The Story of Us: Part 1

Today is such a special day for me. On this day in 2004, I drove around my small town home in Illinois with my friends ALL day with butterflies in my stomach. Evening finally came, I took "the shower" (you know which one I mean...the nooks and crannies shower) and then spent at least 2 hours getting ready. I got in the car (with my dear friend Candi right behind me in hers) and headed out. I had a date this particular night, with a particular man, that from the moment I sat next to him in Spanish class a year beforehand, I knew I wanted to know more about. I had no idea at the time that THAT man would one day be my husband!!



At that time, we looked something like this:

It is SO incredible to me to look back and see how God has brought us full-circle together. If you had asked anyone 6 years ago today if the two of us would last, they would have been clinically insane to have said yes. Neither of us were big on the concept of commitment, and for the first 2 years of our relationship we refused to even call it a relationship. Now alcohol on the other hand, THAT was something we were very committed to. I have never been shy with anyone about my past. It is shameful, and I am not proud of it, but it is what it is. And what it REALLY is, is a testament to the remarkable change that God can bring about in 2 people that are ready to live their lives for Him. At that time in Doc and I's lives, we were drinking heavily to the point of intoxication (and then some) at least 5 nights a week. Sometimes more. We were failing classes left and right, and constantly on the prowl for where our next party thrill was going to come from. We were drinking and driving regularly, smoking around 2 packs a day, working dead-end part-time jobs and living about as care-free as you could get. We both had huge dreams and big aspirations, and we knew that we would never see them come true at the rate we were going, but we just kept going anyway. We knew that we had 2 completely different goals in life, and knew that we would have to seperate one day in order to achieve them, but in our selfishness, we lived life as it was regardless. Afterall, at the rate we were going, it didn't exactly look like anyone would be meeting their goals anytime soon! We are on the fast track to no where.

After finding out we were pregnant with Jordan in 2006, we both knew that change had to come. Now, how this all came about I could seriously right a book about! And maybe one day I'll blog about that, but for today, we'll leave it at this: We looked at the way we were living and were disgusted. It's funny how "confident" you can be with your choices, and how smooth you can talk about how "everyone parties....it's totally no big deal at all", and "health wise...I mean come on, not everyone who smokes and drinks gets cancer, I'm young, just let me live my life" and then BAM. You realize what a lie it's been all along. There is absolutely no other word for it then a lie. A complete and utter lie that the devil so easily implanted into our minds and that we fell for hook, line and sinker.

Jordan was about 8 months old when I prayed for the first time in years. She had a stuffy nose, and I decided to ask God to heal it. In the middle of that prayer my body was literally engulfed in shame. I hadn't spoken to God in 4 years, and here I was asking for a favor??!!!?? As a matter of fact, I had pretty much been running as fast as I could to get away from Him! But all the while, He was running after me to bring me back. I started crying uncontrollably, and aplogizing over and over and over again for my selfishness.

When Doc came home for a visit that weekend (he was at Great Lakes Naval Station at the time, waiting to leave for BUD/S) he told me a story of something that had happened to him that week. He had something come up that shook him to his core, and scared him so badly that he hit his knees and prayed, really prayed and meant every word of it, for the first time in years. We were hundreds of miles apart, and yet God was working on us individually to prepare us for His will. It's amazing! That Sunday, we attended church together.

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Tomorrow I will finish this little story....I suppose "bring it up to current" would be a better way to put it, as God continues to work on us throughout this journey. Thanks for reading! Do you have a story like this of your own? I'd love to hear it!

Goodnight peeps!

Week full of nothing!

Truly. Nothing.

It's been a "nice nothing", unlike the nauseaus, annoying, exhausted nothing that we've done for the last 3 weeks. Major praise report: I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!!!!!!! I am SO glad!!!! Thank you for all the prayers!!!! God is good, all the time. This is the first week that I've felt better, and I've been taking major advantage of it, cleaning and resting, snuggling and playing, and catching up on life that I feel like I've totally missed out on for the last month. It feels good my friends, it feels good!

I've decided that, effective Monday, Jordan and I will submit to a schedule. Though we really don't have to do this, I've decided that it's the only way to keep things routine. I hate not being on the same schedule as Doc. He and I wake up literally 4 hours apart, which makes things so much more difficult all day long. Doc eats lunch 2 to 3 hours before we do while he's at work, so he's hungry for dinner at least 2 hours before us, and after getting up at 4:15 AM, he's definitely ready for bed at least an hour or so before I am. He's always told me that he doesn't ever sleep soundly until I come to bed, so for the last few weeks I've been laying down with him at 9:30. We read our bibles, hit the lights, and settle in, but I toss and turn for what seems like HOURS. Which makes me more exhausted the next day. I hate it! It's such a battle, and bless his heart, the man works really hard for us, and I feel like this is the least I can do to help better support him. I'll update you on how it goes!

