The Aloha, Sunshine and Golden States

The month or so after Jordan's return was an absolute whirlwind of coming and going. It was an amazing time, but exhausting as well. Before leaving for Florida we finally made it to the San Diego Zoo. Yes, it only took us a year. The wait was worth it though because we had a great time. Our first big trip was back home to see family. Living so far away is hard on us, so we truly treasure any time we get to spend catching up and just plain being around them. When we returned from Florida I thought the two days we had between then and us leaving for Hawaii would be perfect for going to Disneyland. One should always make time for Disney of any kind :) Two days later we were on a plane bound for Hawaii. All I can say is- wow. It was everything I imagined it would be. Absolutely amazing. I am so thankful for the experience, and you had better believe I am already planning a trip back ;)

My Hero Comes Home

Since his return Jordan has taken to making fun of me because the last entry in our blog is from September of last year. OK, I'll admit that I haven't done such a wonderful job updating this thing. Call me a slacker, if you must. But, maybe the fact that I haven't updated our blog in a long time is a good sign. To me it means I was pretty busy living and making the best out of him being gone. I feel a sense of accomplishment and when I think back on that time I smile. Was it the hardest thing I have ever had to do? Yes. Would I go back and not go through it if I were given the chance? Never. To me the time that he was gone was a time of enormous growth. New friendships were made, old ones were made stronger, and most importantly I was made stronger. You can't imagine what a deployment does to you unless you have gone through one yourself. It's pretty amazing what you find you can do when you have no other choice but to do it. There are days when you wake up and your first thought is "He's gone". As time passes you still have those mornings, but they get to be fewer and farther in between. It doesn't hurt any less, but you learn to focus on other things. Looking back on that time its not the hurt, the missing him, and doing it all alone that stand out to me. When I think back to that time what comes to mind are the good things that happened and have since come from it. Nothing can compare to the absolute thrill you feel when seeing them for the first time in months. It's hard to compare it to long distance relationships, or separation because of other circumstances. Letting go of the best thing in your life, knowing he is going somewhere where there are people who want to hurt him isn't easy. The beautiful thing about it however is that you learn to truly put your trust in the Lord. There was no greater comfort than to know that God was watching over him and what an amazing blessing it was just to see him walk through the door the day of his homecoming. Thank-you to all of our friends and family who prayed for both of us during that time. It was our faith and your blanket of prayers that saw us through.

We love and are so thankful for all of you.