US Army: Thank you.

Usually, I don't put forth any effort to hide my dislike of the Army. I am not a "hooah" wife. I hate the stupid rules, I hate my husband being called at 4AM on his day off and told he needs to come in within 2 hours to have a drug test, I hate the 13 hour work days that the pay certainly doesn't reflect, I hate that if there's a day we just want to go do something together or simply stay in he can't just call in sick. This isn't even counting a deployment, so I can't imagine how I'd feel about it then. While there are definitely positives, I have not been a big fan of this life and I've made no secret that Kyler and I both are looking forward to civilian life again. I am definitely counting down until his contract is up.

With that being said, lately I have been feeling thankful for the Army for one big reason. If Kyler hadn't joined, I would still be in school at KU and finishing my degree. In order to do that I would have had to take out at least $15,000 more in student loans, and we would have probably wracked up more credit card debt rather than paying it off. Kyler would have been looking for a job right as the recession hit, and who knows if he would have found one. Our finances definitely would not have been in a spot where we would have considered having a child-we probably wouldn't even be married yet. We wouldn't have been at the place and time we were for Keira to be conceived.

I never understood why he wanted to join. This was not something that had ever come up before-in fact, he would have laughed in your face if you told him he was going to be a soldier. It literally came out of nowhere and when I would try to ask him WHY so I could understand, he never really had an answer other than he felt like he was supposed to.

I think he felt that way so that we could have our little girl. I wouldn't be 8 weeks from seeing our first baby and holding her little hand, I wouldn't be able to hold my belly while she kicks at me to let me know she's okay in there, and I wouldn't be looking through baby books and almost crying when I think about what I'll write as all her favorites or who she takes after. So, God-I didn't understand why on Earth You compelled Kyler to feel the need to join the Army, but now I do: thank you for Keira.