shouldn't a security blanket be warm?

Most of the time I really appreciate all of the security measures that the military takes to help to keep me safe, even when they may inconvenience me. Every time I go to a military post, I am required to go through a security checkpoint, where I present my military ID, which is electronically scanned by a security card to verify my right to go on post. And at any time, I may be selected for a random vehicle inspection, which requires getting out of my car and opening up all of the doors and trunk and whatever else the guard requests. As I said, most of the time I really appreciate these measures. But today...I wasn't really feeling the appreciation. Instead I was feeling the heavy sleeting freezing rain pelting me and the muddy freezing slush seeping into my shoes. Today, we had some bad weather, which caused the garrison to close and me to be sent home from work early. The roads were not bad at all, but I think the hope was to get people home before it got dark and before the roads got slick with ice. I was pretty bummed when the security guard apologized to me and asked me to pull over to the vehicle inspection point, an area that unfortunately wasn't covered. So I had to get out of the car in the freezing rain, wearing my grown-up heels and tromp around in the slosh opening and closing doors and the trunk and the hood. When I got back in the car, I was shivering and the interior of the car was pretty damp. At the time, it made me a little grumpy. But as I drove the rest of the way home, it made me feel good that even lousy weather was not an excuse to be less vigilent about security.



Other than the snow/rain/sleet nastiness, today was a good day. I finished up my second week of work with a busy and productive day. A day in which I participated in a more integrated way with my team and took on new responsibilities. I feel that I really am bringing qualities to the team that will help us in our mission. Which is a pretty nice feeling!



Another nice feeling is the feeling one gets when she receives her first piece of mail from her deployed husband! While I knew that Jerry had sent me a package with some things that I had requested (which still hasn't been delivered), I had no expectations of anything else. So it was quite a surprise to receive this great postcard in the mail today:

Camels are pretty awesome! But not as awesome as a certain Jerry Giant who totally brightened my already bright day with this card!

Also on my awesome list is the set of jammy jams that were included in the package from my family that I got this week. Ma told me that she got them for me to keep me warm at night while I don't have Jerry to do that for me. They are very soft, very warm, and supah stylin' in pink with kiss marks all over them!

And the goodness just keeps on coming! I just finished making a comfort food dinner of grilled cheese sandwich. And I must say that it turned out to be very tasty, possibly rivaling my sister's grilled cheese sandwiches in the tasty department. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of tasting Kim's culinary specialty, that's saying a lot!

I think I'll wrap up this day with a nice warm bubble bath and perhaps some wine!

the power of love

Did I fool you? Did you think this was going to be one of my sappy lovely entries? Surprise...it's not! On Tuesday, I was driving home from work and listening to my favorite German radio station, Bayern Drei. It plays a pretty eclectic mix of music and I found myself groovin' to Huey Lewis and the News! I was enjoying myself so much that when I got home, I ordered Power of Love to add to my iTunes library! It's funny how smiles can be found in the silliest of places!

This week has been great! I've started to dip my toes into the pool of my new job and I'm still loving it. I'm learning a lot every day and meeting a lot of new people. And I'm doing things that I enjoy, like making spreadsheets! Yeah, I know how to have fun!

I also had another Christmas this week! My family sent me a package chock full of prezzies for me!

My family even thought of Scooterbug and sent him a package of his favorite cookies! Scooter was pretty anxious to sample them:

Here he is gobbling up his cookie like a little pigster:

I got some tasty treats too! My brother sent me Godiva chocolate-covered pretzels....yummm! (Scooter wanted to try those too!) I also got some great clothes for my new job and a beautfiul scarf and some Hello Kitty sockies! As if that weren't enough I got a framed picture of my beautiful sister! And on top of all that goodness, I also got a wonderful birthday present and one of the prettiest cards I've ever received:

It's sparkly and features my favorite color combination (hot pink and teal)! And it came with a great present, picked for me by my very fashion savvy mother and sister! They did a great job picking beautiful things for me for Christmas that I love and that very much fit my personality. And the birthday present just blew me away in its perfection:

They purchased this for me before I had even told them how much I wanted a black Ccoach purse. And this one is way cooler than others I've seen because the logo design has a little shimmer to it that's just lovely! And check out the lining:

Sooo pretty! I was stylin' today in work thanks to the great shopping skills of the Pagella girls!! Thanks for making me feel so stylish and professional in my new outfit with great accessories. And thanks to the boys in the family too (Ryan and Dad) for the great Christmas and birthday package! Just a further reminder that I'm so blessed to have such an amazing and thoughtful family!

shower the people you love with love

I'm watching one of those star-studded pre-inauguration specials and I just saw James Taylor singing Shower the People. A song I haven't heard or thought about in quite some time. But what a great song! I admit that this whole inauguration thing has me pre-disposed to being overemotional and sappy (I mean even more than usual!), but tonight this song really resonated with me and it felt like it was delivering a really important and simple message. I hope that I'm living my life in a way that showers the people I love with love. Being so far away from so many of you that I love sometimes makes it a challenge, but I hope you all know how important you are to me and how much you are loved!

