Near and Far

It's going to be a short one. We are preparing for Ross to leave for another month long training period. This training in California is specifically for his upcoming deployment. Deployment is something that has been lingering over us for quite some time now and it seems to be finally happening. But this isn't about Ross's deployment. The past month or so has been pretty rough for the West Point community. Ross has had several friends injured while in Afghanistan recently. They will forever wear the scars of their job/calling, but they will do so proudly I am sure. They will do it because they have lost friends, classmates, teammates, friends by association, in the past few weeks. The names are becoming too familiar. It is all we can do to pray for the injured and their families, mourn the loss of friends, and thank a soldier when you see one. Please keep Ross, his friends, coworkers, and all soldiers in your prayers. This is a hard job and they are doing it willingl...

Yesterday marked an anniversary that shocked, scared, intimidated, thrilled, and surprised us. It is odd how a tiny plastic stick has the power to do all those things in a 3 minute time frame. Crazy tiny stick. I had not been feeling well for a couple weeks, but I also thought it was just the being busy with a new job and summer running around. I had gotten sick a couple times which was very strange because I rarely get sick like that. Again, I didn't give it a ton of thought. It wasn't until late the night of July 31 that it came to me. Headache, dizziness, nausea, crying A LOT, throwing up after every meal, drink of water, cracker I ate, and so on...  Oh my gosh, I'm pregnant. I sat through my sex ed classes in school, I had the talk with my mom, I had friends who had either had babies or were pregnant. I knew where they came from and how to prevent them, but due to some medical issues I was no longer on birth control and God has a sense of humor. This was not our fir...