Life

I  love the image above.  

Almost perfect ...

filled with anticipation ...

just a moment ...

life.

It is early morning in Afghanistan, but it's not just any morning.  This morning is Thanksgiving morning for thousands of American troops, my husband included.  Can you read that without tears welling in your eyes?  I can barely type it without tears not only welling in my eyes, but streaming down my face.  And they are not tears for me and the empty chair at our dining room table.  No, they are tears for my husband who volunteered, yes, but who still would so much rather be throwing the football with his Dad and taking long slow walks through the beautiful countryside with his family.  And that may not sound like that big of a deal.  And maybe it wasn't even to him prior 9/11 ... but it definitely is now.  

Two Davenport girls have birthdays in November.  

(and I know what all you military wives are thinking and yes, deployment rotation is correct!) 

Patterson is our second November birthday, but our first to be born in November.  I got pregnant with Richard after a deployment to the Philippines.  It was his first big deployment as a PSYOPer.  He left again shortly after I became pregnant with her for a two week trip.  The Wednesday prior to the Friday that he was supposed to return a fellow Officer arrived at our house to get more clothes.  Needless to say those two weeks turned into almost six months.  He was able to come home for two weeks of Thanksgiving leave (which we had to fight for and which we had to pay for) .  Patterson was born smack dab in the middle of those two weeks.  That deployment was a pivotal point in my life.  I learned with that deployment that being married to a Special Operations Officer meant to always expect the unexpected, that I was going to be without my husband more than I was going to be with him and that despite how big the hill was to climb, and despite how out of shape I was to climb it, God would always more than provide.  For those of you who know my Patterson, you are well aware of her zeal for living life to the fullest.  She is our little go getter, and the daughter Richard calls "110."  It should be no surprise that she is the only Davenport girl who was even too impatient to wait to be born!  Yes, I went into preterm labor with Patterson and going through the process of stopping labor was worse than any labor I've experienced (and trust me, I've got some stories!).  But the blessing of that moment was that I didn't have a number for Richard and  even if I would have, I wouldn't have called him ... what could he have done?  But to my surprise he felt something was up with me and when he didn't reach me at home, called the ER.  And sure enough, that's where I was.  I learned through that experience the sweetness of "oneness" that Richard and I share.  What assurance to know that he is never too busy to think of me and care for me.  

I love Thanksgiving.  I will miss my soldier this year.  He will miss us.  But we have so much to be thankful for.  In about a month we will be hopefully welcoming Richard home for a R&R.  

Life.

just a moment ...

filled with anticipation ...

almost perfect.

Happy to celebrate another year of life with our sweet Patterson! 

Thrilled to be celebrating Thanksgiving with Richard's family tomorrow.

Praying for Richard and all of our troops abroad as they celebrate alone and for our troops at home as they celebrate on R&R.

Praying for the families who carry on even though there hearts ache for the ones they love.  

And giving thanks for life ... for the joys and the aches that keep it real and keep our focus on the gifts that we have.  

Praying especially for a fellow Renegade soldier who was seriously injured this past week.  His will to survive blows me away.  I am so encouraged and humbled by his story and it is with utmost honor that our family lifts him up in prayer.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

To God be the Glory.