A Day to Think...

Memorial Day has always had a special meaning to me. I was raised to appreciate our country's service members, not just on this one day a year but on every day of the year. I have had grandfathers, many uncles, countless cousins and even more friends serve on the front lines of many different wars. The amount of respect I have for these individuals cannot be explained in just words.
My view of this day however changed immensly the moment I fell in love with my husband. I always knew in the back of my mind that deployments were innevitable; that spending weeks, even months away from my other half was going to happen whether I liked it or not. Knowing this doesn't change how difficult it is to deal with. Starting in November of 2010 my very own hero left for a 7 month deployment to Afghanistan. I truly believed that those seven months were the scariest, most trying time in my life. But we made it through it! My husband returned home safely in June of 2011; it was THE happiest moment I had experienced in my life.
We began enjoying the time we had and loved every second that we were blessed with; finally starting our new life together. Then came November 1, 2011. This day became the new happiest day of my life; the day we discovered we were expecting our baby girl. The news came with many different emotions: excitement, overwhelming amounts of joy and of course a little bit of nerves. After the initial shock began to disappear we soon realized that whether this deployment was going to be combat or not, Joe would most likely not be here for the birth of our first child. Sadness was of course in the air but was over- shaddowed ten fold by the excitement of our news.
April 2nd was the day that Joe left for his second deployment with the United States Marine Corps. A hard day of course but once again I was overwhelmed with feelings of pride for my amazing husband. This Memorial Day is filled with mixed feelings. Sadness that my husband is away, joy that I am lucky enough to have someone so incredible to call mine, and pride in all that Joe does every day to keep our family safe. I cannot express how lucky I feel to call him my own and how excited I am to introduce our daughter to her amazing daddy the moment he steps off that plane in October.
There are no words that can express my graditude to each and every service member and their families across the globe that must sacrifice their time together and so much more for the needs of our country. Your blood, sweat, and tears will NEVER be forgotten.

With all our love, support, and prayers, we think of you all daily.
~The Marshall Family

A Confession...

I'll admit it: I am VERY bad at keeping up with this blog. BUT! With the little one almost here I am going to be posting as often as I can to keep everyone up to date with the happenings of our life.
Joe has now been gone for just about 8 weeks and is getting to experience so many amazing things. He has been to Australia and Thailand and those are only two of the five awesome places he gets to visit on this deployment. I couldn't be happier that he is getting to travel the world through this deployment; even if I do miss him like crazy.
As for our everyday life... I am doing my best to stay as active as I can! This baby sure does take a lot of energy out of me, but we're still getting in our daily walks and staying fit. No more trips to the gym for this momma however; those Braxton Hicks contractions are no fun while on a stationary bike :( The dogs are getting restless so I've been doing my best to get them out and about. Oakley, however has found something else to do with his spare time.

Apparently he doesn't enjoy a comfortable bed as much as the next dog...

The next few weeks will be filled with many things:

• The greatly anticipated baby shower!
• The beginning and end of birthing and breast feeding classes.
• A visit from the Hall family!!!!
• Quite a few doctors appointments.
• And general preparation for baby Marshall's arrival.

I really will do my best to keep the updates coming. Just a little while longer and this home will be as busy as ever with our sweet little girl :)

With all our love, as always,

Amanda, Joey, and baby M~