If you know me well, you know I
don’t put a blog post up for just anything. I wait for those big moments. The
ones where I don’t want to forget the feelings I had at that moment, kind of
moments. Something BIG is happening to our little family of five. Really big.
Really big and not so cute. Not a baby. Not a puppy. Not a new house, however
that is hopefully close. Our big news brings me to tears and drops me to my
knees.
Eliot is being deployed. Deployed. Deployed? A lawyer? Yes,
apparently even lawyers have to deploy. Come mid April our family will have to
endure a true test of faith and strength and learn to lean a little closer to
our heavenly Father.
I will not forget the night Eliot told me the news. He had
asked me in the past what would I do if he ever had to deploy. My answer was, “I’ll
cry.” He said, “No, really, what would you do?” I replied, “I don’t think I’ll
be able to stop crying long enough to figure out what to do.” I honestly never
thought he could or would be deployed. I guess I was just being naïve. The
night he told me, I had just finished getting our (then) five month old baby to
bed and was so extremely and utterly exhausted. I was thinking, life cannot get
any harder than it is right now. It just can’t. Then, Eliot walks in and tells
me not to go to bed before he can talk with me. So, I forced myself to keep my
eyelids open a little longer to wait while he put the other two children to
bed. He then comes in the room and lies down next to me and tells me he will be
deployed. My response, “Is this a joke? You’re kidding.” To which he replies, “Why
would I joke about this?” My heart immediately sank; I thought I was going to
get sick. I sobbed. The ugly tears
everywhere, nose running, making loud noises kind of sob. What would I do?
Where will I go? Will I stay here in Florida? What will the children think? Bradford.
How on earth would we tell Bradford? My heart sank a little bit more and the
sobbing continued.
Well, the sobbing phase is not quite over and I have had
some pretty tough decisions on my plate as we face this chapter in our lives. We
ask for your prayers. Prayers for Eliot and his safety as he seeks to serve his
country, using his talents and wisdom to protect our country from the
terrorists that seek to destroy us. Prayers for the children, that they would
never doubt their daddy’s love for them, despite the mileage that will separate
us. And prayers for me, that I will be full of faith and filled with energy to
hold me over until his return.
