Settling in

Well, it's been just over 3 months since Mark has been back. I think we're finally getting the sense of normalcy that most people have.

Mark's been to two of his 30-60-90 day re-integration sessions. This weekend he has one up in Chisholm. It's a celebration type weekend, where families come...they have parades and bbq's. Mark says he wouldn't make me go, because it's so boring...just a lot of talking I guess. So instead I have a date weekend with the little boy - Trooper that is.

We've done some landscaping/fixing up in the yard this summer. Had to re-do some pipe (PVC type) for water drainage, since we've been having some problems with water in our basement. We also got new windows, so that's helped a lot! Half of our yard is trying really hard to grow grass, but I think it's been over watered by this rain the past couple of days, we'll see if we get any little sprouts soon. It's funny the things you get excited over when you own a house :) It's nice that our house is finally starting to become our home.

Mark and I were talking about how much people helped out while Mark was gone. Between the care packages, taking care of the runt (t-dog), and keeping me company. It's kind of neat to see people drop their normal schedule to pitch in a little somewhere else....we both really appreciated it...and still do.

Mark is back in school. He has a year left after this semester is over. I signed him up for the most classes he could take, to try to get done earlier (without telling him of course :). It'll be nice to have the school thing behind him, that's for sure.

I've been thinking of grad school. I have to take some tests before I will even apply, so there is some time, but it's in the works hopefully.

Our little fluff. Don't let his cuteness fool you, he's still a tiny terror.

H, M + T-dog

Good times

Thanks to everyone who could make it out this past weekend. Good food and great company...we are lucky to have all of you in our lives.

Thank you also for the gifts that some of you brought over...it was a great surprise, and your generocity is appreciated! We got some great gifts, like personalized coasters withour pictures in them (and Troop has one too!), a scrapbook kit, delish bbq sauce/salsa, some glass bowls, lots of wine :) a neat wine stopper, and some sweet cards.

If partys weren't so much planning, we'd have you all over every month! Feel free to swing by and say hi anytime your in the area, now that you all know where the pad is.

Trooper told me too, that he loved all the attention. He's such a flirt.

Thanks again!
Mark and Heather

Ps....someone left a red Tupperware bowl (that had chex mix in it), and a plastic container that had potato salad. We ate the food, but still have the bowl :)...so feel free to claim it, and we'll get it back to you!

Mark's Welcome Home/Housewarming Partay

The time has come folks, 

This Saturday, we are having you over for a shin-dig to celebrate. We've got lots to celebrate...Marks homecoming, our new house, and of course Mr. T (the dog, who is shown above licking the dickens out of a yogurt container...as Mark says, "getting his active cultures..." smart guy). 

Where: Our digs- for an address, e-mail me at hj.pound@yahoo.com  I don't really want Joe shmo from the Internet stopping by on Sat, so i'm not going to put by address on here.

When: July 10th . 3pm -9ish 

What: Party, Pound style...whatever that might be.

It's open house style. Feel free to bring some food/appetizer or snacks to share, but do not feel like you need to...We will provide some Sloppy and Turkey Joes, chips/dip, fruit, desserts and some beverages....anything you think would accompany that, your welcome to bring. Again, if you can't/don't want to bring anything...don't feel obligated!
 
See everyone Saturday!

Catching up on life

These past couple weeks have flown by.

Mark and I have been so busy, but it's been good busy. My sister just got married this weekend, which turned out perfectly, as expected. Mark and I were talking about the upcoming week, and realized that we have everyday booked.
We're both kind of home-bodies, so that is not a good thing. Between work and plans every night, this girl is pooped! Is it wrong that we already can't wait for next weekend, and this one is barely finished?

We don't have much planned for the 4th, excpet the whole celebration of independence thing...you know how that goes. We're planning on going to the lake, taking it easy and maybe...only maybe, cleaning the house. The poor house hasn't cleaned itself yet, but we thought maybe if we leave it long enough, it might. Doesn't work that way I guess.

We still have to post Mark's pictures from Afghanistan, which will happen soon. As soon as we can make it happen. My laptop has taken a turn for the worse...and I'm clearly the keeper of the blog (hehe)..so i've got to figure out how to make the uploading happen without a laptop. I'm too impatient to sit at a desktop computer. I have to be doing 5 things at once to be functioning, so only when I have the laptop, can I make that happen.

