Sunday, March 14, 2010

My Daddy My Soldier My Hero. My Adventures in being a Military Family!!


As most of you know we are a military Family! My Dad joined the National Guard about 12 years ago! And was in the Navy before that
I am a proud daughter of "my soldier" He is my hero!
Growing up in a military family I have probably been through more then your average teen has even imagined going through!
We have gone through a total of 2 deployments since the attack of the World Trade Centers. The first happened about a year after the attack, He got stationed at Fort Riley for about a year!
At the time we thought that was the hardest thing ever and in a way it was! However looking back now it wasn't your "true" deployment in the since of, He was home at least once a month if not more or we were up there!! Yes we missed him and yes it was hard, but we got to see him quite a bit! Which helped a lot and made the year go by a lot quicker!! One of things I remember most about this deployment was when us, My Grandparents, My aunt and her family all went down one weekend and surprised him for his Birthday! We got him good! He thought that we were going down to Colorado to see family, Mom had to tell him that because he had been planning on coming home that weekend so mom had to "kinda lie" to him from coming home! You can imagine his face when we all come walking into his Barrack! It was GREAT!!!! We had a blast that weekend! We did some sight seeing and different fun things like that, But mainly just enjoyed spending time as a family! We also celebrated my cousin Jessica's birthday that shares her birthday with her uncle Shannon! It was a very enjoyable weekend and it went WAY to fast!
It wasn't a horrible deployment but bad enough! We were very happy when this year was over and we were back together as a family once again!
It was a little bit of a struggle readjusting as a family but with God we made it through!


