Sticking Together.

Its been a crazy time for us lately. We got orders last month for Kevin to move to New York and then deploy to Afghanistan for 18 months, followed by another 6 mos in NY without us. While we have always known that deployments and separation are part and parcel to military service, the issue right now (aside from us not wanting him to go) is that he was supposed to get out of the Army this summer so we could go home to AZ.

Being able to get out of the Army at the end of his contract this term would give our family a chance to have a more stable lifestyle where we don't move from state to state, or have to worry about being separated. Both of those things are vital to Abbi's success. This would also let us get Abbi on a wait list for long term medical care and not have to worry about her losing services because of us moving state to state.

Kevin discovered that because of the amount of time he has been in service (8 years) we fit into the rare window of those who are able to decline a set of orders. Kevin put in the declination statement, and after a shaky couple of weeks, we got news yesterday that everything was canceled. He won't be going to NY or deploying, and the real joy that I can't seem to shake from my heart is the knowledge that we'll be together. Our family will stay whole.

Because of the way this particular dec-statement works, we will actually be going home earlier than anticipated. It means some big changes, fast, but we are doing our best to be prepared, and are excited about a new phase in our life.

Moves are always a little bittersweet. It means a fresh start, exciting changes, and new (in this case old) friends, and opportunities we wouldn't have otherwise had. It also means leaving behind those who we have grown close to here, and for that, we are very very sad... but, we know this isn't the end. We have plans to visit, call, and generally harass our loved ones who won't be with us in person every day. They'll always be with us at heart.

We know how lucky we are that he won't be going, and are just counting every blessing we have right now. We're sticking together, and we couldn't be happier about that!