I thrive (and survive) via to-do lists. I have them in several locations: on my phone, in my journal, on the chalkboard in my kitchen. So I am pleased to announce that I now have a to-do list called "Things to Do Before Jack Comes Home."
That, my friends and family, proves that his homecoming is close. And I can finally start getting excited! And I am.
We have a date, which I am allowed to announce because it's now public knowledge and posted online. He should be getting in the morning after Independence day...I'm still praying he can leave one day earlier, but I know that's extremely unlikely.
Jack's flight is one of the last flights out because he hasn't been in Kuwait with everyone else. Basically this means his deployment is a month longer than everyone else's because he also left a couple weeks earlier. So some of the guys are already home and most of my friends' husbands are coming home by early next week. I am surprised that I am feeling a little emotional about Jack's late arrival, but I suspect that it's because Jack and I haven't had a single holiday together during our first year of marriage, and everyone else gets the 4th together. Not fair!
But I need to stay positive, because he's almost home.
I've been quite busy the last month...moving in, making friends (finally finally!), getting our house ready for Jack, but most of all...planning Miss Ariel's bridal shower! I just got back from Baltimore on Sunday and the shower was a success. Pictures in the next post!
I started a Bible study as planned. We are reading "The Power of a Praying Wife" by Stormie Omartian. Since I led a Bible study my last two years of college, I've missed it so much. I might even lead another one once summer is over. I've also just missed hosting people. I braved it a couple weeks after I moved in and had some people over from the neighborhood that I didn't know very well and it was really fun. In college, I was a little bit antisocial, mostly because I was so focused on studying, and I've almost felt like this is my second chance to branch out and I'm definitely taking advantage of it and conquering my fears.
Since I just got back from Baltimore, I spent time with several of Ariel's bridesmaids. I was surprised at how old I felt considering they were all my age. I realized it had nothing to do with them, but more to do with the fact that so many of my friends and acquaintances here are in their late 20s to early 40s. So I'm basically turning into an old lady. Although I've made several new friends in the neighborhood who are in my exact stage of life (newly married young college graduates...is that a stage?) and it's been a blessing to get to know them. I also made a friend in the same stage of life who is a faithful Catholic aaand a teacher, and her name is ...guess it... Emily! We have become close quickly and I'm so thankful for her friendship! I think her husband and Jack will get along really well and we're already scheming, I mean planning, some camping trips and that sort of thing for when Jack comes home!
Now that the shower is over, I can devote myself to being a housewife and getting our home ready. Cleaning, organizing, trying to be thrifty with decorating! Today, I went through all of our finances and I hope I'm doing something wrong because we have to pay a lot of taxes. I've been spoiled because of deployment benefits, including non-taxable income, and I've only been tracking our finances since he left. How do people survive??? Okay, I'm being dramatic. We can totally survive but we will have a hard time saving. I guess we are in the 15% tax bracket, but when you add state taxes, social security and medicare, we are up to a quarter of our income. Welcome to the real world, right? I'm definitely going to need to substitute teach a lot this year so that we can keep up the saving.
So I have had a goal this entire deployment, and that is to have ordered wedding prints. It only took 8.5 months, but as of today, the goal is accomplished. I ordered a TON of wedding pictures, like 30 different photos, several 8x10s too and it was only $35 including shipping. I used smugmug.com after reading a blog that rated different services, and I am really excited to see the prints! I am going to check out the thrift stores for some pretty gold frames, because I have a vision for a gallery wall in our dining room. But yes, our house is about to vomit up wedding pictures! It's about time that we have some pictures of our little family though. :)
Speaking of pictures, here's what I've been up to since May.
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San Diego with my girls!
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| Lunch before we went kayaking in the La Jolla caves! |
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| It's my street! ;) |
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| Justine is about to go to China to be a missionary! |
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| Naughty puppy looking for food |
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