Posted in Married to the Best Man Alive

My husband is an Army Reservist. As we have discovered, there's no such thing as "one weekend a month/ 2 weeks during the summer" in the Reserves any more. He was away from us about 5 months total in 2007. All of this was for training and spread out over the course of the year. Being pregnant for most of that, then having a newborn at the tail end of it, I found this year to be rather challenging. During his last stint, I was in tears anxious for him to come home. I understand it could have been much harder. Many dear sisters have hubbies deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan for a year or more. But for us, this is still pretty new and difficult for me with so many little ones at home.

When Liam came home at the end of November, he was laid off from his civilian job. We have seen this as an incredible blessing. Although it's tight financially for the short term, we feel the Lord has blessed us with some precious family time after such a trying year. We've been able to regroup and unwind. I am so glad to have my hubby home! I have missed him tremendously.

We have another challenging year ahead, but I know the Lord will get us through. When Liam decided to re-enlist after 10 years out of the service, the Lord gave me a scripture:

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. ~Philippians 4:13 KJV

It is so true. I'm learning to draw my strength from Him, rather than trying to muster it up from inside myself. I've learned that I run out of strength, but Jesus does not. The Lord gave us this year to teach us more about ourselves and about Himself. And at the end, he blessed us with a sweet gift -- time together. I pray my husband and I continue to grow stronger in faith, closer to one another, and more dependent on our Lord in 2008.

~Layla