A good end to the month...

It's so good to be able to turn the page on that 12 month calender and look on toward May. I'm so glad the month of April is over! Not that it was absolutely terrible, but we're now one month closer to the end of this hellish deployment. It will be so good to have this behind us and start the next chapter in this book called Life.

With the month of April came many frustrations and downers. The most recent one came about a week ago. A friend caught me on Facebook instant message and told me how her husband is coming home for a second R&R. I immediately jumped back and wondered how on earth that was possible. Apparently, his unit deemed the birth of their child (about a month after we had Liv and 4 months into their deployment) as Emergency Leave and didn't charge him an hour of leave for those 15 days home. Now, 4 months later, they're giving him an additional two weeks as his normal R&R. It's amazing how each unit differs in how they handle things. James was given Emergency Leave for Liv's delivery and funeral and was charged for every day that he was home (and then some). It makes me kind of irritated and somewhat jealous, but I guess that's the cards we were dealt. I suppose I wouldn't have reacted as strongly had things been different and our daughter were here with us. It's just hard to see people have one good thing after another happen, while we sit and struggle. I suppose misery loves company, right?

On the upside, we did end the month on a good note. I got a fantastic call from James a few days ago. He told me that the mission he had been waiting for approval on finally got cancelled. As you would imagine, it wasn't before convoying to the location where it was supposed to happen. No, of course not. They sat and waited for over a week for the final go ahead so they could start, but that never came. I know James was glad, but irritated at the same time. Now they get to sit and wait until they are able to convoy back to their FOB. (Modern Warfare 3 isn't too far from the truth, now is it?) I'm just glad he's going to be in one less encounter with a possibly dangerous situation. It was most definitely an answered prayer in my eyes. He can sit and twiddle his thumbs for the next 40-50 days for all I care. As long as he's safe on a FOB, I'm happy -- well, content. I realize that if that were to happen, it would defeat the purpose of even deploying. However, for my sanity's sake, I'm fine with that.

Well...with it officially being past midnight, I can officially say James will be home next month! Now we can only hope that May flies by!