It has been a busy last couple of days for me, visiting friends in Battle Ground, driving home, unpacking only to repack for a weekend in Spokane at Women of Faith with my sisters and Mom. A busy weekend, but very good with several blessings, not only hearing from amazing women at the conference but also hearing from Matt!

I always love the drive from Battle Ground to my parents house. Although it seems like a long drive by yourself, its a great time to think about life. I also love driving past Fort Lewis and Tacoma (although most people hate it because they always have serious traffic problems) it reminds me of another phase in our life together. I think its the place where we really started our lives together. I made a choice to move to where he was working and after waiting patiently ( for a long long time!) Matt finally proposed and we got married only to start an amazing adventure! Within a month we had packed our very few belongings and started our married lives living in northern New York! Now he is deployed and we may not be loving this phase quite so much, we are making the best of it and getting through it by thinking about what we will do next!

Matt is doing good, he had a few days to himself, which was well deserved, while everyone else was out on a mission. He was able to have the Internet to himself which meant lots of emails, which I always love! They had a BBQ and he "ate so much it hurt and he had to sit down", which brings back several memories of BBQ's with friends in New York. Matt has a problem with knowing when enough is enough! He enjoyed his time off and I'm sure will be back to work soon. I love each email that Matt sends, it always enlightens me and reminds me of another side of him that I love. There really is nothing like only being able to communicate to someone you love through written words. Matt always amazes me with his thoughtfulness and kindness. When you first meet Matt you probably notice other things like his sense of humor or his ability to always make a situation fun, but the more time you spend with him and get to know him, you see who he really is, which is truly amazing! One of the things that I love most about him is that he is able to look past his own needs and care for other people. When you ask him what he needs, he never has an answer (which can be a little frustrating when you are trying to get together a package to mail!) He is always so content in whatever situation he is in and makes the most of it. It amazes me how he is able to be in another country living in a tent in the dessert eating the same food each week and still be so concerned with the people he loves at home. The more I hear from him, the happier I am that I was the one who was lucky enough to get to marry him. I go to sleep each night and wake up each morning feeling blessed that I get to have him in my life, even if we are so many miles apart. Although each day is a struggle for us, we are growing closer and falling more in love with each other each day. Distance really does make the heart grow fonder and after experiencing what we have, I know you can't really understand how it feels until you have been there yourself.

To make a long story short, I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband who cares about me so much. Thinking about his love for me gets me so excited for him to finally be home again and for us to continue our lives together!