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Archive for the ‘The Stupid Deployment’ Category

I am sitting in my big, blue, bloggy chair watching Big Brother. It has been a long day spent mostly on the road from South Carolina to our home in West Virginia. I spent the day thinking about what I was doing one year ago today. There was the little matter of deployment and on this day one year ago, McDaddy returned home from his stint in Cuba.

This summer has been so much different than last summer. And I am thrilled that we’ve been able to spend so much time together. What a difference a year makes.

We have been home approximately six hours and in that six hours, I have showered, bathed the boys, went to evening service at our church, washed and folded clothes, unpacked and repacked. In a matter of eight hours, I will again take my place in the ghettovan, er, Caravan passenger seat and in the words of Willie Nelson, I’ll be “On The Road Again.”

The boys and I are accompanying McDaddy on a short business trip and if I had any sense whatsoever, I would’ve done our last bit of  laundry before leaving Florida.

And speaking of Florida, ohmyword! I miss Florida. I miss the chaos. I miss McDaddy’s family. And the pool.

McDaddy is the oldest of five kids and all of us (the siblings and their spouses) are close friends.

I feel blessed to be a part of their big, honkin’ family and I enjoyed spending the week with them.

And just look at this view.

We have plans to return next year, but as we all know, a  lot can change in a year.

Happy Monday, y’all! And don’t forget to link up to What I Learned This Week tomorrow!

For more Wordless Wednesday pictures, visit 5 Minutes For Mom!

For more Wordless Wednesday pictures, visit 5 minutes for mom.

When McDaddy joined the Air National Guard in 1991, he had the difficult task of learning another language.

A language that is made up mostly of initials and acronyms.

A language that I cannot speak fluently, even after 17 years of use. My sweet Mother-in-law and I have been known to roll our eyes when McDaddy and McFatherInLaw talk military jargon. It is enough to make one crazy.

Especially a nosey one that wants to know what they are talking about. Ahem!

Take for instance…

• BDU
• DOD
• ANG
• ABU
• JTF
• AW
• PRIMEBEEF (Seriously – Primary Base Engineer Force)
• AAEFS
• NAS
• NEX
• DEERS
• JDG
• NATO
• AFB
• AMS
• SOUTHCOM
• JAG
• AMC
• FPCON
• FOD
• SRA
• ALCON
• AWOL
• MOOTW (Military Operations Other Than War)

Believe me when I say this is only a small sample.

A new military word I learned recently was Reconstitution.

 The reconstitution stage begins after completing post-deployment recovery and administrative requirements. Administrative actions, briefings, training, counseling, and medical evaluations are completed during the reconstitution stage. Soldiers continue the process of reintegrating into their families, communities, and civilian jobs after deployment.

Main Entry: re·con·sti·tute

Pronunciation: \(ˌ)rē-ˈkän(t)-stə-ˌtüt, -ˌtyüt\

: to constitute again or anew; especially : to restore to a former condition

I am happy for this time of renewal and relaxation for our family.

Reconstitution sure works for me!

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Visit We Are THAT Family for more Works For Me Wednesday posts.

You may recall that we’ve been dealing with a difficult matter over the past six months.

Saturday, the matter was laid to rest.

I am happy. I am complete. I am content. I am overjoyed.

And everything in between!

For those of you who visit me daily here at Inmates, I know you are probably sick and tired of hearing the words deploy. and ment. Humor me, will ya? Its been a tough journey for the McFamily.

What Deployment Taught Me… (in no particular order)

1. I am stronger than I thought.

2. My boys easily adapt to different circumstances.

3. The flag will forever be more than just a symbol after deployment.

4. The first half of deployment will drag along.

5. The last half of deployment will go faster until the last week.

6. The last week will drag along slower than the first half.

7. I am capable of managing the household finances.

8. I can fix stuff.

9. There is ALWAYS a bright side.

10. Adversity brings you closer to God.

11. Most Americans are truly appreciative and thankful for service members and their family.

12. Appreciate the normal, boring days TOGETHER.

13. Flying AMC (Air Mobility Command aka The Military Rotator) is more relaxed than flying commercial.

14. McDaddy will come home with a lot more stuff than he left with.

15. The E-mail is a wonderful thing

16. I am stronger than I thought.

17. A lot can happen in 26 weeks.

18. It takes a piece of mail approximately 10 days to get from Charleston, WV to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

19. A photocopy of a Power Of Attorney is not considered a legal document. It is simply a copy and it is pretty much useless.

