Envelop yourself in community. After the initial goodbye, you may feel as if you've been socked in the stomach. You'll find yourself grieving the loss of time together and possibly fearing you'll never see your spouse again. Allow yourself important moments alone to collect yourself, but be sure to find and spend time with others who understand and support you. This isn't the time to become "super-spouse" and go it alone!
Communicate lovingly. Take advantage of every opportunity and avenue to communicate, be it phone, Internet or postal mail. Never end a conversation, email or letter angrily. A small amount of anger combined with an immense distance and time span can eat the two of you up inside. Don't be afraid to be open about your day-to-day struggles and fears. Don't try to resolve a large problem over long distance in a limited amount of time if you don't absolutely have to. When sending letters and packages, consider your spouse's nature. If he isn't a big fan of reading but is looking forward to buying a house, send him letters with pictures cut out of a home-decorating catalog, along with real estate magazines. If he's easily embarrassed, don't decorate the outside of a care package with cutesy heart stickers and mortifying personal nicknames.
Note: Women, it's easy to let insecurities about your appearance bubble to the surface, especially during deployment when you're not receiving regular affirmation from your husbands. Pray that God would show you how precious and beautiful you are to your husband, who, likely, is very visual. Take those truths to heart, and don't be shy! Send him photos of you, professional or otherwise. You may see personal flaws in a photo, but he'll just see the woman he dearly misses!
Continue building your life together. Some days will be tougher than others to persevere. Despite what others tell you, you don't need to "move on without him" and you aren't "temporarily single." There is much you can do to continue building and bettering your life together while your spouse is away. If the two of you are in debt, look for ways to earn and save to rid yourselves of the financial burden. Learn to bake his favorite childhood foods. Read up on being a mom if you plan to have kids someday. Do something that makes you happy and let him know you did so. (You deserve it, and he'll be glad to know you're taking care of yourself.) Similarly, maintain your health by exercising regularly, taking a daily vitamin, getting enough sleep and eating well.
Manage your finances. Be sure to stay on top of things the extra money is tempting and easy to get used to but it won’t always be there. If you are having trouble with what to do don’t hesitate to ask or go HERE for more information.
Communicate lovingly. Take advantage of every opportunity and avenue to communicate, be it phone, Internet or postal mail. Never end a conversation, email or letter angrily. A small amount of anger combined with an immense distance and time span can eat the two of you up inside. Don't be afraid to be open about your day-to-day struggles and fears. Don't try to resolve a large problem over long distance in a limited amount of time if you don't absolutely have to. When sending letters and packages, consider your spouse's nature. If he isn't a big fan of reading but is looking forward to buying a house, send him letters with pictures cut out of a home-decorating catalog, along with real estate magazines. If he's easily embarrassed, don't decorate the outside of a care package with cutesy heart stickers and mortifying personal nicknames.
Note: Women, it's easy to let insecurities about your appearance bubble to the surface, especially during deployment when you're not receiving regular affirmation from your husbands. Pray that God would show you how precious and beautiful you are to your husband, who, likely, is very visual. Take those truths to heart, and don't be shy! Send him photos of you, professional or otherwise. You may see personal flaws in a photo, but he'll just see the woman he dearly misses!
Continue building your life together. Some days will be tougher than others to persevere. Despite what others tell you, you don't need to "move on without him" and you aren't "temporarily single." There is much you can do to continue building and bettering your life together while your spouse is away. If the two of you are in debt, look for ways to earn and save to rid yourselves of the financial burden. Learn to bake his favorite childhood foods. Read up on being a mom if you plan to have kids someday. Do something that makes you happy and let him know you did so. (You deserve it, and he'll be glad to know you're taking care of yourself.) Similarly, maintain your health by exercising regularly, taking a daily vitamin, getting enough sleep and eating well.
Manage your finances. Be sure to stay on top of things the extra money is tempting and easy to get used to but it won’t always be there. If you are having trouble with what to do don’t hesitate to ask or go HERE for more information.