How can so much happen in one year? How can it fly by so
fast but be full of 5 years’ worth of changes? It all began with me planting my
bottom in my recliner every day and watching one Netflix movie after the other
as I moan that I never want to be pregnant again. Then our year truly began on
March 7th. I put my order in for a red-headed, brown-eyed little
girl and that is exactly what I got. God is too good to me. As if laboring for
hours wasn’t exciting enough, Roy got a call that he was going to be deployed
for 9 months beginning April 1st. My stunned reaction had to be
delayed since I was about ready to push a 9 pounder out of my body. Samantha
and Theresa were there to witness the birth of baby #10, Juliana Maria Christy.
As per tradition, we partied all year of Roy’s deployment –
signing the kids up for everything, incubating, hatching, and raising 100 ducks
and chickens, getting myself a job and dragging Samantha and Max in with me,
buying a motorcycle, losing 40 pounds (yay me!), taking over Roy’s truck, his
bed, closet and garage, took up the hobby of drinking alcohol, popcorn for
Thanksgiving, swiping the debit card 30 times a week, and buying more stuff we
didn’t need. Ceiling collapsing, cars breaking down, ducks pooping everywhere,
chickens roaming the house, naked babies, messy house, stopped up toilets, etc.
It has been a whirlwind of a year.
Roy is scheduled to come back in January to put a stop to
the madness with 40 days off to fix everything we broke, lay down the law, take
the wine out of my hands, and try to corral the chickens back into the coop. In
no time, he will miss his quiet home in Kuwait.
But I know there is nowhere else he would rather be than right here with
his family.
Roy made sure his presence remained in this house while he
was gone. He ordered all the junk food that I refuse to buy for the kids and
had it shipped to the house. Theresa always had Dad on her mind and heart with
each box of macaroni noodles she poured into her boiling water. He bought all
of the kids’ Christmas presents online and had them shipped to his mom’s house
so I didn’t have to do anything but make cookies all season. He called
mechanics and computer people for me so they wouldn’t have to deal with my
tears. He was here whether we saw him or not. Sounds like a great analogy for
the hand God has in our lives.
We know the time is near when I start ignoring the warning
lights on the dashboard and Roy gets transferred to the 90-man bay so his replacements
can take over his home.
Stay tuned for Christmas letter #2 – Post-Roy Christmas 2016
and see all the changes that took place while he was deployed. It has been an
interesting year to say the least.
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