Almost gone

Our days are practically done with B and her family. Their son is here tonight, I don't know if this is his last night here or if tomorrow will be. They move into the hotel tomorrow and spend one night there, then Tuesday morning I take them to the airport.

I know it seems like all I've done is blog about them leaving, but it's just all I can think about. I am smiling quite a bit, but the tears just flow very easily right now and I have to say today was by and far the hardest of them all. They were fare-welled at church and oh goodness. It actually started before they were FW. When we started singing, the first song just knocked me off my feet and the tears started flowing. B was crying too, we were both a mess. I couldn't even look at her because it just made it worse. She handed me a tissue and I wondered why I even bothered with the make up. A friend of ours was telling me tonight that she kept watching the two of us and when one of us would wipe a tear, the other was was soon to follow. Neither of us were even looking at each other, yet the tears were flowing none the less.

Another new friend (I'm just starting to get to know her) came and just wrapped her arms around me as soon as she heard the Chaplain say B's name. She just let me sob in her arms and offered for me to stop at her home on my way back from the airport. God's so good to me, to show me that there are new friends to be made and become closer to.

I have to say though, I have never had a friend like B before as an Army wife and I'm SO blessed by her friendship. I prayed for the kind of friendship we have for nearly 10 yrs! He gave me my hearts cry and filled a void that was in my heart. It has been so much more than I ever thought I'd be able to have. I praise him that he allowed me to have B in my day to day life the way he has for the last 2 1/2 yrs. I know we'll always remain close and she's always going to be a huge part of my heart. I'm still going to miss her. If you don't have that friend that you can just hang out with and laugh with face to face, I hope you find her. When God brings you that gift, it's just that a gift. It's just what you longed for, even when you didn't always know you were longing for it! (I did know though! LOL).

Tomorrow I'm going to have her husband take a couple pictures of just the two of us. I'm going to get all my make up on and try to look all nice and have a couple really good pictures taken. Then I plan on having them printed off and let it be part of her Christmas present. I just have to find a frame for it, or maybe I'll go to the matting and framing shop and make one! We'll see! :) I intend to keep one for me and frame it, so we have a matching photograph. I want to get some pictures of our kids all together too, all 5 of them and ones of just the girls and one of just the boys. Then I'll have those printed off and frame those for her and me too.

Right now I'm listening to the giggles of Jacob and (little) B laughing as they're watching Ice Age. Jack's asleep in the living room. He's been enjoying "camping out" as he calls it the last few nights. When B's gone, he'll be back in his room. I will say that last night was the first night he slept out here alone and I am not sure where the older boys will crash. I don't care where they sleep or really what time they fall asleep. We don't have to be up and going anywhere tomorrow so we can all sleep in. I am hoping Emma does too, her nap was short today and she was up later than usual.

Pray for us tomorrow if you would. Tomorrow at some point the boys will say goodbye. I feel nausious just thinking about it. My heart just breaks for my little boys. My heart breaks for B too. I asked him tonight if he was excited and he said "yes" and I asked him if he was scared and he said "very". He was so little when they moved to Europe (they lived in Italy for 3 yrs before moving up here to Germany), so he was just 3 yrs old. He doesn't have any memories of actually LIVING in the US, just the few visits they've done. He said he didn't want to leave us. I know he'll make friends fast, he's a great boy. But please pray for them. It's going to be quite an adjustment for all of them. The US is far more fast paced than it is here. It's one thing to visit the US I think they've gone back twice in almost 6 yrs, it's another to jump back into it full force, living.

I promise I'll stop whining soon! I do see all the blessings in my life and B is a huge one. Speaking of blessings, Chad was able to get online tonight!! We were able to chat for about an hour! It was so nice. He's doing well. Still frustrated over his weight. He's been stuck at a platue for a while now and so he could use your prayers on that aspect and of course for his safety!! We chatted about what we're getting the kids for Christmas and what he's going to be specifically getting them! He's going to see if he can find the Emma a jewelry box. I'm hoping he has her name engraved on it! We're getting the boys a Wii so he's planning on getting them Rock band (comes with the drum, guitar, mics).
It's nice to have just normal conversations with him. I know it helps get his mind off of the realities that he is dealing with constantly other wise. We have also marked 6 months down of this deployment....just 9 to go. Wow, that's so overwhelming. To think normally we'd be half way done. But I will not digress. We're going to get through this deployment just as we have all the others. He'll be home in a couple months for R&R! I'm excited for that!!

Ok, until later....