Strength

I don't go to church, and I don't read the bible, but I do believe in God & right now I believe he is trying to help us grow and become stronger. We have a very long road ahead with deployment literally right around the corner and I think God is testing the strength of our marriage and showing us that together we can overcome anything. 

The last two weeks have been a nightmare. Christmas leave started on the 20th and so we left for Texas with our two dogs on the 21st. From Virginia Beach to San Antonio is a 29hr drive without stopping at all. We left around 7pm and we got about 5 hours down the road when our car broke down on the highway about 10 miles from the nearest town. It took about another hour before we got a hold of road side assistance, and then another hour after that before a tow truck arrived. when we finally got settled into a hotel for the night it was about 2:30am. we were exhausted. We found an auto repair shop about 2 miles away from us so hubby decided to drive the car over since it was still working a little. He got about 1/10 of a mile away when it completely gave out, so he waited another hour for a tow truck to arrive. When he finally got there they said since our car is a Mini Cooper which is a BMW model they didn't have any of the parts in stock so they would have to order it, and due to the holidays it wouldn't be in til the following Tuesday.

We spent two more days in that hotel before we finally gave up and rented a car. We were wasting time that we should have been spending with family. It was now Christmas Eve, and $285 later we finally got a rental car. We drove straight through for the next 24 hours and finally made it safely to Texas. We had a great Christmas and things were starting to look up!

We forgot all about the car and started to relax. Four days after we got to Texas my husband's little brothers went out in the backyard to play where their parent's three Labradors are kept. Now my adorable little Yorkie Mojo who loves to be curious and follow everyone decided to follow them out the back door. Since Bear, the male Lab had never met him he didn't take to kindly to it, and he immediately attacked. I heard him screaming so I ran out the back and saw the chaos as all the boys were tackling Bear trying to get him off. Mojo finally broke free and took off running toward me, but Bear got him again. When Mojo finally made his way into my arms I could tell he was hurt badly. He couldn't breathe. We RUSHED him to the vet clinic where I used to work and I was terrified. They immediately took X-rays & decided he  needed emergency surgery. He had a torn thorax and God knows what else and after an hour long procedure he finally succumbed to it. I have never missed a dog so much before. He was literally our baby. We spent the rest of our time in Texas without much more tragedy, then made our way home. our house is so empty without the little pitter patter of puppy paws running around. 

We have only a handful of days left at this house, til it feels like the whole world will fall apart again. After everything we went through I just waned some time to relax and enjoy being in my husband's arms before he leaves, but we can't even do that. In between him working all day & packing up our house at night there isn't anytime left for anything else. We are both exhausted.