If only there was a pause button in life...

Thank you so much for sticking with us despite the fact that we've made it a little harder to access our blog.  We so appreciate it!  Time is beginning to wind down very quickly...Nick is scheduled to leave for his year-long deployment the second week of March, and it's now become very, very real.  As I type this, he is at the hangar seeing off the "Torch group" of soldiers, who are going to scout out living quarters and to make way for the main body of soldiers to arrive.

I was telling Nick tonight that it feels as though we are on a roller coaster, and we have slowly been inching up the steep incline for some time now.  The anticipation of what's to come has been mounting.  We are now 'on deck' and the first cars have embarked on the rapid decent and we can hear their screams.  We're next up...

We have become very accustomed to the short deployments (30 to 60 days), Nick has done five of them since we were married.  The first four weeks usually blow by pretty quickly and then you are busy making plans for the homecoming.  It's like a brief sprint, and you just power through it because you know that it wont be long until you can catch your breath.  We are about to enter a marathon, and I am relying heavily on God to provide us with all that we need to sustain us for the long haul.  It's hard to describe the variety of emotions that one experiences when preparing to say goodbye to your better half, especially when they are leaving to go to a combat situation...

I thank the Lord every day that He has blessed me with a little piece of Nick to carry with me while he is away...

Sportin' some heat rash :-(

Napping in our bed

So rudely awoken by the camera flash.

Ditching the jammies