Ryan is Home!

Well, after all of the ups and downs of this re-deployment... he is finally here. The date and time was supposed to be Sunday at 10:55am, but there was a huge layover in Germany that didn't put them in until Sunday night/Monday morning around 1am. All of the anxiousness and nerves were really getting to me by that time, as is probably easily guessed.
I asked Chris Petrini to come with us, and he brought his girlfriend. It was Jason, me, Chris and Alexis there for him when he got off the plane.

When he first got off the plane, they did formation [thankfully it was short], then we got 20 minutes with them before they had to turn in equipment. The 20 minutes were a lot more awkward than I had originally hoped, but everything went well for the most part.

We stayed up all night...made a huge purchase of a TV/TV stand. It was a rather expensive TV, but we got it for 30% off, and our total purchase was less than the TV itself was originally. Here are some pictures from the first night he was home... I will post updates of the apartment once we get a little bit more stuff in here!

FRG Meetings...

I guess this is something I need to learn to get used to since I’m going to be an Army Wife now for the next 4 years. We had our re-deployment meeting and most definitely it was probably one of the most pointless meetings I’ve been to in a really long time. I thought it was where we’re supposed to be getting dates, but clearly they aren’t equipped with that kind of information.

Here is a rundown of how the meeting went:
It started 20 minutes late, we listened to ACS [Army Career Services] give two presentations about reunions and how to deal with potential warning signs of difficulties that may arise because of deployments. From there, we listened to Chaplain Stevens give his schpeal about if we need anything once the guys are back, etc. He is a really nice guy. We did play one little game that will be incorporated with the guys. The Chaplain was flying to see our guys so he had us all write on big index cards, “Dear _______[insert a name that you call your SO], _______________[story of the first time you met], _____________[what you’re going to do when you come home], Love, _____[a name he calls you].

When he gets there, Chaplain Stevens will read these to the guys and they have to guess whose card belonged to who. This is super cute and I really hope it boosts the guys’ morale. I know this tail end of the deployment has been hard on all of us—particularly them.

I can’t wait for this to be overwith.

Time keeps ticking away

So, this is probably the best time of the deployment, even though it is moving pretty slowly still. Today I spent calling insurance companies and getting utilities turned on so that we had somewhere to live when he gets home. I had a big struggle with the apartment complex because they neglected to tell me about all of the things that needed to be done before move in. Well, welcome to the real world Jenaé!

I am going to post pictures of our apartment for you all to see. Once Ryan is home we will fill it with furniture and all sorts of home-y knick knacks that make it our own. [Trust me, neither of us can wait for this to get here].


Master bathroom, view from the toilet.
Master bedroom :]
I have a pantry!
Spare bathroom, no idea what we're going to do with this yet.
Our fantastic kitchen. I am in love.
Living room , don't mind my boxes. :]