Getting anxious!

Things are about to get C.R.A.Z.Y up in this home! My husband, Jeff, is getting ready to deploy in a couple of weeks and I'm still in denial that this is really happening. We knew this day was coming, but the angst-ridden days are flying by so quickly now I can hardly catch my breath.  I've witnessed my friend's husband's deploy and return, read the facebook posts that paint a pretty good picture of what it's going to be like, but until it's our family's turn, I won't really know. 

Waiting is the hardest. As we nestle in to the final countdown until "the day daddy leaves" we make a nice cozy home for uncertainty, doubt, anxiety, and stress. My friends these are natural responses to a pending deployment, but it doesn't make it any easier.  Jeff wants to leave just to start the clock ticking until he comes home, but he worries about us and my sanity as he rides out his desert time.  And he has every right to worry, because daily life has been a little stressful lately! 

I want to share our family's deployment journey with you, not only as a cathartic exercise for my overactive brain, but as a source of encouragement. Because I have full confidence that God will bring us through this time apart, God will sustain our every need, God will counter my temporal feelings of being lonely, feeling helpless, tired, weary, and anxious with His love, peace, energy, and patience.  I'm counting on that!

Alright, first I am going to share my deployment survival plan. Because if I don't have a plan, I will feel like I'm constantly lost without purpose. This is the skeleton of my plan:

DEPLOYMENT SURVIVAL PLAN

1. Schedule our days: sounds easy, sounds boring. This is something I don't normally do, because I'm not crazy about scheduling stuff. It's funny, because as organized as I profess to be, I HATE schedules. My husband gets so frustrated with me on this one and even has the audacity to label me "undisciplined"! Ha! I'm also going to try to enforce an earlier bed time (for me, too) and wake up early to get a work out in without little people around.

2. Make meals easy: again, a no-brainer. But along with the scheduling, I'm going to make sure we have easy meals available so I don't lose my mind and feed them cereal every meal. (Hmmm...that doesn't sound so bad.....) I've already got a template going!

3. Plan care packages: I want to do a good job making sure that Jeff feels loved and connected to us.  I found a bunch of cool ideas on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/mcascio/deployment-cures/

4. Schedule "me" time and let people help: I'm definitely self-sufficient. Not in a proud I-can-do-it-all way, but more of a "I don't want to burden people with my crazy boys" sort of way.  I'm going to do exercise videos in the morning and ask for help so I can get away once a week!

5. Plan some fun activities: This is a pretty easy one. But even fun takes some organization. I want to have at least one fun day trip planned a month, and definitely easy trips to the pool, library, and other summer hot spots! 

So that's my plan. In the following days I'll share more about each list item. Talk to you soon!