Chad update

WOW! He went from spending 45 days in May at Bridgeport, CA in cold weather training (and boy was it cold) to having less than 30 days home before leaving again for 30+ days in the Mohave Viper dessert with average 120 degree weather. He handles the heat so much better than the cold and I am so glad for that. I did get to hear his voice once while he was in the dessert when they had a few R&R days, but Katie did an amazing job of keeping me up to date on how he was whenever she got to talk to him (which wasn't much). I'm blessed to have a bonus daughter that loves me enough to do that for me. He arrived back to Camp Pendleton Friday, August 6th around 2 or 3 pm and the wives/girlfriends were all there waiting to pick up their sweeties and the Marine Corps decided to keep them until 9:00 pm. There they sat patiently waiting for their loves for 7 hours in the vehicles in the parking lot to finally see their skinny little faces. Most all the guys lost a good bit of weight and Chad was no exception. Katie and Chad both are working double duty to try and build his weight back up (don't you wish we all had that problem?) before he deploys in October.
He and Katie will be home in NW Arkansas around Sept. 17th for about 2 weeks for his pre-deployment leave. I can't wait. As soon as we have dates and timing confirmed by him we will be booking their flights and I will immediately start washing sheets and freshening up the bedroom! Ahhhh it will be so nice to have them home even if it's just for a couple of weeks. Anything is better than nothing so I will take what I can get.
At this time the plan is that Katie will remain in CA while Chad is deployed to Afghanistan and either attend school or work. She has a nice group of wives that are a great support for her and I'm sure she is for them and they are doing an amazing job of being there for each other when the guys are out in the field or training and I know they will be during deployment. I'm so glad she found these ladies and they are taking such good care of my girl when I can't be there.
We are so blessed with all our kids and very proud of them all.