I am a firm believer that God does not give you more than you can handle. I've learned that very rarely is life easy, and when things get hard you can go one of two ways- You can sit there and feel sorry for yourself and play victim, or you can pick yourself up and allow your struggles to motivate you.
Each day I find more strength in myself. At the end of everyday I realize I have survived one more day of deployment, and I am one day closer to seeing my husband again. I decided before this deployment started to take advantage of it, and do what I do best- meet my new challenge and find a way to improve myself from it. That's why I decided to volunteer for FRG. I went from not even knowing about FRG to becoming the lead volunteer, I didn't just want to survive a deployment, I wanted to play a role in it.
Now, at times I feel I have stretched myself too thin, so I have to step back and try to relax (My definition of relaxing is watching Spongebob with my son), but I never let my life get the best of me. Every struggle I have ever faced has given me more strength, and I feel this deployment has given me the most strength so far. I hope that those who read this and are going through a deployment can do the same.
I absolutely hate being away from my husband, I hate listening to Caiden cry for his daddy, I hate Khloe not knowing her dad, I hate being alone and I hate having to figure out life with two kids by myself, but I do it all knowing that I have a husband to be proud of and knowing that this will in some odd way help me as a person, as a wife, and as a mother. I have learned not everyone can live the military lifestyle, it requires so much strength, patience, and understanding. We all know our soldiers are self-less, they sacrifice so much, but the family members who stand behind the soldier and support them do the same.
