Wow….where did time go!? Has it really already been six months! I can’t believe it!! I never thought I would survive this time, but I did!! Now if you ask my husband, he will tell you it felt like forever!! At times it did really feel like forever, but for the most part it went fast for me. You may ask how. How did you ever manage without your husband for six months? Well, God is really…really…..really GOOD!!! He knew what my family needed during this time and boy did He ever provide exactly what we needed! His provision came in the form of a family. I love how God works through people to show His love! To think of this family overwhelms my heart with joy.

Let me start by saying I am very much looking forward to my husband returning next week. I am starting to feel giddy with excitement at the thought of going to get him and bringing him home. I miss our times of being together and just doing the simple things we enjoy. Like…having our morning coffee together before anyone wakes up, sitting on the couch in the evening, cuddling with each other, and quick dates to the grocery store. These are the things we sometimes just take for granted. He is my best friend and I have missed him.

But my heart is sad as well. Not because my husband is coming home, of course not. (My heart is very much excited about that.) But because my very special time with the Yuen family will be coming to an end. No…not to an end, I can’t say that! My time with them will always be special and will never end! It will just not be the same as it has been for the last six months. You see…we have been spending anywhere from three to five days with the Yuens almost every week for the last six months. This is something we will no longer be doing. Well, we will still have family sleepovers, but we won’t be able to have them so often. After all, that’s how it all started in the first place. It was New Years Eve and we went to the Yuens to celebrate. Our time of celebration turned into an unplanned sleepover. It was really fun!

And boy oh boy what an incredible time we had these last six months. The bonding that took place is amazing!! Our hearts are forever connected with each other. Our children’s hearts are connected with each other! After leaving the Yuen’s house and coming home for just one day, everyone is begging to go back. We never got tired of each other. We enjoyed our time together! Can you believe we celebrated almost eight birthdays together in that six month time period? We have one coming up very soon! What’s really funny is that the DOG started looking forward to our times together, too. Cosmo would start whining and crying with excitement every time we approached the tree line close to their house. Well, maybe it was because he looked forward to his times he spent running the neighborhood looking for the opposite sex.

I hate to say we had a party for the last six months, but we really did! Sometimes, though, the party has to come to an end, right?? It’s Back to the real life of making grocery shopping lists, (Running to the store four to five times a week is just really not good for the budget.) planning meals, (because I don’t think cereal will cut it for my husband), and cleaning the house more than one time a month. Doesn’t that just sound pathetic?!

And I have to say I got really good at packing and unpacking. Actually, I stopped the unpacking. I would pack everything in a big Tupperware bucket. After arriving back home, I just threw everything in the wash and threw it right back in the bucket. Who cares that the kids wore the same things every week? It was just easier! Madison and Nathaniel spent so much time with Gecko and Sam, that when they were with other children they had a hard time not calling them Sam and Gecko! And we never saw much of Brittanie and Carli, because they would completely disappear when they were together. I have to say that Carli brought out a very fun side of Brit-Brit! Brittanie started acting like Carli! And when Brittanie was not with Carli, she was bored beyond belief! They are perfect for each other! And who says teenagers are no fun and just a lot of work?! I enjoyed my time so much with KK, Joss, and Catey. They are a blast to be with!! I looked forward to just hanging out with them. And cooking, cleaning, and doing school is so much more fun when you have others to do it with you. You may be asking what about Carl? Where was he? Oh, he was around…..and benefiting very much from all the cooking going on all the time. Well sometimes we asked him to do the cooking, because after all he is awesome on the grill and makes the very best burger I’ve ever had!

So I’m sure you see why we are having a hard time letting this time go. We were blessed and God was so good to have provided this time. I am forever thankful for the Yuen family! And I will not say our time is over! If anything I look forward to the many more great times we will spend together. They have become family.

I put together a montage of our six months together, and believe me we did a lot more than just what you see, because sometimes we just forgot to take pictures.

Thank you God for showing my kids and me the joy of relationships! We have learned that being vulnerable with one another is okay. We have learned that God designed us as relational people. We have learned that God never lets us down. We have learned how to accept each other without judgment.

Thank you God, for all you have done, and all you are doing!