Whoa! What a weekend!

This has been a CRAZY weekend! Brace yourself for an extra long post! I have to start with the biggest part of the weekend. I have been holding this in for so long and I am sooo glad I finally get to talk about it!!! (My dad reads my blog so I couldn't say anything; you'll see why in a moment) So when I met Jeff (my long lost half-brother) a few weeks ago, I mentioned to him that we were having dad's family over for father's day and we would love for him to come. I knew it was a long shot, but I thought I would go for it. He said he would definately think about it. As things progressed and dad and Jeff talked a few times, Jeff told me he was coming. I can't explain how I excited I was. I knew he was coming weeks ago, but I couldn't say anything because mom and I wanted to make it a surprise - both for dad and for my grandfather who had NEVER met Jeff. Well Saturday came and everything went GREAT!!!! Of course, tears were cried. Lots of them actually. We had invited over my grandfather, my dad's sister Lisa, his other sister Donna and her husband Lee, and Donna's son and his wife and daughter. EVERYONE was crying. It was so amazing to see my dad's face!!! He was so shocked. Get this, to make it a super surprise (and for me to buy time to get the video camera ready) I told dad that his father's day gift was being delivered by Lowe's that day. When Jeff sent me a text saying he and Becky were here, I went inside and told dad that Lowe's was here and he had to close his eyes as they brought in the gift. When I said "ok, open!" he opened to find Jeff. Like I said, it was totally amazing. The last time my dad saw Jeff was when he was 8 years old, and my grandfather and aunts had never even met him. Anyway, we all had a great time and I can't wait for us to get together again!

The only thing missing from the excitement of the day was Adam... We had our Father's Day function on Saturday. This was the day Adam left Camp Shelby for Kuwait. He will be there for 10 days and then they will fly to Iraq. I had a really hard time Friday night. I was nervous about our surprise, worried about Adam, tired, emotional from the pregnancy, and I just broke down. I cried in my bathroom for a good 10-15 minutes. Mom came in and talked to me and made me feel a lot better. I also wrote in the journal Jordan gave me. (When we went to Denver to visit he and Emily, they gave Adam and I a gift before we left. We opened it to find two identical journals. Adam and I are going to write in them while he is gone and then trade them when he comes back. Its a way for us to talk to each other and say things to each other that we might not get to say since who knows how often we will be able to talk. It will also be something neat for they baby to read when he/she gets older. I couldn't tell you how much that gift meant to us. It was absolutely perfect. Jordan is just that type of peron though. Completely in tune with others and their needs. Adam and are are lucky to know such great people and have such great friends.) He called me Saturday morning and told me they were about to board the plane, but I haven't heard from him since then. I take my phone with my everywhere hoping he will call soon and let me know they made it. We put up a flag for him while everyone was over yesterday. Mom and dad said they were going to put it up the day he left and that it won't come down until he comes home safely. I keep praying he will...

Okay, in the midst of writing this blog Adam called!!! We only got to talk for a few minutes, but he did make is safely to Kuwait. They are eight hours ahead of us there so it was 12 at night when he called. He was super tired but said he wanted to make sure he called. He isn't getting cell phone service so I guess he's going to have to buy a calling card. He took his iphone with him in hopes that he could use it just to look at pictures and listen to music, but I spoke to the ATT lady and she said that every time he does that, he is using the internet (which makes no sense to me. I have pictures on my phone and don't have internet and I can still look at them) and that he is incurring international internet charges which are CRAZY expensive. I wish I could talk to him again and tell him that! I dont know what we need to do. The lady said she had three nephews that are over there and they all opted not to take their phones. Ugh, ATT should just have a special thing that allows soldiers to use their phones while over seas without any international charges. She did tell me to tell Adam that everyone there at ATT thanks him for what he is doing. I thought that was such a nice sentiment. Someone at the bank told me the same thing the other day. She said to be sure to let her know if they can send him a card or anything. Glad to know there are still such nice people in the world.

Well, on a lighter note, I did get a job! I was super excited because I really wasn't expecting for find one. I will be working the front office at a dental office. I am only working Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday so I get a few days off which is perfect since I will have doctors appointments and stuff. My mom fills in at this office a lot so it will be kinda fun to have her around some of the days I'm working. She loves the dentist there so I think it will be a really great experience! In addition, I get to wear scrubs - I'm pregnant so being comfortable is a HUGE deal. I couldn't ask for anything more comfortable to wear to work! woo hoo for elastic and drawstrings!!

Well I suppose this wasn't as long as I had anticipated. I would've written a lot more I suppose, but my convo with Adam has made me a little emotional. I hate saying that all the time, because most people have no idea what kind of pain I am talking about. If any of you have a husband overseas you can relate - but most people have never experienced that. It is gut wrenching. Its literally like someone has taken your heart out of your chest and is just squeezing it. When I think about him, I can't breathe. My chest hurts. The tears come without any conscious thought and I can't control them once they start. I always think about him holding me and then my whole body starts to hurt knowing how long it will be until I get to feel that again. I often can't help but think about all the crappy things I have ever done or said to him when angry. I pray in my heart he knows how much I love him and how I could never live without him. I don't know how to push the horrible thoughts out of my head though. I think about him not coming back and I can't stop. How do I make my brain shut those off and turn on happy, optimistic thoughts? It's like someone is in my head with a remote control and they keep turning the channel from Leave it to Beaver to a violent and emotional lifetime movie. I want to yank that remote and just bust the tv all together but I cant. I suppse that is where God comes in. He's the comcast guy who I need to come in and set my tv to only get one channel - a happy one. I'm trying to lean on him. Well, this is quite enough emotion for one post! I appologize for all of the dark skies and sob stories, I just had to vent I guess. Keep Adam in your prayers!