Military Monday

Good morning fellow military spouses! How is your week going? Is your spouse home right now? My hero is currently in Afghanistan (hi honey). We are stationed in NC right now but hope to move this winter. WE have six children from ages 1-15. My hero has been in the Army for 19 years.
Now it is your turn, tell me about yourself. What has been your favorite duty station?
Pamela

Military Monday

This week I was setting on my front porch talking on the phone when the Fed Ex lady showed up. I thought she was delivering something else. Then she looked at me and said someone is getting pretty flowers. I was shocked. So I opened the package while still holding the phone and cried as I read this:
I do not have a clue who they are from. I cried, who would do such a sweet thing for me. If you sent me flowers please know that they are beautiful several days later. They are setting on my kitchen table so that I can constantly see them. And you picked out a great vase because it is square and I do not have any square vases.
Thank you,
Pamela

Military Monday

I am so excited to get back into Military Monday. I am excited to get back to meeting new spouses. I thought I would take a moment and re introduce myself in case we have not met and tell you a little about our military life.
My hero has been in a total of 19 years, 16 active and 3 reserve. I can hardly believe it has been that long. We are often asked how much longer we will stay in. My response is it all depends upon how fast he can get his degree and what the economy is like. The real is answer has less to do with jobs and more to do with how many more deployments we can handle.
We have been stationed at Fort Campbell, Germany, Fort Campbell, Redstone Arsenal and are currently at Fort Bragg. My hero is deploying soon for his eighth deployment. He has been to Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq three times, Afghanistan and is heading back to Afghanistan soon.
Pamela

Military Monday

Today it is on my heart to talk about something serious. Do you have your life insurance in place? Not just the military life insurance. Do you have a plan if that knock comes on the door? Do your parents and friends know what is expected from them? Do you know what your husband’s wishes are? Do you know where he wants to be buried, what does he want to wear?
For us I do not think we are totally prepared. We have bought our cemetery plots and already have them paid for. We have discussed in detail what he wants. I know he wants the Christian flag at his funeral too. He wants it hanging on the side. We did that at his dad’s funeral.
I know we all role play what will happen when there is a knock at the door. I know that I will want a few minutes to think before they talk to me. I know which Chaplain I want at my house. I know my husband wants a military funeral. I know I want patriot guard. I love the patriot guard. I know that I want certain people to help with my kids.
We are working on updating our insurance policies right now. I encourage you to make sure you have things talked through. Do not wait until they are deployed or on orders when it is emotional. Talk about it often.
Now, I know I have been talking about what if something happens to the soldier but I have another question. Are you prepared if something happens to you as the spouse? We often forget that something could happen to us. My hero knows what I want. He knows what I want for him after my death, what I want for my children.
Death is real and death is sad and I do not want any extra burden on my spouse or myself. Anything I can do now to make that time easier is what I am doing. Rather God gives me another 50 years with my spouse which I pray he does.
I am not advertising for USAA but they have been amazing with us and have answered a million and one questions.
Pamela

Military Monday

What a week, my hero is in the field. It has been a long time since we have had a field problem. He left last Tuesday or Wednesday. I honestly cannot remember which day he left. He has been able to come home a few times just to shower and work on the computer.
They have had 200+ people get sick from the heat. I wish I could run out there and take cold lemonade and fresh baked cookies. I feel so bad for the soldiers. Some have air conditioning and some do not.
Please pray for our men and women this week who are willing to work in 100+ degree weather all over the world so you and I are able to be free.
Speaking of heat, is the heat affecting you and if so how are you staying cool this summer?
Pamela

Military Monday

Wow, I am about to face my first time with all 6 kids while the Army takes my hero. It is only for a week. I do not doubt that I can handle it. What I worry about is Tom. He cried several times last week because Michael was not here. He tells me all the time he is going to be a boyscout so he can go to camp.
Every morning he wakes up and asks where Robert is. I need to remember to pull out my Elmo video. My hero should be able to call often which will help. It will also help prepare him for when he goes away in February.
How did you prepare your children for times your spouse went away?
You would think with four other children that this would not be a worry. But he deployed when they were very young. It was just part of life. I just want him to feel safe and secure.
What are your suggestions?
Pamela

