Tour Of Duty - Book Review

I'll never forget the "BLIP" my phone made that day.

I had just rocked our newborn daughter to sleep...  "BLIP" - an email from my husband at work.  Curious what he could possibly have to tell me just hours after returning to work from paternity leave, I quickly checked the message.

"I'm doing everything in my power to change this, but I wanted you to know as soon as I did" the email began... 

My heart sank as I scrolled down further and read that he had been given orders to deploy to Afghanistan again, much sooner than we could have ever expected.  My mind instantly began questioning "but I thought you had orders for training which made you non-deployable... I thought we were moving in a couple months...  I thought you were promised... "  I quickly realized it didn't matter what I thought was going to happen because every plan we had made had already been changed.  He was going to have to deploy again, like it or not and ready or not.

Later that day, I was browsing Facebook when I saw that Sara Horn was asking for bloggers to review a copy of her new Bible study for military wives titled "Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts For Deployment".  Knowing how much I loved her previous book "God Strong" I felt like this opportunity couldn't have come at a better time.

Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts For Deployment touches on essential key elements in preparing your heart as a military wife to go through the battles we all experience while our husbands are deployed.  We cannot "do" deployment alone and the great thing is that we do not have to because we have a wonderful God to help us get through it all.  This book gave me a completely new perspective on deployment and believe it has a message that all military wives need to listen to and believe!

Tour of Duty is broken into 7 chapters that go through all the stages of deployment - from the moment of saying goodbye to the lonely drive home to an empty house where we wait for news that our loved one has safely arrived at his destination.  Sara then goes on to discuss the detours that come along during deployment, such as the water pipes breaking, the car quitting and many other situations that just seem so much harder to deal with when our husbands are away.  Next comes the mountains and the desert - the middle of deployment.  Oh, how we wonder if we can possibly keep going!  My favorite chapter discusses "facing the giants" of doubt and fear.  The book closes by discussing how deployment can be your time to serve God and trust in Him in a way that you may never have before.  

"Nothing happens in our lives that God does not see.  Nothing happens that He can't turn into a beautiful piece of His master plan.  He has a purpose for deployments, and He has a plan for each of us." - one of my favorite quotes from Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts For Deployment.

I love how Tour of Duty focuses on each of these stages we go through during the course of deployment and the fact that God has a bigger plan for us while you journey through what can be a really difficult time, as well as a time of great personal growth.  God uses the challenges of deployment to strengthen our walk with Him, to strength our marriages, our friendships and to strengthen our faith in ourselves!  If you're not sure how God can possibly take the challenges of deployment and turn them into a positive thing I really encourage you to check out Tour of Duty.  If you're going through your first deployment or tenth deployment I encourage you to use Tour of Duty to prepare your heart for the challenges before you.  Going through this book while going through a deployment is like having God there to personally hold your hand no matter what stage of deployment you are in!

"If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans..."  So here we go.  Deployment is coming again and we're embracing the challenging season ahead as part of God's plan that is so much bigger and better than anything we had planned for ourselves.  As my husband's departure date gets closer I find myself going back through Tour of Duty and praying that God will really help me to prepare my heart for this upcoming deployment.  It is my prayer that God will show me His plans and strengthen me as only He can, while my husband is away.  With God's help I know that we'll make it through this next deployment.

Soon enough, I'll have another kind of "BLIP" on my cell phone.  The "BLIP" that tells me that my husband has landed safely back in the US and I will soon be in his arms again.  Until then, I'll be doing my best to trust God in the journey.

Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts For Deployment is available online at Lifeway.com or your local Lifeway store.  If you're interested Wives of Faith is also hosting an online Tour of Duty bible study that starts January 6th and goes through February 28th.  You can find out more information and sign up on their website!  You can also find Tour of Duty on Facebook - where excerpts are posted frequently to encourage, inspire and remind us that we are not alone on this journey!

Tour Of Duty - Book Review

I'll never forget the "BLIP" my phone made that day.

I had just rocked our newborn daughter to sleep...  "BLIP" - an email from my husband at work.  Curious what he could possibly have to tell me just hours after returning to work from paternity leave, I quickly checked the message.

"I'm doing everything in my power to change this, but I wanted you to know as soon as I did" the email began... 

