That is the question I get asked every day by people I see every day. And the answer is always No, still don't have a clue, well we do have a clue, but I am ignoring that one till it is in writing.

Our ability to not know where we are going to be in 3 months and not go insane is what sets military spouses apart from other people. I have a high school friend that received a promotion at his place of employment and moved to take the job, but his wife refused to go till after school was out and then refused to move at all. He had to turn down the promotion to return to where his family lived. Wow I must be really flexible.

It is getting harder to not know as people around us are starting to make plans and are looking for houses at their new locations.

Last week I attended a XO/S3 Spouse seminar taught by ACS. There was lots of valuable information and would recommend it to anyone. We received a huge book with a ton of information in it. One of the ACS (Army Community Service) ladies covered deployments. Wow was this a tough one.

Terry and I have been extremely lucky in our 16 years of marriage and more than 12 years of active duty time together when it comes to deployments. Before Iraq we were only separated for a max of 6 or 7 weeks at one time. This only happened a handful of times. When he deployed to Iraq we did not see each other for 9 months before he came home for R&R and then were separated for another 5 or so after R&R.

Not to surprise anyone, but if Terry doesn't get into SAMS he will most likely get an Advisor/MiTT team. What does this mean exactly? For several other people that have already found out that they are going on Advisor job it means this. They graduate early from ILE (current school they are attending) around early November. They get 30 days leave and then many of them go to Iraq in December, to put it simply, get the lay of the land. Yes this means they might be gone for Christmas. In January they report to Ft. Riley, Kansas for 3 months of training. Most likely they go back to Iraq late March early April for a year. The training in Riley is intense, they usually only get one day off a week. What does an Advisor/Mitt team do??? In my simple little world this is my description not Terry's or the miltiary's. They work in 12 men teams directly with the Iraq army training and advising them. They live with them in other words.

So with all that said what does that mean for me and the kids. If and that is a big IF, we get a guaranteed follow on assignment, he will ask for Ft. Carson. That being said, I may buy a house and move in the summer (June 08) to Colorado. If not I will stay here in Kansas.

So what does that mean for the coming months. If we decide to buy in Colorado we will have to make a trip to Colorado Springs in November to look and make a decision on either building or buying used. It also means Terry will change his focus from school to spending time with his kids. At the seminar they talked about how important it is for the children to have very strong memories with the deployed spouse. So we can not commit to anything for the next few months if that is the case. Terry's priority will be his kids and preparing them for this deployment nothing else.

I know this is the worse case scenario and nothing is in writing, but after going to the seminar and listening to them talk, I must start preparing for it. For anyone who's spouse has not deployed it is a very heart wrenching thing to go thru. We all do it and we all survive.

Here are some pointers from the ACS folks.

Get a Guardianship POA. Basically this give someone temporary Guardianship of your children so that they can get them health care or anything else relating to legal matter if you became injured while your spouse is deployed.

Do NOT display yellow ribbons or red deployment stars. This just advertises that you are alone (ie no man in the house) and many criminals have taken advantage of people.

Do NOT give out personnel information on the phone. If someone calls saying they are with the military and need some information on your spouse ask them 5 questions. If they can not answer these questions, they are not with the military.
1. Full name of service member with middle name.
2. Rank
3. Social Security number
4. Unit stationed with
5. Country they are in.

On your Cell phone put in these important contacts. Use the initials ICE (In Case of Emergency). Police are trained to look for a cell phone and will call these numbers first.

ICE - Your spouse
ICE1 - Local person other than your spouse
ICE2 - Permanent Emergency contact (ie parents, brother or sister located anywhere)

These are just a few tips they gave. Great information.

What I wouldn't give to remember to take a camera to the dentist office when the Clark kids go to the dentist. Now let me start off with my kids are good as gold at the doctor and dentist. Of course the TV screens on the ceiling and the video games in the waiting room don't hurt....

Dylan and Tyler were called in first. Not 5 minutes into the exam one of the helpers comes to ask if we have a history of missing or extra teeth in our families.. Ha Ha there must be a reason they are asking this right? As far as I know we all have the right amount of teeth. No one has dentures and I don't think anyone has fangs.

They were a bit concered that Tyler hadn't lost any baby teeth. (I thought it was fine that he hadn't) Hence the question is there a history of missing teeth. Maybe he doesn't have any permanet teeth pushing them out. Oh Shit!!!!!!!