Respite Care

My hero went back to work this morning. It was so weird not waking up to him being here. I have enjoyed our two weeks off. Today I just plan on working on mount laundry and maybe doing some baking.
Tomorrow I have to go in for a TB test. I have decided to start doing respite care for a friend. I already babysit for her for free and will continue to do that. But this way I will get paid for part of the time. Really it helps her to because she does not have feel guilt for asking me to babysit. Her kids are adorable. Have you heard of respite care? We received respite care when Grace was younger because she was on EFMP and had issues. If you have a child on EFMP I encourage you to check into respite care.
I hope everyone is having a great summer.
Pamela

Military Monday

Good morning, man my computer is messing with my brain today. My hero went back to work this morning. It wa great having him home. I cannot believe I wrote a whole post for this morning and now it will not let me cut and copy it.
So today I will ask you this. Have you ever done respit care? Have you ever recieved respit care? I am in the middle of paperwork for doing respit care for a friend.
Pamela

Military Monday

My husband is home, my husband is home, and my husband is home. I want to scream it from the rafters. It seems like he has been gone a lot of summers. So this year I am really enjoying him being home. Today we are going to the beach for the day. He actually took two weeks off. So he is off all week. It is amazing how you have nothing planned yet everyday something comes up. Today is the beach and I have two doctors’ appointments and then we want to go to the zoo one day and then we need to paint furniture. It is just crazy.
So does your spouse ever take time off for nothing? It seems like when he takes time off it is because someone is in the hospital or we need to travel for family. So this week it is nice to just be about us. I will say one of the things
I love about the military is the 30 days of leave a year. Although I wish he had sick days. So when I was sick he could call in.
Pamela

Military Monday

I can hardly believe it but my hero is home this year. He gets to see the fireworks with us. Even better he gets to drive us to fireworks. He actually took the next two weeks off.
My question today is how do you spend your leave. It seems like we rarely take time off to just be at home. We have some small plans like going to the zoo and to the beach for the day but really we are just going to relax and enjoy being together.
Pamela

Military Monday

Did you know that you can take a off post prescription to a on post pharmacy and they will fill it. It has saved us a ton of money. Sometimes I will just take it to Wal-greens because it is faster but if it is something I do not need instantly then I give it to my hubby to take on post. Consider being on two medicines and picking them up each month. That would be $18 a month. So by going to post I save myself $216.
Pamela

Military Monday

Good wonderful Military Monday. This week I thought I would ask you if you have checked out what MWR has to offer. Did you know they offer things like camper rentals and boat rentals for discounted prices? Did you know that they offer a free pool on Fort Bragg? I am heading to the pool in the morning with my kids. I wish I took more advantage of MWR. What do you like about MWR?
Pamela

Military Monday

Can you believe it is Monday again? It seems like time is flying by. I guess if I am honest I could say my son is officially a high schooler. He finished eighth grade a few weeks ago. In just a few weeks I will have 2 elementary children, a middle schooler and a high schooler. I may scream.
Our military life is the same this week. My husband had the honor of visiting another chapel this morning and taking pictures for a friend’s baby dedication. I had the privilege of meeting there chaplain a few hours later. It was so neat to meet another chaplain. If you are looking for a church I encourage you to visit your local chapel. The chapel has changed so much since we joined the Army. Check out the marriage retreats that the Chapel offers. It is amazing to go on a retreat with other military families who understand what you are going through.
How was your Mother’s Day? Was your husband home? My husband was home. This year I helped friends children make a apron for their mom. I encourage you to help the kids of a deployed soldier. It is hard on them when they wake up on Mother’s day or mom’s birthday and do not have anything to give her.
Pamela

Military Monday

Good morning. I just have one question? What are your thoughts on Bin Laden being dead? I am relieved and feel a since of peace. But I have to be honest and say I am a little sad. Sad, that this man did not find the Lord before his death.
I have no new news on our military life this week. My husband should receive his sleep apnea machine this week. If your spouse has sleep apnea I would love for you to tell me how it affects his military life. They have not been given him many details yet.
Pamela

