Army Wives..

Oh. my. goodness.
Brandon and I watched two Army Wives shows in a row the other night.
And we cried.
That's right, WE.
One of the main characters DIED in combat.
And I think it brought back so many of the emotions we both had during the death of one of his best friends. And the way it affected me at home...with him having to shut me off and continue moving forward. Not to mention that it happened RIGHT when we were finding out about Briar.
Thinking about telling him about Briar while he was in the middle of a war zone.
Thinking of him losing his friend (our friend) in the midst of all of it.
It is overwhelming.

It is coming up on the one year anniversary of that time.
We still think about our friend all the time. Him, and all the rest that have been lost in our time there.  Not to mention our injured friends.
Military wives/families deal with so much.
I have a girl in my class (I teach on a military post where all my students have at least one military parent) who has been breaking down a lot lately for no reason.
Upon further inspection, it turns out her dad is leaving soon.
Deploying. For a year.
That makes sense.
Of course she is sad!
No wonder it is coming out in a different way.  How is she supposed to handle those feelings?

Brandon is not deploying at the moment, but he will be starting a more 'intense' job, where he is in the field for a week at a time..and that will be a change. A sad change.
But not the same as watching your husband go to war.
Many of my friends currently have husbands there.
With a VERY REAL risk.
That I like to minimize in my mind when he goes.
But nonetheless, it is real.
And scary.

And if you have no clue about anything military, that show will give you a peek into the world. It is occasionally cheesy, inaccurate, etc....but it has improved, and overall, I think it gives a good picture of the feelings that wives go through as their husbands are in the cycle of deployments, training and the very sparse moments at home.

Aw, sometimes I miss calling Brandon AG. Back when he was in such a secure job, his name on the blog had to be that...AG=Army Guy.

On another note...

At the moment, I am shaking in my boots, getting ready for KENTUCKY to play tonight.
Oh gosh, I'm nervous!!

NCAA Championships (R): #4 Kentucky  - Add to iGoogle
	Elite Eight: Mar 27, #4 Kentucky Wildcats 76 - #2 North Carolina Tar Heels 69 Final Four: @ #3 Connecticut Huskies, Apr 2 8:49pm ET Bracket-Live video www.ncaa.com

Hope you have a wonderful Saturday.

On, on U of K...

In college, I used to sit behind the basket for almost every home game.

I made friends with the blue coat (old guy usher) who sat there.  He would save me a seat.  It made for some fun experiences. Ashley Judd. (she borrowed my foam finger...)  Dick Vitale (that's right, I made it into our school's athletic program with a picture of him.)  and tons of fun victories. But never this.....

That is where the Wildcats are going.

Yep.  

It feels like we go all the time.

Didn't we just go to the final four last year?

Nope, that was back in high school...

This is a big, monumental occasion for Lexington, KY. Or those of us who have ever lived there.  OR if you grew up watching EVERY Kentucky basketball game with your parents.

And you know that the town shuts down when Kentucky loses.

Well, my friends...Kentucky basketball is a little bit ALL CONSUMING right now in my life. My team just made it to the final four for the first time since 1998. In our minds, our awesome team makes it every year. We are such loyal basketball fans. Maybe because it's the only championship legacy we have. But regardless, we hold on to it.....TIGHTLY!

The game against North Carolina was incredible. The game against Ohio State was incredible.
We play UCONN on Saturday.
I am so nervous.
But for now, we will just be excited about the accomplishment of the final four.
Knowing that we are not satisfied with that.

Coach Cal gave Liggins a small kiss after he hit a shot to seal the victory :)

Brandon Knight has been knocking down threes...I almost called him John Wall, our freshman from last year who already moved on to the NBA.

SO SORRY if this bores you. I am just so INTO MARCH MADNESS!
I was so sad for Kansas.  My little friends the FItzcharles love the Jayhawks...so I do too...I was sad to see them go down to VCU.  My Bracket was also sad...

I've got to confess...

