I hope everyone had a great holiday! 



I actually had a really wonderful day. I know, I sound surprised, right? Well I knew that I would have a good day, but I was still really bummed about not getting to spend the day with my family..and without my husband.


A year ago when I was planning and planning for our quick wedding I thought about this time of year and kept imagining all of the firsts we would get to share. I am so glad that he got to spend the day in Memphis with his mom and see some old friends but I can’t help but be a little jealous of all the other new marriages that get to do things the normal way. 


We were without family for Easter. We spent Independence Day outside of the states. :/ He left the day before Halloween to go to training…and now this. I’m not even decorating the house for Christmas because neither one of us will be here. What’s the point? 


I try to be grateful everyday for the life that the Lord has laid out for me and I feel so blessed to be here in Germany getting to live out my adventure but deep down inside…I miss family. I have always been independent, but to be alone for Thanksgiving? This was just weird for me. I have a really close knit family and I can’t remember ever missing them so much. And then there is James. I waited all week to hear from him and got a call on my way home letting me know that he isn’t coming home for a couple more days because his bags are lost. I know that I have to be brave and that the military changes stuff up all the time so I should be used to this..but I can’t describe the sinking feeling in my heart when I heard that news. I’m just ready to be home hugging my mommy at this point….and I’m not really a hugger. 

It’s a good thing that I’ve made some awesome friends here or I might be a full-time mess. They have been wonderful and encouraging, and most of all, in the same boat as I am. It helps so much, knowing that I’m not the only one who misses my husband, and misses my family, and didn’t have anyone to cook for on Thanksgiving. 




I took my incredibly ugly apple pie and a veggie plate made in the shape of a turkey to my friend Jessica’s house. She has been planning for a couple of weeks now to open her home and share her family with the other lonely hearts that she knew. We had a great group of people and a plethora of food to munch on all day.




Some of my favorite moments of the day included watching the Macy’s Day parade (even if it was a recording from last year), meeting some new friends and teaching them how to play my favorite card game: nerts, having a sing-along to LMFAO while playing nerts :), attempting to make gravy and then getting kicked off the job because the boys were worried about my “rue”, playing blocks with the little children on the floor and laughing intensely every time one of the kids would pretend to be a monster and knock down the “castle”, having a real live football game playing on the tv in the background of our eating and chatting all evening long. 





It kind of felt like home. In Germany…how weird is that? After months of being here it’s finally starting to feel “home”y. It almost made me forget that I was missing my little sister’s first time hosting Thanksgiving for my family in her own home. Or how much I wanted to be there. Almost. 

In a few (short, hopefully) days, James will be home to hang out with me before he heads off to Afghanistan for 6 months. I pray that we can make the most of the time together and not let the stresses of everything going on ruin our minimal time together. And then I will head off to Texas to hang out with the family for a few weeks and I can’t tell you how excited I am to get to be there for Christmas. I hope that I choose to enjoy that time with them instead of being sad that I won’t be able to share it with James as well. 


One day I really hope we all get to be together. 
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