Military wives must be as tough as their husbands

11 days ago I took Luke and 5 other men to the airport. Their goal? To take the gospel to the unreached people of Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.

Over the past week, the kids and I have traveled over 1,500 miles visiting friends and family in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. It was an awesome distraction and I must admit the traveling wasn't nearly as hard as the last 2 days have been with us being back at home and Luke not being here.

I knew that he did a lot for me, around the house, helping with the kids, keeping me sane... you know, normal stuff. But I guess I never realized the details.

Until he was gone, I realized that I can't remember that last time I made the coffee.

Or took out the trash.

Or had to bathe the kids all by myself, multiple times in a week.

Or fed the dog.

Or put gas in the van.

I know those are just simple things, but they are simple things I took for granted.

And, y'all, I'm blessed with incredible friends. I got so many texts this week from people reminding me that they're praying for us. Then yesterday after church I realized we only had a splash of milk left. That wouldn't bode well for us the next morning. I sent out a tweet stating our "crisis" and said maybe I'd take all 6 kids to the store with me. Within minutes I had 2 friends text me offering to bring milk over.  Then, about 10 minutes later, my awesomely amazing friend Amanda was on my doorstep, gallon of 2% in hand.

Y'all, only God designs friendships like that.

The whole week I just kept thinking (in addition to how amazing my friends are) about military wives and how they do this day in and day out for months, sometimes years, at a time.

I have a few friends that are military wives and I've always felt called to pray over them but once more God allowed me a small glimpse into their lives and I know that I need to desperately be on my knees for them as they endure the time between when their spouses leave and when they return.

Y'all I had it so easy. 11 days. That's nothing. And I had a full time helper, my friend Grace, who skipped 2 days of college and took the rest of her fall break to bless me with her help and company.

I pray that the Lord reminds me often the sacrifice military spouses make and to pray for them earnestly. I hope you'll join me and if you know the spouse of a military serviceman or woman that you'll encourage them yourself.

I'm convinced that military wives must be as tough as their husbands, if not tougher. ;)

It's just about noon here and Luke will be home in about 7 hours. I'm so ready I can hardly stand it. Dear Lord, please make this day go by quickly.

Here

I'm still here. Sorta.

I mean, I'm not in the "here" that we're normally at. We are traveling and will be back to our normal "here" sometime next weekend. We've enjoyed spending time with long-time friends. Friends who encourage the mess out of us, provoke us to think about God's word authentically, challenge us with our normalcies and love us beyond what we deserve.

We've been encouraged, supported and squeezed extra tight by family.

We've had the privilege to speak with two groups about our ministry in Kenya and both times walked away more blessed than we could have previously imagined.

We've been spoiled rotten by having our sweet friend Paige travel with us to help us. Originally, her role was to help us with the kids, but I can see that she's really here for so much more. She's encouraged us as well, jumped into the thick of loading and unloading and just blessed us on every level possible.

I guess you could say that we're blessed to be here, rather than "here."

I hope to post again soon with pictures, updates and more info about Guinea-Bissau, our assignment in Kenya and just life in general.