Deployment Day #96

Today I woke up before 5am and still managed to be late for church. 9am is just too early for church when you have to bring seven other people with you.

Cora always wants to pass the offering plate. I usually don’t let her because I’m pretty sure if she tried to pass it, she would drop it, and that would lead to all sorts of excitement.

Today, because we were late we were in the second row, and since the offering plate wasn’t very full I let her pass it. What I didn’t anticipate was her passing it like a Frisbee into her eleven-year-old brother’s face. Since I was holding her, the plate was right at eye level and she hit him on the bone above his eye.

My eleven-year-old has become a bit of a loose cannon these days with the deployment. One little thing can really cause him to flip out. This was the one little thing and he ran out of the sanctuary and locked himself in the bathroom.

I sat outside the bathroom and waiting for him to come out. I sent his older brother in to give him some ice. I finally sent my daughter’s boyfriend in to talk to him. He couldn’t get him to talk, but he did succeed in getting him out of the bathroom.

We ended up sitting in the hallway for the entire service with a bag of ice on his eye. He wouldn’t talk, but at least he wasn’t locked in a stall.

The day got better, as the mild weather got the kids outside for several hours. (Always a bonus in my book!)

My oldest son had a bunch of friends over to watch the Super Bowl (yawn). It was funny to see what commercials got their attention and which ones I had to as them to stop talking so I could hear.

The day didn’t start great, but it ended pretty well.

My husband has been deployed to the Middle East for 274 days.  These are my real thoughts expressing my heart during his absence.  I appreciate your prayers and kind words as we cope, adapt, and carry on without him until August 2014.  To read from the beginning, click here.