Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Spring Flowers and May's Sponsor Spotlight

I am excited to introduce the wonderful ladies on my sidebar this month. You'll probably recognize quite a few of them from months past! All of these women are truly inspiring-- check out their blogs and their amazing writing, photography, crafting, baking, and entrepreneurism! I've had a great time getting to know them (if we weren't friends before they became Jo, My Gosh! sponsors). I think you'll love them too!

Take a few minutes, check out their blogs and enter this month's giveaway! We've got over $100 in prizes to give to two very lucky winners! That's right! We've got two winners this month! You have double the chances to win! Check out the details below!

Meet Lee Anne from It's A Want! 

It's A Want began with one woman's frustration for online shopping. There needed to be one place where women could go to find the best of what's out there. It's A Want features daily posts on the hottest items in clothing, shoes, accessories, bags, home, beauty, and fun. We know what is popular and we know what women want. Maybe you can't have it all, but you can WANT it all!




Meet Jen from Marine Wife, Mommy & Life! 

Wife to a Marine, mommy to two rambunctious boys and a crazy German Shepherd. Former and veteran Marine, stay at home mom, strong small business supporter. Coffee addict, lover of antique books, coins, guns, football, jewelry and shoes!





 Meet Miranda from Hurry Up and Wait! 

I'm a small town Minnesota gal about to embark on life's greatest journey as a college graduate and Marine wife!


Meet Victoria from Felicitous Fruition! 

I'm a 21-year-old Marine wifey from Seattle, pursuing anything and everything that makes me happy in San Diego! I'm super excited to launch this new blog and the Etsy shop to go with it (coming June 2013). I keep myself busy during the day and on my blog with beauty tips, fashion incidents, sewing shenanigans, finding my faith, loving my husband and our puppy and kitten, and somehow managing to cook yummy food without ever following a recipe.




Meet Cait from Fierce, Fabulous and Fit! 


I have an adoring husband Zach and a sweet persian named Ellie. I'm passionate about reading, coffee, shopping, working out and traveling the world. 






Meet Jenni from A Dash of Sunshine! 


My name is Jenni, and I blog over at A Dash of Sunshine! I like to share my day-to-day ramblings, pictures of my favorite almost three-year-old, and the occasional recipes I am cooking up!









 Meet Breanna from Sweet Silver Lining! 


I'm Breanna and I blog over at Sweet Silver Lining. I'm a 24-year-old Registered Nurse from Minnesota. I blog about my nursing career, things I love, & my life!
I'm in the process of adding clothes to sell on my Storenvy page. They'll be officially for sale in the next month or so. Many are plus-sized and there are also purses and shoes.


 Meet Sara from You.And.Me.Are.We! 

You.And.Me.Are.We is a lifestyle blog chronicling the life of two newlyweds (Sara and Trevor). You'll find DIY crafts, how they're making a rented duplex into a (temporary) home, travel stories, (mostly successful) recipes, tales of nursing school, and everything in between! Stop on over, take a look around, and stay for awhile. You never know what you're gonna find! 





Meet Mia from The Chronicles of Chaos! 


I'm married to my high school sweetheart, a mom to 2 boys, a frequent shopper of Target, and a HUGE Adam Levine fan. I blog about the absolute chaos of my life and all the random things that pop into my brain and I love meeting new people, so come say hi! 


Meet Gina from The Kitchen Ink! 

Hi! I’m Gina, I’m a health professional from Nova Scotia, and The Kitchen Ink is my creative outlet! It’s a place for me to share poems, stories, jokes, and other pieces of writing. I don’t really write on any particular topic, just what strikes me or inspires me at any one time. I like to fiddle with different forms of poems as well. I hope you find a few you like!

Meet Jess from Flying on Jess Fuel! 

I'm a huge foodie, home cook and Navy wife. I love to cook and share my favorite recipes and adventures in the kitchen with the world. I like to use mostly healthy, fresh ingredients but I also like to indulge my killer sweet tooth from time to time. Come stop by!