Military Monday

Good wonderful day. Today I am feeling loved and at peace. I am feeling like I could crawl in bed and sleep for a year but at peace. This week has been long but I would not change one minute of it.
This week my friend who recently had a baby needed me and this week I was able to be there. Her baby boy was put in the hospital with RSV. I had the privilege of being able to keep her two baby girls. I had so much fun. They are the most precious little girls.
This weekend my son had a friend over. I stuck my foot in my mouth while talking to him. He was talking to me about shooting guns and I said something about shooting guns with his dad and he reminded me his dad was deployed. I knew that. I keep his baby sister a few days a week. So what does all of this have to do with military talk? Both of these families are military families.
In my heart of hearts I feel like we need to be there for one another. Rather it be babysitting or maybe shooting guns with that boy when dad is away or taking a meal. We need to be there for one another. If you are thinking “I do not like kids” or “I hate to cook” then try some other things. Maybe taking them a gift card for dinner. I had friend who use to do my flower beds for me. She loved it, I hated it and it made our neighborhood look better. There is always something you can do. Sometimes just knowing that you will mail my husband a card that week when maybe I would not have a chance to means a lot. It means that I know he is getting mail and I do not have to have the guilt of him not getting mail. So my question this week is what do you wish someone would do for you? What is the one thing that would make your life easier during a deployment or just in general.
Ladies, we are a sisterhood and no matter who says they understand what we are going through unless they have lived it they do not understand. That does not mean they do not care but they do not understand.
Pamela

Military Monday

Updated: Did you watch Army wives, do you watch Army wives. I have to be honest and say I am a junky. Tonight a friend and I were texting back and forth and I told her something I do not tell very many people. Many years ago I took the casualty notification course. Some days I think it was smart and some days I wish I didn’t. For example I now know they do not make notifications from 11pm-7am. The theory is that they know you will need your rest.
So tonight I was texting my friend and told her something I do not tell many people. I said did you see that look on the spouse’s faces right before the notification. The look where they all held their breath. That is the look I have every morning as I sneak in my living room without turning on lights and peek out my window to make sure there are no government cars on my street. That way I know.
Today I want to encourage you to take a minute and think about what would happen if something happened to your spouse, what would happen if he was injured. Are you prepared? Do you have your paperwork (passports) up to date? Have you spoken to your family about what is important to you? Have you spoken to your spouse about what he would want? You see I thought I knew what my husband would want until I spoke with him. It was a hard conversation to have but a needed one.
On another note is your family prepared if you get sick. Do you know who could help you with your kids if you became ill? Do you have a list of medications you and your children are on? Do you have a calendar of events that they could use? Many of you do not know this but 5 years ago my water broke at 26 weeks and I was placed in the hospital. I was in the hospital for over 5 weeks. I was very lucky that my mother in law was able to come and help out and that my husband was not deployed. But it really made us think about what is important. It also made me very aware that I need to have a ongoing list ready for a babysitter and a list of people I trust to take care of my children.


Good wonderful amazing Monday. This week I thought I would take a minute to ask you if you have gone a marriage retreat or a family retreat through the chapel on your post. They are amazing weekends. They will really help you bond with your spouse. You do not have to attend a chapel to attend. Contact your units Chaplain and ask about them. The amazing thing about these weekends are, that they are FREE, or at least have been for us.
My question this week is when is the last time you were alone with your spouse and if so what did you do?
Pamela

Military Monday

Not much is going on in our life that revolves around the military. Except they are letting my husband take a week off and I am thrilled. He is taking my son to the mountains with my father in law. They are going to bond and talk and do boy things that I do not allow within a mile of my house.
So I guess today I want to talk about how you bond with your child when you deploy constantly.
So far my girls do not seem to have been affected by my hero’s deployments. But my son is a teen and it has been hard on him. So we have to make an effort to make sure they work on their relationship. It will not always be possible for them to go away for a week together. As a matter of fact it has been about 5 years since they have done it. So when my husband is home we make an effort to let him have time to bond with each child. Rather it is a day at the lake, a trip to the mountains or even a trip to the toy store to make a wish list. It is all about time to talk about their hopes and dreams and worries.
Something I have realized is my son may say he does not need time alone with my husband and he may not have deep conversations but he does need it. And eventually he will bring up something that lets us know how special it was. So I guess today I talk more to the dad’s. I encourage you to be the scout leader, go to the dance practice, and teach them to check tire pressure or just take a walk around the block. Even if they are only home for 6 months.
Our goal is not for them to forget the deployments but to remember that when dad was home he was around and involved as much as he could be.
So my next question is how do you encourage your children to bond with their dad?
In case you missed it last week I have 50 Army wife bumper stickers to give away courtesy of buildasign.com. Just send me your address to prmpetrie@yahoo.com
Pam

