Double blessing

Today is an exciting day in the Davis' household! Today, Elijah turns 9 and Matt comes home from Iraq! It is with great excitement that we begin this day.
Nine years ago I was at the hospital, waiting to be taken back to deliver Elijah. We knew it was a boy and we knew our lives would be forever changed. Elijah came into this world screaming, so tiny and stole my heart. He has brought and continues to bring such joy to our lives. There is never a dull moment when he is around. I love that he is still completely uncensored and will say exactly what he is thinking and feeling (not always a good thing, but I love it anyway!).

On Saturday we had a small party with family and an honorary family. It was a surprise to Elijah and he had a blast and got some great gifts. Today, his Daddy comes home and we will celebrate his birthday again, just the immediate family. We would have loved to have waited for Daddy to be home to have his party, but with the moving and other craziness that we have going on, I just couldn't make it happen.
In case you didn't know, Matt has been in Iraq for the last year. He left two days before Elijah's birthday last year. He made three brief visits home in the last year, July, October, and December for Christmas. I can't complain, I have a lot of friends whose spouses go to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or some other places for a year and they don't get to come home at all during that time. We have been very blessed.
I could complain and say it's been a horrible year, but that wouldn't be true. It's been a decent year, with some very rough patches, but God has seen us through it all. It's only through his power that I could face the idea of Matt being gone a year, and then actually living Matt being gone a year. I could not have done it without Him guiding me through each and every day.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17