I’ve been busy getting ready for the launch of my new book, My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife, which releases September 1, and it’s been very exciting to see the early buzz as ladies learn about it. But I feel like I need to put out a disclaimer every time someone says “I can’t wait to read it and learn from it!”

This is not that kind of book.

I mean, my hope is that you’ll learn something from it. My hope is that the questions I asked myself during that year that the book takes place will prompt your own questions – are you being the wife and mom God has called you to be? (Not the wife and mom you think, or you think the world thinks, you should be.) But this isn’t a book of 10 steps to being just like the Proverbs 31 wife. If anything, it’s a lesson in what not to do. And what God taught me despite my failures.

For a while, after I’d turned the manuscript in, I was extremely nervous about this book. How people would take it. React to it. Whether they would like it or hate it.

But now, I find myself just wishing that they will laugh. That they will, by seeing my worry and my stress during that long year of trying to be so many things, that we don’t have to take ourselves so seriously like we do so much of the time. But we can take God seriously. We can trust that He has a plan for us and a desire for us and a role for us as wives, as moms, as the thermostats of our families.

Things are getting extremely busy here around the Horn household. The end of August through the end of September will be one of the busiest schedules I’ve had in a while. I’m speaking several times on a few different military bases and to military wife groups, there is so much going on over at Wives of Faith and I don’t feel I’ve been as on top of things as I need to be. But it makes me all the more grateful for the ladies who volunteer and who have done so much – behind the scenes and in front.  And the media promotion will be starting soon for the new book.

But life is good. I am grateful my husband is home and I am pleased with how things are going with the new school year for my son. I feel like my priorities are correct these days. And though I still frustrate myself by taking on too many things (I’m working on that – baby steps!), I know I’m not neglecting my family anymore. And that the rest will all come together as it needs to.

There are a couple of new contests coming up for the Proverbs 31 book (be sure to stay informed by following the Facebook page and the web site (and don’t forget about Twitter if you tweet). Lots of fun things in store!)

And we’re talking about a new book on the horizon… one that will be even more challenging than the year I took trying to be a domestic diva. I’ll keep you posted.

I am “recovering” this week from a great week last week in Nashville where I got to visit with my mom and sister and also do a few fun things with a couple of my books plus meet with some of our Wives of Faith board members!

Last Tuesday I did a webcast with LifeWay Women Live, their monthly training resource live webcast they do to equip women’s ministry leaders in churches all over the country and other parts of the world. We had a good chat about military families and the challenges we deal with and how churches and congregations can help serve. The web archive for that should be available in another week or so, and I will do my best to remember to come back and post the link here.

Wednesday I got the special unexpected treat of recording a podcast with LifeWay News about Tour of Duty and military families and deployment in general. This was with my old office I used to work for when I worked in corporate communications there several years ago, and it was fun to reconnect with old friends and co-workers as well as meet some new. Jon Wilke serves as their media manager now, and being former military himself, he has a huge passion for supporting our military and asked some great questions in the interview. The link isn’t up yet but I will let you know when it is.

That afternoon I ran home for my first marketing meeting/conference call with Harvest House to discuss promotion for my new book, My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife . Marketing meetings are always fun because, of course, this is the creative fun part where we get to plan and dream and think of fun things to do for my readers! And I loved the team at Harvest House! Lots of great ideas and I’m excited to be working with them. They actually surprised me when they told me they see this book as a “crossover” – meaning they are going to be pitching it not just to the Christian media outlets and stores (in fact, look who’s already got it on their website) but also to mainstream media – like the major morning shows and cable news networks. Oh boy! I also didn’t realize until they sent me a few pictures afterwards, that the book was featured at this year’s ICRS (International Christian Retail Show) which is where publishers and retailers come together to discuss books, the newest books and getting those books into the hands of readers.

Expect lots of giveaways in the coming weeks and months and if you haven’t yet done so, follow on Facebook (facebook.com/myproverbs31life) and Twitter (twitter.com/myprov31life) because we’ve already had one giveaway for the book this past weekend and will be doing another soon!

I had another meeting last week finalizing something very special I’ve been working on with another division at LifeWay but I can’t announce it until our Wives of Faith retreat in September. But it will be the start of a dream I’ve had for awhile and I can’t wait to tell you about it!

I know this What’s New Wednesday update seemed more like What Happened Last Wednesday, but I do have some “new” news I just found out yesterday. Focus on the Family is re-airing my interview I did with them last year, “God’s Hope and Strength for Military Families” August 1st (this coming Monday). Check your local listings if you’d like to listen or visit their website to listen live there (and they will have it up in their archives afterwards).

Don’t know about you, but we are winding down summer and gearing up for school! Monday is Caleb’s 5th grade orientation and August is the month my husband comes home!! He’s been away since October and we are very excited that the days and weeks are counting down quickly!!

