101 Days/14 Weeks

  Shawn decided it would be better to count down the weeks until he's home instead of the days, but I prefer days so now I'm doing both. :) I think I prefer days because each day is one day less whereas I have to wait an entire seven days before knocking down the number. So anyway now we're doing both.

  Awesome News!!! Stella started this afternoon! It had warmed up to -27 today, about 25 degrees warmer than before, and she started. She didn't want to and she struggled the first time but she ran long enough to warm her engine up and get her into the cozy garage. I am a happy camper.

  More awesome news! I officially start school on Feb. 13th! I enjoyed my semester off and time with my husband and family but its time to get back into the full swing of things.

  And the second the best news today! My honey got promoted!! So yay!!! Super proud of what he's accomplished so far. :)

  And to put the icing on the cake I got to talk to my baby three times today. We've been super lucky this last half of deployment with communication and I must say that I love hearing his voice. Our last conversation he was being super sweet. Just reminiscing about when we very first began dating. And as in love with him as I was then I can easily tell you that I love him more now. We have been through a lot as a couple and as a team and it has brought us closer and closer each time.

  When I first met Shawn he was this tough, partying, rocker guy who made my heart race. I thought he was beyond good looking even if he wasn't "my type." When we first began dating I fell in love with this man who just swept me off my feet and made me feel like I was the most precious thing he had ever laid eyes on. And he'll tell you to this day that our first date was supposed to be a one and only thing. But he told me that it all changed when he kissed me. Rewind to about ten minutes before our first kiss and we had pulled up to the boat ramp on July 4th and there were easily 100 people there to see the fireworks. Well right when the show started we kissed for the first time and its like time stopped. I have never gotten so lost in a kiss before. When we finally pulled back and looked one another in the eyes we realized that the fireworks had stopped and everyone had left. I couldn't believe it. From that moment on I was hooked.

  I fell in love with Shawn so deeply that even time a part and indifference's didn't keep us a part. And neither has time or distance between us. I think we have the kind of love the people write realistic, but good, books about. Now I'm not saying we're perfect, we aren't. But we have been tested by trials time and time again and we have come out in the end better because of them. Shawn makes me the happiest woman in the world. He has given me so much joy and so much love and laughter in the three and a half years we've been together. He has been the person who held me together after my world crumbled a part, and he has always been there to hold me after a nightmare.

  He asked me tonight if I look at him today the same way I looked at him when we first began dating. And my initial answer is yes. But, honestly, no. I don't look at him the same way. I look at him with more love and pride and passion and joy than I ever have before. I have never been more proud of anyone than I am of him because of his service to our country. I have never seen someone after months and been so overwhelmed with emotion. Loving a soldier is not an easy task to ask of anyone, and there's days when being in this life is truly, truly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. But, and I would bet you that every military spouse would say the same thing, I would not trade it for anything in the world. It's not easy and it's not a fairytale but it is the most rewarding things I have ever experienced in my life. And loving Shawn and him loving me as much as we do makes every heartache and every bad day worth it because seeing him home and safe is the most incredible and indescribable feelings in this world.

  Sleep sweet ya'll. Hope you liked the read baby, have a good day and I'll talk to you in the morning.