So the entire point of this post is to tell you that we didn't forget about everyone, and are just coming to confess our business/laziness.

Later Gators.

H & M & T-dog

Honey, i'm home!

Well...it's good to be home. The whole homecoming took a long time, but went really fast once we got back . We flew from Camp Leatherneck- left two days late, to Kyrgyzstan- spent two days, to Romania- spent a day, to Maine, then Wisconsin, and finally to Minnesota.

Just as we passed the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, we were met by some Freedom riders and police escorts. I expected my family to meet me at the armory, but was really surprised to see my neighbors out to welcome me, and see our house all decorated. It was a nice surprise. Sounds like we have really good neighbors. They also welcomed us with a gift basket. It's nice to finally see my family again, see the house as "ours" (I saw it once before we bought it), and meet Trooper the terror (ok, he's not that bad). He only acts up when Heather gets home. It's nice for her though, because when she gets home, he's already kind of warn out. The first two nights home were tough for him, he didn't get much attention, therefore we didn't get much sleep.

Just want to say thank you to everyone who supported Heather and I and my unit with prayers, care packages, letters, cards.
Pictures below are of the homecoming...we will put up more pictures from the second half of my deployment next time. It's finally good to be home!

Neighbors decorating our house

This was the night before I was home, in addition to this, there was a "red" carpet, that the neighborhood kids decorated.

Heather and I

Flag hanging over the street from where our bus turned to the armory

What can I say, we're kind of popular

Here we come!

More veterans

neighbors gift basket

A warm welcome to the neighborhood

Ok, so Heathers making me post this. I don't like broccoli, and she made me eat it.

Cindy and I, Heather's mom.

The Pound clan

Heather's boss got us tickets to the Twins game the night after I got back.

Thanks again for everything!

Mark

It's official

Ok, so it's still Heather...no Mark yet, but...

Mr. Pound will be home this Wednesday! Woo Hoo!

Just thought everyone might want an update :)

H

Remember being 5-10 years old and going to Disney World?

The night before your going to get on a plane to Disney World, you can't sleep, sleep in your clothes because you already want it to be tomorrow....that's the degree of excitement over here.

Mark should be back in the states tomorrow. He will be in Wisconsin for a couple of days and hopefully getting lots of hugs around June 10th. He has spent the last couple of days in Kyrgyzstan.

Hopefully the next time you read the blog, it will be Mark writing it :)

Heather

Give thanks

Thanksgiving is a day where we pause and give thanks for the things we have, Memorial Day is a day when we pause to give thanks to the people who fought for the things we have.

Go find a veteran to thank...or come over July 10th to our house for a welcome home for Mark/housewarming party. 3-9pm, open house style. Feel free to bring some food/appetizer or snacks to share. If you need our address, e-mail me for it (htref@yahoo.com), ask a Trefethren, or ask a Pound... and one of us will be able to direct you to the right place!

Mark leaves tomorrow to for his journey home (our tomorrow is their Tuesday). All sorts of excitement fills our world right now.
-H

Brownie Pound

This dog has a mind of his own! He's currently camped out under our bed, for the third time after pulling him out. He went under there to get his Kong that rolled under. He can't get out by himself, so i've pulled him out three times. Once by his hind legs, and twice by his front...and he keeps going back under. This is a new thing. He did it once last night in the middle of the night but didn't go back after I pulled him out. so funny!

8

Single digits! The excitement grows...

I've been so busy with my sisters wedding festivities, work, and entertaining the dog... that the days have been going really fast.

Mark has also been busy with training in the new unit, still working 12 hour days, every day and going on several missions. As of a couple days ago, he still had one to go on before their time was done. They are working up until the last minute. I haven't heard how the weather is lately, but it probably can't be much better than ours. I doubt they have the humidity that Minnesota graces us with, but it's still HOT.

We are planning a welcome home/housewarming party for July, so i'll update everyone on the date(s) for that. Mark is really excited to see and personally thank everyone for all of the care packages, well wishes and prayers. We are a very lucky family to have just great people around us.

I found this picture last night...














...and this one too...