20. Take lots of pictures

21. The time does not FLY BY so please don’t ever say that to a deployed person’s spouse.

22. The days are long.

23. The quiet evenings are longer.

24. Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

25. It is important that you pay attention when taking something apart (ahem!)

26. Friends on Facebook can be a great source of encouragement.

27. The reunion will be glorious.

28. I am stronger than I thought.

We’ve had six months of tears, doubt and massive heartache. I didn’t even mind fighthing with 30 red, white and blue balloons because they were all tangled together and because the wind was blowing like mad.

Folks, its been an exciting week at the McResdence.

I felt like a nervous school girl as I prepared for the homecoming and nervously updated my status on the Facebook approximately 371 times on Saturday.

Because.

The Deployment?

IT! IS! FINALLY! OVER!

My nerves are almost back to normal. Me and the nerves had a time of it the past six months, but we finally made it!

The day went something like this, wake-up, get self under control, take deep breaths, prepare for homecoming, have balloons filled with helium, put up ginormous banner and fight with balloons at various intersections all over town.

Keep self busy with homecoming preparations until 6pm, gather signs, camera and iPhone and make way to Air National Guard Base.

Take a deep breath and try really hard to not have a panic attack.

Walk into the hangar and stand in awe at the sight of this

Pose for one last picture before daddy arrives.

Stand among hundreds of people and take a deep breathe while you wait for the aircraft. Oh, and try hard not to have a panic attack.

Wipe tears the second you hear a loud roar followed by cheers from the crowd because you see this

Take a deep breath and try really hard not to have a panic attack.

Decide that this moment will be etched into your heart for evah.

Pose for a blue million pictures with McDaddy

Take a deep breath and try hard not to have a panic attack. 

Stand beside of him and thank God for bringing him home safely while waiting patiently to wrap your arms around him.

And exhale.

(McDaddy and our boys got some airtime on the news. Click here to see the story)

It is 11:35pm. The boys are asleep and I am stretched out in my big, blue, bloggy chair swiping tears.

I feel like a marathon runner who has just made the last turn.

The finish line is in sight.

Some days, I have sprinted.

Some days, I have walked.

Some days, I felt like quitting.

It’s been a long race.

Today, was a very good day. Today was a straight-up sprint.

Since rolling out of bed this morning, I have not stopped.

The floors have been swept and mopped. The bedroom has been dusted. The bathroom is sparkling. The hall closet has been cleaned out. Our walk-in closet is organized. The kitchen cabinets are straight. The little green bench in my room is clear (cue the violins). The laundry is done. The living room has been dusted. McDaddy’s office has been partially remodeled. The van has been cleaned out (yessir, I’m serious about this!) The garage has been swept out. The tool benches have been wiped with windex (I know, I know!) The heap (ahem!) I mean JEEP is out of storage and thanks to my daddy and his friend, the front of our house has new vinyl siding.

I could go on and on.

I’ve been busier than a raccoon in a trash pile doing my best to pass the time.

As I put away laundry this evening, tears rolled down my face.

It is so hard for me to imagine that I made it through this thing.

If you had asked me back in January, I would have told you that I had no idea how in the heck I would make it to the end. Seriously. I! had! no! idea!

What I can tell you is that I did not go it alone! Not one day of it.

First and foremost I am thankful for God’s sovereignty.

There were many nights that I knelt down beside my bed and cried out to God.

Dramatic? maybe. But so very true.

God is faithful.

And I am thankful.

Lots of prayers have went up on behalf of my family. I know that because countless friends, family members and blog readers have told me so. McDaddy and I appreciate you all so much.

Your kind words. Your prayers. Your thoughts. Your cards. Your calls. Your gifts. Your prayers.

We appreciate each and every one.

As we run the last 21 hours of our six-month deployment race, I want to say from the bottom of my heart that I we are thankful.

My heart is rejoicing and I feel like a high-school girl getting ready to go out with that guy that she’s had her eye on for months.

Or like a nervous bride standing at the back door of the church preparing to walk down the aisle and pledge her love.

I am a wife who has missed her best friend. Her hero. Her husband.

I am in the home stretch and I will cross the finish line with a thankful, grateful, overflowing heart.

Today, we will finish the race.

It’s been exactly 180 days since McDaddy left for the incredibly long 6-month deployment. Remember the M&M bowls? The bowls that Stevie and Alex made for themeselves and McDaddy that were filled with 182 M&Ms. One M&M for every day that they would be apart?

So much has happened since that day. Y’all know that numbers are not my strong suit, so please be easy on me as I break the figures down.

1 – Number of embalmings I’ve watched.

1 – Number of nieces born into our family

2 – The number of pregnancies in our family that have been announced as of 11:52 pm ET. The time is of importance because at any given minute another sister-in-law could announce. Seriously, there are 12 babies under the age of 7 on McDaddy’s side with two more on the way. That could change at any minute.