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Wow. In some ways, I don’t even know where to start. So much has happened this past year. We’ve moved (twice), we’ve transitioned with new schools, new homes, new adjustments and new blessings. And our physical surroundings aren’t the only thing that’s changed. I’ve changed. A lot. For the better I hope.

God has taught me a LOT about relationship this past year. With Him. With my husband. With my son. With my family, and friends and precious women I serve with in ministry. I’m still learning, of course, but when I look back even 2 years ago, I feel very different today. I feel a sense of growth. That I’ve learned some things God wanted to teach me. And I’m excited about the future.

My husband Cliff will be home in just a short six weeks after being away for almost ten months. While I’m grateful he was not in a combat zone this time, one worry we didn’t have to think about, the time apart and the challenges we’ve had with access to communication (uncooperative internet),  has still made this season long and we are all ready to see it end.

I made some very specific decisions and choices before he left, that I would say no to most speaking opportunities, say no to new book opportunities (even the ideas floating in my own head), and I would focus on taking care of our son and preparing for our future after Cliff gets home. (That means saving, saving, saving for all you fellow Dave Ramsey fanatics! Ha ha!) For we are about to enter another season of job searching, and if you’ve been with me the last few years, you know that steady employment has been one of our main challenges as a family. But if I think about it, I think so have I.

You’ll read more about this in my new book coming out this September, My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife, but God took me on a journey the last year or so and really opened my eyes to some things I was doing, and wasn’t doing, as a wife and mom. Through that experience, I’ve realized that as the wife, as the mom, I’m the thermostat of our home. Of our family. I set the temperature. And while I would love for us to be a pleasant 72 degrees at all times, I realize that I often bring the heat or give the cold.

My biggest struggle has always been the definition of accomplishment. For a long time, I’ve only seen accomplishment through the eyes of a career. But God has been showing me something different. A lot of it has involved being quiet. Being still (ok, my definition of being still. Someone told me recently I looked like I was busy as ever, and truthfully, I’m really not NEARLY as busy as I used to be.)  It’s definitely a process, but I’m excited about what I’m learning.

This doesn’t mean I’m turning in my laptop for my apron. In fact, with Cliff’s blessing, I’ll be getting back to speaking as soon as September, thanks to invitations from women’s groups already coming in. And I hope to start looking at what God’s laying on my heart to write beginning early next year.

I hope you’ll take a look around while you’re here and let me know what you think – I’ve completely revamped this website in order to be more user-friendly and help you find the resources you need as you read GOD Strong, or Tour of Duty, or the new one this fall. My updates here will be more just that – news and updates. My “deeper” thoughts you will probably find at Wives of Faith for military wives or MyProverbs31Life (which is currently a work in progress and will probably include a lot of my mistakes!) for everyone.

I’m not completely happy with my header – I know just enough of PhotoShop to be dangerous but my degree was in music and not graphic design. I’m hoping my creative husband will be able to take a stab at it after he gets home, which we are excitedly counting down for his return. (6 weeks and counting!)

So as we prepare for this new season, with deployment ending, and the “new normal” beginning once again, I’d love to hear what your new season looks like. What’s God been teaching you? What’s He leading you to do? Or not do? For saying no is sometimes much harder than saying yes. But we learn through both.

Until next time….

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. Cliff Horn has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. He has been my calm in the storm, my rock when things got rocky, my man who always makes me laugh when I’d rather get upset or stress out. He has seen me through writing projects, successes and failures, dreams and disappointments.

While I miss him terribly right now as he finishes his second deployment, I am forever grateful he’s in my life and I can’t wait for him to come home.

Happy Anniversary Handsome.

We’re doing our annual Military Spouse Appreciation Blog Carnival over at Wives of Faith today… (join in the fun!) I became the spouse of a Navy Reservist the day I married Cliff Horn (June 6, 1998). But I didn’t really think of myself as a military spouse until we’d been married almost 9 years, when we got the notice he would deploy to Iraq in 2007. Since that time, I have actively sought out a community of women to lean on and encourage, to laugh with and cry, to help and be helped in turn. It has been such a blessing in my life.

So here’s my list of what I love about being a military spouse:

1. Being married to my husband. He is loyal, loving and compassionate. We met because Cliff willingly came and helped when our home church asked some of the college guys to come help move a family into their house. (Of course, it didn’t hurt that he was told there were a couple of daughters. ) His smile that day, and the way he made me laugh grabbed me instantly. He pretty much “had me at hello.” He is an incredible father to our son and a devoted son and Christ-follower. And I am so proud and grateful to be his wife.

2. Knowing I’ve been called to serve. Less than 1% of the U.S. population serves in the military. I think it’s important to remind military spouses that they’ve been called by God as well. We have an important purpose – whether that’s encouraging our service member, or our children, or other spouses in our units, or other military spouses in general. We have the opportunity to make a difference every day. And we are part of making a difference. While my husband has been away this year making life better for other children living in third world countries, I’ve been keeping life going for our child and our family. We’re a team. And I love it!

