Rob's gone...day two

Two exes on the calendar.

Two colorful, construction-paper chain links clipped away.

Only 33 more until we see him again.

The kids and I are doing okay.

Lily asked on the way home from the airport, "Is Daddy going to church with us tomorrow?" "No, honey, Daddy will be in Navy school." "What?!" she exclaimed incredulously. She asked if we could go back to the airport tomorrow and pick him up. She keeps asking for confirmation that we are going to go see him on Seth's birthday, which we are. Over and over she asks. I gently reassure her over and over.

Seth said, "I miss my daddy. He's my favorite kind of daddy." I'm with ya, buddy. Then after church this morning, my mom picked him up from his class. Rob usually does this. Seth asked her, "Where's my dad?" She told him, "He's in Navy school." He didn't say anything, but just looked straight ahead, suddenly remembering.

Caleb said, as we watched Rob's red and gray plane fly off into the blue, "This is the worst day of my life." He posted to his blog: "Today my dad left to Rhode Island for Navy training. I feel a little down, but I'm glad he's going into the Navy, because the Lord Jesus told us to go." Rob's obedience is having a tremendous impact on our children.

Gabriel posted to his blog today. His post is titled "When Dad Left" and it reads simply this: "Dad left. It was hard. I was sad." He's mostly quiet and introspective about his thoughts, but on the page he expressed himself clearly and effectively, nearly breaking my heart.



We miss him. I still sleep on my side of the bed and reach over for him in the fogginess of early morning. Then I suddenly remember, too. 33 more days.

When Rob got to the Newport naval station, he checked in, got his orders signed, and was then told that he is on leave until Monday night because of the holiday weekend. His lucky roommate only lives an hour from the base, so he checked in, and then he went home to spend the weekend with his wife and child. I am happy for the leave time, because at least Rob can call me when he wants to. Here are a couple tidbits from his new experience: the food is not good, he is surrounded by water and noisy seagulls, the dark of evening comes a lot earlier in RI than MI, and he can't seem to find a coffee maker anywhere on base. God have mercy! He's got another whole day of nothing...and then he's going to be thrown into the deep end.



I'm doing better. I'm down to needing pain meds only a couple of times a day. For me the worst part is how easily wiped out I get. I hate the blah feeling of exhaustion with nothing to show for it. I have a post-op doctor's visit this Friday. I can then talk to my surgeon in length about my surgery and the cyst.

Thanks again to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. We're still prayer needy...