And so it goes

Over six years ago, we got a phone call that would change our lives. Jake was being deployed to Afghanistan.

A week later we got married. Less than 20 days later, he was gone. I was a married college senior, living in a dorm. It was strange to say the least.

We survived our first 16 months of marriage separated by thousands of miles. I graduated college, had kidney surgery, lived on my own in an apartment for the first time, got my first job, and bought our first house. The deployment was the hardest thing I'd ever been through. And then he came home, and we learned to live together for the first time.

Over the last five years we've certainly had ups and downs. We battled infertility, the ugliness of post-war emotions & realities, and together we won. In 2007, after much thoughtful conversation and anguish on both parts, he re-enlisted. And, in February 2008, a mere 5 months after we became "paper pregnant," we adopted our beautiful son, Asher.

Fast forward to today. My husband is preparing for war again.

We were alerted in October that this was a likely possibility. It killed me to hear the news, but it also lifted a weight from me. The heaviness of not knowing that lingered in the corner of the room was palpable. At least now we knew what we were facing.

A few weeks ago, Jake got the actual order stating that he will be deploying to Afghanistan for a year again. Already we have been overwhelmed with love and support by family and friends.

This blog will chronicle our collective and separate journeys...the journey that Jake will take to Afghanistan, the journey that I will take as the spouse at home, and the journey that we will take as a family as we attempt to raise our 2 year old son together across the miles.
~Emily