3. Seeing him in uniform. ‘Nough said.

4. Raising our son to understand the values and honor of serving for a cause bigger than yourself.

5. Connecting with other  military spouses! I love, love, LOVE getting to hang out with other military wives. Just like our service members develop bonds with those they serve with, we develop bonds as well. I’ve made some wonderful friends over the years, both online and off, and I love to reconnect especially when we get together like at the recent PWOC International Conference last year or our upcoming Wives of Faith retreat!

6. An instant sense of belonging. When I meet another woman who I find out is a military spouse, we already have something in common. Probably many somethings in common. For someone who spent time in 10 different schools before I graduated high school (my dad was a nuclear engineer and we moved a lot for his job), having that sense of connection is wonderful.

7. Being part of the good guys. Political correctness would have us say today that good and evil don’t exist, and that right and wrong are just someone’s definition of their own moral code. But I believe in the values America was built on – freedom, justice, the opportunity to make your own choices, the opportunity to worship freely. And I’ve seen firsthand the eyes of others who desire that freedom but can’t as easily come by it. I’ve talked face to face with Iraqi women who despite the risk and the loss they’ve experienced in their families and the conflict they’ve seen in their country were absolutely hopeful that Iraq would experience freedom. And I’ve been around enough and interviewed enough strong, dedicated soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines to know and be absolutely confident (and extremely impressed) that they have America’s back. And they will defend not just our country, but those ideals and values our country has stood for.

8. Online resources. Being the wife of a reservist, I’ve never lived near a military base. So if not for the online communities as well as the websites (Military OneSource is a life-saver!) and social media connections, I would have been absolutely lost. Now I connect others to those resources.

9. That faith is still recognized as an integral part of service. I’m grateful we have chaplains – men and women who stand in the gap for our service members, who pray with them, minister to them and to the families. They have an incredible calling and purpose and do it with humility and grace.

10. The challenges we endure as military spouses only make us better. I have learned as a military spouse to lean on God’s strength and not my own. I have learned that the absences of my husband have only brought us closer together. (And when dealing with deployment, it is always an opportune time to set some weight loss goals and see those goals to success! Down almost 12 pounds now – woohoo! )

11. Finally, what I love about being a military spouse is the homecoming. The rush of seeing my Handsome again, in the flesh, in my arms, not to leave anytime soon. I’ve learned not to take the little things for granted. And not let the little things upset me either. Can’t wait for our family to be back together once again…

See what the other Wives of Faith have shared!

REPOST (5/8/2009):

Today is Military Spouse Appreciation Day and to all of you military spouses out there, here’s to a job well done and here’s wishing you the best day imagineable!

A Day for You, the Military Spouse
by Sara Horn

A day where no uniforms need mending or patches sewn on;
A day where nothing breaks down when you are all alone;
A day when children listen and there are no tears to dry;
A day where there are no questions and you don’t have to answer why;
This is the day I wish for you, the Military Spouse.

A day filled with peace and love and solidarity
A day where a phone call is just the start of the great day you’ll see
A day when you realize that what you do has fantastic enormous worth
A day where for the first time in months you can breathe without the hurt
This is the day I wish for you, The Military Spouse

A day that’s 24 hours closer to your loved one coming home
A day for webcams and Skype and soft I love you’s before dawn
A day where there are no silly arguments, just constant mutual grace
A day filled with blue skies, happiness and faith.
This is the day I wish for you, The Military Spouse

You are appreciated and you are loved. And you do make a difference.

Tonight I watched the news along with all of my FB friends and the rest of the world as they announced the death of Osama bin Laden.

I remember 10 years ago watching the Towers collapse and the horror that unfolded from those attacks on 9/11. I remember specifically sitting on the couch that night in our little apartment with my husband and our six-month old son, wondering what the future was going to look like.

It’s been a long 10 years.

My husband is currently on his second deployment as a reservist, and this second one is not in a combat zone in the Middle East though where he is right now is a highly secure area. But I know military spouses who have said goodbye to their service members 4 times, 5 times, even 7 and 8 times since that day in September. I remember when my photographer and I traveled to Iraq in 2003 and how we wondered what the world would be like in 5 years. Neither of us thought we would still be at war.

My first thought when hearing that Osama bin Laden was dead was not one of happiness. I don’t think I can ever rejoice in someone’s death, especially someone who didn’t know God. And after so many years of the terrorist’s ability to allude our military forces, my next thought was a bit of awe and surprise. But I am glad that justice has been done and that the man responsible for so many deaths will not be able to order more destruction in the future.

Still, as I said on FB earlier tonight, we need to keep our military and our military families in prayer now more than ever. The chance of retaliation is possible and there are many military spouses I know who are more worried than happy tonight as they head to bed. Osama was the leader of an ideology – and that ideology will not be going away any time soon. Who knows who will take his place.

What we do know, though, is what has never changed – God is in control and He knows and holds the future in His hands. And we continue to trust Him through it all.