South America – Day 152

I really wish I could start a countdown til the day that Derick comes home.  I wish I could definitely say its a month away or 6 weeks or whatever.  Deployment is not like his training.  When he was in “A” School, I had a definite finish line.  I knew when he would be home.  But, this time it’s kind of up in the air.  He should come back to the states in a month or so.  That doesn’t mean he will.  He has to go to Cuba for a few days, before he is stateside, to take a test in order to get promoted.  (Actually, that’s kind of exciting!  He’s only been in the Navy for 2 years and he’s already taking the test to become an E-5!)  Anyway, after that he will hopefully go home.  Although, there is a chance that he could be sent to Haiti, then we have no idea when he would come home. 

I am totally ready for him to come home, but there would still be benefits to him remaining active for a while longer.  First of all, how do you say no to those poor people of Haiti?  They had nothing already and now the place they lived is completely destroyed.  Derick will be job hunting when he gets home and being deployed will bring in a decent steady paycheck for a bit longer.  That will, in turn, give me more time to save and prepare for his job hunting.  Along with that, I would have more time to practice keeping the house clean.  That’s really a superficial reason, and today you can’t tell that I have made any effort at all.  (For anyone that read yesterday’s post, I was trying to give Derick my attention last night and not worry about the condition of the house. But, guess what I will be doing today??)  Actually, all of the personal reasons are really superficial.  I’d definitely rather have him home than have more money and definitely more time time to clean and organize.  So, we wait.  I fully expect to just get a phone call one day and hear him say, “I’m on my way back to Port Hueneme!  I have x days left and then I need you to come get me.”  That would be fine with me.  It works at this point in my life, because I am not working. 

He wants me to fly to California and meet him out there, then rent a car and drive accross the country to get home.  Derick and I always have a fun time on road trips.  We were thinking of going south first and making a stop in the Phoenix area to watch the Cubs Spring Training.  But, it doesn’t look like the games start until March.  I’ll have to do some more checking on that one.  Has anyone ever taken a road trip like this?  I would love some tips on good places to stop.  The only time I drove that far was in high school and we only stopped because the bus we were travelling in kept breaking down.

I think I have all of my babysitters lined up while I’m gone.  The only one I’m concerned about is Brody.  I have a sitter lined up, but between March 4 and March 8 she is unavailable.  So, lets all pray that he gets home before March 4!  I know I don’t usually get a lot of comments on my blog, but if anyone has any travel tips, or if you would like to be a back-up sitter for Brody only, let me know.  I would love everyone’s feedback on this one. 

I was so wishing today would be a snow day.  I just didn’t want to go to the trouble of waking Christian and getting him ready for school.  Its really not that big of a deal.  And, honestly, I’ll probably be more likely to get the house in order with him gone.  But, snow days are just so much fun!  That’s ok.  It just means they won’t be tacking on any more days at the end of the school year, so far.  Aida spent the night with my parents last night.  I went to my parent’s house in the morning, sliding on the ice all the way there.  The plan was to leave them and go to a doctor appointment, but once I got there, I stayed all day.  The roads weren’t so bad when I came home, but Aida and “Mama” were making cinnamon rolls and they weren’t done.  I don’t think she has ever stayed there all night, all by herself before.  So, this was a real treat (for both of us! )

Well, its 7:00 am now, so I should probably get my kids out of bed.  Have a good day everyone!  Ladies, kiss your hubbies again.  And, don’t forget to post comments!