Ready

When we first moved to Kansas in 2006, we were forced to buy a home. All the promises of "free housing" on post turned out to be another Army falsehood, so after we spent six full weeks in hotel room after hotel room (with two kids, ugh!) searching for a place to rent, we finally put an offer in on a house. There literally were NO homes or apartments for rent within 100 miles of Fort Riley when we got there, and the housing list for post was a 2-year wait.

We had no desire to own a home. We had barely been married a year, and it was our first two months of actually LIVING together (as he spent the first year of our marriage in training)... we were definitely not ready for home ownership. All we wanted was a temporary place to stay until we got to go home to Utah at the end of his contract.

Then I fell in love with my little Abilene house.

...with the cute front porch

where my kids ate ice cream...

...when they were shorter than the doorknob

Where Josh met his first best friend...

...and we got to have Adam in our lives...

Where we were Soldier and Wife

But all I could think about at the time was how incredibly lonely I was.
We lived 30 miles from post, 60 miles from the nearest actual city (which is still a bit of a stretch).
I missed my friends and my family and my mountains.

Everywhere I looked, this is what I saw.

I finally convinced Husband to move on post (when our names finally came up on the waiting list).
And I missed my little Abilene house.
But now I had friends!

...and my house was adorable:

Then, after a three-year adventure in Kansas, we came HOME.
And I got my mountains.
And I got my family.

And I got my apartment, where I set up my home again... in a MUCH smaller space.

But I didn't care, because it was HOME!

Then, the Nightmare happened.
Husband and I split up...
...so I moved the three kids & myself back into my mom's house.

Husband and I are back now, and stronger than ever. We feel so safe with each other, and our lives finally feel like they're going to go somewhere.

And we are ready.
Ready to have a home of our own again.
Ready to do yard work and put our names on the mailbox.

I applied for a full-time job yesterday. I really, really want it, and I am crossing my fingers and praying that they will take me. Because it's time for life to get back up to speed again, and I am ready to get moving.