Guess what I am getting for my birthday tomorrow? You guessed it! John will be getting into Atlanta at 8:45 am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He called me at about 2:30 this morning, and of course it took forever to fall back asleep! I am so excited! I told the kids he is coming in Thursday, hehe I am so sneaky! Won't they be surprised when they come home from school tomorrow!

Ok, so all I know right now is John went to Baghdad last night they're time, which was our late afternoon here. So he could be on his way to Kuwait, he could already be there. I am gonna go crazy if I don't hear from him soon! Jess's husband is the one that told her he went to Baghdad. I have not talked to him since Saturday morning. I will keep y'all informed. If all goes well, and the way I hope it goes, I will get a phone call from him today or tonight telling me to pick him up tomorrow morning in ATL. Oh I sure hope so! This waiting is killing me!

OK, so begins the anxiety of waiting to hear from him! My stomach is in knots and I am going from being happy, to freaking out! I am pretty calm most of the time, I just have the upset tummy, and I just wish I would hear from him so I know what day he will be here. I have at least 2 days until I see him. That would be the earliest. I am hoping he can call me from Kuwait. I am almost done getting everything ready for his homecoming. I have a few last minute things to do, and the kids have been helping me. I need to clean and vacuum the car, but it is raining today, and there is no covered vacuum area. So I hope it stops raining this afternoon. I will keep y'all posted!

I can't believe it is almost here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He goes to Baghdad in 3 days!!! WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone, so John is going to the FOB today to start his leave!!!!!!!!!! He IMed me yesterday, and we talked for about an hour. He was able to get on the webcam too, I just cannot wait to see that face and kiss those lips!!!!!!! He is going to be here in like 5 days, maybe even 4! He just had one more 4 hr. guard duty, and then he had to burn the waste barrels, oh what fun! Talk about a crappy job. LOL! Then he said he was headed to the FOB. They have him going to BIOP on Monday, which I guess is so close, they can just truck them over there. Then it is on to Kuwait, and then either Germany or Ireland. Then home to Atlanta!!!!!!!!!! OMG it is getting close. I am a little sad today tho, Corina's new husband headed back to Iraq today. I try not to think about it, but I know I will be in her shoes soon! But for now, I will only think of the positive, and that I will see him soon!!!!!!!!

Spouse Group Thanksgiving

I forgot, on the 15th we had a huge Turkey dinner with the spouse support group. Here are a couple pics.

I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!!!!! We will be celebrating next week when John is home. We love you all!!!!!!!!

Goodie bags for the Soldiers of Able Company

Today was such a great day! We made 140 gift bags for the whole company! It was so much fun and put me in such a great Christmas spirit! This is me and my best friend Brandi, she has been so awesome for me this deployment. We have really gotten close to each other. After we made the gift bags, we were able to go shopping and have coffee at Starbuck's with NO KIDS!!!! WOOHOO. We were loving that! :) Only 9 more days until John's R&R. I cannot believe it is almost here. I am getting very anxious and am having a hard time making myself go to bed. It is very hard to fall asleep. So many things keep running thru my brain. I still pray everyday for the Lord to keep him safe and to bring him home to me. The kids are talking about him all the time now. It is great. I just hope it does not fly by too fast. They are getting excited to see Grammy too! My mom will be here on the 15th of December and I am really looking forward to seeing her. She will be here for a month, and it will be awesome to have her. I am going to post a couple pics on my photo album here for y'all to see from today. Just click on the link in the upper right hand corner of this page. Love you guys, and thanks for all the support!

I got to talk to John on the computer today! He IM'ed me at about 2:00. And he was on the computer with the web cam so we all got to see him! He is doing really well, and he is getting very excited to come home to see his family. He looked great! Samantha kept making googly faces at him and it made him smile a lot. It was great! He goes to BIAP two weeks from today. I cannot believe it is almost here already! I want to badly for it to be here now, two weeks seems like forever! But, I am using this time to get the things done that are on my list. Andi tweaked her knee this weekend, so I need to take her to the doctor tomorrow and have them look at it. I think she just twisted it good, but she may have sprained it. I guess we will see. She will do anything to get out of going to school, LOL. I have a busy week this week, we are doing an early Thanksgiving dinner for my spouse support group, and I am cooking two turkeys, and making sweet potatoes and of course the gravy. It will be good to stay busy. Until next time, good night!

Yeah! I am so excited!! Corina and Austin are getting married today at 3:00! She is going to be Mrs. Corina Graham. She is having a great time with him, and she says that the time is going by pretty slow, so that is good! Only 16 more days until John leaves the FOB!

I just thought this was cool. This is the day they left for Iraq. I love this picture!

Today is a new day! I am going to have a good day today. I just got back from the hospital. I got my blood drawn, I am going thru the process of a physical. I have not had one in years. I have never had any problems with my health, but the older I get, the more I worry about all the years I smoked and was not active, and was overweight. So, here I go on my quest of becoming a healthy person. I feel very emotionally drained today. Yesterday was tough for me, but like I said, today is a new day. I am getting so excited about John coming home, and at the same time I am a little scared. It is odd not seeing your partner for 8 1/2 months, and then knowing you are going to see them. A little over two weeks until he comes home. So now I am going around the house, wiping this and cleaning that. Gotta get it all ready so we can just relax and spend time as a family. We are going to watch lots of movies, and go for walks, things like that. We really look forward to it.

