One Year Later......

Wow, did I just type one year later?! I cannot believe today is January 22, 2012. Today I sit in Maryland and I have a blog and am busier than I ever have been in my life! (It's a great kind of busy.) I cannot believe one year ago today our lives turned upside down with one step and then a phone call.

One year ago, I was doing just like I am now. I am sitting here catching up on computer work, except my work seems to mean a lot more. Last year I was answering emails and doing taxes. Now I am a blogger typing about the wars that we wounded warrior wives go through.

One year ago at this time (as I am typing this) Chaz would have been in the operating room in Kandahar. I was on another phone call trying to get more details. Deryn was on her way to dance and Ryann was watching cartoons on our couch. Now I am up typing away and the three of them are comfortably snoozing away. His guys were heading back to their base thinking they lost their friend and leader. Now they are home with their families thinking about where they were a year ago today.

One year ago, I almost lost the love of my life and the father of our beautiful girls. But he knew he had his three girls to get home to. He knew how much we needed him so he refused to give in. He laughed in the enemy's face and got back home to us.

One year ago, was a terribly, horrible day that now we will celebrate every year. We will celebrate the one step that changed our lives forever. Who would have ever thought one step could change so many things? One step, that's all it was. One step and Chaz set off an IED that would hurt way more than just his body. That one step made him fight for his life. That one step made us fight for our family. That one step made our marriage stronger than any steel in existence. I will be thankful for the one step my husband took that took us to our rawest parts and helped us see each other for who we are. Thanks to that step I am closer to my husband than ever before. Thanks to that step, he and I have been able to teach our girls the true meaning of resiliency.

One year ago today I began finding out who people really are. You see when a traumatic injury occurs it rips off the facades that people wear all the time. People don't have time to be fake, they can't keep up with the lies that they have been living. They are so stricken by grief that they let their guard down and they are completely exposed. God showed me who I can truly count on. Beginning one year ago today, God began to show me who needed to be in our lives. One by one, the ones we didn't need fell away. You see they weren't really my friends anyway. They couldn't get anything from me, because I was dealing with healing a family so they just dropped us. And then God began replacing (actually over replacing) those people with some of the most amazing people I have ever known.

One year ago today I had to examine our short term goals and throw some of them out the window. I wanted to be in law school right now, but God evidently thinks I should wait a little bit longer. We planned to build a house within the next 5 years, I guess God wanted to speed that up a little. Our long term goals are still the same. I am saving a lot more to make sure I account for the things Chaz may need down the road. I am embarrassed to admit that I haven't written out a monthly budget since January 15, 2011. Now I run our household finances like this. Do we need it? If the answer is no, then we don't get it. The girls have joined our saving campaign because they want complete control of their new rooms in the new house. Believe it or not our un-budgeting has worked out just fine. (Don't rat us out to Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman, they might be upset.) I'll get back to budgeting like a good girl one day soon!

Today we will thank God for January 22 and that one step. Beginning this year we will celebrate this day as if it was a holiday. We will rejoice for everything that has come from it. We will be thankful for the great and the horrible. Yes we are thankful for the horrible. It was the horrible that made the great even greater!

Today is Chaz's First Alive Day! I am so thankful to share this day with you! It will be another great day the Lord has made. It is another day we have together as a family. I made the executive decision that we will have an Alive week this week. Life is so beautiful and should be celebrated daily. But when you can look back and see how much we have overcome then you can understand why I plan to celebrate for a whole week!! I am overflowing with joy and am beyond blessed.

This year has been great because of you! If you are reading this then I hope you realize you also have been an important of this journey. You have supported us with your prayers and words and we are so thankful for you. No matter when you joined us on this journey, you have been a part of our healing and we thank you for it. We would not be where we are without all of the amazing support we have received. Thank you for helping us on our road to the new normal. I am so blessed to share this celebration of life with you and your family. This afternoon we'll be having some cake to celebrate our day and we will be giving thanks for you all then! God Bless each and every one of you and your families. We can never thank you enough for all of your support!!! Happy 1st Alive Day everyone!!!