Continue to keep us in your prayers as we pack up our lives here in Maryland and move back to West Virginia, the place where Kevin and I met and officially started this journey!