Op Love

The last thing on your mind when your wife or husband arrives home after a 4 to 18 month tour, is capturing all this love on film. Most people are so overwhelmed with emotions they forget to simply point and shoot the camera they are grasping of their child first hug,or that single tear of relief from a mother being able to hold her twenty year old son again.With the help of Operation: Love ReUnited and local photographers near your base, you can.

If you are a member or family member of the United States Military, and are interested in having very special and touching imageswith a patriotic edge taken of you and/or your family before a deployment or during, and at your reunion, please contact a photographer in your area now.

http://www.oplove.org/

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GIVEAWAY!!!

As I mentioned in my introduction, I sell Scentsy Wickless Candles.  It is an amazing product and company! It uses a light bulb instead of a flame to melt an amazingly smelling wax.

Kevin choosing Scentsy as he packs his sea bag

Believe it or not, the first thing my husband asked for when he got to his deployment destination was for more Scentsy.  It was so funny because so did other Marines!  Within a week of them arriving, I believe I had 5 or 6 spouses asking me to purchase Scentsy because their Marines were complaining of the awful smell. I was so glad to help!

So I want to spread the Scentsy love to YOU!!! We have a great giveaway this week and we hope you can help us with it.

The giveaway is one Patriotic warmer of your choice and a scent. That's right! Scentsy makes a USMC, USAF, USArmy, USN, and US Coast Guard Warmer!!!

Here are the rules for

 entering our giveaway:

1-Tell us what you would like us to discuss on the blog. Any topic (food, health, fitness, crafts, volunteering, making friends, coping, programs, death, holidays, deployment of course...ANYTHING!) We want to know what you want to read about. Please be specific.

2-There has to be AT LEAST 50 comments from 50 different people in order for us to pick a winner.  So, help us get this blog out there!  Post this on FB, Pinterest, Twitter, and any other social media. Share it on your pages and have your friends follow our blog.  

Winner will be chosen by random drawing on Friday, June 8.

That's it!! Just share your opinion and help us get out there and a Scentsy warmer and scent could be yours!! 

GOOD LUCK!!!!

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Flat Daddy

Let me introduce to you the inspiration for this blog. The following post is by Sherrie Burton.  Taylor and Sherrie have been married for 12 years. Taylor has been in the US Navy for 13. They have 2 most adorable boys, Mackay and Easton. They have been on 5 duty stations, faced 3 deployments and are about to face their 4th.  I am so excited we are working together on this. 

P.S- if anyone has a story, experience, or something to share, PLEASE do so!  We welcome guest bloggers.

Allow me to introduce Flat Daddy! 

'He' is a bit strange, and his head is rather large, but he 

(it, I don't really know what to call it :))

is a deployment must have. 

My boys hauled him everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Flat Daddy went to soccer games, school, and swim lessons. We went to Washington DC for spring break and guess who we dragged along? He attended birthday parties, family reunions, church- we even hauled him through the airport and on a plane with us. 

Last year we faced our 3rd deployment, but it was our 1st with kids. I prepared for months, I read hundreds of blogs, I listened to anyone and everyone who would share their deployment stories, I was armed and ready to go.

Twenty four hours after he left, it all blew up in my face! My 6 year old refused to talk about it. When my husband called or Skyped, he would say "hi" and then walk away. I let it go for a few days thinking he just needed time to be sad and process.

Wrong. It was a good 2 or 3 weeks before he would talk about Dad and a little longer before he would talk to his Dad. Everyone said to just give it time. It broke my heart, it was hard to watch Dad and son struggle and not really know how to help. 

And then Flat Daddy showed up and the kids thought it was the best thing ever!

They LOVED it and it helped smooth the rough transition. Yes, it was still hard that he was gone, you can't replace 'squishy Daddy' but it lightened the mood around here and provided a lot of laughs.  

 

The boys liked to put Flat Daddy in the window, "so he can watch us play Mom". 

And one more than one occasion he would sit and watch Mickey Mouse. 

Flat Daddy was well loved, it's possible that he was loved too much. His head came off about 10 days before the end of deployment but it was worth every penny!

 http://flatdaddies.com/

Make sure you order a good 2 months before you need him. 

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The Moggles

Are you a Harry Potter fan? I am!  I wish I was a wizard!  So sad those books are over :-( Anyways... I will focus now.

