Greetings to all – it has been a whirlwind of a month. So let me just dive right in. A little less than four weeks ago, P. came home and said, “Guess what . . . “ He then informed me that their battalion was possibly on the hook for an IMMEDIATE humanitarian relief deployment to Pakistan – and he would be on the list to go. After picking my chin up off the floor we started debating the probability of this actually happening. Bear in mind, at this point, we have orders in hand for Germany, travel plans, and a house on the market. We decided to continue forward as planned (moving) and wait for more info. We had two showings scheduled at that time and chose to go ahead with them, and pull our house off market if nothing came of it. (That was Thurs night I think?)
Saturday morning we got an offer on the house that we accepted. After a week of “we’ll find out tomorrow if this is really happening,” we found out that it was really happening. At that point, the only hurdle left for P. was, would his branch manager be cancel his orders and send him on deployment? I’m pretty sure LTC K. was going to put him on that plane regardless of what anybody said, and ask for forgiveness later. Moot point, because two days after they greenlighted the deployment, they greenlighted P. to go (Fri).
Throughout this period I vacillated between disbelief, skepticism that he would actually go, and utter shock at the HUGE detour our plans had just taken. After another week of “I might be leaving as early as tomorrow” (he was advance party), he got on the plane. TWO WEEKS TO THE DAY he came home with the initial information. Talk about your head spinning. So now, I’m pregnant and homeless.
Praise God for his boss (and his awesome wife) and the 16th CAB FRSA and Commander because they immediately started pulling strings and whispering in people’s ears and the day after P. left I found out they had managed to score us a house on Post (even thought the wait list was four to six months.) So, we do have a house (YAY) and are in the process of moving. We close on Angie Way on Sept 9th. I am sad to leave our first house as homeowners, but neither of us actually lived here more than a year and half.
So details now-the deployment is three to six months but that is not written in stone. Realistically we have absolutely no idea when he is coming home. For those of you doing the math, six months puts him home the week of my due date. I am not expecting him to make it home for Huggins baby but if he does it will be a nice surprise. Our orders are now amended for us to report to Germany at a later date but that’s up in the air as well and I have not a clue where we will be after AK. The two most probable places are Kansas or Germany but who knows. I am still in Guard – the original idea was to go IRR and then pick up a non-deployable job in Germany in reserves once we arrived. However, I discovered because of our new timeline, going IRR would actually increase chance of getting deployed again, so for now, it is Guard. (If I stay in for now, I don’t have to pay back thousands of dollars in education money and I increase the chance of making it to twenty and getting a small bit of retirement money down the road. Plus I made CPT on Aug 1st J. )
We (J. and I) are still taking a vacation so that we can see family as planned, which means we’ll be in GA from Sept 27th to Oct 6th, and in Texas from the 6th to the 15th. CAN’T WAIT to get big hugs from both clans. I sure need it.J J. is doing okay I think-it’s hard to tell what is three year old behavior and what is a reaction to all the rapid changes and her daddy being gone. She will randomly cry a little and tell me she wants her daddy to hold her. I just hug her and tell her I want daddy to hold me tooJ She also gets really excited to tell daddy about things that happened to her (like the double rainbow we saw tonight), so I am starting a list for him of stuff Jaime wants him to know when he comes home. As I mentioned previously, my head is still spinning and I have had some rough days, but God is good, and He gives me the grace that I need when I need it (and not a moment before . . .) There are many blessings to be had in this situation even if they are somewhat hidden at times. The two verses I am clinging to like a drowning person are:
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
~2 Corinthians 12:8-10
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
~Jeremiah 29:10-11
If you are so inclined, you can pray for my patience and consistency with J., establishment of our new schedule, and my battle with worry that comes with each deployment.
I wanted to make this witty and funny, but there is SO much to tell and it doesn’t really feel that funny – although I did have to laugh that we sold our house RIGHT before we got the word. Oh well – one less thing to do next spring.) I will do my utter best to respond to emails and questions-please be patient with me. Feel free to ask more questions if you care or if I left anything out. I love you all and once again I am speechless at your love and support for our family.
With love,
~M. (on behalf of the Huggins Middle)
P.S. If you would like updated contact info, please let me know and I will email you directly.