Garage Sales, Cooking, Groceries, & BBQ

Today went by very quickly. I can hardly believe it's already time for bed. This morning we got up early, yes Trint even on a Sat I set the alarm, to look for some bargains at the post wide garage sale. I really wish now that I wouldn't have set the alarm and just slept in. To start off, it was very frustrating trying to drive around with people parked on both sides of already small streets. It also was a pain to have to drive down dead end streets to a garage sale and maneuver the truck to turn it around to get out. Backing up was not an option with the other cars trying to get down the already crowded street. Another frustration was people parking their cars halfway in the street on both sides so it was hard enough for one car to drive down, let alone someone coming the other way. The you have those people that think 3/4 of the road is for them leaving absolutely no room for anyone else. The sales we stopped at had mainly baby items so I decided I didn't want to deal with it anymore and we went to the thrift shop instead.

As soon as we pulled up in the parking lot my phone rang! You guessed it right, it was my hubby! We sat in the car for the duration of our call. The kids got to say hi to daddy and he got to hear all of our voices. By the time he had to hang up we only had a few minutes to look around in the shop before I had to drop Syd off at her cooking class. I didn't see anything we couldn't live without so we didn't spend even a dime. Total this morning I spend $1.50. Syd found some Junie B. Jones books and Shay scored a cute shirt with the tag still on it. They were happy to get something, they didn't care what it was, so the morning was somewhat of a success in their eyes.

After dropping Syd off for cooking class, the other two kids and I took a quick trip to the px for some packing tape. That's a necessity that always needs to be on hand during deployments. We love sending boxes and daddy likes getting them. It doesn't matter what's in them aside from the love that prepared them.

Syds class was a success. The had leftover cupcakes so she decorated one for me to eat. They were so cute and very yummy. After her class we stayed there playing fooseball until Shay's class began half an hour later. We laughed and had a good time playing together. Not a single fight happened during that 30 minutes. Major success! During her class time, the rest of us came home so I could go through coupons and get ready for a shopping trip.

I went to get Shay, who also had fun at her class, and headed to the grocery store. What a successful trip I had. I saved $37.90! My total was just 183.60. Aside from the things we go through quickly and won't save for long, I shouldn't need to go grocery shopping for a month. I'm excited about that.

Later in the evening we headed over to a friends house for bbq. It was a bittersweet evening. Her husband will soon be joining so many other friends in Afghanistan. My heart breaks for her. I could see the sadness in her face and I remember all to well how my heart felt broken to pieces just last week. It's their first experience with deployment so it's all that much worse for her. I remember the uncertainty I felt when Trint deployed for the first time. It was not a good feeling. Even knowing that God is going with them, we are still human and we still feel completely defeated as we say our farewell. Subsequent deployments are no less rough, but we do at least know that we've conquered it once so we can surely do it again. We know a little more of what to expect our role to be in the coming year. However, that's not much comfort as we again have to say farewell to the person we have devoted our life to. She's a strong woman and I know she'll get through this deployment with dignity. She'll keep busy with her kids and her friends and time will pass quickly. If you're reading this, I love you and you know your friends are here for you through thick and thin, always! To your husband, we'll all be praying for your safe return. Don't worry about your wife and kids as they'll be just fine, we'll make sure of that. Keep your mind on the mission and getting home safe. God Bless you and keep you in his hands!