The Big D: How We Deal

03 May
Well, it's been a weird week. I've been debating posting anything about this week because I didn't want to cause unecessary stress or fear for anyone who might come across it down the road but I decided that it's not going to help anyone to pretend that it doesn't happen.

Sooo....apparently the bad guys are still at it over there. I know, I know, the "drawdown" and "the war's over" and no one's talking about Afganistan anymore. But I'm telling ya, my husband's base has taken some mortar rounds over the last few days and once it was bad enough that he got to spend some quality time with some other guys in a bunker, waiting for it to end. There have been some other things I probably shouldn't talk about here and he's got a mission coming up that makes my heart go pitter-pat and not in a good way. Ok, it kinda scares the be-jeepers out of me.

I haven't breathed a word of this to my kids, obviously, and I'm a little divided on whether or not even I should be privy to it. That's what makes daily communication both a blessing and a curse. I don't even stop to think what stuff he keeps from me or isn't allowed to tell me (imagination is good but not in situations like this).

Scary stuff, right? I just wanted to share with you all how I'm choosing to deal with it. I could sit around the house all day, biting my fingernails and calling my mother-in-law so we can feed off of each other's fear. But I don't want to live like that. My husband wouldn't want me to. He's actually looking forward to his mission. He said it would be kind of fun and he's glad he gets to do something important. That's WHY he joined the Army in the first place. He's not some kind of thrill-seeking adrenaline junky, but he's the kind of guy who wants to be doing something with his life that matters. And in his totally irreverent way, he says he wants to come home with some good stories, lol.

So I'm just carrying on with life as usual. I took my kids to the bookfair last night and got them each a new book. We made sugar cookie fruit pizzas when we got home and watched "Ella Enchanted." Then we skyped with Daddy for a few minutes and off to bed they went. Just normal, fun, peaceful stuff.

That's the key, I guess, to have peace despite our circumstances. A lot of us make the mistake of thinking that we can only have peace if the world around us is peaceful. But I would challenge you with the thought that true peace is not found in the absence of conflict, or hardship, or trial, or unexpected challenges. True peace is not something you can have *only* when your husband is safe and sound next to you and far away from imminent danger.

My 9 year old daughter lost the first, of many I'm sure, friends who pcs'ed last weekend. She sat in her room at bedtime, crying and carrying on about how awful everything was so I opened up her bible and told her to read Philipians 4. The whole chapter (I show no mercy, lol). I want her to learn to be joyful in all circumstances, to pray instead of worry, and to be thankful for all she has, so that she will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.

I thought that was a lesson for her but what a treasure that little passage has been to me over the last few days.