I have to admit that I'm a little giddy about tomorrow's inauguration and plan to rush home from work tomorrow to see the swearing-in and inaugural address. It also happens to be my birthday tomorrow and I can't think of any greater gift than the renewed hope of our nation that our new president brings!

As we celebrate the new leadership of our country, I would ask you all to also take a moment to think of the men and women who serve and protect our country through the armed services. And to include in those thoughts the people who serve by the sacrifices they make as family members of soldiers. Living the life that I live now makes me a little embarassed and ashamed of myself and how I viewed soldiers in the past. While there's always been appreciation, I never took a moment to put myself in the shoes of a soldier and it certainly never occurred to me to put myself in the shoes of a soldier's wife or child. It took living it to make me understand what our soldiers and their families give to this country and how precious that really is. There have been times that Jerry has traveled in uniform and has been stopped and thanked by a civilian for his service to our country, but rarely does that person turn his or her head to acknowledge the spouse at his side. If you have an opportunity to thank a soldier for what he or she does for our country (which I encourage you to do...it is something that soldiers can never hear too much), tell them that you appreciate their families too.

Wow...hadn't intended to get all soap boxy when I started this entry! I did, however, want to share some of my purchases from an outing to IKEA today! I've been eyeing this mirror every time I've gone to IKEA. Today I finally purchased it! Now I just have to wait until I can make an appointment to have it hung on the wall!

I also got this great vase and decorate-y stuff! Between the flash and the curtain, the centerpiece that I created looks a little overwelmingly red in the photo. But in real life it looks great!

Now I'm off to bed, a little later than I had planned. I hope that you will all go and shower some people you love with love!

what a week!

It's been dark and cold. I've been sick. So sick that I had to call in sick on my second day of work! But it's been the best week I've had in a long time! In addition to starting my new job, I had a mini-Christmas celebration when I received a package of goodies from my mother-in-law:

Thanks for all the great Christmas goodness!

Going into this week, I was a little nervous about having to get up early, after months and months of being able to sleep in nearly every day! But I found that I actually enjoy being up early! I'm not that fond of the fact that it's dark when I drive to work and it's dark when I drive home. But other than that, I don't have any complaints so far with employment. I'm working with a great team of people and I'm excited about the work that we're doing. I've spent the first week doing in-processing things. Lots of online training modules and running around. But hopefully I'l be settling into my actual job this week. Just having the opportunity to interact with intelligent people on a daily basis has brought so much to my life! And with so much to fill my time, I feel like the time apart from Jerry will go by much faster.

words from downrange

A note from Jerry Giant, all the way from Iraq:

Happy New Year from a dusty FOB (Forward Operating Base) in Iraq. I am in the Babil Province south of Baghdad and as many of you know, it's called FOB Kalsu. Ok, here is a bit of a misperception when it comes to Iraq: everyone thinks Iraq is hot (and it very well is as I'll see in the coming months), but it gets very very cold as well. Not just at nights which is expected even in the deserts (which we are not in technically), but also during the daytime. Ok, I know many of you are going through some extreme cold, but hey, you don't really think of Iraq and cold, do you?

Enough of that ramble. My main purpose of writing this is to thank many of the readers here for sending me Christmas Cards and mail in general. There are not a whole lot of things to do here besides work, so getting mail is one of those little joys and on most days the best part of that day. Because of the holidays and the initial delays, I really didn't get any mail until a couple of days before Christmas, but after that it started pouring in for a bit. I even got 6 letters/cards on one day! I wanted to show you some pictures of how I have set up my work area and how much it means to me to come in daily and see the cards there and think of each and every one of you.

Also, I celebrated Christmas on January 5th! Why you ask? Because I received two packages on that day full of Christmas Goodies. Ok, one was from my wife, my love of my life who is pretty much sending me goodies regularly now, but the other was from special people up in Natick and was full of kindness and generosity AND lots of Chocolate! So again thank you to everyone who took time to put that together. It was very special to me.

Specifically thanks to: LuAnn and Jim, Ryan and Kim; Fay, Chris, and Olivia for that great package from Natick! Chris and Sandy... and Madison too! The gracious Henry and Marian Peters. Part of my new extended family, Patty. Karen and Jason, more new Massachusetts friends. My sis Elizabeth, Ken, Ian, and Elinor. MY MOM!!!! She sent 6 or 7 cards! She is as crazy as me. I got a great big card from LuAnn's dance studio with quite a few signatures, thank you all! And an extra big thanks to my awesome daughter who I miss SO much, Elyssa!

Most especially my wife Heather, who has had to endure as much hardship as me in so many different ways. The things we do make us stronger and my hope is that this is as hard as it will ever be in our life together.

So, Happy New Year and Best Wishes for a healthy, safe, and fruitful 2009. If you don't know, my e-mail address is degiant@ymail.com and my address is:

Gant, Jerry B.
JAG - HHC 172nd IN BDE
FOB Kalsu
APO, AE 09312

I am part of an 8 person legal team here in Iraq. Ask Hev and she can send you our little newsletter we put together. Until next time, Peace to all! Affectionately, jerry giant.


