What do you get with eighteen years and counting?

An anniversary to reflect back upon and years to look ahead to is the answer. You also get to think about the action-adventure comedic romance that comes along with being a homeschooling military wife.

I could almost sing about our eighteen years of married life and 20 years together to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas, which I once did as I cried over a cold winter in Chicago that took place after five years of living in a Green and Bright Hawaii.  However, I will not attempt this feat again because I have now added seven years of life to that one little song.

So what you get with eighteen years of marriage and 20 plus years of a military life? Love, lots of love. I cannot express the amount of love I have felt poured down upon me, my husband, and our children from our Father God over these years. After that love, there’s an outpouring of unbelievable opportunities and experiences. I could write a whole book about the life and times of a Christian military family.  Instead, I will summarize with the amazing moments I wish to keep at the most forefront of this adventure.

Seven duty stations has kept us busy learning about people from around the country and across the world. We have also learned where we wish to never return and where God enjoys having us. We have learned and grown immensely at each station, cultivating joy, hope, friendships and family, by blood, church and military.

Mark 16:15 New International Version (NIV)

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Twelve houses have gotten me to the place where I can decorate an entire Christmas tree with packing sticker ornaments. We also have so many boxes still unopened from two moves ago, dents in furniture that was never moved until I married a Navy man, broken frames, sad hearts over lost trinkets, good neighbors and unpleasant ones, and so many memories.

Four babies that each have a special story have been born into this story. Our first child was almost lost before child-birth after we had just finished up a post 9/11 deployment. Stresses were high, and babies feel it. Our little child held in there just long enough for her daddy to deploy just 48 hours before she came crying into the world. He got to hear his daughter’s little voice from a satellite phone somewhere out on the Atlantic Ocean. A couple of years later came a little sister who my husband got to cut the cord. What a blessing for that to happen in this busy military life. Daughter number three came just a few weeks after deployment number four, a few weeks early because she must have missed her daddy just as much as the rest of us. Our fourth child is our boy. He came in the middle of a hectic job transition that almost had my husband missing his boy’s first breathe. Thankfully the little guy was a bit stubborn and took his time.

Three daughters and one son keep this mamma busy with homeschooling, adventure seeking, volunteering, and tear wiping. Their dad is quite proud of them and we always seem to brag about our blessings as they grow, learn, and seek to serve the Lord.

Proverbs 22:6 NIV

Six deployments down and who knows if we have any more to go. Those little jaunts around the world has made this wife slightly jealous and her husband full of presents, laughs, and so much knowledge to share. We have faced easy deployments, and some scary ones that left us wounded in the heart and in the mind. We have learned that we are strong, and that love will heal all wounds. Leaning on the Lord has taught us great lessons and that our faith is what holds all promises close.

About a third, probably more, of those eighteen years we have been apart. Training, school, duty and deployment has kept us writing love letters, sending smiles across the miles, long phone calls, and a lot of mail from the children. The more treats to stuff inside of a flat rate box the better. Many tears have been shed, many arguments have been lost, but promises have remained. We will stay strong in the Lord hence strong in the covenant that He has placed before us.

Hebrews 13:4 

Let marriage be held in honor among all

Eighteen years have given us a lifetime of memories and stories, and now we wait for the next big adventure. As we wait to hear about our next big thing, our daughter says our life is like a movie. No doubt. I would like to say that we live a charmed life because that sounds fancy, but we live something far greater than any charm could possible get us. We live a blessed life. May we glorify the Lord with every part of it.

Cheers to the next 18 years!  We are ready!