It's September!

Wow! I love when another month comes and goes. Makes this deployment feel like it's sort of moving right along. We definitely miss the man in our lives. I think it's been harder on Ella than any of us. I believe she is confused beyond her wise almost 4 years of age. When Tom first left for Korea we would Skype a lot. Ella was only 18 months old and I really think she believed her daddy lived in the computer. Now, she knows he doesn't live in the computer and she will say "my daddy is in Iraq" if you ask her.

BUT the other day my heart was so broken. She was really quiet at her meet and greet with school so I was explaining to her that all of the children in her class are just like her and they are excited to go to school and they all have mommies and daddies who love them. And she said "well I don't." I asked her "You don't what?" She said "I don't have a daddy." Let's just say the waterworks turned on for me. I bit my lip, took a deep breath and let her know she most definitely DID have a daddy who loves her, absolutely adores her and wishes more than anything that he could be there everyday of her life. I told her his job is important, but it makes him live in different countries. I was so in shock that she even thought that way. I have to keep in mind she's 3 and by the time her daddy returns next summer, he will have missed two years of her life. In her world, that's entirely too much. In our world, that's entirely too much. For some families, they miss their daddy when he leaves for a quick business trip or a golf trip and he's gone for a week or weekend. It seems like a "nice" break for some;) For our family, that is our reality for 365 days. We miss him every second of everyday. We want nothing more than for him to return safe and sound, hold us all tight, and to be whole again.

So September, thank you for arriving rather quickly. Now go on and tell the rest of your calendar friends to speed it up as well. July needs to come back around and bring us our man home.

Tom finally sent me this photo of him and the girls taken about a minute before our goodbyes.

It's never too early to start a countdown, is it? My app on my iphone seems to think not.

And yeah that's a fat swimmer guy headed toward a pot of gold. No, Tom. You aren't fat. Yes, your family is as amazing as a pot of gold. (there weren't a lot of choices). And besides, it makes me laugh when I see it.