About a year or so later after getting home, He was ready for a job change and in Jan of 05 we made the move to St John.
When God first brought us this job we were confused and had no idea why in the world God was bringing us clear to St John out of all places!! We had good friends in Garden and were very happy there! Me and Michael probably struggled most with it! We had our good home school friends and we did NOT want to move! But we trusted God had a plan!!..It was an adjustment and the first few weeks were kinda rough and scary because we didn't know anybody..yet! Dad was enjoying his new job for the most part!...It was an adjustment for all of us!...They did have a small home school group and we got involved in that. That took some getting used to, us coming from a huge home school group that did stuff every week, along with a HUGE track meet, Soccer tournament,Fine arts, etc. Where as the one there was a lot smaller with only like 5 families or so. We only met like every other week  instead of every week, and we didn't do near the activities that we did in Garden! So that was a little bit of an adjustment but we were just happy to see they had one! 
Around May of 05 we received the news that Dad was getting deployed again, this time to Iraq! We didn't take that news very well but we knew with Gods help we would get through it!
In October of 05 dad started his training in Camp Shelby, Mississippi, that goodbye was a tough one. We wouldn't see him again tell that Christmas! That Christmas could not come fast enough! Those first few months were probably the hardest just because we didn't know anybody that well yet and we were still adjusting from the move! We hadn't sold our house in Garden yet. so there for a while we were back and fourth like every weekend trying to get the house sold, which kept our minds off the deployment! Before we knew it it was Christmas time!! It was so good to see him again!!!...and those ten days went WAY WAY WAY to fast! But it was also a little bit of an emotional ten days!..emotions that I hadn't dealt with like I should of been came out!! That was not fun being with the entire family! But we were all pretty emotional because we didn't know at this point when we'd get to see him again! That was one hard goodbye! But we kept our selves busy and tried to keep our minds off it best we could!! I got really close to an amazing family that I honestly don't know what I'd do without them! They kept me sane! I ended up having to live with them for about 6 weeks when we got a mold problem in our house and wasn't able to live there till we got it fixed! Let's just say we all became attached more then we were already! We also became good friends with a family from our church! We got CLOSE!...We were always doing stuff together whether it was a movie night or girls day or just hanging out! It was nice because her husband worked a lot so she was always free to do stuff! I don't think a weekend went by that we weren't at one of our houses!..between these 2 amazing families we were able to somewhat deal with the deployment and this very hard time! We also had an amazing church family in Stafford that was WOW!...AMAZING!!! They welcomed us with open arms and was just there and supported us big time through the whole ordeal!...I also started working at the same place dad worked before the deployment! Stephan's  ( dads boss) wife Tammy hired me to clean and do odd jobs around the shop and also cleaned her house part time! For the most part I enjoyed it and it helped keep my mind off off the deployment and gave me something to do when not doing School and when Betty wasn't using me! It was a good first job! In March of 06 we got to go to Mississippi to see dad one last time before he got shipped off to Iraq! It was a good trip! LONG but good! My grandparents came with us and we drove straight through! we were all so excited and anxious to see him that the drive seemed to go by fast or at least as fast as a 24 hour drive could go!..We drove it in 2 VERY LONG DAYS!!!..We were all so excited when we finally made it to Mississippi and didn't want to sit in a car for a long time! HA HA! It was so good to see him! 3 months is WAY to long to go without seeing your daddy LOL. We enjoyed our time in Mississippi and it went WAY TO FAST!!We did a lot of sight seeing and just enjoyed time as a family! They also had one HUGE send off for the 3000 plus guys that were getting deployed!
It was really neat!! Except for the fact it poured rain! LOL..But it was still neat!..never did pick out dad though LOL..kinda hard to when they all look and walk the same! LOL..If there is one thing I've learned through this It's to NEVER trust what the military tells you! They stood up there and told us one year from today we will have your guys home..uh huh..SURE!!..but more about that later!...That Goodbye was probably one of the hardest! Well they were all hard but this one was exceptionally hard just because we didn't know if and when we'd get to see him!..I hate to put that IF but there was always that's chance!...He ended up getting to come home for Christmas but we didn't know for sure if he would get to at the time! We got home and tried to readjust to our  "New Normal" It was a rough few weeks after getting home. Just the trying to readjust to everyday life and get back into the swing of things and dealing with missing him terribly! But we kept our selves busy and our minds off of it best we could!...That summer was a crazy one!..I cant remember everything for sure that happened but I remember it being a whirl wind...I'm pretty sure that summer I went and helped my "other Mom" at the TPA conference!..That was a great weekend!!! always an adventure but I LOVE IT!!...I also went to camp that summer ( of course) like usual it was an AMAZING week and it went WAY to fast!..but the more stuff to keep my mind occupied the better! before we knew it it Christmas time!!!! Since dad hadn't been home in over a year, for some odd reason we just wanted to be home so ALL of dads family came in and we had Christmas at our house!! It was one of the best Christmases ever!!!..Probably because we got our Daddy home but I just remember it being a great Christmas!!..The 2 weeks he was home went WAY TO FAST!!!! But this goodbye was a little easier because at this point he was going to be home for good that coming March! We were SOO ready to have him home and be together as a family again. We tried to keep our selves busy to help the time go by faster!!! 2007 was quite the year!!!...It started off being a rough year but got better!! As I mentioned earlier we thought Dad was coming home in March for good! we'll in January of 07 dad called to say he had received news that he was getting extended!.....let's just say that um..yeah...that news did not set well!! mom and I completely lost it! well She started crying when she was on the phone with him and this point I didn't know what was going on just that I knew she was talking to him and she was crying! Panic sets in and I loose it!!!! She gets off and phone and proceeds to tell us that he was getting extended! It was both Relief and total dread and disappointment washing through me! Relief in the since that it was just an extension because my first thought when she was on the phone was OH NO he had been hurt or something along those lines! So after having those kinds of thoughts running through you, an extension doesn't seem quite so bad but bad enough!! Friends and Family instantly stepped up and just overwhelmed us with their love and support!
Our amazing Church family put together a basket with lots of different things like, Movie tickets, candy,popcorn, a movie, restaurant certificates, money, ETC...Just to keep our spirits up and our minds occupied.It was amazing!! I know for a fact that if it wasn't for our amazing friends and family we would not of survived this deployment!!! They were a huge part of it!!! 
In May of 2007, we got some excitement...Our TV antenna went out so we had been without a TV for quite sometime. The weird part was we really didn't miss it except for the news and a few different other shows.This would of been one evening that having TV would of been helpful! Around 11 or so, all us kids had gone to bed! Mom was doing dishes when the phone rang. It was her good friend Ami wanting to know what we were doing, Mom was like well the kids are in bed and I'm finishing up dishes, Ami was like have you watched any weather? Mom was like No..Why? Ami was in Hutch and had just finished Races when they got word that a tornado ( ef5) had just taken out most of Greens burg and was headed for St John! Shes like get the kids and get in the basement NOW!!! Mom not sure what to think came and woke us kids  and we went to the basement. We had just barely gotten to the basement when the sirens started going off and power went out within seconds after that!..luckily mom had grabbed several flashlights and blankets and a radio that ran on batteries! We turned on the Radio just in time to hear them saying that yes it was headed straight for st john and that if you had not taken cover yet to take COVER NOW because it was a BIG ONE! We didn't know at the time that Greens burg really no longer existed!!...we at this point had gone into what we called the "safe" room in our basement that was half dirt and had no windows ( aka creepy room). Ami told mom to go ahead and take a mattress down with us, so Michael hauled one down! At this point it was raining and hailing REALLY HARD!! We climbed under a work bench type table that was nailed to the ground and had put the mattress over it so we were pretty secured if it were to hit! At this point we were convinced it was and it was just pretty much sitting there waiting for it to hit, talk about a scary feeling!! Moms phone started going off, Friends and family from here and in Colorado wondering if we were still alive and if we still had a house..At this point we did! It was big enough though that it made national TV and dad had seen something on TV clear over in Iraq and he had heard that green burg no longer existed. that it was headed for st john so he called Mom all in a panic, Mom then assured him that at this point we were fine and nothing major had hit yet!..It ended up being nothing but heavy rain and hail! We later found out that it had come half a mile within St john...2 CLOSE FOR COMFORT!!!! LOL...Macksville had taken a pretty hard hit and little surrounding towns had been hit also! There was damage up to half a mile out of town and then more on the other side of St John, How it missed us we don't know but I know that God had a major part of it, It was like he put his hand over St John so it came right up to it,picked up and dropped down again on the other side! See this and tell me there's not a God! LOL...It was a pretty scary night!..We got round 2 the next day!!..Nothing happened again but we ended up in the basement again, this time with Ami, Her 2 boys, and her dogs, plus all of our animals ( our lady bug, 2 cats and a litter of kittens) Talk about a house full! That was one memorable night! don't think I'll ever forget this weekend! It was quite scary! 