Military Monday

Today I wanted to talk about finding a house in a new location. We all know that housing has a list of approved and non approved areas. But did you know that once you found a house you can call the local sheriff’s office and ask for recent activity in that area.
I also recommend calling local leasing agencies. When you rent from a person verses an agency you do not know what you are getting. If you lease through an agency then there is less guilt about calling when something is wrong.
When we were moving here, I found a ton of houses on line that were beautiful and in our price range. I looked forward to moving here. Then we got here and realized that those houses were in a bad area of town.
My other suggestion is if you have houses to rent use a leasing agency. The going rate is they receive 10%. That 10% is tax deductable. This is a benefit to you for several reasons. One it gives you a reason to go back to that town. Two, you do not have to worry about middle of the night calls about a leaky sink. The leasing agency has local repair companies they have worked with before and trust.
So my question to you is do you rent or own or live on post. We currently rent this home. We lived on post in Alabama and we owned a home in Kentucky.
On another note, I want to tell you about a wonderful company. Build a Sign.com. This fall they had a special on their banners. So I ordered a welcome home banner for my husband. I was beyond shocked at the quality when it came in. It was amazing. I knew it was water proof. I did not realize the print quality would be so amazing. I made sure I ordered it with words I could use for several deployments. A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by buildasign.com and asked if I would do a review. I jumped on the chance. I also wrote back and said I could do the review even before receiving any product because of I knew of their quality.
I received a Jumbo card. I designed it myself (although they offered to help). Again I made sure that used wording that would be able to use again and again. The good thing about being a Warrant Officer is you will always be a Chief. This is a sign I will be able to take to all of our future welcome home ceremonies. Not only did they give me a jumbo card but they have given 50 of you a bumper sticker. This is not your normal give away. To receive one all you have to do is e-mail me your address to prmpetrie@yahoo.com. I have 50 and am willing to send all 50 out.
Not only am I offering a giveaway today but our host, Army Wives Live is offering a giveaway from Lifetime. How cool is that?
Pam

Military Monday

This week on Military Monday I want to talk about counseling. I do not talk about it often but it is on my heart. Most people do not know that you can get counseling outside of on post housing. That you can get Christian counseling. If you need counseling you can call Military one Source. You can request any type of counseling or counselor. For example you can say I want a counselor who is Baptist or Catholic counselor. You can choose someone who has green hair. The point is you tell them what kinds of things you need and they will help you find it. I have only had wonderful experiences when I have called. The great part is there are no referrals. You are not going to your primary doctor and telling them about things they do not need to know. We have seen an on post counselor when my husband came home with PTSD and the guy was okay but he was over whelmed and could not give us the time we needed and he definitely did not have the same belief system we did.
Pamela

Military Monday

Good morning army wives. First I want to start with a question. Does anyone’s husband have sleep apnea and if so how does that work in the military? I saw the funniest thing this weekend. I have been babysitting for a friend while she was at the hospital having a baby. There house backs up to woods. They said it is actually a PT running trial. So yesterday I was letting the dog out and I saw little boys running around in the wood with fake guns. They were playing Army. I had to giggle. I guess because my son has always disliked all things Army. As I looked out the front windows I could see kids constantly outside riding their bikes and playing. It was a wonderful site. Not only were there kids everywhere but there was parents everywhere. This is stuff I did not see when we lived on post.
Last night we had small group. We are taking a parenting class while the kids are in AWANA. It dawned on me last night how awesome this class was because everyone in the class is in the military. And while there is only one command for children in the Bible it is nice to have other people who are going through the same thing. Most families either have both parents or one parent. But in military families you have both families but half the time only one parent is there. It was nice to hear how other people handle this.
I know I have rambled this week. This is what was on my heart.
Pamela

http://trooppetrie.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-homemaking-monday_28.html