Category Archives: military wife

Growing in Faith

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“Bloom where you are planted”

One of the challenges I am finding daily is controlling the negative thoughts. Telling myself that these things I think sometimes are not helpful and pitiful. Exercising control over them. This is so much easier when everything is going my way. When all the colors of the rainbow are reflected in the prisms of the home and dance on the walls. When life is beautiful and our family whole.

Nights that sleep is hard to find are another story. I can’t believe I actually miss someone’s laundry, but I do.

Some days I think of the time left until homecoming and get down. And that is okay.

What to do with the days and hours between where I am and where I want to be? Reunited as a family, healthy and whole.

Pray. Lots and lots of prayer carries me through those nights of self-pity. The days I am carried by a devotion to live each day with purpose. Not letting them slip by without consideration for what I am trading for today.

It would be a shame to have someone I love so much sacrifice so many of his days with his family and not live them well. Honoring his service to our country by growing in faith and function are my choice. Even here alone on this hill with little rain and a hard wind this seed can poke through the soil as a new person. That new life found by the inspiration of watching him toil. Giving thanks for all that he is doing by simply “blooming”. Everyday pushing through the soil further.

So that when he returns he doesn’t find a wilted mess but something beautiful made better by our time apart. Not worse for the wear but more wonderful because of the experience.

Fellow military wives, or anyone facing heartache, breathe in and out and just grow where you are today. God knows it is probably not where you want to grow or where you flower best naturally but meet the challenge and show what strength lives in you. Trust that God has brought you here to show you how to get through. Maybe to show you to help other get through. When the days get too hard and you feel down shake off the dirt and just bloom.

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Day In, Day Out

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To put it frankly the life of a Military stay at home mother and wife can be very bland many days. We haven’t a great deal of close relations around us or life long friends nearby. We don’t have a history with most places we live. So on days when things go a little south it is easy to become inverted. Today is one of those days.
I was blessed enough to have the foresight to marry a man that understood “in sickness and in health” would occasionally mean bringing home supper for his ailed wife. That was the highlight of my day. I composed myself enough to shower and dress without my makeup or hair done, something I vowed I’d never do just because I had children. However, today sank me. I laid on the couch and listened to soothing music most of the day while sipping Ginger ale and eating rice cakes. If it weren’t for this wicked sore throat today would have been the epitome of relaxation.
Being so far from family I was on my own with my little teething monster today. In between gagging sessions and coughing fits I managed to laugh at his goofy grin. Not to mention the way he manages to fit a whole building block in his mouth before producing such a grin.
It is funny when you see things around you clearly, the bad days don’t seem bad.
Hubby came home to help tonight-check. We have a roof over our heads and food to eat- check. Our health- well I’ll say check just the same. God is good. All the time.

Help for Military Families

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We all know that in these tough economic times every penny saved is a blessing. One of my new-found loves is couponing. It is amazing how far a dollar can stretch when you apply a little effort. Here I have the resources and readily available newspaper inserts to get me closer to my slim grocery budget.

What about the families stationed overseas though? How can they save money on the basics?

There is this wonderful program anyone can be a part of that will not cost you anything expect the price of a stamp. It is called Coupons to Troops. An organization that matches overseas military families to ready coupon donors.

Out of country military families can use expired coupons up to 6 months past date so there will be no loss from your budget or coupon supply. If you do want to send still valid coupons though that will work too. I am sure the families will appreciate the extra time to use them.

If you are interested check out this site http://www.couponstotroops.com/. It really could be a blessing to a family trying to make ends meet while living in a foreign country!

Growing Out

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This was by far the best Birthday I have ever had. My husband went above and beyond to show how much I mean to him and it was awesome. That being said I think there is a point in life where Birthdays are just another day. Maybe it is because he gives me that treatment randomly throughout the year. Or maybe it is because I have finally reached and age/place where I am completely happy with my standing. I am completely happy with the blessings I see when I look around me.

God is so good. Even with all the struggles we face and the challenges we have encountered I feel peace. Each day will have a new set of tests. Each test a new lesson. But this week as another Birthday passes I feel so grateful for the lessons the Good Lord has put in front of me. Be what they may faith will carry us through. Faith… and each other.

Learning to lean on each other and think as a whole. No longer just me and my day but us and our life together. While we will face our own separate scenarios later this year we face this challenge together. As a family.

Tonight we enjoyed one of the first warm nights at our new post and I had to snap some photos of the beautiful moon filled sky.

Enter Motherhood

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My son is almost a year old now and today was the first time I felt like a Mom. Don’t get me wrong, I love Motherhood. It is the antithesis of where I believed I would end up. But it fits. Just fits my being.

