One Week Down

Nine days have passed since Mike left.  While the days seem to fly by, it still feels like he has been gone for weeks.  In his emails, he says he feels the same.  There is not much to do on the boat but work, so they worked in spite of Labor Day today.  He had to get a small pox vaccine a few days ago.  He says it's starting to sting.  Apparently the site of the shot is supposed to swell up and he may get flu symptoms. He's supposed to avoid touching the area and then touching another part of his body because it's highly contagious.  He also can't get it wet for a week.  So life is good for him right now.  Haha.  He says it isn't so bad.  He says they're still cruising across the Atlantic, but they should see land again in the next couple of days.

Mom came down for Labor Day weekend and we were soooo happy to see her!  We had such a great time going to the beach, walking, shopping, church on Sunday and just strolling around the quaint little town of New Bern.  I hated seeing her go today because I wasn't ready to say another sad goodbye so soon.

While we were walking around downtown on Sunday, we passed a beautiful, three-tiered water fountain.  AK asked for a coin to throw in.  Mom gave her five pennies.  We watched as she tossed them in one by one, closing her eyes tight each time.  Without a word, she turned and walked back over to us and we started walking down the sidewalk again.  I said, "So what did you wish for?"  She replied, "I wished for Daddy to come back home and stay the whole night and to never go back to work again."  I almost started crying right there.  I told Mike it was the sweetest and saddest thing at the same time.  Sweet because no matter where we are or what we're doing, she is always thinking of and missing her daddy.  And sad because as she threw in those coins, I know in her heart she really thought if she wished it, it would come true.  Mike is really missing the girls.  He is hating to miss all the little moments. Many of Avery's firsts.  I am trying to take video of everything I can so he feels like he is seeing them grow along with me.  I can't imagine how hard this must be on him.

Both the girls got a seat upgrade! Avery loves facing forward.

I'm happy to report that we are not moping around here.  We haven't given ourselves time to cry and be sad.  And God is giving me so much strength.  I know it's from your prayers and my own.  I try not to think of how long he'll be gone.  Just thinking about getting through one week at a time has helped.  Not to mention the many packages and friends that have shown up on my doorstep.  We've gotten amazing care packages, special turtle cookies with lightning bolts on their backs (wishing me a speedy deployment! haha) and two friends that showed up on my doorstep one night with a Bloomin' Onion (yum), a bottle of wine and time to enjoy it all with me.  Thank you all so much for your thoughtfulness.  We are blessed.

This week will get even busier with AK starting back to Preschool, dance classes and church on Wednesday nights.  We are driving up to Annapolis to visit my friend Lexie this coming weekend.  I've signed up to run the half marathon mid-Oct. And then we'll be traveling again at the end of Oct.  So we have a lot to look forward to and I'm so happy about that!