I've got a crush on Kentucky Basketball.
No, not on the players.  On the Sport. On the Team. On the coaching style.  I have watched Kentucky Basketball since I was a little girl. I can recall banging on the TV when I was a little girl...because we lost a game at the last second. (if you must know, it was against DUKE and the shot was hit by Christian Laetner.) I'm not kidding. This runs deep.  I bleed blue :)
When I was in school, I found a friend that worked at Rupp Arena, where the Cats play their home games. He was one of the "Blue Coats" or 'elderly gentlemen that serve as greeters/ushers".  His spot was right behind the basket. Because he was old, he had a chair sitting there.  Every home game, he saved me a spot behind his chair to stand. So I always had a spot waiting for me behind that chair. Every game. I loved that guy. He was so kind. And he got me great views :) I met Ashley Judd. Well, I didn't talk to her. But she borrowed my foam finger and shook it around for a while! haha!  I met Dick Vitale many times. Took many pictures with him. One even ended up in our player guide the year after I graduated.  My parents loved that :)  I always wound up on ESPN because of those good seats.  Oh, and the best part? Those tickets cost $5.  Now...it costs me $50 per ticket to sit in the upper level!  Oh, to be a student again :)
Lucky for me, Auburn doesn't love basketball as much as Kentucky. Since they are close by, we ventured over to see the cats.  It wasn't quite the game I expected though.  We played horribly. Auburn played well. It kept things interesting...let's just say that.

My hubby and my brother in law...Look at Coach Cal telling these guys how to play! I love it. He's great!  Even if we were losing, I just feel like he has a good energy. It was fun to watch him.So Brandon makes fun of this headband. Well, he used to. He told me it looked like a bird landed on my head. But with the cute buttons...it is just cute. I bought it from a cute etsy shop, then I realized that this cute girl had a blog...which I LOVE. He is wearing my scarf in the picture. I was so worked up about the game, I couldn't take it. Guess who doesn't really care about UK bball? That's right..Army guy does not care. He likes the Army. He likes God. He doesn't really care much about basketball. How dare he! :)  There has to be one stable one in the family~!

Hoops For Haiti....Kentucky Basketball decided to auction off a dinner with Coach Cal and Ashley Judd, our biggest fan. It raised 98,000 dollars for Haiti.  So glad they are willing to help.  They also did a telethon with the players to help.

Two Years Ago...

It's Christmas time. I can't help but remember the holiday when my hubby was in Iraq. (and no, military people, this does not break OpSec...because several of these photos were PA photos) He specifically requested the Santa suit. He was a leader of a group of about 30+ guys...and he decided to take them gifts (in the back of a truck)...as Santa. Oh gosh. I'm glad he's got a good sense of humor. I wasn't laughing as much when I was alone on Christmas, but then I think of the good. I think of the ministry that the Lord allowed Brandon to do. The unique situations Brandon was in because of this deployment. The ability he has to influence men for the gospel. Reminds me of Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." It might not always work out how I want it. But it works out.
For Example:


If Brandon was busy being Santa and working with the local people...



he was going to miss his best friend's wedding. I don't know if you are aware of the time in 2007 when the deployments were being extended from 12 months to 15 months? Well...that happened to us. What once would be a fun reunion/wedding....turned into a time where he would miss a special occasion. But I couldn't let that stop me. NO way! My sweet, crafty, amazing friend Melinda helped me create a stand up B. It was too expensive to have this made at Kinkos. So I just had him printed to the waist. Then we put spray adhesive on the back of him, mounted him to foam core and painted on his legs (who needs fancy photo paper? All we need is legs..) I think they look great!


He was a hit and people took pictures with him all night. I even danced with him quite a bit. Especially during the slow dances :)


Right now, I brought him downstairs (from the attic) to hang out as a nice, manly (scary) silhouette in my windows. I know, dorky, right? His legs came off, so right now he's just a head and shoulders. He's three years old now! The big army guy comes home Monday...so he can go back to the attic soon!!

Excited to go to bed. The cats (Kentucky Wildcats) just pulled out a win over UCONN! Still undefeated...but by a hair!! :)