Ok, so I think my doc is pretty good. He called me today, and decided he wants me to wear the "belt" monitor thing. I have to walk around with it on for a week I think he said. If I have any more flutters, I am supposed to push the button, and it will save the 5 minutes before and after it. He also wants me to have an electrocardiogram. I think that is what it is called. It is an ultrasound of my heart. He wants to make sure all the valves and such are working properly. He said it is probably way overkill, but he would rather be safe than sorry. He said he thought about me after I left yesterday, and decided on this course of action. I am a little nervous, and I don't know what to do about John. Part of me wants to wait until after R&R, if there is something wrong, I don't want it hanging over our heads. It will be hard enuf to relax as it is, without something bothering us. I don't know, I guess I will figure it out. I feel fine, just really stressed. Oh well, I guess what will be will be.

Well, today was kindof a tough day. I went to the doctor about my palpitations, and I built up so much anxiety over it. They did an EKG, and everything was fine. The doc said that it was most likely brought on by stress and anxiety. My test read normal, so that was good. I couldn't help feeling the whole time that I wanted John there with me so bad. I had convinced myself that they were going to find something terribly wrong with me. The doctor actually said he was proud of me for doing all that I was doing to make myself healthier. I am walking five times a week, I quit smoking, I am eating so much healthier. It was the first time I have been to the doctor, and they didn't tell me that I need to do those things! Yeah me! I missed John's IM again today while I was up there. I don't have to tell you all how upset I was about that. The doc did put me on celestra, I think for my anxiety. I went to a town hall meeting up at battalion tonight. There it was confirmed that they will only be deployed 15 months, and that fifty one percent of the brigade will be home by 11, June. WOOOHOOO. The guys are going to get a Thanksgiving feast out at the COP, or so they say. We will see! At least I know that John will get one when he gets home! Gotta go to bed so I can get up and do it all again tomorrow! :)

So today has been pretty uneventful. I am getting really excited about John coming home. I have 3 more weeks until he comes home. I have already started planning his menu for his R&R. I know, I am a dork. I am making him everything that he could possibly want. From Shrimp Fettuccine, to Apple Pie. I have been cleaning the house like crazy, trying to work out, and watch what I eat, also trying not to kill the kids and the dog. I don't think John would be too happy if I did that. I have been having some anxiety which is normal, but I don't have to like it! I go to the doctor tomorrow for my palpitations, and anxiety. I am hoping we can do something to help me on that end. I have almost finished my Christmas shopping! I am very proud of that, and I have gotten some of the most killer deals I have ever seen! I have always been a two day before Christmas shopper so this is big for me. John wants to be involved a little, so I am saving some for him. He also wants to pick out some things for Samantha's b-day. I can't wait! We are going to be together, if only for a short while!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My girlfriend Corina text messaged me today and told me that Graham is here! I am so excited for her! He is John's fellow soldier and he is like a brother to him. I got butterflies in my tummy because I will be next. They are getting married on R&R! WOOHOO and then she will be moving here next March or April to get they're house ready. I am so excited to have her here! I can't wait!! :)

I wanted to post some pictures of the people in my life right now. This is my best friend Brandi that I am always talking about, and her two children, Ella and Benson. They are special to me and have really helped get me thru this deployment!

Grrrrrrr....................

Ok, well I am very bummed. I missed John's IM 3 times yesterday! That just made me so sad! On a good note tho, I did get to talk to him two days ago on the phone. I have not done that in about three weeks! He goes to BIAP (Baghdad International Airport.) 3 weeks from tomorrow! Oh my gosh I am getting so excited! The kids have been acting like brats lately and driving me crazy. Sometimes I get so angry that I was left to deal with all of this crap on my own. I miss having my partner here to help me make decisions, or just to run referee for me. It is a very hard, lonely time for me here. I long for the day that he comes home for good. Part of me is so scared of what we will be like, and how it will all work for us. I know that these fears are normal, just at I know that he has the same ones. I guess we will all see what we see next June. As for R&R, I don't think there will be enuf time for us to really get into any kind of groove. It is more about him resting, and me taking care of him. I know, I spoil him sometimes, but I think he has earned it!

I am gonna kill that damned dog!

OK, so I am upstairs cleaning, and Samantha comes yelling for me. I come downstairs and Maddie has a half dead baby squirrel on her bed! OMG, I was so mad at her, and I didn't know what to do. So I carried her dog bed outside, and found a spot in the back yard of the empty house next to us. I rolled the poor little thing off the bed without touching it and left it in the grass. I am so bothered by this poor little thing suffering. I cannot stand to see something suffer! I really miss John, and I miss him even more when something like this happens! He would know what to do.

Murray Family

Click on this and it will take you to my slideshows, and from there you can see several of my albums on picasa. I hope you enjoy!

John

So, I have decided to created this blog for friends and family so y'all could check on it anytime and see what is going on in the Murray family. I hope you all enjoy this. Ok, so I got an IM from John yesterday, and he was promoted to E4! They had a ceremony in front of the entire platoon for him! I could not be prouder of him! The kids had a great time trick or treating on Halloween, and got lots of candy. Thanks mom, for providing the costumes this year! We have about 4 more weeks until daddy is home for R&R. We are all very excited as you can imagine. I just want to say that all the support y'all have given us has been invaluable and we are so grateful! We love you guys, thanks! I will be updating this on a daily basis, so feel free to check in any time! Shelli