2 Month Mark!

Well Justin and I have made the 2 month mark finally. March seems to be dragging on, and the spring weather isn't helping matters much, all the wind and rain, is starting to wear on my nerves a little bit! The time is starting to wear on Justin too however; the continual work schedule with no days off, and the confinement of the base is starting to make Justin's fuse a little short! He's had a couple of days where I thought he might explode, due to being the only QASAS on base, and the unit of troops that are there currently will be leaving and a new unit is coming in, making his work a bit more challenging! He has his moments where I'm the one and only he VENTS too, and I just try to listen and be supportive of him, which is hard because half the time I have no idea what he is even talking about..lol....work stuff???

Next month I'm going to Vegas with my sister-in-law Leanne. She has to go for work, and she called and invited me to come along too, so I'm really looking forward to that little trip. Having something to look forward to, makes the time pass a little quicker also. I'm hoping for lots of Vegas sunshine, and warmer temps...just being in the sun will feel awesome! Keeping my fingers crossed that the sun will be shining!

Not much news to report, just chugging along, and counting down the days until August....seems so far away, but trying to stay positive. This has been a lot harder than I had expected, I'm not good at being alone, I really like being married, and feel lucky to have a guy like Justin to call my husband, he is just a great guy, and I love him soooo much! I hope that we won't have to go through this again anytime soon, I respect those people who like being alone, but I've come to the conclusion I'm not that person. 4 more months, hoping I can do it! Thanks to my family and friends for your continued support, prayers and kind words, it means a lot to me, I love ya all!

Stand Still......

Time feels like I'm at a stand still at the moment. 145 more days until I get to see Justin and I'm starting to feel like it's never going to get here. We haven't even gotten to the 2 month mark yet and it feels like a million years since I last seen him. As the days start to get longer, it feels like it's only longer until I see him again. I'm trying my best to stay as busy as I can in Pendleton, but it's not easy. The 4 walls in my house are starting to get on my nerves...not having a full time job, and a job where I don't interact with people only makes it alot harder. I think the time is going faster for Justin since he works 12 hrs shifts and then just basically goes to sleep and then starts his day all over again..and he has a lot of people to interact with throughout his workday, where as I do not. I'm trying to stay positive but today isn't a positive day for me. I also slipped going down the stairs and tweaked my neck and it's been hurting me for a couple of days now, not fun!

Also feel a bit terrible, I got into a little argument with Tristin this morning about being a responsible teenager and dropped him off at school after yelling at him most of the morning...doesn't make me feel like a very good mother, and I know I shouldn't do that, but I pretty much snapped, having to be the "mom and dad" makes this job harder than I had expected. Normally Justin is the one who does most of the discipline and now it's on my shoulders, and Tristin keeps saying "I've changed" yup I'm now you father too, hahahaha! Anyway August 1st can't get here soon enough, I knew this separation was going to be tough on all of us, but not this tough, I'm ready for this deployment to be in my past...and only just a memory!

Hello March 1st!

Well I've been looking forward to March 1st, just for the fact that Spring is just right around the corner! It has been a long winter and I'm excited to see the spring flowers start to bloom and of course I'm hoping for warmer weather too! I hope it doesn't rain all spring either, I really dislike the rain!! It's been a rough couple of weeks in the VanBlokland household, we are really missing Justin's presence and I really didn't realize how much he does affect our family unit. Tristin is having some struggles in school and I'm just flat not impressed with Pendleton High School administrators and teachers to be quite frank! I don't think Tristin has handled the transition from his dad being gone, and I don't think there is a support group for kids at school who have a parent that has deployed, I was told he was "put on a list of kids who's parents have deployed" but what does that mean? Do they check with the child and see how he/she is coping, NOPE......there is no support for these kids and I'm just really not impressed! I talk to him all the time about it, but I think he is tired of hearing me, it might be nice to have an outside perspective and someone other than me to talk to about it. He seems angry and depressed and I'm kind of worried about him, but I will continue to do the best I know how.

Justin is doing well. Not much to report on, he is keeping busy with work, and he did start working out this week, so that will be good for him, he is working out with one of the Army guys he works closely with. It doesn't appear that he is EVER going to get internet in his room, so skyping is out of the question, which is a bummer because I think that would be a great way for him to communicate with Tristin and maybe help ease some of his issues, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. Thank you for keeping Justin in your daily prayers as he is adjusting to Army life and seems to be getting the jist of all the in's and out's of work...that is a relief for me to know that he is settled and doing pretty well under the circumstances.

Happy Spring, hoping some sunshine might brighten our mood in the Van'B household!!!