It again missed St John...We were VERY LUCKY!!!! That was an awful year for tornadoes and we spent more then one night in the basement! But it missed us every time!!....Because of so many tornado's that was an awful work summer for Michael and them in the way of irrigation systems..We had record number of systems down that summer! It was all Stephan and them could do to keep up!


Around the end of April we received the wonderful news that Dad was going to get to come home sooner then we thought!! At this point he would be home middle of June-first part of July!
We couldn't be more excited!!!!! June couldn't be here fast enough!!!! we tried to keep our selves occupied to help  the time go by faster!!!..We decided that we were going to have a come and go welcome home home thing for him!!..That kept us busy planning that!! But it was fun!!!..Ami was a huge part of that, Along with Betty! That is probably the most fun I've ever had planning something!!..It was a lot of work but TOTALLY worth it! Before we knew it June was here!!! YAY!!! lol they had a welcome home for all the guys in Pratt, Where they had bused all the guys in!
That was one of the best days ever! At this point we had not seen dad since Christmas, talk about 6 LONG MONTHS!!! LOL 
It was a pretty neat welcome home! They had the Governor speak and some one sing and different things like that! It was really neat! From what I remember anyway,  that day was kinda a whirl wind! LOL
We were so happy to have our daddy home!! 
We had the huge welcome home thing we were planning for him around the middle part of June!
It was a huge success! We had a pretty good turn out!
friends from Garden even got to come, which was AMAZING!!!!