Okay it isn't quite that bad. Apparently sometimes the permanet teeth don't desolve the roots of the baby teeth all the way so the baby teeth dont' get loose and fall out. (Much better situation in my mind)

In Tyler's case all his baby teeth are still firmly planted, and his permanet teeth can't push them out. Unless some miracle happens in the next 3 months he will have several teeth pulled in January to allow progression of the Permanet teeth. He also needs to floss and rinse every night as he might be getting some cavities between his teeth.

Dylan also has a baby tooth that hasn't fallen out for the same reason. He has never had a problem before. So on October 1st - yank that puppy out. The dentist also says that he doesn't like the way his sealant looks on several teeth and there might be some stuff (decay) under them. We'll call me dumb but isn't the purpose of sealant to keep stuff out.... If we have sealants how is stuff getting under there, sounds like a warrenty issue if you ask me.

Jason is wonderful with his 20 teeth and he loves the little machine that sucks the spit out of your mouth.

I was hoping I would have time to sit down this week and catch up on a few things. NOT!! Yesterday I ran errands all day, today was dentist for kids, neighborhood open house for Pampered Chef. Whew am I beat.

The Pampered Chef host special for September is 60% off of the cookware. I had a show Sunday, the open house today, a show Monday and another one the following weekend. Plus a catalog show in the middle of all that. Wow!!! Wish I could keep my business going like that all of the time, I would actually have some spending money.....

By the way we still don't know for sure where we are going.....

DB went for his second round of shots yesterday. My 4 month old puppy is 42lbs. He already out weighs Tyler. Vet said several times "You're going to have a big dog on your hangs, maybe 90lbs."

Here are some pictures of bath time with DB. Do you think he will still fit in the tub at 90lbs???

Ever heard of Zicam? Me neither till Terry got a cold last week and I was worried about getting it all my friends here said "Get some Zicam". Since I am willing to try almost anything once, I got some at the store and started using it as soon as I had that little twinge in my throat. By golly I think this stuff works. I never did get the full blown stuffed up head, nasty chest congestion that I always get when I catch the crud. This stuff just might be a small miracle..

Tyler could play from sunrise to sunset, but last week he just ran out of juice, he was having trouble finishing his dinner and we had all left the room when he laid down in his chair and the chair next to it and fell asleep. I just couldn't resist taking a picture.

Dog decided he had to be walked at 6:00 this morning. So like the good wife I am I let my husband sleep in and I took DB out. As I step outside I realize that it is really cold and very wet, yea I have sandals and shorts on. I also notice two vehicles parked on the circle drive in front of my building. No one usually parks there and certainly not in the location where they were. So I am a bit weary. I take DB to the side yard where he usually does his business and of course all he wants to do is dig for moles. After a few minutes of walking thru the very wet grass I decide we need to walk on the pavement. I kept an eye on the vehicles and they looked empty so I decided to walk by on the circle. As I pass by the SUV I see it is empty and then as I am looking at the car I see a man in the passenger seat and a woman in the drivers seat leaning towards him. He makes eye contact with me and she looks asleep or something. I was a bit freaked out so I hurried DB into the building.

So what were they doing?? And what an odd place to park at 6:00 in the morning. Hmmm...........

I am really amazed by this blogging thing. It really is an online Journal and won't it be an amazing thing to go back and read in 15 years when my husband it out of the Military. I will go back and read about waiting for orders, waiting for housing, waiting for him to come back from deployments. I will also read about heart breaks, friends and family. My Mother has tried for so long to get me to jornal and I am really going to try to be better at it.

Sorry I haven't posted any really cute pictures of my kids lately, but it has been a busy week.

Terry came down with a cold Sunday night on our drive home from visiting his Mother in Iowa. He had a ton of homework and a test to study for on Monday. Dylan felt bad all day Monday, didn't eat until supper when he managed to get a few cheerios down. After a bath he managed to finally throw up. Went to bed and made it till 3:00 am and then decided it was time to throw up again. He was home with Jason and I on Tuesday.

Wednesday Jason went to his first day of preschool. He seemed to enjoy it. He was ready to go back today.

Tyler and Dylan started soccer this week. Tyler has practice and games on Monday and Wednesday, Dylan on Tuesday and Thursday. Gosh won't that keep us busy.

Needless to say we are all ready for the weekend.

I will try really hard to post pictures today.