just the other day i was talking to sarah, my sister-in-law, about rob coming home. as she's preparing to send matt back to iraq for a 3rd time, she asked me what i learned from this experience. i've really been thinking about this lately and this is what i've found....
1. i could NOT be a single mother! God bless all of those who are out there!
2. with 3 children, there is no rest. so sometimes it's ok to put them to bed early to get a break!
3. it DOES take a village to raise a child, or 3. i never ask for help, but with great friends and family i have received a lot of it. to mom, dad and karen, fhara and family, mary beth and family, jennifer and family, alethea and my babysitters i say "thank you!" you gave me fun times, peace of mind, and sanity when i needed it. mom and dad mackey, your emails of support and encouragement always came at just the right time to help me continue in this journey. to the rest of our family and friends who continuously stopped by, called, and emailed to check on us, thank you. sometimes those calls and emails were exactly the laughs and distractions i needed.
4. with that said, i am a lucky mommy to have 3 healthy and pretty darn good kids.
5. go to bed at a decent hour b/c if you stay up late and get tired, you REALLY, REALLY miss your hubby. not good for the soul.
6. do something for yourself, don't wait around for it to come to you. we planned sports, classes, and vacations along with school and work to distract ourselves and stay busy. that's key, stay busy!
7. i don't have to do everything, getting a yard man and a pest man is ok.
8. technology is amazing and nothing beats seeing rob's face on webcam. letters are good, phone calls are better, but webcam rocks!
9. if you're going to wish away 7 months of your life try to HAVE FUN! it's easy to get distracted with wanting him home, all of the house work, school work, and everything else in my life. but, have fun with the babies b/c it goes by too fast. and, it's amazing how much laughter fills our home with a little bounce house in the living room.
10. be thankful, compassionate, and empathetic because someone has it worse than you. at least rob is coming home to us.
i guess that's all i can think of now. this has been crazy, hard, fun, and sometimes scary since rob left. but, we made it thankfully. we did it. 7 days left and counting down. thank you again to everyone who supported and prayed for us. it worked! we are truly one blessed and lucky family indeed.
ps-PLEASE pray for matt's safe return to his family! the power of prayer is amazing. all God's protection and blessings to the 4 of you!
3 comments:
What a great list!! So glad to hear about Rob's return!
Also, great idea about the food - I hadn't thought to try putting it in the Lil' Entree tray - although he does examine any new food pretty carefully before deciding if he wants to put it in his mouth or not- but it's definitely worth a try. Good luck with the water/milk! Having 2 older kids, I guess you can see that any food/drink kinks turns out ok by the time they're older, right??
VERY VERY excited for the Mackeys daddy is finally coming home!!!!
What a wonderful blog post, you are the greatest! Rob is a very fortunate young man to have a wife as talented, loving and brave as you. I could not ask for more in a daughter.
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