They define me

Enjoying our ONLY night at home.  It felt sooo good to just relax a little!  It was a beautiful evening!

Just in case you didn't know, deployments hurt!  Even though we are in the home stretch, I noticed that the last week or two, my fuse had become quite short around here and I wasn't being near as tolerant as I should be toward the boys.  When things would slow down, I would think about it all and I didn't like how it made me feel.  I never want to talk down to my kids or ever make them feel like anything is their fault or that things are not going to be okay.  I love them so much and being their mother defines my life.  When I look in the mirror, I see a Momma.   Deployments are hard and sad but they are temporary.  I want to laugh and have fun with my kids and Satan had been feeding off my weakness.  My spiritual life has grown tremendously through this and for that I am very thankful, but some days I feel like I fail when it comes to patience and compassion.   The other day, someone said "It's our job as Christians to love the unloveable."  I am so thankful that my husband and boys love me when I'm hard to love. 

God gives us people to love and things to use,

not things to love and people to use