My heart sank as I scrolled down further and read that he had been given orders to deploy to Afghanistan again, much sooner than we could have ever expected.  My mind instantly began questioning "but I thought you had orders for training which made you non-deployable... I thought we were moving in a couple months...  I thought you were promised... "  I quickly realized it didn't matter what I thought was going to happen because every plan we had made had already been changed.  He was going to have to deploy again, like it or not and ready or not.

Later that day, I was browsing Facebook when I saw that Sara Horn was asking for bloggers to review a copy of her new Bible study for military wives titled "Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts For Deployment".  Knowing how much I loved her previous book "God Strong" I felt like this opportunity couldn't have come at a better time.

Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts For Deployment touches on essential key elements in preparing your heart as a military wife to go through the battles we all experience while our husbands are deployed.  We cannot "do" deployment alone and the great thing is that we do not have to because we have a wonderful God to help us get through it all.  This book gave me a completely new perspective on deployment and believe it has a message that all military wives need to listen to and believe!

Tour of Duty is broken into 7 chapters that go through all the stages of deployment - from the moment of saying goodbye to the lonely drive home to an empty house where we wait for news that our loved one has safely arrived at his destination.  Sara then goes on to discuss the detours that come along during deployment, such as the water pipes breaking, the car quitting and many other situations that just seem so much harder to deal with when our husbands are away.  Next comes the mountains and the desert - the middle of deployment.  Oh, how we wonder if we can possibly keep going!  My favorite chapter discusses "facing the giants" of doubt and fear.  The book closes by discussing how deployment can be your time to serve God and trust in Him in a way that you may never have before.  

"Nothing happens in our lives that God does not see.  Nothing happens that He can't turn into a beautiful piece of His master plan.  He has a purpose for deployments, and He has a plan for each of us." - one of my favorite quotes from Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts For Deployment.

I love how Tour of Duty focuses on each of these stages we go through during the course of deployment and the fact that God has a bigger plan for us while you journey through what can be a really difficult time, as well as a time of great personal growth.  God uses the challenges of deployment to strengthen our walk with Him, to strength our marriages, our friendships and to strengthen our faith in ourselves!  If you're not sure how God can possibly take the challenges of deployment and turn them into a positive thing I really encourage you to check out Tour of Duty.  If you're going through your first deployment or tenth deployment I encourage you to use Tour of Duty to prepare your heart for the challenges before you.  Going through this book while going through a deployment is like having God there to personally hold your hand no matter what stage of deployment you are in!

"If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans..."  So here we go.  Deployment is coming again and we're embracing the challenging season ahead as part of God's plan that is so much bigger and better than anything we had planned for ourselves.  As my husband's departure date gets closer I find myself going back through Tour of Duty and praying that God will really help me to prepare my heart for this upcoming deployment.  It is my prayer that God will show me His plans and strengthen me as only He can, while my husband is away.  With God's help I know that we'll make it through this next deployment.

Soon enough, I'll have another kind of "BLIP" on my cell phone.  The "BLIP" that tells me that my husband has landed safely back in the US and I will soon be in his arms again.  Until then, I'll be doing my best to trust God in the journey.

Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts For Deployment is available online at Lifeway.com or your local Lifeway store.  If you're interested Wives of Faith is also hosting an online Tour of Duty bible study that starts January 6th and goes through February 28th.  You can find out more information and sign up on their website!  You can also find Tour of Duty on Facebook - where excerpts are posted frequently to encourage, inspire and remind us that we are not alone on this journey!

A Christmas Without Love

Christmas 2008
Our First Christmas Together

My first Christmas as a military spouse I was quickly forced to learn how to adapt to the fact that sometimes things just don't go as we plan... and sometimes the alternate plan can turn out to be better than you would ever imagine if you can just look past the fact that your plan has changed.  

We were involved in a car accident just before our first Christmas together. It left our car unreliable for anything other than staying very close to home.  The insurance company promised to cover the damages, however there was no possible way to get it fixed before the holidays.  We couldn't afford a rental car or even plane tickets so our holiday plans were thrown into a tailspin as there was just no way we would be able to travel home to be with family for Christmas.