People ask me almost daily, "how do you do it," "I bet your really sad that he's gone," "I hope he comes home..."

The fact is, I couldn't be more proud. Do you know what it's like to be overflowing with happiness, and yet alone? I'm physically by myself, but so happy that he has stopped his life here at home and is doing what he is passionate about. Everyone has their opinion of him being there, but the bottom line is, he's serving for you, me and everyone around us. Thank God that we have people who are willing to put their lives on "hold," and even give their lives up for our country...our freedom.

To be honest, most days I'm happy. Happy to have someone in my life that I can be so proud of. ...so happy for. I'm glad that he followed his heart and pursued something that he truly wanted to do. When he joined the Army, he said, "I feel that it is my duty to serve my country, be a part of something bigger than yourself...." and I have no choice but to support him in his choices.

I can't wait for the day that I get to see him again, hug him, and be able to start our lives together. This year is just a brief moment in our lives, that will soon be in the past. I would do anything for this guy, and he would do anything for our country, so lets keep them all in our prayers as they get ready to come home....and for a safe trip.

Love makes the world go round :)

17

17 days until he leaves the sandbox. ...well it will be 17 in thirty minutes for us folks in the good old US of A.

Here is an update from him tonight...

"Soon the new unit will be here, then we will have to train people in. They call it left seat right seat. things are going decent right now. Mitchell and myself go running 3.5 - 4miles a night I seem to lift about every other day or so. Otherwise I read books and since my computer is broken I read more books =) they just finished the mwr and they have a "movie theater" so we go there sometimes to watch a movie. "

There are pictures of their new MWR, and theater...as well as the 4 mile run they did in remembrance of Cauley here... http://gallery.me.com/michael_coffman.
The pictures are one of the soldiers, who Mark doesn't directly work with... so there aren't any of him, but lots of their base and other things listed above.

In other news, my dog just ate a sucker, stick and all....and he smells...

Possibly the most unattractive and cutest picture all in one :)

H

"Just change..."

...that's what Mark says about how much time is left to come home. "A month/two months/three months, and ...some change." but now, it's just "some change..."
He just got back from a mission, but does have another one coming up. I don't like when he goes on them, but for every one he goes on, it's one less that he has to do in the future. One month seems like a looooonnng time, but we're 12/13 of the way done! One month out of thirteen is like one hour out of 24, just a moment in time...this wait will all be over soon.

Today Trooper and I did a 5 mile walk for the Humane Society...there were hundreds of people there, therefore hundreds of DOGS, as well as ferrets, cats, and rabbits. I understand the dog thing, but the rest of those animals were pretty entertaining to see being pushed around in strollers. It ended up being him walking me, and me fighting him the entire way. We went with one of his girlfriends, Abbey.

I came home and dug up some energy to do yard work...it seems to be never-ending! I mowed the yard, dug up weeds, and gave myself more work to do by cutting down an overgrown bush. This thing was so ugly, looked like an overgrown weed and blocked my window. I cut it down, then cut most of the branches up. I must say, it is nice to have the sun shine through now! My body feels like i'm about 80 right now. I'll be regretting doing that by morning!
This picture pretty much sums up Trooper.

Trying to sleep while I bug him. He's getting better about sleeping, but still wakes up twice or so to g out. He's a whopping 50 lbs now...double from what he was when I got him. Labs average 60-80 lbs.

He is so modest

Before long, Mark will be updating!

H

1 year

All because we gave love a chance...



** If your going to send Mark a pkg, do it before May 1st...after that, they don't guarantee that they will get them.

40

40 days until Mark leaves, at least I think it's 40.

We're at the antsy point...as if we weren't before. He is really anxious to get out of there. If you call what they had before, freedom; the Army has taken it away. They aren't getting days off anymore (they worked 6, got one off), and are working 12 hour days. At least the end is in sight.

We are going to plan a welcome home party/housewarming party for Mark sometime in July/early Aug so i'll keep people in the loop for that...he is excited to see everyone again!

It was proposed to have a surprise party for him when he got back, but as it is, he will be overwhelmed with his "new" life (house, dog, etc.). It's a good idea, but don't want to overload the poor guy.