I just finished a WONDERFUL book last night! It's called "Men Read Newspapers, Not Minds", by Sandra P. Aldrich. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a litle marital humor as well as Christian guidance. Doc and I have been extremely blessed with a great marriage, tried and true. Reading books like this and monthly date nights (alone) are something that we both look at as "marital maintenance". Life gets pretty crazy sometimes and our home life is not something we're willing to sacrifice. Looking at the way God wants our marriage to be has completely changed our way of doing things, and seriously folks, just when we thought it couldn't get any better, along has come the best year of marriage we've had to date! We're thankful to serve a God that blesses us immensely when we do things His way.

Doc and I have a fun weekend coming up....which I'll write more about tomorrow! For now, I'm FINALLY feeling tired enough to join the hubby for some Zzzz's! Goodnight all!!

Remnants of Deployment

Having the leftover emotions of deployment LONG after it ends is a very normal thing for military spouses, and of course servicemembers as well. It's not something that troubles me, or my husband, and I've always thought of it as a great thing....you know, the ability to process through all of those emotions. Typically it's when you ignore them that there becomes a problem. It's something that anyone who's been through a deployment can relate to. Something that we all just feel, everytime we drive past a parking lot lined with sea bags and white busses, whether it's our husbands getting on them or not. It's intense, it's painful, and it stings your eyes to the point of tears instantly. It takes you right back to the days that you've told your loved one goodbye....and prayed that it was really "Until next time". It didn't make it easier, but all of this I was prepared for.....this I was not:

First thing this morning:

Mommy: Good Morning Jordy!!!

Jordy: Hi Mommy!! I have some good news and some not so good news......

Mommy: Oh goodness, what is your news?

Jordy: Well, the bad news is that Buzz Lightyear (her imaginary friend) has to deploy to Afghanistan today. He's gonna be gone for a really long time. He'll be working over there. We'll have to pray for him.

Mommy: *stunned* Wow Jordan, well what's the good news?

Jordy: The good news is that after a long time is over, we get to go pick him up!!!! And it's gonna be SO fun and we'll get to bring him home!!!!

What do you say to that??? On one REALLY big hand, I am SO thankful that she is processing these emotions. On another hand, I'm completely heartbroken that she has to deal with this. We all understand that this is hard on children. We all prepare for that in our own ways, and I'm so thankful that as my husband continues his career in the military our daughter has been able to get a decent understanding for how this all works. She has taken away the main things that my husband and I made our priority to convey to her:

1. Deployment is a long time. It won't be over tomorrow, and we have to understand that in order to cope and maintain order in this house while he's gone.

2. Prayer!!! If there is anything we want from the Lord, we MUST ask for it! While Daddy is deployed we need to be in prayer for him as much as possible. Jordan said the same prayer 4 times a day while Doc was in Afghanistan: "Dear Jesus, Thank you for this wonderful day, Please protect Daddy, Poppy (who was having health problems), and Pastor Rick (who was on a mission trip), in your precious name I pray, Amen." If she took only this from these experiences, I would die happy.

3. We will live our lives with faith in our hearts that he WILL be coming home.

And I love that the thought of Homecoming is something refreshing for her as well. :) It IS the best part of deployment. It's the only thing that keeps you going sometimes, and moments like this only come once in a lifetime:

Daddy Woes....

Look at this face......does it say ANYTHING other than "innocent"?

Oh how I LOVE the stories my husband comes home from outings with Jordan and tells me.....yesterday was no different! You see, children have this uncanny ability, even at the ripe old age of 3, to distinguish very clearly the differences between their two parents. They know each parent's priorities, each parent's weaknesses, and how to use all of this to their advantage. For example, Jordan NEVER asks me for ice cream. Only Daddy. Daddy has a sweet tooth, and Mommy doesn't. Typically when she asks Daddy for ice cream it reminds HIM of how delicious that would be, and off they go for an ice cream cone. She knows that when she asks me I say No and offer to share a banana with her. She NEVER stops thinking, that darn Jordan.....

Yesterday our whole house was napping, and Doc woke up a little before I did. Jordan woke up at the same time, and the two of them set off for the commissary while I slept a little longer! Much needed!!! When they returned a couple hours later (I'm guessing they stopped for ice cream) Doc looked at me upon walking through the door and said, "Why don't you ask YOUR daughter what she did at the Exchange today......" Uh-oh. He went on to tell this story.

