Happy moment during a sad time

We are on the brink of our third deployment. It's a tough time for a family, especially for a young family who has done this 2 times in as many years. We are savoring every minute we have together, because they are numbered.

No matter how many pictures you take, no matter how much you write in emails, no matter how many phone calls or skype date you have, the deployed parent misses a lot. It's especially hard when the things that the parent misses are major milestones. Bryan missed most of Asher's first year, which means he missed most of the big milestones of the first year. That takes a toll on a Daddy, especially a Daddy like Bryan. Luckily, other than her birth, Bryan has been around for all of Abby Kate's first years milestones. It doesn't make up for missing Asher's, but it is nice that between the two kids, he saw at least one of the babies through early childhood.

With D-day imminent, I was starting to realize that Bryan might miss out on Abby Kate's first steps. I was hoping and praying that she would decide to walk before he left, because it would be the first milestone, and a big one, that he would see both his babies do.

Today we went up to visit Bryan on the ship. He was on duty and we wanted to spend some time with him. We were just playing around, trying to get her to work on walking, hoping maybe, just maybe, we could get her to walk while Daddy was still here. Well, folks, she did it. Abby Kate took her first steps today. I can't believe my baby girl is growing up so fast. I cried then and I am crying now as I am writing this. I am so thankful and feeling so very blessed that Bryan was able to see both of our babies take their first steps, and both of them walked to him first. Thank you God for blessing us with this at a time we needed some smiles.

Here is a video of Abby Kate walking. Enjoy!