A Happy Birthday!

Yesterday I celebrated 32 years of my life! I can't believe it--how am I that old already? For the record I still feel 22. I was a little sad this year because I knew Steve and I weren't going to be together on my birthday but I ended up having a really happy day. It started off by my family singing happy birthday to me in bed, then my mom made a delicious breakfast of waffles, with fruit and cream to put on top--YUM!! After breakfast, when I was getting ready for the day--I received a delivery of beautiful flowers from my adorable husband, who even though he's far away still makes me feel like the most special girl in the world! After getting ready for the day my brother's fiance' took me out for lunch and she had the coolest plan. She had gotten a bunch of sushi and we went and sat on the beach and ate it--it was so peaceful and beautiful! After eating we went shoe shopping--my favorite! Then later in the afternoon my brothers and sister and I all went to my favorite place in the world--HAPPY YOGURT! Then that night my mom made a birthday dinner for me with my favorite mint n' chip ice cream pie for dessert-and then they gave me my last present--the Wii Fit! Steve got it for me to go with our Wii. I am so excited to use it a lot!! On top of all these things that happened to make my day so happy, I received tons of messages and phone calls from dear friends who were thinking of me and wanted to wish me a happy day! Thank you all so much for making what I thought was going to be a tough birthday, a really special and memorable one! Love you guys!

The Countdown is on

Steve left last Friday Feb. 19th. It was a hard day as I kept watching the clock knowing our time was ticking down till I had to take him to the airport and say goodbye--in fact it makes my stomach turn just thinking about it now. But we made it through the goodbye. I haven't cried that hard in awhile and I'm sure it is the first of many tearful days. It is a hard thing being separated from your best friend. I am so fortunate to be able to have family and friends here to take care of me, but I sure miss my Steve. Luckily, the day he left we were able to spend a lot of good quality time together. We went to Balboa Island and took Roscoe to a dog park and had fun watching him play around with all the other dogs. So it was a good day till airport time came. :(
Steve made it to Augusta, Georgia where he will go through training for a week and then this Friday he flies to Kuwait for another week of training. After that he will fly to Baghdad and arrive at Camp Victory where he will complete the rest of his deployment. He will be the only dentist in the clinic there so I'm sure he will have his work cut out for him. But they are lucky to have him--he's the best dentist in my opinion!!!
Luckily, the area he is going to is pretty safe, but please keep him in your prayers! Even though this is a tough time we are trying to focus on the positive aspects of it. I feel like we can use this experience to grow even closer and I know we will definitely appreciate all the time we have together even more than we did before!
My goal is to try and keep this blog updated with Steve reports so you all can hear how he is doing but I have to warn you it may be used for a few venting/emotional breakdowns throughout the process as well....just puttin it out there. Thanks to everyone for all the support. I have the best friends and family a girl could ever ask for!

Horne Update

Wow. I cannot believe it's been over a month since I've posted on here. So much has happened and we've been busy busy. For those of you who don't know, Steve is being deployed to Iraq in 2 weeks. It is a hard time for us as we dread the separation and time we will be apart. We decided that in order to help the time go by a little faster that Steve would drive Roscoe and I out to California so that I can be with my family while he is away. I have 2 siblings who just got back from missions and a brother that is getting married so the goal is that with all the "busyness" and people around it will help me be able to cope without Steve a bit better....although who can cope when their best friend isn't around??!!
Anyway, we made the trek from our home in Vine Grove, KY. to California and it actually was a lot better than expected. We were a little worried that our dog, Roscoe wouldn't be able to handle the length of the drive but he surprised us by being the best "road-trip" dog I've ever seen! He would jump in the car every morning when we began our driving for the day and fall asleep, wake up at rest stops and take care of business and then hop right back in the car for more driving. We were able to stop and visit with both of Steve's sisters....one in St. Louis, and one in Tucson. I know Roscoe loved seeing all the new people and we loved getting to spend time with them too! One of Roscoe's favorite nights was when we stopped at a "pet-friendly" hotel and he got to enjoy his first overnight stay--he was in heaven!
So we made it to our destination on Wednesday night and have been getting to see lots of family! I got to see my brother Scott who just got home from Chile last week--it was great!
It is a bitter-sweet time, because I am so happy to see my family but sad that Steve won't be here with me. It is difficult, because we know that Steve will be leaving soon and we are trying to soak up every minute we can together. At this point, I just want to get the time ticking down so he can come back. I'm grateful to all the family and friends who have given us encouragement, help and support through this time. And I'm grateful for my husband who loved me enough to make the drive all the way from Kentucky to make sure I would be taken care of during this time. Here's hoping the next 6 months will fly by!