Sometimes, we get so involved in our military lifestyle that we forget about our friends that are Moggles or Civilians :-)  I don't feel like they get enough credit for what they do for US.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I attend what we call wards that are designated by where you live.  In many of the wards that we have lived in, we either have 90% be Military families or we are the minority.  But never have we ever felt left out or unappreciated.  I remember in Milton, FL when we were in Flight School, when we said we were a military family, the greeter at the door was so excited to have us.  Then they asked us if we played the piano.  That poor ward had so much turn over they couldn't keep a good piano player.  Anyways... you would think because of that turnover they would get disappointed to have another family that would leave in six months, so why bother getting to know them.  On the contrary!!! They immediately put us to work serving our counterparts, thanked us for our service, and took care of our children when we needed the help.

Andrea Smith, Sophia, Me and Joey (WDW 2011)

Here in Yuma, my civilian friends are my Heavenly Sisters.  Andrea Smith and her family stepped up ten fold during Kevin's first deployment.  She watched my kids whenever I needed her to. She and I were training for a marathon during that time.  I would spend the night at her house and her and her hubby went on date night. The next morning, we were up at 5am to run 20 miles.  Guess who watched 5 kids under the age of 6?  Her husband, the tough US Marshall.  We call him Officer Smith.

Dixie, Aiden, Sadee, Joey, Emma, and I

Jessica Peterson came and helped my while I had a procedure done so that I can carry my child full term.  Emily Rigby sends me encouraging texts and both her and her husband check on us numerous times.  Tiffany Johnson watches my kids. No questions asked.  Megan Butler and her husband either help me with my kids, feed me dinner, or are just there when I need a break.  Dixie Meldrum sends me cupcakes from my favorite Sweet Tooth Fairy in Utah.

Emily and Jessica

Emily (USAF), Me, and Megan Butler

I can keep going at naming all these amazing people that help me.  And I am sorry if I missed any. Of course my immediate family is an amazing support group, but my family lives in NYC and Kevin's family is spread out between 3 states.  So our friends become our family because they are physically here.  Until we can be with our family again.

So what is my point?  The point is... don't lay your eggs all in one basket.  Reach out to those whom you go to school with, go to church with, city sports, anybody that you meet out there in your many many, many, many, moves!  They are all willing to help you.  They are all grateful for all that you do.  They too can be a great source of comfort.

I know... what do they know about having a husband gone 9 months at a time?  Who cares!!! Just let them help.  Some of my civilian friends have husbands who are gone weeks at a time, some work 12 hour days, some are single parents.  Don't judge a book by its cover.  Let them help you as you would help them if asked.

I love my Civilian friends and I would do anything for them!  Thank you for all that you do for me! Pin It

Everyone should get mail

I love my husband, I really do.  But I have 2 children, one on the way, I run an at home business (Scentsy), I volunteer at NNMCRS, Family Readiness Program, church responsibilities... pretty much my time is very limited. So it gets hard to make it to the post office and send packages every week. But even though I named all those things I do, nothing should take precedence over my husband. He should be my first priority and I vowed to make a better effort at sending him care packages this time.

But thank goodness for good Americans who value the service our troops provide. Kevin's Corpsman, HM2 Ingalls (HM1 select-Congrats), registered their unit in this great website that sends care packages.  They received all these cute cards.  What a great service rendered to them!!!  This is a great way for a service member to get packages or letters if they do not get any mail from home.  Yes it does happen.

Below are the websites where you can either register your unit or find out where to send packages to.  You can get your church group, school, community, family together and have an afternoon where they make cards, make toiletry packages, or packages of sweets. You then send it to the organization and they will distribute it accordingly.

Is your spouse deployed?  They can go to these websites and register their units.  They can receive those care packages and disburse them to those who get little or no mail.

Have fun!

Navy

Air Force

Coast Guard

Marine

Army Pin It

They don't have to miss everything!

My son, Kevin (aka Joey), completed Kindergarten this year.  You can only imagine what a proud moment it was for us.  He struggled a lot during the first half of the year.  His teachers were really concerned about his progress and recommended some extra help for him.  After he got the help he needed and Kevin and I understood what we needed to do to help him, he started getting A's and B's by March.  When he completed Kindergarten this last week, he received the Golden Award for STRAIGHT A's!!! VERY proud moment.

But, there has to be opposition in all things, right?  Kevin deployed to the Middle East early this Spring.  So yes, he was not physically here for the graduation.  Do I mention that we he wasn't physically here?  But he was able to watch the whole thing.  Skype Baby!  Its an amazing tool!

We were able to skype Kevin in.  I didn't tell Joey because I wanted to make sure we connected and the time change would be in our favor.  But, it worked.  Joey walked in with his sweet little class.  I was holding up my most amazing iPhone and there was Daddy!  The joy on Joey's face- I mean, I cannot even describe it.  It was amazing!  He immediately told all his friends that Daddy was there.  It brought tears to many eyes.  Where is Lifetime Network when you need it?

