Mad Hatter

As women, we wear many hats. We are nurturers, teachers, advisers, disciplinarians, comforters, taxi drivers, nurses, laundry mats, cooks, maids, shoppers, hair fixers, and the list goes on. One of the many benefits of being married, for me, is that I am not also the major decision maker, spiritual adviser, financial adviser, money maker, future securer, trash-taker-outer, fixer, builder, plumber, auto mechanic, oil changer, flat tire changer, circuit breaker tech, furnace tech, landscape architect, animal pancake maker, BBQer, critter catcher, and so on. Except when I am…

One of the many challenges of being an Army wife, in addition to my extra hats (professional mover, quick decorator, saying good-bye pro, quick friend maker, extreme tear wiper, constant declutterer and so on…) is that I have to pick up and take off hats all the time!

This is really difficult especially when my hubby is only gone for a few weeks. I know it might sound crazy…but a year long deployment is actually easier in a lot of ways than when he only leaves for a month or two. When Dustin is going to be gone for a year, I know that I need to wear ALL the hats for a long period of time. It’s easier for me to pick them up and rock ‘em. When he’s gone for a few weeks, I don’t want to throw all the hats on and break them in because I know they won’t be on my head for very long and they aren’t really mine to wear. Also, there is an adjustment period. You can’t just pick up a hat and wear it well, until you make it your own. It takes 4-6 weeks for his hats to start fitting me and for the kiddos to be okay with me wearing daddy's hats. Then he’s home and he has to refit the hats on his head. It’s challenging for us and for the kiddos!

One might wonder why I don’t just keep them on, instead of taking them on and off all the time. Simply put, I like to let my man be THE man. When he is home, he needs to wear his hats. If I keep all the hats on and the only hat he ever wears is his patrol cap, he is definitely a soldier, but he’s not much of a man, is he? It’s for this reason that I put them on when I have to and take them off again when he comes home. Plus let’s face it, not every hat looks good on every person! I don’t pull off many of his hats very well. Wearing all of Dustin’s hats, no matter how long, isn’t fun, but I am happy to do it. My hubby is very good at what he does. He loves being a soldier and it makes him happy. So, even though my hair is a mess, I am honored to be his Mad Hatter.

An Impatient Son

A friend and I were talking about all of the crazy weather we’ve been having here and all the dolphins that have been beaching on shores all over the place. This of course turned into a joke about it being 2012. She said, “yeah, but nobody knows when.”

I came home and as it started to pour…again, I thought about all the crazy weather we’ve been having all over the world. Earthquakes. Tornadoes. Extreme high and low temperatures. Flooding and drought at the same time. I know many people say this is all normal and part of life. Others say this is all due to global warming. Still others say, this is God and he is angry!

I then started to think about all the people on this earth that are hurting, hungry and lost. I started to think about all of the sin that we’ve allowed into our lives and country…the big stuff and all of little stuff that just slowly creeps in over time. It just broke my heart. I thought, I bet Jesus can’t wait to come back and bring his children home. Then my mind flashed back to my conversation with my friend. “Yeah, but nobody knows when.”

I have known this all my life, but it kind of hit me in that moment. “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Matthew 24:36 So think about this…he is sitting there watching all of this; the pain, the hunger, the sin. He knows he is coming back but he doesn’t know when!! He knows he will put an end to all of it but he doesn’t know when!! I can only imagine that he is waiting like an impatient child. Is it time yet? Is it time yet? May I please go get them and bring them home? It’s kind of exciting to think about isn’t it? Jesus cares so much for us that he is anxiously awaiting his own return, just like we are!!