Aloha!

Blake hasn't even been gone a whole week but it feels like so much longer. People are constantly asking how I'm doing and I can truthfully say, "Just fine." He has had so many little (month long) trainings in the two years that we have been in the army that it just feels like that. He's usually gone during the day anyway - the hard part is when there's only me and the boys at the dinner table and after the boys go to bed the house is so quiet. I don't think I've ever watched so many movies before bed before. Since he's been gone I've been watching a movie a night. I have two months free of Netflix so that has been my bedtime companion for the last few days.

We figured that when Blake gets back, he'll have been deployed for half of Joshua's life and time-gone-for-entire-army-time (does that make sense?) for half of Jacob's life. Oh well. C'est la vie!
We knew what we were signing up for and the benefits far outweigh the negatives. And even the negative for us (him being gone for a year and missing so much of our lives) is a benefit for the Afghani people. They get him for a whole year to help their country. I'm so proud of Blake and his willingness to fight for others freedom.