Silver Lining

The Columbia Restaurant, Tampa, FL - March 2012

Most of you know that in September 2011 we found out that Lawman was going to be deployed to Afghanistan with the National Guard. When you find that out, you begin preparing - - mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physically.  Part of our preparation plans included a family vacation before he headed out.

In March, we packed our bags for spring break and headed south to Treasure Island, Florida. We traveled there in May 2010 and all agreed it was the best family vacation to date. Deciding where to go this time was easy due to our fond memories and always being in need of sun and warm temperatures after the winter months.

Here's a glimpse of our week in the sand and sun:

The view of the strip from our balcony at Crystal Palms Beach Resort.

The view from my perspective.

Lawman and his precious girls.

One of my favorite pictures from the entire week - - the happiness is evident!

 Absolutely love the light. We went to the beach daily to watch the sunset.

We said "yes" to the parasail again.

A storm rolling in. Doesn't the sunlight look like a heart?

Note:  Every cloud has a silver lining and that lining was revealed a week ago.  We received word that the deployment has been cancelled. I'm not going to lie, it was tough at first. For 8 months we've been psychologically preparing for his departure. That's not an easy thing to do and now that we finally felt like we were ready to get started on this journey in order to get it behind us, they pulled the rug out from under us. Now we're celebrating this change in plans and we're praying that in the coming months, they don't tell us to prepare again. Thanks to many of you for your prayers. I think it's safe to say that they've been answered.