Turning the Page

Dear Husband's JAG crew getting ready for the Christmas season in Iraq!!



Well, November is almost done and I am getting ready to turn the page on the calendar again. December is right around the corner and all the joy and celebration of Jesus' birth is about to begin. I am pausing to think about this last year right now and to try to make the most of this last month on the calendar. It has been a year of ups and downs, struggles and triumphs, but mostly a year without my dear husband.

Nothing seems right without him here among us and I miss him. I decided to blog about how things were going as a marker to me that everything would be okay and that God is with us now, even in these last few months before he comes home to us for good. All of modern technology is wonderful and does bridge the gap of missing him, it is helpful for the kids and I to connect with their Dad using Skype and texting and e-mails and even the good old fashioned postal system. We have all learned a lot from this deployment and that is what I am trying to gather up in my thoughts today. The kids have learned the meaning of sacrifice and putting others before themselves. They have learned how to communicate with their Dad so far away and how to help out even when they do not feel like doing so. They have seen a love relationship between their Mom and Dad that I hope will inspire and encourage them when they leave home and begin their own families.

The holiday season is upon us and the page on the calendar is being turned and I want to be able to celebrate Jesus' birthday with my children and family and friends. Yes, it is going to be different, and yes it will be very difficult, sometimes the reality of dear husband not being here is overwhelming and tears flood my eyes, but I know that God will work all these things out for His glory. So I am turning the page on my calendar on Tuesday and looking forward to what December will bring for our family. I know the children are excited about two more weeks left in school! We are getting close to finishing Unit 2 of Tapestry of Grace Year 3, and we are trying to hit our goals for reading and math. Nutcracker performances begin in Chapel Hill this weekend,Advent activities from the wonderful book, Celebrate with Joy, Christmas parties, gingerbread house decorating, cookie making and decorating the house and getting the crazy tree up! I want to enjoy it all. So I am resolving to give God our holidays, give Him the month of December, really as I should do with every month and ask Him for guidance and help to know what to do and when to do it. Won't you join me as you turn the page on the calendar to the last month of this year and resolve to give the month to God!

Almost Thanksgiving!

Well, the month is just about gone! Thanksgiving is two days away and we have taken the week of from school!! Enjoying a little free time for cleaning, cooking, thinking and preparing for the joyous month of December. Before we get there though I wanted to pause and think of all the things that we have as a family and as a nation to be thankful for this year of 2009. We are a family that is separated by many miles, but our hearts are bound together even closer than before this deployment began 13 months ago. I am thankful for my soldier husband and his service to our great nation and his example for our children. I am thankful for my three beautiful, wondrous children and all the laughter and love they bring to our lives and the growing they cause me to do in my relationship with Christ. I am thankful for all of our family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and dear friends that are family and our church home. I am thankful for the honor and the call to homeschool my children and for all of the amazing resources to do so. I am thankful for my life and my health, thankful for God's provisions and blessings. Thank you dear Lord for all that You have done for us! Thank you and help me to keep my focus on being thankful and not on missing my dear husband!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

The Blur That Was October

Well, amazingly enough October 2009 has come and gone. The month has faded into one big beautiful blur! Our family begin the month traveling with dear husband who was home for 16 days on R&R. Our travels took us to Busch Gardens at Williamsburg and the Great Wolf Lodge, followed by a few wonderful days at the beach, soaking up some sun, but mostly enjoying one another and making memories, the weather was a little wet!


Dear husband returned to Iraq October 9 which left us with the rest of October and we continued the whirlwind of activities with birthdays, Ginger's and mine, the State fair with the chocolate covered bacon and finally our church's Fall Festival.



Our time with dear husband was fleeting, but having what one of our friends calls a "Practice Homecoming" was wonderful. I can only hope the rest of our deployment time will fly by as quickly. I surely appreciate having a completed family time because nothing really is the same without dear husband. God continually reminds me daily even when I feel so very overwhelmed how blessed we truly are, and what an honor it is to have my husband who is following God's call on his life to serve his country and set an example for our children. Yes it is hard, but it is so worth it. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I am going to try to get back in the habit of posting more regularly. I will always remember the blur that was October!