This post is going to be a quick 'random sprinkling of things' due to my busy day today and the wonderful fact that Josh's family is coming to visit us tomorrow!!
Yay! I'm so excited about that you have no idea. Since we live almost a thousand miles away from our families, we aren't able to see them often, which makes us miss them terribly - and for me, it can get kind of lonely down here sometimes. This will be the first time Josh has seen his family since we were last home for the weekend of my dad's memorial service (in January). His mom and sisters will be staying with us for a week, and we have every day jammed packed with activities (and a day or two of rest in there too). We're going to go to the ocean, go snorkeling, go deep sea fishing, go to the McClelland's Zoo, go mini-golfing, go to the movies, go shopping, play cards, and more!! I am SO excited! And it's times like these I'm thankful I don't have to worry about having a job and taking off of work. I can spend my time truly enjoying every minute! (Sorry Josh, you have to find time to study!).
So I may or may not post again until they've left - we'll have to see how busy having fun we stay! :)
On a random note, I had to post today because I wanted to share these two awesome books with you. I read/ finished both books this weekend. Both books I highly recommend to military wives. But I also recommend them for military families and, yes, even to those of you outside of the military community who don't know much about it.
The first book is a Christian fiction novel (it's actually part 2 in a series but I skipped the 1st book and you can too), and it's more for the ladies. It's called Ever After by Karen Kingsbury. Seriously LOVED it. Loved how it discusses society's opinions of war, soldiers, etc. and society's views on faith. The story follows two couples - a mother and father and their daughter and her boyfriend. The mother doesn't know what she believes and lacks faith, is quite liberal, and is a reporter who covers the war in Afghanistan. The father has a strong Christian faith and is retired military. Their story is about if/ how they can make their marriage work considering their differences. The daughter is a young college student who falls in love with a soldier who is about to deploy for his 2nd tour. I will do a mini-spoiler, all though it won't come as a shocker because even I figured it would happen before reading, but someone dies in the novel. Next to loving how the Christian faith is communicated and portrayed to the characters in the book who are against the war, think the troops are murderers, etc., I love how the death of this character is handled. It reflects the realities facing me and my husband and every other military family out there. And if you were at Hailey's memorial service and wondered how we stood strong, etc., read this book - I felt like one of those characters was written about me. Love, love, love this book. It will move you and could change your perspective on the war and God.
The second book is a Christian, non-fiction book, Hope for the Home Front: Winning the Emotional and Spiritual Battles of a Military Wife by Marshele Carter Waddell. I also LOVED this book. There are soooo many battles that I face and will face as a military wife, and this book addresses many of them and provides scriptural guidance, encouragement, wisdom, and more for how to handle (and shine through) the battles that accompany military life. It's written for the military wife, but I think anyone in a military family (sister, mother, father, aunt, etc.) would benefit from reading it because they will face some of the struggles mentioned, and it can help them be better prepared at understanding what their loved ones are going through.
That's all for now... gotta get back to cleaning!
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