HE'S BACK!!!

It was a weekend of drama, but the husband finally made it home!

He left North Carolina Friday afternoon and had 2 plane changes - one in Atlanta and the other in Salt Lake City. All was going well until 8 PM-ish when I get the call: "my plane is delayed for about an hour and a half, call everyone to let them know not to be at the air port at 9:30".
Easy enough. I made a few phone calls to family and friends and told them I'd let them know when Sean was expected to arrive.
I got home from dinner and a movie with my mom only to receive the worst call of the night. "Flight is cancelled. The plane we are waiting on is stuck in Kalispell, MT with bad weather. They are putting me up in a hotel for the night and I don't know when my flight is tomorrow."
All my energy was drained by then. I had no emotional reaction because I was so excited all week, that the bad news just made me tired. I crawled into bed and passed out for the last time without a husband in my bed.
The next morning, I got a call from Sean saying he didn't know when his flight was because of bad weather and broken plane drama. About 11:20 i get a call that he is getting on a plane and will be home around 1. So I make a few calls to friends and family notifying them when to be at the air port. I do a few last minute touch-ups on the house and left at 12:20 thinking in the snow and bad roads, it'll take me 25 minutes to get to the air port leaving plenty of time for me to greet Sean at his gate. I was half way across town when I get a text from Sean - I've landed!
WHAT?!? NOOOOO!!! His plane is 15 minutes early and I'm not there yet!! Turned out that no one had made it to the air port on time to greet him getting off the plane! HAHA!
But all was well. He was down at the baggage carrousel waiting on his 2 bags when I found him. My mom actually made it to the air port before me, and was the first to greet him. A few friends joined us a few minutes later, and it was a happy Welcoming Home for Sean.
Upon walking out of the air port, he went into almost immediate system shock - it was 70 degrees the previous day in NC; Great Falls weather was 3 degrees with a 25 MPH wind. Needless to say, he was shivering instantly. But in the 2 days being home, he's slowly acclimating to the cold. Today's his 1st day of work on the flight line up at the MANG, so he should be issued cold weather gear and shouldn't be as miserable.

Life is good and I finally feel whole. 7 months without a hubby is HARD work, but having him home is the best thing in the world! Thank you all for the sweet words of encouragement and prayers. We love you all!

the last week being single!

Yeah! i will have my husband back Friday night!

I'm going a little stir crazy sitting around the house waiting on friday to get here. So for a little motivation, I am making a To Do list to keep myself occupied!

Scrub the floors - I HATE this job mostly because 3 seconds after getting floors clean, I let 2 dirty dogs in the house and no one would believe I had cleaned the floors.
Mow lawn - I'm really hoping it snows today so I can skip this one
Pick up dog poop - must get done before it does snow
Straighten up the garage and shed
Wash 2 dirty, stinky dogs
Wash bed comforter because of dirty, stinky dogs sleeping on it when I am at work
De-fur furniture because said dirty dogs sleep on it when I am at work
Stock up on groceries
Get Sean's truck running and in the garage before the snow comes
Watch Harry Potter movie
Dust and vacuum whole house
Laundry
Put clean laundry away - I hate folding and hanging clothes; I'd just rather them sit in a pile on top of my dryer until I need them.
Replace furnace filter
Oil change on my truck

I am sure I will have more items to add to this list, but these are the most important ones right now.

Prayers for patience as this week slowly ticks by!

16 days and counting!!

YEAH! He is almost home!
I'm a little more than excited! I'm already having troubles going to sleep every night. It feels like Christmas Eve right now!!
Say some prayers for us!

I WANTS IT!!

I am looking into getting a cargo bike to become a little less gas-dependant. I want this one!




Check out Madsen Bikes by clicking on the picture!

down to a month...

I got the best birthday surprise last Friday. Some back ground info for those who didn't know: Since mid September, Sean's orders were changed twice; with the latest change he was going to be in Texas until middle of November and not going to be back until December 10th.
Alright back to Friday: Sitting at my desk, before I left for lunch with my parents, my cell phone started ringing Sean's 'International Harvester' song. I was a little surprised to actually hear from the husband in the middle of the day, but I'll take every phone call I can get from him! He had graduated the day before from the 1st part of tech school, and had most of the day to hang out and out-proess.
The conversation started with the usual, Happy Birthday, I love you, how is your day conversation. Then he followed it with "well I have some bad news and some good news" Good news, I sent you some flowers for your birthday. Bad news, they have changed my orders again. '
UGH!!! I was so frustrated and immediately started wondering if I had to change my Thanksgiving plane tickets to DC and when will he actually be home. Then Sean says "looks like I am going to be back home around November 19th." My wheels immediately started turning how we were going to work out being together for Thanksgiving since I was going to be DC with his family and he was going to be home--then it hit me SEAN'S GOING TO BE HOME EARLY!!! It took a few seconds for the whole surprise orders change to set in, but once it hit me I was beaming the rest of the day!!!
I did have to cancel my plane ticket out East, but it will be worth the $100 hit to have the husband home finally!

