A Warrior at Heart: Gremlins Vs Angels

This one is Zed...

I thought I'd take a minute this morning to express my side of this whole shbang. I've heard from many people in many ways about how deployment seems to cause things to fall apart at home. I'm taking the terminology from a good friend to use here. He called it the deployment gremlins. I know exactly what he is talking about. He is talking about things like the dryer breaking down, the fridge going out, some extra cost being thrust on you for insurance, etc... It generally refers to all the bad things that happen back at home while being deployed and you can't do anything about it. However, I don't think we've had any real deployment gremlins. Somehow we got deployment angels. We had a few of our own things happen that are typically seen as deployment gremlins (i.e. Our dryer died), but it happened just right before I left, so I got to deal with it and Elyse didn't have to. Since actually being deployed, we have had nearly all angels visit us. Somehow, somewhere, the gremlins have taken a back seat.

Have you ever watched the show "The Adjustment Bureau"? If not, I highly recommend it. The basic premise of the story is that there are "agents" assigned by "the big guy". These agents run around making sure things happen to ensure other things happen. Fore example, an agent causes a guy to spill his coffee on his shirt on the way out the door to work. This causes the guy to go back in the house to change his shirt. This causes the guy to miss the bus or train. This causes the guy to catch the next bus/train. This causes the guy to meet a girl. The rest is happily ever after. (For you movie people, don't worry, I didn't spoil the show. That is the opening so you understand the premise). Anyhow, I feel like that is my life to a Tee. Especially right now, except we don't have "agents" and a "big guy", we have Angels and God. Elyse talked about this a little bit in her last post, so I won't belabor the point. I just thought I'd try and draw a mental picture of how we are viewing this trial we are in.

However, I don't feel like "trial" is a fair word. I feel like "blessing" is more appropriate. I'm not going to pretend that things are not hard, but God is letting us handle just enough to make us stronger but not crush us, and He is taking care of the rest for us. I can't even begin to put into good words, what I'm talking about, so I'll leave it at that. I want to explain why we are currently in a blessing instead of in a trial. Before leaving the great town of Kanab (shout out to Kanab, A OH), I prayed, with Elyse, that our family would grow closer together through our separation and that we could strengthen our testimonies and faith in God. We've barely even started our journey and our testimonies in the power of God of increased significantly. I guess I can't speak specifically for Elyse, but my faith has strengthened 10 fold. I feel as though I have literally seen God's hand working in my life. Some may say, be careful what you pray for, you may just get it. Haha. I guess you only really grow by doing hard things.

My last thing I wanted to express is gratitude to everyone who has been helping. Often we talk about the service member being gone and the sacrifices that are made by the service member. I think we as a society are getting better at remembering the families that are making the sacrifices too (often much larger and harder than the service member). But one thing that we as a society forget about is the community. It takes a community to serve our country. I think being gone, I have the easiest job of anyone. I am just gone, I don't and can't do anything at home. Everyone at home continues their daily load plus bearing my burdens that I left behind. I become more and more convinced of the importance of community in a deployment. It is impossible for a wife and kids to handle all the burdens a father/husband leaves behind, when deployed, by themselves. Each person has a different position and way of serving their country. To all those that have chose to serve their country through supporting my family with your help, friendship, and ultimately time...I salute you. You are what makes this country great. I think you are the true warriors. Thank you!

And to end...because everyone likes pictures...My selection is limited to what has been sent to me by my lovely wife and mother.

This is one of my favorites. I know I'm in trouble, probably for something inappropriate I said. Elyse knows it was inappropriate, so she is scolding me. But you can see she thinks it's funny too, so I know I'm not truly in trouble :) Plus there are doughnuts in the picture, so how can it be a bad picture?