I am thoroughly enjoying my newest present from Mike! I carry it around with me throughout the day and read snippets of it every chance I get. I even tweeted a passage from it this morning and several folks commented that my husband needs to give lessons on romance at the local community center :-)

The journal got me to thinking about all the special ways Mike has also made sure to communicate with our children while they were going through deployments. Because they do, ya know. Go through deployments I mean. It's harder on them than the adults sometimes I think.

Mike always wanted the children to know that he loved them and would write specific letters addressed to just them. Each of our children were thrilled at getting these letters.

Letter writing was a given, of course.

But he did more than just write letters.

For one of his earliest deployments, back when the children were all still preschoolers, Mike made a video of himself reading several Dr. Seuss books. He sent the video and the books home to the children. At the end of the book reading, he let the camera keep recording as he went about the mundane task of cleaning his barracks room. The children used to get up and go clean their own rooms when they watched daddy cleaning his room, too. It might seem silly but it showed them that daddy didn't leave just so he could go have all sorts of fun and games without them. He was working and living and counting the days until he could return home to all of us.

On Mike's most recent deployment to Iraq he sent the children each a pair of their own dog-tags. He used a metal stamping kit to put his own little love note on the back of the tags... he had even less room than 140 characters so the notes were really small and abbreviated but each of our children knew exactly what it meant when they read it. They still wear their tags. They are one of the children's most prized possessions!

Mike also sent each of the children Bibles with special hand written messages from him and with special verses highlighted during one of his Iraq deployments. All of his deployments to the Persian Gulf area were hardest on the children (and me, too) because we honestly didn't know if he would be coming back. We knew friends that didn't so its hard to pretend that everything is peachy king. We never lied to the children or to each other. War is war and death happens in war. We simply trusted God in His wisdom to know what was good for our future and our lives. I am thankful every day that He saw fit to send my husband back home safely to our family!

Mike always made sure to order birthday and holiday presents specific to each of our children's likes and dislikes as well. Sometimes he sent them gifts that you just couldn't get anywhere else. When he was deployed helping with the tsunami relief effort, he worked along side many military folks from that region. Our youngest son loves hat pins and so Mike traded several pieces of his own insignia for several pieces of a Sri Lankan military guys insignia and sent that back to our youngest.  Our middle son collects coins so Mike has sent him coins from around the world. And so forth. Each child often got books, clothing, toys, and other gifts that were unique to their own personalities. I love that my husband made such an effort to remind each child that he knew and remembered them personally even while he was away!

This military life is not always an easy one but it is the path that God has led us down. I am thankful for all the ways our family has grown through our times together, and our times apart. I am thankful for a husband who has worked so hard to show each of us in so many ways that he knows and loves us individually, and collectively.

These examples, of course, are just a small sampling of the many things Mike has done to ensure our kids KNEW they were loved by him while he was deployed. What are some ways your spouse has made sure to stay connected to each member of your family while he was away?

 I'd love for you to share in the comments :-)

In Christ,

Sallie