To be honest, I pouted and moped and generally acted like a 3 yr old little girl in the days leading up to Christmas.  I even waited until the very last moment to get my Christmas shopping done because of my bah-hum-bug attitude.  I just couldn't seem to get over the fact that Christmas would be so different than all my Christmas' before.

Imagine my surprise on Christmas morning when I woke up to what will go down in history as one of the best gifts my husband could have ever given me. For several days before Christmas, he had secretly been giving my dad lessons on how to work Skype and his webcam. After I went to bed on Christmas Eve he took our big computer downstairs and set it up next to our Christmas tree.  He coordinated with my parents so that they were on the webcam when I came downstairs Christmas morning! My husband's thoughtfulness really made that Christmas special... but I can honestly say that I really treasure that first Christmas together more than I ever realized I would.  Being home allowed us the opportunity to start our own holiday traditions that are so special now I can't imagine having a Christmas without them!

Christmas 2009
Spent in our hotel room in Tennessee

Last year, we once again made plans to go home for Christmas.  These plans were derailed much earlier in the year when my husband received orders for his first deployment.  Thankfully, God works in mysterious ways!  Christmas fell during his pre-deployment training and since I had been fortunate enough to accompany him we were able to spend the holidays together.  As an added blessing his instructors gave everyone several days off to enjoy Christmas!  We traveled a few hours north of the training location and enjoyed a quiet, incredibly special Christmas with just the two of us in our hotel room outside Nashville, TN.  It was a bit non-traditional, being in a hotel room but it is again one of my favorite memories of special moments shared with my husband.

This year, we have again planned to travel home to Arizona to spend Christmas with my family.  It's extra special to get to go this year as we are bringing our newborn daughter home to meet family and friends!  They say the 3rd time is the charm, so I'm praying it all works out as we have planned.  I wouldn't have said this several years ago, but if things don't go as planned (again) I'm not going to let myself get upset and pout about it.  No matter where we are or who we are with, Christmas can still be just as amazing and sometimes even MORE so.

For me, the only thing that could be missing to make me say "Christmas wouldn't be Christmas" is not having LOVE.  Love is what made my husband come up with the idea to webcam my family in on Christmas day.  Love is what my husband and I felt so much that next year as we cuddled together in our cozy hotel room in the middle of Tennessee.  Love is what will make our first Christmas with our daughter special and memorable no matter where we are or who we are with.  Love is what is what the Christmas season is all about.  However you spend your Christmas this year, why not make an effort to show love to those around you.  You never know when you might change one person's whole world just by a simple gesture...

"For God LOVED the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." - John 3:16  NLT


Join in with the Wives of Faith blog carnival and share your thoughts on "Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without _____."

A Christmas Without Love

Christmas 2008
Our First Christmas Together

My first Christmas as a military spouse I was quickly forced to learn how to adapt to the fact that sometimes things just don't go as we plan... and sometimes the alternate plan can turn out to be better than you would ever imagine if you can just look past the fact that your plan has changed.  

We were involved in a car accident just before our first Christmas together. It left our car unreliable for anything other than staying very close to home.  The insurance company promised to cover the damages, however there was no possible way to get it fixed before the holidays.  We couldn't afford a rental car or even plane tickets so our holiday plans were thrown into a tailspin as there was just no way we would be able to travel home to be with family for Christmas.

To be honest, I pouted and moped and generally acted like a 3 yr old little girl in the days leading up to Christmas.  I even waited until the very last moment to get my Christmas shopping done because of my bah-hum-bug attitude.  I just couldn't seem to get over the fact that Christmas would be so different than all my Christmas' before.

Imagine my surprise on Christmas morning when I woke up to what will go down in history as one of the best gifts my husband could have ever given me. For several days before Christmas, he had secretly been giving my dad lessons on how to work Skype and his webcam. After I went to bed on Christmas Eve he took our big computer downstairs and set it up next to our Christmas tree.  He coordinated with my parents so that they were on the webcam when I came downstairs Christmas morning! My husband's thoughtfulness really made that Christmas special... but I can honestly say that I really treasure that first Christmas together more than I ever realized I would.  Being home allowed us the opportunity to start our own holiday traditions that are so special now I can't imagine having a Christmas without them!