I love being a Mom. I love the late night nursing sessions, the creative play and learning-oh so much-about myself. Even through all these transitions I have never felt Mom-ish. Well, not completely.

Today involved a Doctor’s appointment and trip to the pharmacy. That is it. Not a big deal right? Wrong! When I arrived home I collapsed in bed for a power nap out of sheer exhaustion.

My doctor’s appointment was nothing amazing. I spent it deflecting squeals and screams of delight while attempting to nurse and answering personal medical questions from the beginning of time. No big deal. You learn to juggle eventually. It was the trip to the pharmacy that awoke my epiphany. Apparently everyone on this base has a medicine need and we waited for two hours to reach the counter. (Luckily they had Giada on the big screen or I would have counted tiles to avoid stares) My Sweets decided he would pick today to transition into squirmy screech monkey that did not want the stroller or Momma’s grasp. He also preferred to eat his milk as if I was a two-way drive through.There I sat for two hours wrestling my baby to keep him from crawling on the dirty floor. Nursing with very little discretion by the end out of sheer exhaustion and apologizing profusely to everyone seated around me that My Sweets tried to take down.

After receiving my medication and piling us back into the car I caught a glimpse of myself in the rear view mirror. Flush and glistening from the ordeal and could not help but laugh. This is my life now? But I still rock hot shades and killer boots? My little one fell asleep on the ride home and I carried him inside to bed.  He rested his little head on my shoulder and gave the sweetest sigh. Yep, this is my life and I am so blessed to have ended up here.

What is the exact moment you realized you were officially a parent? Please share you stories in the comments!

Another Day Closer to Being Apart, Another Lesson

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~The worst thing about me is that I am human like all others. I will fall from grace, say things that I shouldn’t, loss my temper, and make many mistakes. The best thing about me is that I am human like all others. I can seek forgiveness and grant it. I can always turn to Him in all my worries and be renewed from my errors.~

There is no lesson that can be learned greater than this. He is there. He is there to pick up the pieces, to love you back whole after falling apart and to forgive you for what ever wrongdoings. It is never hopeless because all things are always possible.

When I am overcome by the many challenges in my life, and succumb to the very real human side of myself by reacting poorly, I am awakened by the knowledge that I am not alone. Everything may never turn out the way I hope but it will always turn out the way He planned. And tomorrow is a new day. To start anew again in love.

Prayers to you my friends to overcome your challenges and to start anew.

How Hard it is…

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How can I put into words the life of a person that loves an American soldier? It is the hardest most self defining part of me. It is also the loneliest part some days.
A conversation I have shared many times over with many that have this same feeling. Once in a while you will meet someone real. Someone that will admit to the challenges this life faces. When I do find someone like that it is a relief. So I will peel back the curtain and pour out to make others feel less alone. Then maybe someone will know they are a part of a community and ultimately a part of me. My dear fellow military wives.
It is not a life of smiles and family togetherness on a daily basis. It is a life of leaving everything and everyone you know to venture on a journey with only the one you love. And it is a life of missing home often. But we do it for love, the romance and the ideals…not pity.
Pitying a military wife is not advised. Because under that prim and soft shell beats the heart of a warrior equal to that of her husbands. Beneath the smiles and public embraces of her strong partner lives a woman willing to take all the possibilities. The possibilities of what could be or will be of loving a man determined to fight for his country. You, ma’am, are another that makes this country great. Do not feel alone just because you are in a new area with new faces and unfamiliar roads that lead to unfamiliar places. Take a look around you and you will be surprised at how many “sisters” you have. Reach out, give a small look behind the curtain of your heart to your fellow wives. With solidarity we can meet our challenges but with sisterhood we can make them into an event to remember.

All my love for you dear sisters. You are not alone…

Settling down and finding rythmn

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I love it here. Calm and natural landscape surrounding us. It snowed yesterday evening and we woke to a beautiful blanketed backyard. Melted fairly quickly but for a person that hasn’t seen snow in some time it was heaven. Also speaking as a person that was able to stay indoors all day yesterday.
Most of our boxes are unpacked and a few potential friends have been made. Hoping to make the most of this station!

Things I have learned over the years as a military dependent:

1. Embrace your new area. Explore it and enjoy what it has to offer while you can. You never know how long you will be there.

2. Make friends. It is so tempting to stay at home and miss those you already love but it will not make you any happier..

3. Don’t talk about where you came from all the time. ” Back in… we used to enjoy…our friends at…” No one cares. They live in the now so you should too.

4. Be nice to everybody. This should be a general life expectation. That cashier at the grocery store might be a fellow military wife, that waitress, you get the idea.

5. Kiss your spouse every chance you get!