This last week started off so exciting because it was C's first week ever of preschool! We had her clothes laid out and her backpack and supplies all ready to go on Sunday night ready for the next morning. However, the morning changed very quickly though for me. As we were trying to get up and get ready for school, B sent me a text message (he had to go to a range early in the morning) to ask me to pray for his battalion because they had their first casualty in Afghanistan. No matter how hard I tried to stay excited and upbeat about preschool, my mind kept wandering to the fallen soldier and his family and friends. This soldier that was killed was part of B's battalion. Let me explain how that relates to B....He is in 1st battalion and within that their are 4 companies. Two of the companies cover South America and the other two recently left for their first mission to Afghanistan. They left in the Spring for about 9 months. B happens to be in one of the "South America" companies, but he could just as easily been assigned to one of the Afghanistan companies. This is why this hit home so hard.
I held it together long enough to get C off to her first day of school and then I cried the whole way home. This soldier had friends and family. He could have been married with kids like B (he was the same rank as B - I later learned he wasn't married and is survived by his parents and brother). He certainly had soldier friends that he worked and trained with and was currently serving with in Afghanistan. I can't help but to hurt for those soldiers that are left to "continue on" without one of their own. I couldn't imagine how hard that would be for my husband if it was one of his soldier friends...how do you just move on and continue with the mission? I guess they just do - because they must. Please pray for the family and friends of this fallen soldier and for the 2 companies in 1st battalion that remain in Afghanistan.
Along similar lines, I waved at my neighbor across the street Monday morning as he took out his trash and we exchanged a brief "hey there, how are you?" You know the normal response you come to expect..."just fine. Have a good day." Well, that isn't what he said. He said, "I'm sad...I leave today." I knew he was deploying to Iraq sometime this month but I didn't know exactly when he was leaving. His young wife is expecting their first child in September so I knew this deployment would be very hard for them, but for a grown man in ACUs to bear his feelings so bluntly with a neighbor he barely knows says something. He must be REALLY sad. I saw his car leave and be gone for quite a while. I knew he and his wife must have been saying goodbye. When I saw it back in the driveway later in the day, my heart broke again. She was now back home...without him for the next year. His wife is very young and when I have tried to talk to her, she remains very reserved and hard to get to know. I will continue to reach out to her during this next year since I know she will need it, but I am glad for her that her brother lives with them. At least she has someone to talk to in the evenings and someone else to be around the house. Please be in prayer for my neighbor and his very pregnant wife.
One more to go....Tuesday morning, my friend deployed to Iraq. He is in the 82nd Airborne division (just like my neighbor - they must have sent a ton of people to Iraq this week) and will be gone until the end of next August. He leaves behind his sweet wife of 4 months. She has planned on finishing her college degree and even began her classes this week. She was going to stay busy with school and her part time job and just press on until he came home next year. Well, everything changed when about 3 weeks ago she found out she is pregnant. She and her husband are completely overjoyed to be expecting their first baby. They hadn't planned on beginning their family this early into their marriage, but sometimes it happens anyway. It is really quite a bittersweet time for them because they are so excited to be having a baby, but both very sad that he isn't going to be here for any of it. He left Tuesday and she went for her first doctor's appointment Wednesday morning. They are hoping that he will be able to get his 2 weeks R&R around her due date so he may be here for the birth. Please pray for them and their sweet unborn son or daughter.
With all these things going on in my world (as my sisters would say), this week has been a roller-coaster. I have cried for each of this situations. Some of you have listened to me cry on the phone. My heart breaks for these pregnant young women who will face this momentous time without their husbands. I know what it's like to be pregnant and give birth for the first time and I know what its like to have a husband deployed...I couldn't imagine doing them simultaneously. BUT, these girls will because the have to. They were not given a choice. I will try and be there for both of them as much as I can. We are headed to "newly pregnant" friend's apartment this evening because her washing machine somehow unbalanced itself last week and is "walking" across her laundry room. Hopefully B will be able to fix this for her (this is repayment for when her hubby rescued me last spring when I couldn't get my car to start while B was deployed, haha).
I have had much more go on in this past week (I found 2 roaches in my bathroom at 11:30pm one night B was out of town!) than what I have written, but those things are not nearly as important as these. Please pray for the safety of my deployed friends and for the remaining soldiers in 1st battalion as they all serve our country...and don't forget their sweet wives "holding down the fort" here in North Carolina!
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