I love my friends so much! I have been truly blessed to be put here. I have made friendships that I will treasure always. It seems that wherever we go (and we have been around...UT,NY,AL,NC,TN and now AZ) That our lives are blessed with what seems to me, to be particular people with particular traits that seem to bless and benefit our lives in just the way we need. Example: When Aadric was born with Bladder Exstrophy we had to be in the hospital for 2 weeks while he recovered from surgery. I still look back and get emotional thinking about the countless things that our friends did for us to help us endure that trial.
I could go on naming situations where just the right person was there. But I have never been so blessed with friends, truly amazing people these ladies are who love and support me,and I hope I do the same for them. Their examples as mothers, wives and sisters etc..are amazing.
I am also so thankful for the family that I have that are also my friends like my sisters and cousins. They too, are such amazing people who I find joy in claiming as "My" Family.
I hope that all those ladies who have made such huge impacts on my life read this and know how much I love you and am grateful for your love.
17 more days until Michael leaves for a 4 month training, three months later to be followed by a year long deployment. Everybody who is not military always asks me "Do you think maybe having Obama as president, that he won't have to go?" My answer is "No, what he is doing is something that probably won't change, in fact it may be needed more" He is learning to fly the latest model of the UAS (Unmanned Aerial System). They will be taking the first Models to Iraq and testing them out. It's pretty exciting because it is the first group, and the guys who are operating it were hand picked. They will be forever the pioneers of this program. The 4 month Training is where he will be learning how to operate it and other stuff that I don't understand, it all has acronyms but I dont know what they mean. Anyhow....
Michael and I do this every time he leaves.... we both start preparing mentally. I start thinking of how I'm going to handle everything alone, and almost act like he is gone. He starts getting his hobbies going so he won't be bored when he has time off. I have moments when I am angry that I have to be alone with all the kids, then moments when I am scared at the thought of being alone, like 'what if I get sick?' 'what if I have to do something that I can't sign for and the 'power of attorney' doesnt work?(it's happened) Then there are the moments when I try to think about what it is I am supposed to learn, moments when I try to convince myself that it is better when he is gone anyway, times when I think of all the fun things we are going to do, like go visit family(then remember how hard it is to do stuff like that by myself).
But the most comforting thoughts are when I think that everything in life has a purpose. There is a reason we are supposed to go through this and that it is an opportunity for us to get closer to the Savior. That as much as I dread it, that really in the eternal perspective that time is very short and it will go by fast, and there will be some other life growing experience (trial) waiting for us, and that that is why we are here in the first place. This quote taken from President Uchtdorf has given me allot of hope:
"President Gordon B. Hinckley believed in the healing power of service. After the death of his wife, he provided a great example to the Church in the way he immersed himself in work and in serving others. It is told that President Hinckley remarked to one woman who had recently lost her husband, “Work will cure your grief. Serve others.” These are profound words. As we lose ourselves in the service of others, we discover our own lives and our own happiness."
...i just hope I can remember that perpective:)
S/SGT WILLARD C. MANN
SPC5 Jon Burton
CW2 Michael Allan
