No Boarding School

I got some awesome advice from everyone, and some great words of encouragement yesterday in regards to my post.

I forget how much people love dishing out advice...lol.

Thankfully, this time, it was advice that I asked for, and I got some good feedback (and some really odd feedback)!

**Someone suggested I send my kids away to boarding school...really?!?!?!**

A few people kept mentioning how they would recommend that we stay back in Texas for a little bit while Nick finishes training.

Like I wrote in my post, I don't believe in separating my family for ANY period of time if it can be helped.

While I understand everyone's concerns with the long hours and nights away from home during TBS, I believe that ANY amount of time together as a family is good time.

When Nick and I first got married, we were both on demanding special duty assignments.

We rarely saw each other, we worked long grueling hours, and we were cranky all the time, but we somehow managed to make it work and survived THREE years.

That's why 6 months at TBS seems petty to me.

I always think of Nick first.

While we have suffered a lot of time away from Nick, I look from his perspective that he's spent equally as much time away from us.

 After a grueling period of time out in the field, I want him to be able to come home to a home cooked meal, and a loving family.

As someone who can speak from experience, the worst thing in the world is coming back to a cold barracks room after training and having to eat out because you don't feel like grocery shopping.

Especially since all the food that was in your fridge before you left for training went bad.

I've been there...done that...it sucks.

There's lots of times when I was a young single Marine that I wished to have a family to come home to just for that reason alone.

Two of my favorite pieces of advice I got was homeschooling and a "constant".

I don't have the patience to commit to homeschooling full time (I get extremely frustrated when Dannika mixes up her 9's and her P's), but I have looked into supplemental homeschooling for those periods in between schools when we're moving.

I think it's a great way to keep things fresh in my kid's heads, and to keep them up to date so that they don't fall behind.

And a "constant"...

One of my friend's (who was a military brat herself) told me that her parents always found a good tennis program for her little sister every time they moved.

Tennis became her "constant" no matter where they were at.

I think that's a great idea, and with Dannika so fully involved in gymnastics and dance, I think it'd be something she could look forward to at every new place we move to.

New dance classes, new gym....

She loves new things, and she loves excitement, and it's something that we will definitely be keeping in her life.

Someone mentioned that I was probably the one that would take it harder than my kids would.

I think that's the most accurate statement I got from anyone.

Dannika is one of the most resilient kids I know.

She is so "go with the flow", and is always up for an "adventure".

I can only pray that Mattis develops that same sense of resiliency that she has.

Thanks y'all!

Mattis and I at Dannika's dance studio yesterday!