Trooper is good, still wiggly! He wiggles when he walks or when he's excited, it's really cute. I gave him a bath two days ago, and boy was he filthy! He was so good in the bath though. The other times i've given them to him, he will back his hind legs up the shower wall, so they are on the sides of of wall, and his front legs are on the bottom of the tub, it's so funny to watch. This time, he just stood there, gave me the "look," and sucked it up. When he got out, he ran laps for at least 5 minutes around the house. He was wet though, so instead of just running, he slid on his belly across the wood/kitchen floor. Who needs TV when you have this kind of entertainment. If I can figure out how to get a video on here, i'll put it up!

I'm trying to teach him how to run, that's an interesting task. He likes to sit down randomly, while i'm still running. He also doesn't run very fast. It's a learning experience.

Well, lets hope these next 40 days go fast! I don't count the travel time home, because i'm just excited that he's on his way...those are exciting days too!

Thanks for the prayers, and care packages everyone has been sending...it is all very appreciated!

Gettin' old!

Although it doesn't look like he enjoys being held, he really does...he's good at faking it.

Does it mean that I'm getting old because I get excited about appliances? We had a new fridge and dryer come today. The delivery guys came around 12:30pm, and Lyle and I thought that we were set to get the old ones out and the new ones in. Wrong. We had measured the area where the new fridge was going, but not all of the doorways in the house to get it to the place it was going, and fit. The delivery people came and the guy said, "looks like you'll have to buy a new fridge." Lyle and I looked at each other, thinking, "no,...we will not!" Lyle gets crafty with things like this, and had the guys leave it in the dining room. He took the whole door frame off so we could get another inch to get the fridge through. I say "we," but I was really only moral support :) Jake came over to help too. It took until 4pm to get everything in and back in it's place. Things don't ever go as planned in an antique house. We had to take the couch apart to get that in the house too. I asked the sellers how they got theirs in, they said through the window!

Old fridge...

TaDa! New fridge. Isn't she a beaut??
It matches my sweet new dishwasher.

In other news...less than 2 months until Mark is back!! Woot!
H

57

The next 57 days are probably going to go by very slow. Counting days as it is, makes it seem like time has stopped.

Mark is doing well, working 12 hour days for the next couple of days (starting at 5:30am- ick!) because they had a couple of vehicle roll-overs. Everyone is ok, but it's a lot of work on the trucks from here on out, especially since they are short staffed.

Thanks to everyone who has sent out packages since the care package party. They love getting the packages, and really, who doesn't love mail (of the non-junk sort).

Keep them in your prayers for a safe return and rest of the deployment...it's about the time that everyone is getting antsy.

-H

64 and counting

Trooper and his girlfriend, Bella (my sister's dog)...clearly distracted. They wrestled like crazy and had to be held for a photo op. Mark is really excited to meet Trooper, so I try to take as many pictures as possible to send him.

Trooper being a spaz, while Bella watches.

I love these moments...they don't happen often.

Our unorganized "office." I still have boxes in here that need unpacking, clearly.

The upstairs. I love this space, but don't get to use it much. We made the room in the back, a "guest room." There is a newly renovated bathroom back there as well. We plan to make this space a living room type of area.

Our guest room. We got the bed from a friend, and had to make-do with our own sheets...don't make fun. :)

Not too much going on over here. Counting down the days until Mark comes home...64 days until he leaves, he should be home around the end of June.

I'm feeling quite old over here. We recently bought a fridge and dryer, as well as getting a dishwasher and new disposal. I love having a house. It's a lot of work, but I have quite the family who have been helping me and the doggie get along quite well.

Not too much else going on, i'm too tired to piece together thoughts, so enjoy the randomness!

Mark's words...

Mark went on a mission with another guy to recover some vehicles, below is what he said about it...


...we are back. we woke up on Thursday at like 6 in the morning, Schienbein and I worked on trucks most of the day, then we rolled out back to leatherneck at like 7 PM. It took like almost 3 hours to get out of the kandahar base, because we had a new unit with us. They did not PMCS their trucks (look them over and make sure they are good to go.) so as soon as we started rolling they called out over the radio that 2 of their tires were flat on their trailer. They were driving HETTS, huge trucks and their trailer has 48 tires on it! so it took them like a hour and a half to fix it. then as soon as we were rolling again another one of them hit a concrete barrier and blew another tire!!! the convoy commander told them to just roll with it(they had another 47 tires =))

So we finally got rolling(I was pulling the same truck that I brought up) one of the bridges we had to go over the taliban tried to blow up a week or two ago, so the army built another temp bridge thing over the hole in it. It could only hold so much weight so the HETTS had to go through the river below and the rest of us went over the bridge. One of the HETTS got stuck in the river so that took awhile to get them out.

