Crossed the finish line.

 It's official.  Today Philip and I crossed the finish line of our eleven-months-apart marathon.  I've been waiting for and dreaming of this day for so long it's completely surreal.  I am sitting in bed and laying beside me is my very jet lagged husband, fast asleep.  It's so nice (but very strange) to look over and know that he or I won't be leaving in a few days.

I feel like we've been very spoiled with communication for the most part.  I'm so thankful for the time we've had on skype, iming and emailing. . . but I won't lie.  I'm glad it's over.  I'm glad that for the first time in a year I don't have to be mindful of what timezone Philip is in, who would be going to bed first and what time he would maybe try to call. . .  I'm glad that at the end of each day, I get to throw my arms around Philip's neck and look up into his eyes rather than sitting in front of a laptop seeing a really poor quality, two-dimensional, grainy pixely, usually frozen picture of his face.

I've been holding my breath about this next chapter of our lives ever since I got my acceptance to school.  I still held my breath when we found out about the assignment, as this whole time I've been wondering/mortified that the assignment might change.  Every time since we have found out about the assignment that he has started a sentence, "I have bad news. . ." my stomach has dropped to about my knees as I quickly would ask, "you aren't coming?!?!?"  We've gotten some bad news over the course the last couple of months, but even difficulty news feels managable knowing that we will be together to face it.  I would be devastated right now if I couldn't be going to school.  I absolutely could not bare any more extenuated separation from my spouse.  I am so glad that I have been miraculously blessed with school + togetherness.  I'm not sure how long it will last.  Hopefully the whole assignment, but I know the reality is that a lot of things could change pretty drastically with Philip's job and career trajectory over the next three years.   Instead of getting worked out over the "what ifs" I'm going to work to, as I wrote in my last blog post, "let go and wait".  In the waiting, instead of doubting, I want to enjoy and savor this precious time we have together.

The photos are from our September reunion.  I was not looking glamorous today.  I felt bad.  It was a crazy day.  I think I may have had food posioning last night, so I felt awful and didn't sleep much.  It was a manic day today with packing up everything from M&Js, taking care of lease paperwork, passes, keys (I had to run around to 3 different offices and interact with one very unpleasant person. . . instead of taking 30 minutes it took more like 3 hours).  I made what seemed like a million trips unloading the car, set up the internet (I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!!  internet first day in condo as compared to waiting more than SIX fricking WEEKS in England - no more BT!!!!!!!!!!  Hooray!!!!!!) and checked is flight.  I wasn't sure how much time it was going to take him to get from Dulles to Alexandria via taxi w/ traffic.  I was behind of my schedule for the day but knew I HAD to go to the commissary (we have an air mattress and the clothes I had at M&Js. . . nothing else).  I knew Philip would not feel like going when he arrived.  I made the decision to make a quick run to Ft. Belvior.  I left the door unlocked in the event Philip would arrive home before I returned (which, of course, he did).  Sadly, he didn't realize the door was unlocked so waited for a whole hour in the cold.  I felt AWFUL.  I looked awful. And I gave him, what was in my opinion, a pretty horrible homecoming.  BUT I was able to feed him some french toast tonight, so hopefully that made up for my very poor showing earlier in the evening.  And, at the end of the day, what matters is that we are home.  For the first time in a long long time.  For good (well, at least for six months. . . so prettymuch a military eternity).

As I look back on the last year of our life together. . . nothing resounds more true than

"soli deo gloria. . . to God alone be the glory"

We would not have landed on our feet where we have today

 twas it not for God's incredible grace lavished so richly

on us for  the last 365 days.

Thank you to all of you for your prayers about the deployment, the assignment the separation. . . they were heard and we are eternally grateful to you and to Him. . .