Two D's of the Weekend

I'll start with the happy and fun D of the weekend....The first D of the weekend is for "Dad". Logan said his first word, Dad! Or Daddy depending on what he feels like. He's been playing around with the Da Da sound for a while now, but this weekend really figured it out and now every time Brian walks into the room he smiles and says, "Dad" or "Daddy". It's so cute cause it makes Brian so happy and then he smiles really big and then Logan smiles really big. It's been so fun watching him figure things out. We let the dogs in the house at night and when the weather is bad out, but they have to stay in the laundry room or entry way. Logan loves to go over by them and watch them and talk to them. When he's talking it's always a lot of "D" sounds so I wouldn't be surprised if "Dog" was not far behind "Dad"....As for "Mom" he can say it, but he doesn't know that it's me yet and doesn't usually say it unless Brian's prompting him. Oh well, he's a boy right...so I better get used to being third on the "cool" list behind Daddy and the dogs...at least for a little while. :-)

The other D of the weekend stands for Deployment. In January my brother Mitchell re-enlisted in the National Guard. I'm not sure on the timing, but I think almost a year and a half ago he was medically discharged due to an issue with his shoulder. He said he'd been thinking about it for some time and decided that he wasn't done with his military career and wanted a second chance. He's shoulder is pretty much 100% now so he wanted to re-enlist. I'm not sure about the details of how he got back in, but he's back in at the same level he left and everything is pretty much the same. When he came to us in January to tell us he had re-enlisted he said that it's a very real possibility that he would have to go over seas and the possibility was probably not too far off. His unit which is the the New Richmond unit was being deployed at the end of February and he might have to go with, but didn't have any orders as of yet. Well Friday morning his commanding officer called and gave him is orders. He leaves Feb. 23rd. He missed the deployment with the New Richmond unit, but the River Falls unit was deploying a week after and he is joining that unit. He reports to Ft. McCoy the 17, 18, 19th this week, is home for the weekend and then has to report to River Falls on the 23rd. He'll get more detailed information on the 17th when he reports to Ft. McCoy so nothing's for sure yet, but his commanding officer told him on Friday morning most likely he'll be at Ft. McCoy for two days and then they leave on the 25th for Texas for 60 days of training. After that they'll leave for Kuwait and then eventually arriving in Iraq where he'll be for 10 months. He doesn't have his orders as far as what he'll be doing once he gets to Iraq, but like I said nothing's for sure yet, he'll know more after he gets back from the three days in Ft. McCoy. The news was a bit of a shock as I'm sure it is if you're reading this and finding out for the first time. I apologize about that, but things are happening so fast it's hard to keep everyone posted with all the information. We are having a going away party for him on Saturday at my parents house if you would like to stop by and say good bye. I think my mom said around 6 or so.

I'm not sure if the gravity of the situation has fully hit me yet. I find myself stopping and thinking at random times throughout the day, "Mitchell won't be here for this....and Mitchell won't be here for that." It's all I can do to stop from crying and most the time I just try not to think about it because if I do I'd be a wreak. As for Mitchell he's doing well...or at least from what I can tell. I asked him if he was scared or nervous and he said no. I think he's just ready to do this and really wants to do this. Which makes me glad that he's doing something that means a lot to him. All I know is we love you little brother and are so proud of you! We can't thank you enough for doing this and pray that you and all the other military men and women serving our country right now make it home safely!

Everyone I'll keep you posted as I learn more, but if you have questions or anything just give me a call.