Now let me tell you about how proud I am of this man. Not only did he rope up to a Red Rope in the student leadership program (very few airmen get to the Red Rope) but he graduated top of his class too! And to add to his student leadership, he organized a boot drive for the squadron. Sean's boot drive got over 500 pairs of shoes to donate to the SonShine House in Wichita Falls. And once the PR Department of the Air Force found out about his efforts phone calls were made and newspapers interviews were given. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of my guy. And on top of that, he's taken it upon himself to come up with a squadron workout regime that would keep people motivated to stay in shape. Tonight he told me about something pretty cool that happened today: Sean was having a meeting with his 2 NCO's discussing his workout program when, who of all people came walking thru his meeting but the base commander. Sean was able to give a little overview of his plan to the commander and will get a quick meeting with him sometime this week to discuss in depth his vision for the program. And the commander gave him the best compliment ever; he had mentioned that there is a program that allows Commanders to, on the spot, appoint a person to a higher rank. Unfortunately, Sean is in the guard and not active duty, but it was a fabulous compliment.
Alright enough bragging--Sean will now officially be home November 19th-ish, and I couldn't be happier! Keep him in your prayers as he leaves Sunday for his 2nd part of Tech School in NC. Yeah he will be home soon!!!!

i remember

I was in my dorm room, getting ready for my 2nd class of the day. I had an early morning class and was let out extra early and had decided to take a shower and actually fix my hair for the day. I was standing in front of the little TV in my shared room, brushing the wet tangles out when a news flash broadcast that one of the towers had been hit. There was little information and much confusion as to what had happened; at the time it was kind of assumed that a plane hit it accidentally. I stood there kind of numb, but not yet realizing the significance of the 'accident'. I grabbed my books and headed over to the gym for my class. Walking down the little corridor that paralleled the teachers offices, I saw my professor, standing with his jaw dropped. I walked into his office in time to see the 2nd plane hitting the 2nd tower. It wasn't an accident, it was terrorism.
He herded us into our class room and hooked up the TV for a few minutes. One of the guys in the class started crying--he has a brother who works in one of the towers. We turn off the TV to try and lecture, but no one is really paying attention. I later learned that my classmates brother had been running late to work; he was a block away when the 1st plane hit. But other students were not as lucky. There were 8 students who lost someone they knew and loved when the towers crashed.
Class is over, and the whole school was on their way to chapel. We sat among the benches, comforting people and praying for safety and understanding. I remember walking out of the building after chapel and looking up--there was nothing in the usually busy sky. And it was eerily quiet out; not even the birds chirping their usual happy tunes.
The Pentagon got hit--I remember wondering and praying for safety of an old boyfriends father who was working at the Pentagon. He was home safe; I learned later that he had taken the day off to tile a room in their house. 7 years later, this man would be my Father-in-Law.
I remember the confusion and fear that quickly sprang up among the students and the strength and wisdom that came forth from our professors. We felt violated. Not understanding the what was going on so many miles away; wondering if a town in the middle of no where Nebraska could be next; the calming and soothing voices of professors guiding us through a situation no one had ever experienced.
I remember. And I'll never forget what happened September 11, 2001.

Whirlwind weekend!

I was able to make a quick trip over the Labor Day weekend down to see my hubby. I flew into OKC to spend a little time with my sister and her family then borrowed her car to make the 2 hour drive down to Wichita Falls where Sean is currently stationed. I was so excited about seeing him, I left in the early morning and drove faster than I planned. I got there around noon and had to find a place to hang out until Sean was released from class sometime between 4 and 5--the couch in the library and I made quick friends as I caught a quick nap and read almost all of "The Hunger Games" book. (I highly recommend the series by the way).
By 4:30 Sean was released and we were finally able to see each other after 2 long months of separation!



We spent the night in WF and ate at a awesome BBQ place. The next morning we were off making the 2 hour trip back to OKC--there isn't much to do in WF, so we opted for a big city to hang out in. We met back up with my sister and headed out to the zoo. It was fun to hang out with Jourdan, Brandon and Jacob. Love my little Shark boy!
The weekend was overall good--ate good food, walked around Bricktown with Sean and overall caught up on each others lives. Life is good! Only have to make it to Nov. 22nd to see him again! Yeah!