Lots of change... some good... some bad.

It seems like our life has been changing so much lately... shaken up, put in a blender, flipped & flopped around.  In the end, it is what it is and all we can do is smile.
This year was starting out pretty great & exciting.  My husband and I were finalizing our house plans, getting ready to start construction this year.  He had recently been promoted at work.  We had just increased our chicken flock, with plans of building a new coop on our land and eventually having enough eggs to sell.  We were also successful in catching a healthy swarm of honey bees.  Best of all, we were expecting baby #3!  A girl!
Then in March, we received the news.  My husband, who is in the U.S. Naval Reserves, was being mobilized and deployed to the Middle East for the remainder of the year.  What?!  Really?!  No!  My heart sank.
With only three weeks to accept this new reality, start making plans, packing, taking required training courses, and just having fun and enjoying our time together... his last few days at home flew by ridiculously fast.  This would be his third deployment since we had been married, so we both knew what to expect.  For every fun moment my husband and I had, there was a hint of sadness, knowing what was ahead.  Our boys, ages 3 & 2, had no idea what to expect or how to deal with separation from their daddy.  Sure, we did our best to explain daddy's long trip and why he had to go, but we knew they didn't fully understand.
I was very thankful for the time both he and I were able to spend at home together before he left.  I am thankful that he has a wonderful civilian job with a supportive boss and coworkers.  I am also thankful that we both somewhat knew what to expect from a deployment so that we were able to better mentally prepare ourselves and our boys for it.
So now, we just keep moving forward, knowing that we have each other and as long as we keep a positive outlook everyday, we'll be fine!  I think a daily positive outlook is one of the main keys to a happy life.  Of course, some days make it very difficult to see any good through all the yucky, mucky, harsh realities... but every day is sooo worth it if we keep making a conscious decision to enjoy the all good, learn from and appreciate the bad, and be happy in our life!

The most wonderful husband ever, Julio,
with our two boys, Alexander & Christopher.