It was a little overwhelming but over all a VERY GOOD DAY!!!
It was a little bit of an adjustment the first few weeks even months he was home, just trying to readjust to being back as a family and Dad was dealing with a lot of stuff both physically and mentally! The first few weeks were a little rough to be totally honest! but we made the most of it and just tried to enjoy each other and spend time together!! 
Around the first part of June we went on a family Vacation ( first one we'd ever really taken) Us kids had wanted to go somewhere like Disney world or something along those lines, but for some odd reason Dad, after spending 22 months in the sand, didn't feel like seeing more sand lol He wanted to go to the Mountains!! LOL. So we settled and spent about a week in Red River, New Mexico. It was an AMAZING WEEK!!!! We took my Grandparents Camper and camped the whole time which was a lot of fun! and cut down on hotel and food cost!
Since its a tourist town there was a lot to do, We did everything from hiking ( we did that several times ;o) and we also went horse back riding, That was a BLAST but also quite the adventure we went on the beginner trail thinking that it'd be easy right..WRONG! They took us up the side of the mountain! Mom was like if this is the beginner one I'd hate to see the advanced one! LOL. It was fun though!! Except for it started raining and hailing a tiny bit when we were about back! ( just glad it waited till we were about done lol) Being up in the high mountains it rained a lot!! I actually loved every min of it and that's one of the few times I actually felt good!! Something about that clean mountain air!..It was amazing!!! It just felt cleaner!! We actually didn't do a whole lot,It was just good to get away for a while and spend some much needed time as a family after being apart for 22 LONG months!! That week away went 2 fast! None of us were ready to go home yet! We actually spent most of that summer gone. We spent a majority of it in Colorado so Dad could spend time with his parents, and Sisters and their family!
We spent about another week in Colorado after we got back and about a week after that Mom and Dad wanted to get away for a while just themselves so they spent about 4 days at the Royal Gourge , In the Meantime I had camp and Michael had work, So we left the 2 younger ones with grandparents and we went home.
It was crazy trying to get everything around for camp but I managed to get it done in 1 very long day!!
Michael stayed with the Battens, and I stayed with Ami!
I went home Sunday morning and finished getting everything around for camp!
Ami being the amazing person she is took me down to camp!!
That was one of the best weeks ever!!!! CAMP is ALWAYS AMAZING!!
and like usual it went WAY TO FAST!!! But enough about that.

I cant say enough about our friends and family that were there and supported us through this whole 22 month LONG deployment! We could not of made it through without them!! They are all amazing!!! There is one very special lady ( you know who you are ;o) that was just amazing through the whole thing! She was there for me through the entire deployment weather it was a hug or just someone to talk to she was there!!!..and still continues to this day to be there! I honestly don't know what I'd do without her and I pray I never have to find out! This deployment would of been a hundred times harder had it not been for our amazing
group of supporters! 

Having someone your close to and can talk to about anything, Is VERY important if your going through something like this, trust me I know! It was one of the hardest things I've ever gone through! 
My hope in writing this is that I can offer advice and be there for anyone else that may be going through or getting ready to go through the same thing! Having someone that can truly understand and know what your going through can make it a lot easier and I never got that, But I hope I can offer to it someone else and be there for them!!!

As I write this, My Dad is away for drill weekend!
It's normally just for a weekend but this time we had an unusual 5 day drill in Fort Riley!
It's been a long 5 days and were all ready for him to be home!
Some of you might be thinking that after going through 2 deployments and living the military life for 12 years I should be used to it by now but the truth is you don't ever get used to it!
Yes you adjust and kinda get used to the "new normal" but its still extremely hard and just have to take one day at a time!!

Each deployment is just as hard as the first and my heart aches for the families of the soldiers that are on their 3rd and 4th tours over there! I cant even imagine!! I pray for them every day,that God will bring them back there families safe and sound and SOON!!!! 


I know there will be many more adventures being a military family, and there's a good chance we'll go through at least one more deployment before Dad retires, But I know with Gods help we can get through anything!!! In a way this last deployment has brought us closer as a family and made us realize how short life really is and we need to enjoy each and every minute we have together!!! We lost 22 months that we can't get back but instead of dwelling over that, But instead of dwelling over the past, we are just enjoying each and every minute we get together and not worry about the past or future that we have no control over, but just enjoy the now!
If you have any questions feel free to ask!! I'm happy to answer any questions you might have or at least do my best to do so!!
I hope that you have gotten at lest some good from this!

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

God Bless!!!

Dad after the send off!

1 comment:

  1. well done Sarah. i am so proud of you! i was off at work and had forgot some of the details and the other side of things.
    stay strong.
    in Him
    your brother in Him and ..
    Michael Thys

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