After that we went through Kandahar city, they enacted a curfew on the city because of recent attacks so no civilians were outside at all. There were Afghan police everywhere in the city, at every intersection and in their little outposts all over the city, and we were the only vehicles on the roads. It was kinda creepy, but we had the roads all to our self, which made it easy and quick to get around. Oh on a side note, on the way up to Kandahar on the other side of the road we say a little boy get hit by a Afghani truck =( we stopped about a block up and our interpreter jumped out at a police check point and told them about it. We were not allowed to call for a medivac(helicopter) for him since we did not cause the accident. but the police took him to a hospital like a bat out of hell.

Well after many rips it(kind of like a red bull energy drink we get for free over here) and packets of beef jerky we got back to leatherneck at like 5 in the morning on friday after 10 hours of sitting in the truck. It was kinda peaceful out there being the only people on the road all night, and the country did not look like such a dump in the dark. lucky for us nothing else broke down on the way back and I am writing this to you after getting back to the hooch and crashing for like 6 hours of sleep....

Keepin' on

I'm not going to lie...I momentarily forgot that the blog existed, my bad.
The past two weeks have been very busy...a blur, really. The move went good, the pup is good- got comfortable with the place right away. Lyle (father in law), has dog-proofed most/all the yard in the past two weeks so Trooper is finally able to run around, and enjoy the backyard. He does less running, and more eating sticks/anything on the ground...but i'll pretend he runs around.
I am mostly unpacked, but still have some boxes that need a home. I've really enjoyed being here, and have managed living alone fairly well. Less than 3 months until Mark gets to see his new home! Some pictures below are not in order, thanks to my old-school computer...

Trooper in his chair. Half of the living room. My sister asked why I keep the kennel there, I figure he is most comfy in the living room when i'm home, so I thought he would like spending his days there too.

Dining room, which is more organized now. These pictures are from last week.

Closet that Lyle built me! The shoe rack is my favorite, and sadly, Trooper's favorite too. He just helps himself to a shoe and away he goes.

Other half of the living room- just representing with the flag...Mark would be proud :)

I have ones of my bedroom, but Id feel creeped out if everyone knew what it looked like, so use your imagination! I'll put up more of the office and upstairs/guest room, sometime later.

Mark is doing good. The temperature over yonder is heating up...last I heard it was about 80 degrees during the day. How it goes from 30 to 80 in a matter of weeks is beyond me, but at least they are enjoying it more!

They had to send two guys home due to medical reasons, so they are a bit short staffed, but keeping busy. It sounds like they are all pretty antsy to get home. Less than 3 months, which sounds short, and excruciatingly long at the same time. I'm grateful that my days go by so fast, it's one less that I have to wait.

I haven't written in so long, so i'm not sure if anything else is going on!

I'm loving the weather and spending most of my mornings/evenings outside with the pooch, but otherwise working. Keeping busy though!

thanks to everyone who helped with the move and/or contributed to our sparse home. It's nice to finally call it "our home."

H

Excitement of the house sort

I never entirely understood other peoples excitement of getting a first home, but I think I have enough excitement for ten people and finally get it.

We closed on the house today, and spent all day unpacking boxes, painting, doing dishes and...I guess that's it!
It doesn't look like we even touched the house, but lots of work was put in today- thanks to the parentals and Laura!

It is almost midnight, and the alarm will slap me in the face in 5 hours (gotta find time to run SOMETIME!), so I will leave you with a couple of pictures. Excuse the grungy get up- we were workin' hard!

Momma, myself (with keys and door opener in hand) and our Realtor, David.

Starting to unpack- we're about halfway done bringing boxes in.


Laura and the Madge hard at work!

Not sure what kind of painting skills I had, but I tried!

I can imagine the jealousy of that dining room table.



Oops, how did he sneak in there! He is extra adorable lately.

H