Meet Myranda from Pretty Living PDX! 

I am a mommy, a wife and I blog about our everyday happenings. I am trying to lose weight, so come on over and help inspire me, because I need it!







Meet Natasha from Natashalh and Natasha's Nibbles and Noshes! 

I love creating things! When I'm not busy with work or my double load of grad school classes, I'm writing, taking pictures, creating items for my Etsy shop, attending craft fairs, and sending long emails to my submariner. 

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Monday, May 13, 2013

The 5 Best Things People Said During Deployment

When people find out that John's deployed to Afghanistan, and for a year no less, their comments split into two camps: helpful and kind or hurtful and annoying.

Today, I'm focusing on the helpful and kind. I was surrounded by so many wonderful, caring friends, co-workers, and family who had both John and my best interests at heart. While thinking back on this year, I realized that the best comments, the ones that made me feel great, loved, remembered (insert more fantastic adjectives here), fell roughly into five categories.

I'm sharing these for two reasons: to thank those people who were so wonderful during this deployment, and to give some ideas to people who aren't sure what to say to others facing deployment.

Category 1, Religious:  "For all serving in the military, especially John in Afghanistan, Lord in Your mercy, hear our prayer."  My home church (which is also the church we're getting married in), put John on the Prayers of the People at the beginning of his deployment and have prayed for him every Sunday since then. Throughout this year, people-- even people I don't know-- have told me that they're praying for him. That means everything to me.

Category 2, Taking Care of Him: "What's his address?" So many people-- from close friends and family, to my third grade teacher, to friends of friends-- have sent John emails, Facebook messages, cards, and care packages. Because life is so monotonous over there, those pieces of home are often the only things that really distinguish the days from each other. It made me exceptionally excited and happy every time someone told me that there was mail-- electronic or otherwise-- making its way to him.


Category 3, Not Ignoring: "How are you holding up?" This probably goes without saying, but it's nice, every once and a while, to be asked how I'm doing. Obviously, John's got the harder job and has had the harder year, but sometimes it feels fantastic to talk to someone about the deployment and John without having to initiate the conversation.

Category 4, R&R: "Don't think about work while he's home on leave." Since the end of last school year, my co-workers had told me that (basically under pain of death) I could not set foot in school while John was home on leave. A prolonged absence meant extra work for them-- covering classes, grading and submitting final exam grades and semester grades... My new principal emphatically reiterated the same sentiment almost once a month from the beginning of school. For both my co-workers' and my principal's generosity and selflessness, I will always, always be grateful.

Category 5, Commiseration: "That sucks." One of my closest friends (and bridesmaid) typed that single sentence when I told her that John was deploying. It was exactly what I wanted and needed to hear. It was better than patriotic platitudes or with well-intentioned pick-me up phrases. At the beginning of the deployment, especially, I felt a like a failure for being upset over it-- sometimes it's hard not to feel that way when people (again, with good intentions) say things like, "It'll be over before you know it," and "He has the internet-- it'll be like he never left." Hearing other people acknowledge and validate my frustrations, sadness, anger, and the difficulty of the year is very cathartic.

I will never be able to repay the kind thoughts, words, and prayers from over the course of this year. I don't think I'd even be able to repay a tenth of them. I've tried to thank everyone as much as I can in each situation, but I know that I have most likely, inadvertently missed someone. If you're reading this and I have not thanked you personally, please accept my gratitude for your kindness this year and my apologies for my oversight. Every single generous word and thought has made this deployment easier for both John and me.

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Sunday, May 12, 2013

5 Gifts to Make and Give Before a Deployment



When John received his orders for his year-long deployment to Afghanistan, I felt exceptionally helpless and completely powerless. I started thinking about the future and what I could do to make it easier for John.

