life lately

 {carrie logan photography}

i hope i don't regret saying this, but things have been going really well for me during deployment. there have been hiccups, like a recon guy banging on our front door a few nights after lance left. this happened three times before, always when lance was home and i could wake him up to deal with it. those times it was around 2-3 a.m. and thankfully this time it was 9:30 p.m., but still frustrating. (they want someone who used to live here.)

this weekend everyone i hung out with seemed to be talking about break-ins in their neighborhood, so that was unsettling, but i try not to dwell on it. apparently a lot of wives move their vehicles around so anyone who might be watching won't know their husband is gone. doing that never occurred to me. i am not sure if it is naivety or trust in God or laziness, but i have no plans to start doing it either.

but those are just hiccups, and overall i'm surprised at how well i'm doing. i can feel everyone's prayers and for that i'm thankful. spending time with other wives here is wonderful, and i just love the military community here. it may be the most welcoming and accepting group i have ever been a part of.

 {carrie logan photography}

the wives who have been doing this for years talk about how they don't know what they'll do when the deployments end, because that's the only way of life they have known in their marriage. they actually look forward to the time apart. the wives who are new to everything can be a bit more, well, sad. they talk about how the days drag on and what medications they are on to get by.

and as usual, i can't completely relate to either side. i miss lance fiercely at times and i have trouble falling asleep, but i am getting by just fine (and unmedicated, gasp!) and finding joy in each day. i am counting down the days til lance returns, but looking forward to other things in the meantime. (okay, mostly looking forward to finding out our baby's gender, but other little things too. and other big things like my friend's wedding in october and the arrival of my niece in november!)

without a doubt, perspective and good people are two of the greatest parts about being involved in the millitary. i think every marriage can benefit from time apart, even just a week. i expected us to fight a lot in the weeks leading up to lance leaving, because they say that's common with all the tension from what's looming, but we didn't. we really made the most of our time.

i bit my tongue more and let things slide - is getting mad at your husband for not putting dishes in the dishwasher right away really worth it? no. if i kept that perspective all of the time i'd be a nicer person to live with. (obviously.) that's just one minor for instance, but really, living with a perspective of your spouse leaving soon really helps you to love them well and to not take anything for granted. i feel like that's a gift we've been given and we generally do a great job of making the most of our time together and not taking each other for granted, or taking any of the little things for granted.

we love just being able to go to sleep next to each other in the same bed, and you could argue that's a newlywed thing, and that might be part of it, but it's more than that. taking icy showers in nepal stuck with me. i still thank God for clean, hot showers maybe once a week - and that's six years after living in nepal. there are things i said i'd never take for granted after living in nepal that i do take for granted now. but some things stuck.

hopefully with every experience we have in life there are things that stick with us like that, molding us into people with maturity, wisdom and simple gratitude. i'm thankful for all of the things military life is teaching us, and all of the things that will stick. like hopefully perspective, and gratitude for "little" things like life and being alive and together.

and probably an eternal gratitude toward air conditioning, because i try to thank God for it every day in this sweltering state. i told my mom the other night how everyone's facebook statuses about the gorgeous, fall weather in pennsylvania were making me jealous and before i could finish she started elaborating, "oh chels, it has been! it has just been so nice and cool outside, just perfect, so beautiful ..." ALRIGHT, I GET IT. autumn in the northeast is the stuff dreams are made of, and here it is still so hot that sometimes i can barely touch my steering wheel when i get into my car. sheesh mom, it's like you want me to live in pennsylvania again or something. ;-)

pregnancy wise i have been feeling great too. i miss my old workouts, but don't have the energy for more than walks, dips in the pool and ... prenatal yoga!

i was incredibly anti-yoga after some solid teaching against it in YWAM, and still feel a smidge (okay, a lot) of guilt for doing it ... but it feels wonderful. the movements help to prepare your body for labor and delivery. my crossfit workouts are a bit too intense/scary for during pregnancy, so i had dropped those, and i fell out of sync with running due to the sleepiness of my first trimester and the ridiculous heat in georgia all summer. i go crazy without some kind of regular activity/exercise, so i was looking for something, and when i tried prenatal yoga it was a perfect fit.

the instructor brings her adorable six month old son with her, and she ties education and stories into the classes. she does a phenomenol job of teaching positive thinking patterns and breathing methods that will help during birthing. i am not a very bendy or coordinated person by nature, but all of the stretching feels great and i think my body needs the challenge. plus, working out in a room full of pregnant mamas and comparing notes is way more fun than working out alone at a gym when you still have a burrito belly.