Christmas 2009
Spent in our hotel room in Tennessee

Last year, we once again made plans to go home for Christmas.  These plans were derailed much earlier in the year when my husband received orders for his first deployment.  Thankfully, God works in mysterious ways!  Christmas fell during his pre-deployment training and since I had been fortunate enough to accompany him we were able to spend the holidays together.  As an added blessing his instructors gave everyone several days off to enjoy Christmas!  We traveled a few hours north of the training location and enjoyed a quiet, incredibly special Christmas with just the two of us in our hotel room outside Nashville, TN.  It was a bit non-traditional, being in a hotel room but it is again one of my favorite memories of special moments shared with my husband.

This year, we have again planned to travel home to Arizona to spend Christmas with my family.  It's extra special to get to go this year as we are bringing our newborn daughter home to meet family and friends!  They say the 3rd time is the charm, so I'm praying it all works out as we have planned.  I wouldn't have said this several years ago, but if things don't go as planned (again) I'm not going to let myself get upset and pout about it.  No matter where we are or who we are with, Christmas can still be just as amazing and sometimes even MORE so.

For me, the only thing that could be missing to make me say "Christmas wouldn't be Christmas" is not having LOVE.  Love is what made my husband come up with the idea to webcam my family in on Christmas day.  Love is what my husband and I felt so much that next year as we cuddled together in our cozy hotel room in the middle of Tennessee.  Love is what will make our first Christmas with our daughter special and memorable no matter where we are or who we are with.  Love is what is what the Christmas season is all about.  However you spend your Christmas this year, why not make an effort to show love to those around you.  You never know when you might change one person's whole world just by a simple gesture...

"For God LOVED the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." - John 3:16  NLT


Join in with the Wives of Faith blog carnival and share your thoughts on "Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without _____."

Shutterfly Offers Bloggers 50 Free Photo Cards

If you have a blog you can now get 50 FREE Holiday cards from Shutterfly!  It's simple, fun and easy to make happen.  Just write a 150+ word post on what card you like best, email them a link, and they will send you a promo code for your free cards!  This is a GREAT offer! 


With so many great designs to choose from it is hard to pick which one is my favorite!  I love so many of them for different reasons!

This one is simple and classy!  Just add a great family photo and let the card speak for itself.  When the holidays are over friends and family can even cut out the inside square and keep your photo on their fridge!


I love the way this one tells your family's story of the year!  I love how you can highlight 3 special events from the past year and include commentary to fill in friends and family.  This is perfect for those who want to share more than a photo but don't have time to write out a whole Christmas letter.


This one allows you to send a Christmas greeting with a simple reminder of what this season is really all about!


Not only does Shutterfly have plenty of great designs to choose from, but they make it so easy to add y our photo to a card.  Just upload your selected photo and click and drag it into the card.  I love this feature because I can really see how my photo looks with each card before deciding and if the card has multiple photo spots I can move them around until I get just the right order!

Not only is Shutterfly great for your holiday card needs but they offer a ton of other products to choose from as well!  These wonderful Snapbooks are so cute and you can customize them with 50 of your favorite photos!  Their customizable desk calendars make a great gift for Grandparents!  I also really love that they now offer canvas wall prints to display your favorite photos on the walls of your home in a stylish and classy way!


Thank you Shutterfy for offering so many great products to choose from, and for giving bloggers 50 free holiday cards!  If you're a blogger interested in getting free cards from Shutterfly be sure to check out this link!  Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, follow the arrow à  http://bit.ly/sfly2010 

Shutterfly Offers Bloggers 50 Free Photo Cards

If you have a blog you can now get 50 FREE Holiday cards from Shutterfly!  It's simple, fun and easy to make happen.  Just write a 150+ word post on what card you like best, email them a link, and they will send you a promo code for your free cards!  This is a GREAT offer! 


With so many great designs to choose from it is hard to pick which one is my favorite!  I love so many of them for different reasons!

This one is simple and classy!  Just add a great family photo and let the card speak for itself.  When the holidays are over friends and family can even cut out the inside square and keep your photo on their fridge!


I love the way this one tells your family's story of the year!  I love how you can highlight 3 special events from the past year and include commentary to fill in friends and family.  This is perfect for those who want to share more than a photo but don't have time to write out a whole Christmas letter.


