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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

the pit stop

When we arrived in this little place in the world that we now call home, it was a temporary stop. When you are a military family you never get too comfortable anywhere because you never know when you're leaving. Three months, a year, two? Jason had lived on three bases, done three overseas tours and I can't even count how many schools before I met him. I met him when he returned from Irq at the end of '03on his way to yet another base. We moved five times in 26 months and for the first year of our marriage resided on different bases in different states, eight hours away from each other. The army has a funny sense of humor sometimes. As Jason finished up another tour in Iraq at end of 2005, he reassigned to a different branch and we were up for another yet another move. He put a lot of time into researching the jobs hoping he wouldn't be chosen for anything that would immediately send him back overseas again. I was more interested in the location, even though I knew it was going to be a temporary stop. A pit stop on our journey to the next destination. I didn't care what his job was, he wasn't leaving me in the sticks again. My requirements were 1)a Gap 2)a Target 3)an actual grocery store not the super walmart 4)no tornados 5)no snow 6)I must be able to drive to my parents in 8 hours alone with the baby. He looked and looked over all the jobs and made his selections. We waited and waited to see where he would end up. He returned to the states and finally got a telephone call asking if he would be interested in coming here. I remember looking at him and saying are you crazy? You aren't even a pilot and you're going to an aviation unit. There?! That place wasn't on our list and we just came from a terrible place and now we're going to another one. I braced myself and tried to be excited..it was four years, afterall, and I could do anything for four years. It was four years closer to getting me "home". I could do it.
We arrived and for the first two years here I wasn't a big fan. The heat was miserable. We chose to live in the country and it just wasn't the right fit or us. There weren't any kids to play with and I had a hard time making friends. Jason went to school, got sent overseas some, and traveled all of the time. Note, we have a difference of opinion on his traveling but when you're the one at home with the kids, it was a lot of travel. Let's not forget the blessings that arrived eleven months apart. And the last one that arrived a mere 15 months later. I am a planner and an organizer and I took a lot upon myself. I was counting the days to leave. We were at two years, and then three. And I remembered a something an old friend of Jason's told me, "You can't make a home anywhere if you're always waiting to get somewhere else." Around our third year here we sent Bella to preschool and she fell in love with the ladies there. We decided to try the church and felt at home, we've been there ever since. And slowly "here" has grown on me.
The friends from our past started arriving too. Their stays are brief, usually a few months for school, or at most a week to check on their systems and programs. They crowd around our dinner and become fan favorites of our kids. They all fight over who gets to sit by them and in the case of our good friend Leith, you're requested at bedtime for kisses and for bathroom/bottom duty because they love him that much. When June and Scott left, the kids cried and I'm sure it's going to be that way for Tyler too. I get to hear the funny stories that Jason tells only when his old friends are around. The college stories that are even more amusing hearing it from someone else that experienced it too. The older the story, the more entertaining it is. Hearing two men tell it, that are more like brothers, makes my heart smile. And I'm happy that we are here to provide a home away from home for our friends. I know, now, that's one of the reasons we are here.

Be strong and courageous, for the LORD will be with you wherever you go
Joshua 1:9

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