Sad...

Well, Nic finally left for his ten month excursion. I'm not so much depressed, just sad. It is weird not having half of you around. Not having half of the bed unmade, doing laundry of someone who isn't here and cutting back on the food you make every night for dinner. I know, wierd, mundane things but these are major things that I notice when Nic is not around. Or even a pair of boots he has left out and I have to put away. I almost don't want to put them away, because then I won't have those everyday reminders of him around the house. The kids are doing great! I am so proud of them. We talk about Daddy everyday, how much we miss him, how we miss him making dinner for us and even the smell of his cologne. (This comes into play because he leaves one of his teeshirts for each kid, with a spray of his cologne on it, that they can sleep with, carry around, etc.) One night, Lilly was really sad that he was gone and wasn't putting her to bed. God definitely gave me these words, because I had NEVER thought of this before, but I said to her "Look, you can see Daddy in the picture next to your bed, you can hear Daddy in the build a bear he made for you and you can smell Daddy on your teeshirt." She was SO thrilled about this, that she tells me everyday about it. :) Kassy wears her Daddy shirt to bed every night and around the house as much as possible. Preston just bounces around the house singing, "Dada, dada, dada." So as you can see, we are hanging in there quite nicely. The holidays are going to be the roughest on me. I think that is why I am so sad tonight. Like I said, sad, not depressed. Which is a big difference. I just can't wait for this period to be over with. But I have SO MUCH to be thankful for. The girls and I were talking about this today (while doing our Pilgrim place cards, I HIGHLY suggest NOT doing them with a four and two year old. Which our family will see tomorrow!) and Lilly said she was thankful for Daddy and Preston. Kassy said she was thankful for the playground and Daddy. I said, "That is great!" and then Lilly asked me what I was thankful for. I told her my family (she got a HUGE grin on her face) and our house, food, warmth, God keeping us safe and Daddy. She seemed to like that answer because she then looked thoughtful and started playing again. What a wonderful time of the year. Have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow and remember all the reasons for YOU to be thankful.