2 - The number of times I’ve threatened to use my wooden majorette rifle to protect our household – against hose nozzle thieves and mice.

2.4 – Number of times I’ve taken the iRobot Roomba apart because of erratic behavior.

3 – The number of times I have successfully resuscitated the laptop.

5 – The number of times I’ve taken pictures of our checkbook register, scanned them in and e-mailed them to McDaddy so that he could balance our household finances. Sweet mercy, I’ve done pretty good keeping it all straight.

6 – The number of remodeling projects I’ve started or completed

11 – The number of Doctor’s Appointments our boys have had

12 – The number of times McDaddy’s friend, Justin has cut our grass.

14 – Visits made to the McResidence by the Suddenlink man to fix our supposed faster, more reliable internet service.

36 – Approximate number of cards I’ve received from friends letting me know I was being prayed for or thought about

42 – Approximate number of times I’ve cooked  (Oh, I kid!)

70 – Approximate number of times I’ve cried

78 – The approximate number of church services we’ve attended without McDaddy.

82 – Approximate number of days it has rained. Seriously.

180 – The number of nights I’ve crawled into bed thinking I had no idea how I would make it through.

302 – Approximate number of times I’ve seriously considered heading to the Saturn dealership to purchase a new Sky to help ease the stress.

546 – The number of M&Ms consumed by Stevie, Alex and McDaddy as they counted down the days!

583 - Approximate number of e-mails exchanged between McDaddy and Me

1,440 – Approximate number of hours I’ve slept

4,837 – Number of times I have whined about deployment.

Seriously, its been a L-O-N-G six-months, but we are almost there!

Almost… as in less than 48 hours.

Or 2,880 minutes, but who’s counting?

Enjoy your weekend internets. I know I will!!!

SPOILER ALERT: McDaddy, You should totally take yourself to JEEPINWV.com right now or run the risk of seeing the posters the boys made for your homecoming.

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Dear Deployment:

These last two weeks are shaping up to be the L-O-N-G-E-S-T two weeks on record.

Evah.

The boys and I had fun making posters today and I couldn’t be happier that you are almost out of our lives.

Time is getting close.

Remember when the boys counted out 185 round m&ms? – one for each day they would be apart from daddy.

Well take a look at these round m&m bowls….

See those round m&ms in those cute round bowls?

Almost empty.

Yessir. You can’t stop us now.

The boys are so excited. Look at their cute, round bespeckled faces.

They had great fun making sweet rectangular posters with stars and stripes and scribbles, oh my.

And then I made a cute little countdown chart with seventeen squares that we will mark off when we get to that point.

So yes, we are shaping up to ship you out!

Love,

The McFamily

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This post is linked to Beth’s You Capture Blog Carnival over at I Should Be Folding Laundry. This week’s challenge was SHAPES.

Next week’s challenge black and white editing.

Just in case you were wondering…..

It wasn’t me who stood in my kitchen in April of 2008 sobbing as McDaddy assured me that we would make it through this six-month deployment.

It wasn’t me who grieved herself for months thinking about things like the vehicles, the grass, the discipline, the icy driveway, the checkbook and all of the potential things that could happen while McDaddy is away serving our country. 

It wasn’t me who felt like her heart was breaking into a million pieces as we tried to explain why daddy was going to have to go away for such a long period of time because of his important job.

It wasn’t me who watched with tears in her eyes as her boys counted out 185 m&ms so that they could eat one for every. single. day. that they would be apart from Daddy.

It wasn’t me who tried to put on a brave face the morning my sweet boys said their goodbyes to daddy.

It wasn’t me who quietly sobbed as she watched the plane take off on that cold, snowy morning in January.

It wasn’t me that praised God for the opportunity to visit McDaddy at his six-month deployment locale.

It wasn’t me who watched as her sweet boys were reunited with daddy after 107 L-O-N-G days.

And it definitely wasn’t me who sat in her big, blue, bloggy chair writing this post smiling as I realized that yes, indeed I am stronger than I thought I was, and becuase thankfully, we are almost finished with this thing.

But, I would be lying if I said it has been easy.

Or fun.

The truth is I have not crumbled under the pressure at times.

I have not cried.

I havenot  whined.

I have not worried.

I have not doubted.

Oh wait. That was me.

Wasn’t it?

Me and deployment?

Um, we have a strange relationship. The only way to get through it is to go through it.

And, I for one, can’t wait until we’re threw with it.

We are just about ready to part ways and I couldn’t be happier.

Seriously.

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This post is linked to MCKMAMA’S  Not Me Monday over at My Charming Kids! Head over there and see what other things people have not been up to.