As some of you may already know, Steve will be deploying to the Middle East late summer for a "number of months" (Yay, another desert!) Fortunately, we have known about the possibility of this deployment since last July when he returned from his training at Fort Bragg, so it does not come as a huge surprise. My plans during this time is to simply keep busy and PRAY constantly. I think that Christian and I will probably travel to Colorado a couple of times to visit with family and friends, and other than that I am not sure.
We have obviously been apart various times since Steve and I have been together (I am now counting five, with the longest being 6.5 months during our engagement) but never at such a distance, or for this long without a visit or two in between, and certainly not with a busy little boy added to the mix. Please pray for us during this time! While it will obviously be challenging on this end, Steve will be in the Middle East away from civilization and family. We are definitely planning to take advantage of Skype if possible so that we can communicate and "see" each other. Have any of you tried it before? How do you like it? Also, for those of you who have experienced a deployment before or any type of lengthy separation, what is your advice? Any tips for staying connected especially with young children?
4 comments:
Im sorry, I never like to hear about another deployment. We have 2 under our belt now, but Zach is usually gone 2 weeks of every month when he is "home" on missions to the sandbox. The first one we were childless so I moved home to CO for the whole time. The second was this last Fall and I had Noah so we stayed here.
Skype is great! The best thing to do (if you can) is plan an after-deployment family vacation. Have this to look forward to and spend lonely nights surfing the internet planning it helps SOOOOO much!! It doesnt have to be anything glamorous but just to have that to look forward to helps for the both of you, and believe me you will need the break and RR after he gets back.
I always tried to plan something for each month he was gone, a visit home, or someone visiting me, or a concert, spa treatment. Just something to look forward to each month made the time seem to go faster.
I dont know if his squadron has one, but try to search out a Key Spouse. I used to be one and they have some nice resources such as Sesame Street DVD for kiddos, etc. Its good to know your KS just in case something goes awry while hes gone (broken pipes, dead car battery, baby gets swine flu in our case).
Let me know if you need anything! Im here for you! Love ya!
Praying for you all!
Technology is such an awesome thing! The major time my Dad went active duty for deployment during the 1st Gulf War there was very, very little phone calls or direct interaction possible. He was deployed for 12 months when I was in 2nd grade with no breaks home. However, I remember recieving videos he had made and mailed to us, as well as voice recordings where he would talk and tell us what he was doing (sort of). But Skype will be so much better than that!!
He had also recorded himself reading books to us even before he left, so it was always special when Mom would pull a new one out when we thought we had heard them all.
Oh friend, I will be praying for you all. Andrew is up for deployment again in Sept and I am praying hard, he doesn't go! Skype rocks!!! We love it and use is almost daily with extended family and any time Andrew is TDY. We also used it almost everyday while he was deployed. Actually, he even got to skype for one of my ultrasounds with Asher! It was awesome.
My friends had the Dad make a movie reading their child's favorite book, so in the evening they put on the Daddy movie and the child got to read "along" with Dad. Brings tears to my eyes to think about, but such a gift to the kids.
Will be praying for your time of preparation! Save up all that tax free money and plan a great vacation when Steve gets home!!! :)
We will definitely be thinking about you guys when Steve deploys! I can relate to you on the whole separation thing, though obviously haven't yet experienced it as a wife AND mother. Does he have a departure date yet? You're welcome to come up and hang out in DC if you want to! I will be working again later in the summer, but only part time. We'd love to see you! ~Jillian
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