I’m in a bind & I’m hoping some wonderful, knowledgeable person out there can help me out!! We had a trial version of it that I’ve been using.  Jim went to install what he thought was the ’03 edition but its the ’02 edition (which he would have known had he bothered to read the disk!!).  I asked him to save my e-mails.  He did a backup rather than using the file–>save function.  So now I have full-fledged Outlook 02 but can’t import my e-mails!!  And I have a couple in there that I *really* need.  I tried Outlook Express 6 but it can’t import a .pst file.  I tried Mozilla Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 and had no luck with it either.  ANYONE???

Wahooo!!! We had record highs in Georgia this week, so I am thrilled with IN being cold! I’d like 23 inches of snow like we got in 2004 but that isn’t likely to happen.

Our drive here was incredible. I think something came in & possessed my child–she sat for SIX HOURS (slept 1.5 of that) before needing to get out of the car. Wasn’t watching a movie. I wasn’t back there with her. I wasn’t interacting with her anymore than I do when I’m driving that trip alone. She wasn’t reading. She played with very few toys. Mostly she just sat back there talking and, briefly, playing with her babies. I’m lucky if I can drive two hours w/o needing to stop. I have NO idea what got into her but it did make the drive go by SO quickly!! We stopped for lunch and then we were in IN by mid-afternoon (we expected to arrive closer to bedtime!).

Thursday evening we went out to my mom’s for a little while. Yesterday morning we left E with Jim’s parents so we could finish up Christmas shopping & go to lunch. Its a fun treat to eat w/o having to tend to a little one. Then we went up to my dad’s last night. My sister & niece came down, also. The girls had a grand time playing together & with their grandpa. They ran many, many laps around the house looking for the cat (no luck!). I think my dad was going to beat the girls to bed last night–he looked exhausted!!
This afternoon we’re going to my mom’s house & then out to my aunt’s for Christmas w/my grandpa. Tomorrow we have Christmas w/my mom in the afternoon & Christmas with my grandma in the evening. Monday is Christmas w/the in-laws in the morning & with my dad in the afternoon. Tuesday we’re heading home.

To: Tricia, Jim & E

Merry Christmas!!

From: the U.S. Army

What news! Jim called last Friday to let me know that he had been over to the shipping office. Our goods have LEFT Germany and are on their way to Georgia!!! The shipment is expected by December 13 and could possibly be there even earlier. (Guess what we’ll be doing over Jim’s Christmas break??!) 6-8 weeks is the expected time frame and the 13th would be eight weeks. Maybe I’ll get a birthday present from the army! Mom’s coming down that weekend, so she would get the pleasure of helping me unpack! Eight months and many, many miles later, I finally believe we might actually see our goods again. Crawling into bed that night will be amazing!!

Jim checked into school yesterday but they don’t have to come back until tomorrow night (holiday weekend). Having a couple extra days is wonderful but we’re both also ready for him to just start already!! This living in limbo is leaving us both almost drained.

My babe isn’t handling this all too well. We’ve talked about him leaving in front of her and to her. But she has such limited understanding both because of her age and because of her receptive-language delay. She starts crying heartbroken tears and then has frequent meltdowns for a couple hours, so we’ve not talked about Daddy leaving *too* much. We’re not sure how much she understands but we can tell she definitely senses SOMETHING big is about to happen. I’m so heart-sad for her. While she’s much more dependant on me than DH, she is definitely in love with her daddy.

Everything happening at once hasn’t helped matters. The move, being apart from DH for those few days, being in different places several nights in a row, having to sleep on the floor (the movers broke her bed but we at least have her mattress now), the running around we’ve had to do…its all piling up on her. Her meltdowns are more frequent. She’s reaching out for control over anything she can. She’s been more clingy. I’ve had more patience than I thought I would but I’m definitely reaching my limit, esp. when my own sleep has been more difficult lately. I usually handle her not sleeping through the night pretty well (lots of practice!!) but not lately.

Rumor has it that they’ve laxed things up quite a bit and they guys are getting frequent breaks during school now. It will be wonderful, if true, to see him more often than we originally expected but I’m not sure if it will make it harder on E. When we were back in WA, he’d come home between PT & work and then again for lunch. Sometimes it was SO tough dealing with her when he left b/c her little heart was so sad. It makes me worry about these breaks. I wouldn’t trade those times he was home as it really gave the two of them much-needed time to connect and the same will go for this coming year. Still, some days I’d wish that he wouldn’t come home so I didn’t have to deal with the aftermath and I’m sure the same will go for this next year.

I’ve done some searching and found a couple churches I want to check out. I know I need to get involved and get involved soon or I won’t do it. I’m also planning to go to PWOC on post this week. We’ve had so much going on these past two weeks but I don’t want to wait any longer or, like church, I don’t think I’ll end up getting involved until the next session (January) and I can’t wait that long to get a consistent time when I know I’ll have adult conversation! LOL Regular adult conversation and God are gonna’ be the keys to surviving!! I e-mailed the LLL leader for the area and they actually have a meeting this week and its very closeby, so that will be nice. Hopefully I can find out about any local playgroups while I’m there.

I certainly don’t WANT Jim to leave but I’m ready for it to happen. We need to find our groove and find some stability.

I hear my babe waking…

At almost exactly this time one year ago, this is what I was looking at!!  Elizabeth & I were playing in the window at the airport, waiting for Jim to arrive home for R&R, when I looked up and saw that his plane had suddenly arrived!  What a feeling!!!

A few minutes later, the plane started to unload.  He was in the LAST row of the plane!!  It seemed like forever until he get off.  As they came off, several passengers told me he was in the back…it must have been obvious who I was waiting for!! LOL

FINALLY, he got off the plane and we headed downstairs to get his bag.  What a sight!  I remember the feeling of just NOT being able to take my eyes off of him.  Neither could Elizabeth.  I was so nervous she would be shy to him but she took to him right away, letting him hold her by the time we got downstairs.

Full album of pictures from his arrival home and R&R part 1 and part 2.