Pantz adds:

Here are a few more pictures that Jerry sent that I thought I'd share with everyone . In this photo he's standing with 2 of the people on the legal team: SGT Griffin (on the left) and SSG Champion (in the middle...yes that's his real name!).

Here are a couple of Jerry's local friends:

And here's Jerry hard at work! Apparently he dozed off for just a minute after lunch one day. But SSG Champion acted fast and preserved it for all of us! Thanks SGT Champ!

avoidance...

So I've been avoiding updating the blog. And I'm not entirely sure why. I have news to share, yet have put off sharing it. I've been thinking a lot about many things. Yet the thoughts have stayed in my head or have been shared in phone calls. But not shared here. And I still don't know why. I suspect that it's the knowledge that things are about to change so much that I'm a little frightened of documenting the change.

Though it may not seem like earth-shattering change to you, the fact that I have been officially offered a job and will be starting the new position on Monday presents a huge level of change for me. It will not only be drastically changing my schedule but it has refocused my sense of self-worth and purpose. The news of my employment has filled me with an exhilaration that I've been missing in my life latey. But the news also frightens me! I've now grown somewhat accustomed to my leisurely days and it's been years since I've had to get up early to get to work! Starting on Monday, I will be greeting my days at 6am! Go ahead, laugh away! In addition to the hardship of getting up so early, I am jumping into a demanding job in a field that is new to me within the structure of the army, which is also still new to me. So I'm a little apprehensive about the challenges that all this newness will bring.

On the flip side of scaredy-cat Hev is bouncing-off-the-walls-and-talking-non-stop Hev. She can't wait to tackle the challenges that come up. Switching back to first person, I am thrilled to finally have something to not only fill my days, but something that I want to be doing! Something that I can feel proud of and something that promotes the welfare of soldiers and their families. And on top of all of that, I will be paid a decent salary, which will allow Jerry and I to achieve some of our financial goals more quickly. From the details that the Colonel provided at our meeting on Monday, the job sounds like a great fit for me. It's a job that requires a lot of organization and management of many moving parts. And I'll be working with a team of people, which will be extremely helpful as I'm learning the ropes and will be a great opportunity to broaden my network here in Germay. I'd definitely say that the excitement far outweighs the fear, but I think it's the fear that's kept me away from writing about the big news.

Between the job and going to the gym every day (I hope!), I will be out of the house for 13 or 14 hours a day, which doesn't leave time for much else. So I hope you'll be understanding if the blog entries are fewer and farther between. But I will make a dedicated effort to update the blog at least once a week! I'm also hopeful that Jerry Giant will be posting a few times during the course of his deloyment. So keep coming back!

Getting back to big changes, take a look at this!

I swear, our Elyssa grows up every time I bink my eyes!

Amidst all this change, I can alway count on the constant of my Sooter Bug. At almost any time of day I can hear the comforting sound of his rumbling snores. Here he is taking a moment between snores to stretch:

He loves getting to sleep in the bed!

putting the briefcase before the horse

It's officially 2009 here in Germany and it's been 2009 for two hours in Iraq. But you folks in the states still have six hours to wait to ring in the new year. (And that's only if you live on the east coast!) Scooter and I spent the evening quietly. Well, as you've witnessed, Scooter is really not so quiet. He's been ringing in the new year with some pretty loud snoring! I enjoyed my new favorite hot beverage: hot cocoa with Irish cream liqueur and peppermint stick.

I've been a little down this past week. Nothing like the holidays to remind you of how much you love and miss your deployed soldier!! I asked Jerry (via e-mail) which memories of 2008 are the things he will remember years from now. As we compared memories, there were many that were not shared because of the large amount of time that was not spent together. In 2009, there will be even less time together. And while it makes me a little sad that we are lacking in shared memories, it also made me realize that when we've been separated because of the army, Jerry has been busy making memories while I was just continuing on doing the same things that I had always done and that my biggest memory is an overall sense of loneliness that spanned much of the year. I suspect that many military spouses feel the same way. The other memories that really stand out to me are memories of saying goodbye to Jerry. Of course, there are some great memories that we do share and I am grateful for these memories and look forward to creating many more.

I actually hadn't intended this to be a mopey post. In fact, I have some good news to share. This past weekend, my friend Tracy visited. Not only did we have a fun visit together, but we did some good shopping together! I found this great (red!) Fossil briefcase:

A few weeks ago, I had an interview for an administrative position with Bavarian MEDDAC, which oversees medical activity throughout Bavaria. I hadn't heard about the job, but knew this would be the perfect bag if I was hired! So, in a fit of overconfidence, I purchased the bag for the job that wasn't even mine yet! I figured that it would be great if I got the job and that if I didn't get the job I could return it, since I don't really have a whole lot of need for a briefcase without a job. Well, today I finally heard about the job. And though I wasn't selected for the job that I interviewed for, I was offered a similar job with another MEDDAC project! So I get to keep my bag and get to do a job that I'm really excited about! Though no contracts have been signed, I'm due to meet with the project leader on Monday to discuss details. What a great way to go into the new year!