The End is Here

The end is near. It’s weird, exciting, crazy, and fantastic that Jason will be actually coming home this week! It’s been such an emotional rollercoaster. In the beginning it was, “How am I going to do this?!”. Near the middle it was, “I’m sick of being by myself…. you need to come home now”. Now that it’s the end… it’s “Holy crap… how did I just get through those 7 months!?” It’s hard to express what it’s like to be a military wife with your husband overseas. There are so many emotions involved, and a lot of growing that I had to go through. I’m happy I went through it though; it makes me confident that God will use me in someone else’s life when they are going through it. It was nice having older women who have been through it to tell me that it was ok to feel the way I did, and that it was ok to be angry over the situation because marriage ISN’T suppose to be like that. It’s not normal!

Looking back, I can’t believe the person I have become today. Really, I never lived on my own, and it hit me a couple weeks ago that I was actually living on my own for the first time. With no one to lean on, no one to take the trash out for me, fix my car, or change light bulbs and smoke detectors… it was just me. Yes, I have many people who told me they would help me, and I called my brothers and dad countless times asking for help… but I learned a lot about taking care of our house. I’m proud of what I have been able to do. I also have become quite the independent woman because of all of this, so I think it will be really weird sharing my life again with someone. Sometimes I think it will be like being a newlywed all over again. 

I’ve been very busy here in Vegas. Next week is Spring Break! WOO! I’ve grow quite attached to this group of boys. It’s the most challenging group I’ve dealt with in my…. 4 years of teaching… but I’m really attached to them. They get my silly humor and we have fun at school! I’ve been doing tutoring after school, which keeps me here till 5:00 three days a week, but it’s ending on Thursday. I’m’ very happy about that. On Sundays I’ve been teaching a Sunday school class. It’s mostly girls and there’s usually only 4 of them, but I’ve been enjoying that. Thursday nights have been bible study nights. We’re going through the book of Job. I’ve had to be the substitute leader a couple times, but it has been a blessing doing that while Jason’s been gone.

I’ve gotten close to a few people here in Vegas that I haven’t really had the chance to get to know very well till now. One is Carolyn, and she got me into line dancing! I even bought a pair of cowboy boots! Imagine that! My niece Evelyn has been my pick me up! I love my Evelyn time! A couple months ago, I got to steal her and we went to the Shark Aquarium because she LOVES fish! She’s growing up so fast, and she’s such a start little girl! This past weekend I went to Disneyland with Carolyn, kinda as a last horah before Jason comes home! Those have been the highlights of what I’ve been into lately, but I’m more excited to have my husband back! I can’t wait! 

I want to thank anyone who reads this for supporting Jason and I and praying for us through all of this. By God’s grace we have almost arrived to the end of this trial and I’m excited to see what God will have in store for us the rest of this year. It will be an interesting one…. I’m sure of it.

 

 

Almost there!

Jason:

Today marks a third of the way through March, YES!  This means, I’m within a month of being home, DOUBLE YES!  As you may interpret from my exclamation marks, I am getting very excited.  This week I found a perfect song to follow my anticipation and bliss, a classic rock song “Up Around The Bend” by Creedence Clearwater Revival.  I want you to dig this song out, turn up the volume, and jam out with me!  Close your eyes, listen to the electric guitar celebration, and the cheerful rhythm of the drums.  Imagine me running in place, my arms and legs moving as fast as they can.  See me ready to be released from the gates, then exploding down one last stretch and around the final bend HOME.  Your “vision” of me should “sound” a lot like the lyrics, “There’s a place up ahead and I’m goin’, just as fast as my feet can fly… Come on the risin’ wind, we’re goin’ up around the bend, Ohh!”

With the project in Kuwait complete, and most of our equipment on pallets ready to go, there is not much holding me back until they hand over a flight itinerary.  I wish it was that easy, but unfortunately there is more to leaving than that!  Rest assured, the time is close, and everything else is just a checkbox to mark off before I’m seated on a plane to fly home.  I have been tested with patience before, and so it seems this is another test, yet I will succeed.  At times like this, I think of the ultimate test of patience, our time before Heaven.  James 5:7 states, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.”  I like to interpret this as (not sure if it’s correct or not) God as the farmer and we are His precious fruit of the earth.  Praise Jesus that we have received the early rain once our seed was planted in Christ for salvation.  Therefore our true test of patience is waiting for the late rain.  So no matter where you are or what age you reached, let’s try to enjoy our gift of life every day and every night in between our early and late rains.

Some days are dry…that is for sure, ha.

Enjoy the song; it’s what I have enjoyed all week.