Tears and a goodbye

Well as of about 7 pm eastern time yesterday, Jon is officially gone on deployment. Right now he and his unit are at Ft. McCoy, Wisconsin (AKA the middle of no where - seriously google it). At 10 am yesterday morning, the city of Tallahassee held a departure ceremony for the nearly 200 men and women of the 779th engineering batallion. It was a very nice ceremony - the governor spoke as well as the lt. governor and the adjutant general of the Florida National Guard. We were able to spend time with Jon after the ceremony (about an hour) until they had to get on the buses to go to the airport. Let's just say that about 10 minutes after the ceremony ended the black looming clouds that had held off opened up. We even got to go to the airport to see them get on the planes. Jon was on the second plane that left around 3 pm so we said goodbye at the airport. I did very well and didn't cry as much as I thought I would. The hardest part of the day was when Jon went to tell Jack goodbye and Jack wouldn't let Jon put him down. I am posting some pictures from the ceremony, our time together and the airport (as well as one from the Tallahassee Democrat of Jon on the bus). If you go on youtube and type in 779th engineer batallion a video of the ceremony will come up. Jon is in it quite a bit.

A New Normal

Well Saturday is the first day of a new normal for Jack and I - and Jon as well. For the next year Jon is going to be spending every waking hour with someone from the Army in a place that is not home. For the next year Jack and I are going to be spending that same time together in our home - without Jon. A new normal is in store for us all. For me, I am becoming a single parent for at least 365 days. I guess one of the hardest parts of this is that Jon is going to miss so much with Jack. When Jon gets home, Jack will almost be 3. By then he is going to be a completely different child. For Jack, he is going to be with his mommy all the time (with the occasional rescuing from grandma). For Jon, he is going to the desert to do Lord only knows what and will be missing out on things at home. I know that I can email him everyday and I can send him video messages but it is just not the same.

I am going to miss him more than words. For the past 2 days with every breath I take I ask the Lord to take care of him and to bring him home to me. In the past few months I have not tried to think about the dreaded elephant in the room. When it comes to a war, I guess everyone tries not to think about the unthinkable. We all want them to come home the exact way they left here. Now that thme is here for him to leave I seem to be thinking a lot more "what if". Every time those thoughts pop up I have to remind myself that Jon will take good care of himself and that he has the Great Protector with him at all times.

A new kind of normal - it is going to be hard to adjust but thankfully I have a lot of family and friends here. A new normal that is only temporary - if you can call 365 days temporary. A new normal....a new normal

Is anything really normal?

One week left

One week from tomorrow I will be taking Jon to Tallahassee with all of his stuff for his deployment. For the past few weeks I have been in denial about his leaving but now it is here. I will be spending the next week finishing packing up his stuff and making sure that he has everything he will need for a while. Jack knows that something is going on but he just can't figure out what it is.

The Tuesday after Memorial Day is the day that Jon leaves for Wisconsin. There is going to be a ceremony at the state capital. Once the ceremony is over Jon and his unit will get on a bus and they will take them to the airport. I will get to see him at the ceremony and then not again until the end of June. As of right now they are leaving Wisconsin at the first part of July to head to Kuwait. Jon told me that once they are in Kuwait they will possibly be there for a month before heading to Iraq. I have dedicded to go back to part time at the church while he is gone. For the most part I am doing this for my sanity and to be able to get things done instead of trying to do everything on the weekend. I will be able to spend the weekends with Jack.

Well that is about all for now. Bones is on and this is the episode to set up the season finale where Booth and Bones decide to make a baby. :o)

Disney, surprise party and an anniversary

I know, I know I have been slacking on the posting. With a vacation, birthday, surprise party, anniversary, Mother's Day and an impending deployment things have been how shall I put it crazy.

For a recap of the past couple of weeks:

DISNEY

We spent 5 days and 4 nights in Orlando. On Thursday, we spent the day at SeaWorld. This is the second time that Jack has been to SeaWorld. We had a really good time. We saw all of the animals and a show - we missed Shamu because Jack missed his nap and was getting really cranky. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to get back. Thursday afternoon we checked into our hotel at Downtown Disney - it was a great hotel and the best part was that we didn't have to drive to any of the Disney parks. On Friday, we got up early and got on the first bus for the Magic Kingdom. Jon had to get his ticket at the gate so that was the reason for leaving early. After tickets were in hand we made the ride over to the park on the monorail - Jack thought that was pretty cool. We made it to the gate of the Magic Kingdom right as it was opening and it was neat to see everything from the eyes of an almost 2 year old. He was so excited. We spent the whole day at the Magic Kingdom (about 3 pm we made a trip back to the hotel for a few hours and then back to the park). Jack did so good. He loved seeing all of the characters - never cried, unlike my sister when she was 3 on a trip to the park she was terrified of them (especially the big bear from the Country Bear Jamboree - yes I have proof). He rode some rides and just had a good time - he even took a nap in the park. On Saturday, we went to Animal Kingdom. Jon had never been to Animal Kingdom and to Jack it was like a big zoo. This was the day that Jack got to see Donald Duck - I have never seen a child more excited than he was on that morning. We took him on the safari ride and he thought that was so cool. He pointed to all of the animals and even made the sound of the elephant when we pointed it out to him. On Sunday, we went to Epcot. Sunday was the day of days. The first ride we went on was Finding Nemo. Jack absolutely loves Nemo. After Nemo we walked around all of the countries and Jack fell asleep. After he woke up we were walking from one part to the next and all of a sudden he starts crying. We thought it was because of the noise of the Test Track ride but Jon looked at him and saw that he threw up everywhere. Thus began the longest 3 hours of our lives - after 2 outfits, a few more times of throwing up, a trip to Disney first aid and then a trip to the Urgent Care Center and then back to Epcot. All in all a rough day. When we got back to Epcot, Jack kept saying Nemo mama Nemo. So back to Nemo we went. By this time Jon and I were pooped so the last ride we went on was Spaceship Earth (in the big Epcot ball) and 3/4 of the way through it Jack went quiet and I looked down and he was out cold. It was so cute and funny at the same time. Monday was our last day in town. We ended our vacation with a trip to IKEA! I was a happy, happy girl that day. It was the most fun that we have had. It was good to spend that time together as a family.

On May 1 was my 26th birthday. Jon cooked me a fantastic dinner. The next day I threw him a surprise going away party at the pool/clubhouse of our apartments. There were 50 people there. His 82 year old dad flew in from Kentucky and his sister and brother-in-law came in from North Carolina. All of my mom's family was there - even my aunt and a cousin from Pensacola. We had such a good time with friends and family. Jon was happy to see everyone before he left. This past Thursday was our 4th anniversary - we went on a date on Friday night. He got me 2 dozen multi-colored roses for my birthday, our anniversary, and Mother's Day - they are beautiful.

We have about a week and a half until Jon leaves. We are focusing on getting all of his stuff packed and any important documents that the Army needs. I am not ready for him to go but I know that I have to be strong for him and for Jack. I know that the Lord has him in His hands and that he will be fine. Yesterday they recognized him in church and had him stand up for everyone to see. He was mad at me for a little while for doing that but I think once it was all done he was happy about all of the support the people were giving him after the service.

Now for some pictures!