Apparently they were leaving the NEX and headed downstairs to the commissary. Doc was walking ahead, and Jordan was right behind him. Jordan LOVES escalators and never hesitates to get on them with me. She actually looks forward to it when we're at the NEX and starts talking about it the minute we get to the parking lot. Doc got on the escalator, assuming she was behind him. About 5 seconds later he started hearing this death scream, "DAAAAAADDY!!!!!! DADDY WHERE ARE YOU!!!!!!!!!" He turned around, and in his words was expecting to see no less than masked armed gunmen snatching Jordan and running. But rather, there she stood at the top of the escalator. Just looking at him and sobbing. He, in his giant flip flops, turned around and starting running up the escalator to her. He got to the top and asked her what the problem was, to which she replied, "I don't know.....I just got scared to get on the escalator....."

Remember what I said about kids playing on their parents emotions? Daddy THRIVES on the ability to chase monsters out of the closet, pray with Jordan over things that scare her, take her to the window at night to show her that the scary shadow is just a tree branch, etc. etc. He's the protector, and when she's wanting a little extra attention from him, she knows when to get "scared".

Doc hates a scene, he hates to be the center of attention, and more than anything, he hates awkward public situations, so as you can imagine, he was mortified by this. I, on the other hand, laughed hysterically! I still chuckle when I think about it! He finally laughed about it, too, it just took him a while longer!! Kids do the darndest things!!

Weekend Ramblins

So far, this weekend in the Henebry house is going awesome!!! I woke up this morning to the sounds of Sanctus Real and the smell of bacon! Breakfast was delicious and so very thoughtful of my husband to make, and I think it set the whole weekend off on the right foot! He is such a peach!!

Today we did some shopping, ordered pizza, went to the gymnastics center for open gym (Jordan loves showing Daddy her sweet gymnastics moves that she learns at gymnastics class) and now we're ready to put in some movies!

On a happy note: I can count on ONE hand the number of times that I felt nauseaus today!!! It's amazing! I'm hoping that this is a sign that my morning sickness phase is about to pass! I did, however, get SO sore from walking around the mall today. I get so upset over things like that, because it's so opposite of my normal personality. I'm typically the one that's rarin' to go, always positive no matter what the situation, and never gets tired. Today my hips starting hurting within 5 minutes of walking around and I felt completely exhausted. I pushed on, but not without a good share of complaining and feeling frustrated. I never experienced this during my pregnancy with Jordan, and I was hoping I wouldn't this time either. I'm rejoicing in the lessons God is teaching me through this, and praying that it passes soon!

I have to say a BIG CONGRATULATIONS to a dear friend on the mainland who just gave birth to her 3rd beautiful and healthy babe!! Congrats Larson family!!!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful weekend! PLEASE say a little prayer for us on Monday morning! We'll be trying to get in touch with our detailer once again to talk about orders!! We'll keep you all posted on that process!!! Until then, sleep, church and snuggling are calling my name! Have a blessed weekend friends!

Back to Blogging....

WOW! The last time I updated this blog was exactly a year ago!!!!

My my my, how life has changed since then!!! My intentions with this blog have always been to both keep our families informed of what's happening around here, and also to give myself an outlet to express my thoughts, feelings, concerns, praises, prayer requests, etc. As you know, I'm quite the communicator :) During this time last year, I was going through the most stressful time of my entire life. Doc was in Afghanistan, barely having time to call once every 2 or 3 weeks. Our battallion was suffering casualty after casualty, and Doc's platoon was hitting IED's weekly. The Navy had just sent us notification of a HUGE error that had resulted in us owing them over $10,000. (which by the way, that FINALLY got worked out in March of 2010...so it was only 10 months of worry adn strife we'll never get back....thanks alot Navy!) Jordan was, well, 2. Enough said. My friends were all going through their own crazy situations, and I don't think I could have possibly felt more overwhelmed than I did right then. Hence, my blog writing kinda took a back burner! :)

Now, our family is heading into big changes, and I want to be able to keep in touch with our families near and far, and also have peeps to talk about life with! My hope is to be able to encourage each other and talk about the work God is doing in our lives!

Here's the skinny on what's going on here:

1. WE'RE EXPECTING!!!! Due in February, and SO SO EXCITED!!!

God is SOOOOO good!

2. We're currently awaiting order's to leave Hawaii :( It is SO incredibly

sad to me to think about leaving the place where Doc and I got

engaged, got married (twice! LOL) survived 2 deployments

and both of us were baptized into the Lord in the

beautiful Pacific Ocean. Our church family

here is everything to us, and we are

praying that God takes us

wherever He needs

us!!!

3. I am having a ridiculous amount of morning sickness. In comparison

to my pregnancy with Jordan, in which I had NO sickness or soreness,

this pregnancy is SO not fun thus far! I'm praying and clinging to the

promise that this too shall pass.....until then, will you pray with me?

I believe that is all for our updates right now!!! I look forward to sharing much more with you all and hopefully will be updating every few days or so!!! Happy Thursday peeps!