Kevin was able to listen to the whole ceremony, cheer loudly for his son, and make his day.

Yes it is sad that our spouses are gone during these special moments, but we are so incredibly blessed to have modern technology. I mean can you imagine being a military spouse during WWII or even WWI?  Wait...what about about the Civil War?  Communication was so difficult if even possible.

Now our husbands can text us from their emails, they can get on FB if possible, they can Skype, they can face time, our FRO's set up teleconferences with them, free mail.  We have it good.  We have it hard, but its still good and can be worst.

I hope you get to communicate with your hubby often.  Here are a few ways you can do so.

Skype- Video Chat, call phones, Instant Message

Magic Jack- I don't know much about this, but its supposed to be free local and long distance calling. I know a few spouses who use it.

USPS- Here you can find a phone number where you can get a Military Kit for Priority Mail shipping

MOTOMAIL- Like regular mail, MotoMail produces a folded, sealed letter to the Marine, secure end-to-end for both text and photo.  Yes this says for Marine, but USN, USA, and USAF personnel co-located with US Marines can receive MotoMail.  Free to use. I will do more research to find out free mail for other branches.


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Here we go!

Just about every Sunday, my sweet friends, Sherrie (US Navy) and Lacey (US Marine Corps), text me and encourage me while I go to church with 2 children and pregnant by myself (of course I do the same for them).  Its something we started last year as we each faced our own first deployments. Our texts go something like this:

Sherrie, Rhiannon (US Air Force), Lacey, Me (Pensacola, FL 2010)

"On my way to church. Wish me luck"

"Another Sunday down"

"AHHHGGHH! Do you hear that? Its me cheering you on! You can do this!"

I look forward to hearing from them and it reminds me that deployments don't have to suck if we stick together.

Sherrie is extremely crafty.  Like- I want to be like her when I grow up, crafty :-) One Sunday she was giving me all these great ideas about care packages and it dawned on me, that we should have somewhere were we can go and share our ideas, share our feelings, our deployment traditions (because yes it happens enough where we can have traditions), and have somewhere where we can go and know that we are not the only ones going through this alone.

So here it is!  United Spouses of America.  Here I hope to post ideas for care packages, ways to keep the kids entertained, programs the Military has to offer for us, ways we can support our troops, crafts, health and fitness, recipes, whatever you may need so that deployments don't have to suck for you. I hope you enjoy!

Oh.... wait! Who am I?  Here you go :-)

Kevin and I. Navy ball 2011

My name is Doorly Winegar. I was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in NYC. I have been married to my husband for 9 fantastic years!  His name is Kevin Winegar. We met at Brigham Young University.  He was a Senior and I was a Sophomore.  During his senior year, we found out about the HPSP the Military offered. In a nut shell, they pay for all of medical school (tuition, fees, books, monthly stipend, etc) and you give back year for year in service for the time you spent in medical school (or any other health profession).  Kevin came home and told me we could graduate from medical school with very little or no debt.  He didn't have to ask me twice.  I was on board right away and excited for our new journey.

Completion of Intern year at NNMC

He attended Midwestern University in Glendale, AZ. During that time we had our first born, Joey. After graduating, we did our intern year at what was then National Naval Medical Center but is now Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.  We were there for a year. It was extremely tough for us because I was on bed rest with our second child and Kevin worked sometimes at 3 am till 6pm. It was very draining for the both of us.  But we loved the area and we welcomed our second child, Emma.





As far as I know, the Navy is the only branch in the service that has the interns do a Flight Surgery tour in the middle of residency.  Kevin got accepted to accomplish Flight Surgery training in Pensacola, FL for the next six months. With 2 children, we moved to Milton, FL where he would spend 1/2 the time training at NAS Whiting Field and the other time at NAS Pensacola.  This is where I met Sherrie and Lacey.  Here, he learned the basics of flying so that he could understand what his pilots go through and I am sure more intricate details I don't know about LoL.  At the end, he received his wings.

Receiving his wings 2010

We now are stationed in Yuma, AZ at the Marine Corps Air Station.  He completed his first deployment last year aboard the 31st MEU. He is currently serving another deployment.

We have Joey and Emma and are expecting our third child.  A girl.  No we don't know the name yet. No he won't be here for the birth.  :-(

Me, Emma, Kevin (US Navy), Joey

So that is us.  Even though our experience is very little, we are very involved and love our lifestyle.  Yes it has its moments, and yes it get frustrating, but we KNEW what we were signing up for, and its an honor to serve our country. Pin It