I think it might be better for my mental health if I start counting from zero (today being his travel day and actual “Orders” beginning tomorrow), rather than counting down from 400 days to when his deployment is supposed to be over. We all know how delays happen, and I can already imagine the sinking feeling when I get to Day -1, then Day -2 … and so on … if he’s not home in exactly 400 days.

Today went pretty smoothly, all things considered. Jeremy told me at least four times that he missed Daddy already. It’s going to be a long year, but we’ll get through. We’ve already been blessed with awesome friends at church and work who have provided meals and babysitting, not to mention the tremendous blessing of having my folks nearby. My mom reported for duty at 0530 this morning so that I could drive Lane to the airport without getting the boys up & ready. She also went with me to pick them up from kids’ church tonight, which was a great help.

Also, a friend at church told me this morning that she was bringing us dinner tomorrow night. Awesome! I love it when someone says, “I’m doing this for you.” It totally takes away any feeling of being a burden on people when you realize that they truly want to help.

Speaking of dinner, I’m so proud of myself for how I rescued leftovers today. The boys are pretty good eaters, on the whole. Aidan doesn’t like many veggies (ok, he likes raw carrots and nothing else), but he knows that he has to eat a little of everything. (We don’t have a clean plate rule, but I don’t allow them to call my efforts “yuck” or refuse to try something, even a bite or two.) On the contrary, three of the boys would rather have salad than french fries, given the option. However, none of them are particularly fond of stew. There’s just something about big chunks of veggies and meat … I have to admit, it’s not on my all-time fave list, either. Anyway, we had some stew in the crockpot that my mother-in-law was kind enough to prep for us yesterday, and I put it in the fridge until today, when I planned to heat it up for lunch. No one liked it. So, while they were busy playing this afternoon, I blended the leftover stew in the food processor and made it into creamy vegetable beef soup. It was a big hit at dinner with grilled cheese sandwiches! Mom: 1; Yuck: 0