This one allows you to send a Christmas greeting with a simple reminder of what this season is really all about!


Not only does Shutterfly have plenty of great designs to choose from, but they make it so easy to add y our photo to a card.  Just upload your selected photo and click and drag it into the card.  I love this feature because I can really see how my photo looks with each card before deciding and if the card has multiple photo spots I can move them around until I get just the right order!

Not only is Shutterfly great for your holiday card needs but they offer a ton of other products to choose from as well!  These wonderful Snapbooks are so cute and you can customize them with 50 of your favorite photos!  Their customizable desk calendars make a great gift for Grandparents!  I also really love that they now offer canvas wall prints to display your favorite photos on the walls of your home in a stylish and classy way!


Thank you Shutterfy for offering so many great products to choose from, and for giving bloggers 50 free holiday cards!  If you're a blogger interested in getting free cards from Shutterfly be sure to check out this link!  Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, follow the arrow à  http://bit.ly/sfly2010 

Come on out, Frosty!

Christmas carols play on the stereo as a fire crackles in the fireplace.  Dad brings in the big Christmas tree and holiday boxes from the garage.  Soon everyone in the family (even the dogs) gathers around to set up the tree, string on the lights and put out the decorations.  After the house is dressed up properly, we cuddle up on the couch with steaming hot cocoa and watch Miracle On 34th Street.  It's truly the most wonderful time of the year!

Being the youngest, and mainly the only kid at home when I was growing up, I was mostly in charge of putting all the ornaments in their rightful places on the tree.  I loved going through each and every ornament or decoration as I pulled them from their boxes.  If I had to pick one decoration that was my favorite, it would probably be Frosty.

I can't tell you where Frosty came from or how long he's been in the family, but he's been a part of Christmas in our house for as long as I can remember.  Every year, I would take Frosty out of his box and put him in my bedroom as my own personal Christmas decoration.  The bottom stand that Frosty sits on winds up and plays "Frosty the Snowman" while Frosty turns in a circle.  I had to have Frosty play his tune at least once a day!

I may be grown up with a family of my own this year, but Frosty is still an important part of my Christmas traditions. With my husband being in the military, we actually didn't spend last Christmas at home but Frosty still made his appearance beside our mini Christmas tree as we celebrated in a hotel in Tennessee.  This year he stands faithfully in his place once more next to our mini Christmas tree.  Perhaps in a few years, when my daughter is a little older I will pass Frosty down to her so he can be a part of her own Christmas memories.

Do you have a favorite Christmas ornament or decoration?

Join in with the Wives of Faith blog carnival and share your favorite or read about the favorites of others!

Come on out, Frosty!

Christmas carols play on the stereo as a fire crackles in the fireplace.  Dad brings in the big Christmas tree and holiday boxes from the garage.  Soon everyone in the family (even the dogs) gathers around to set up the tree, string on the lights and put out the decorations.  After the house is dressed up properly, we cuddle up on the couch with steaming hot cocoa and watch Miracle On 34th Street.  It's truly the most wonderful time of the year!

Being the youngest, and mainly the only kid at home when I was growing up, I was mostly in charge of putting all the ornaments in their rightful places on the tree.  I loved going through each and every ornament or decoration as I pulled them from their boxes.  If I had to pick one decoration that was my favorite, it would probably be Frosty.

I can't tell you where Frosty came from or how long he's been in the family, but he's been a part of Christmas in our house for as long as I can remember.  Every year, I would take Frosty out of his box and put him in my bedroom as my own personal Christmas decoration.  The bottom stand that Frosty sits on winds up and plays "Frosty the Snowman" while Frosty turns in a circle.  I had to have Frosty play his tune at least once a day!

I may be grown up with a family of my own this year, but Frosty is still an important part of my Christmas traditions. With my husband being in the military, we actually didn't spend last Christmas at home but Frosty still made his appearance beside our mini Christmas tree as we celebrated in a hotel in Tennessee.  This year he stands faithfully in his place once more next to our mini Christmas tree.  Perhaps in a few years, when my daughter is a little older I will pass Frosty down to her so he can be a part of her own Christmas memories.

Do you have a favorite Christmas ornament or decoration?

Join in with the Wives of Faith blog carnival and share your favorite or read about the favorites of others!