My family is big on celebrations. We celebrate pretty much everything. And why not? Life is too short. I wanted to make sure that John had things that would make him smile and make each day a little special during what was going to be a tough year for both of us.

This was before I had a blog and before I thought anyone would be interested in our deployment journey, so I didn't really document what I was doing. Now, I wish I had! So, while I don't have photos for everything, I hope these ideas inspire you for whomever is going away for a bit in your life.

1. A Month's Worth of Letters
If you're on Pinterest, you've probably seen at least twenty different iterations of this idea. Last May, I decided to make small envelopes (from scrapbook paper) using this pattern. I wasn't sure how long it would take for letters to begin arriving to John, so I gave him 30 envelopes to open until the mail started arriving. Some of the envelopes had directions ("Open this when you're sad," "Open this when you're homesick," etc.) but not all of them. I filled them with letters, Bible verses, song lyrics, photos, and jokes.

2. Countdown Calendar
Because we had known for so long that John would be leaving for a year-long deployment, I had a long time to worry... and worry... and worry some more. Oh yeah, and cry. I did a lot of that too. To keep myself busy and feel like I was doing something, I decided that I would make 730 origami stars-- enough for John to open one in the morning and then again in the evening. I wrote little messages on the inside of them and put them in a plastic, see-through paint pail from Michael's. I used 12 x 12 scrapbook paper (like this K&Company Jubilee Designer Paper Pad, 12-Inch- by-12-Inch) in the hopes that they would double as a little spot of color in otherwise pretty drab surroundings. (If you want to make your own, strips of paper that are 12 x 1 or 12 x 1/2 work perfectly.)

3. Picture-a-Day Calendar
I haven't seen this idea on Pinterest (but of course, that doesn't mean it's not there). I had a photo-a-day calendar hanging in my classroom last year, and I decided I would make one for John too. I made a 12-month one on Microsoft Publisher and typed messages or dropped photos of us and our adventures into the spaces for each day. I loved making the calendar (and honestly, it didn't take too long at all.) I thought about taking it to Kinko's to get it printed and bound, but I ended up printing it on my inkjet, punching holes in the top, and using ribbon to tie the pages together. (Yes, in this sample, there are some empty squares, but that's intentional-- some romantic messages need to stay just between the two of us!)

4. Pre-emptive Care Package
The materials that John had originally received said that mail may take up to a month to be delivered to his base. Taking this quite literally, I decorated and sent John's first care package about two weeks before he left. That would mean that he'd have two weeks after he arrived in Afghanistan before he got a care package. Perfect: there'd be time for him to get moved in an situated, and he would be blindsided by getting a care package so quickly!

Much to my surprise, when John's command met the people they were replacing at the airstrip, he was greeted by an officer who looked at his name tape. "You're getting married!" he told John. When John said, yes, he was, the man laughed and handed him my obnoxiously decorated care package that proclaimed, "We're getting married!!!". He told him that they had received the box a week before John's command's arrival, and everyone had been waiting to give it to him. 

Whoops.

Still, I love the idea that John had a box immediately on his arrival. And I kinda, sorta love that the box was obnoxious. It at least gave John something to smile about during the first day in-country!

(Check regulations before you do this. The box just happened to get to John by dumb luck. You don't want to get your soldier/sailor/Marine/pilot/Coastie in trouble before they even show up! If you're too nervous to send it before they leave, send it the day of or the day after they deploy. They still won't be expecting to receive a care package so quickly!) 

5. A Totem
John and I draw cartoons involving a little crab on the letters we send to each other. One of the things I sent along with John was a small, red, Beanie Baby crab. (Okay, you got me, I didn't make the Beanie Baby. But I did write a goofy, little poem about him and tie it to one of his claws.) At first, I was a little worried about giving him a stuffed animal, but it turned out that he really liked it. The little crab sometimes makes guest appearances on Skype as he scuttles across the screen and waves. If John has to step away for a moment, the crab takes over the screen as the holding pattern until John returns. 

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