Teach us to number our days, and let us bring the heart to wisdom. Psalms 90:12
The start of 2026 has been a crazy whirlwind for Josh and me. It all began with Josh having to go on not one, but four business trips, or at least that was the original plan. Unfortunately, for various reasons, I couldn’t tag along on the first three trips, which meant that for most of January, he would be gone more than he would be home.
The initial lineup was intense: a full week in Tel Aviv, Israel, followed by flying directly to Paris, France, for another week. He’d then have a week at home before heading to Saudi Arabia for eleven days. After that, following another brief week home, he’d fly to Honolulu, Hawaii, and this time, I planned to tag along.
Now, I’ll be honest, usually he doesn’t have such back-to-back trips, but he does have moments where he goes from barely traveling to traveling a lot. Yet most of the time he has a couple of weeks between travels and is only gone for a week at most. This time, however, his traveling went into hyperdrive. See, he works in the satcom industry. The company he works for, Sat-Lite Technologies, builds satellite antennas. Their antennas are used all over the world. They aren’t like the extremely large ones that are used to search for extraterrestrial life. They’re the ones you see on TV vans or for military use—anywhere from 1.2 meters to 4.2 meters.
My husband is a field service engineer. He handles repairs, tech support, training, pretty much whatever is needed. He travels when customers require warranty work, repairs, or training. These trips were a combination of all three. He did training in Israel, warranty work in Paris and Denard, France, major repairs in Saudi Arabia, and then more training in Honolulu.
While he was on his first trip, though, he found out he also was needed to do a training session in Sarasota, FL in between his Israel/France trip and Saudi Arabia trip. Thankfully, I rearranged my schedule to join him for that one.
Josh finally returned home from the combined Israel/France trip on January 18th, having been away since the 5th. He got two nights in his own bed (Sunday and Monday), then we were up early Tuesday to drive to DFW, fly to Sarasota, and spend the night. He led the training on Wednesday, we flew back to DFW that evening, stayed near the airport, and he departed Thursday night for Saudi Arabia.
Looking back on it all, I can only shake my head. I don’t know how my husband managed all those different time zones. I am so thankful to God for keeping him healthy and safe through all of it.
For me, and honestly, for Josh too, the separations felt rough. We haven’t been apart like this in ages. It brought back memories from our early years of dating, when I lived in Baytown and he lived in Longview. Then I went to college at SFA for a year before transferring to UT Tyler. We hated those years of living hours apart, and having him gone for most of January, reminded me of how it felt when we were teenagers. It really made me realize how blessed Josh and I are that we still don’t like being apart, even after more than thirty years together and over twenty-five years of marriage.
While Josh was gone, I took care of all the farm needs. It was a struggle. I had to feed the cows every day because he couldn’t move hay before his travels—our hay fork was broken, and he didn’t have time to replace it. Then we got hit with 4 inches of sleet. It looked like a beautiful blanket of snow at first glance, but it was one thick layer of ice.
As if that wasn’t enough, I also got the flu during the freak ice storm. I hadn’t had the flu in decades. I wasn’t exactly grateful to come down with it during freezing weather. Running a 102-degree fever while feeding cattle and chickens is not something I’d recommend, but somehow I made it through. Thankfully, Josh didn’t get sick.
Now, to the present day—I’m sitting in an Airbnb on Waikiki Beach in Hawaii while Josh is training some customers. Hopefully we’ll be able to do some sightseeing on Thursday and Friday. The weather is much calmer today than it has been over the last two days. We arrived on Sunday during a freak winter storm, with high winds and heavy rain. All the state parks are currently closed, even Pearl Harbor. I’m praying Pearl Harbor opens up before we leave, but according to the state park sites near us, they may not reopen until February 29th.
However, I’m determined not to let it bother me—despite having to use the stairs to the fifteenth floor because the elevators are shut down due to the weather. God willing, they’ll be turned on today. No, I’m determined not to focus on the negatives, but to focus on the fact that I was blessed enough to be able to travel with my husband to Hawaii. I have a view between high rises of the Pacific. I’m getting a break from the farm and work, and I have time to write. If all we get to see is the beautiful Pacific Ocean and the city of Honolulu, that’s alright with me.
This trip is a much-needed slowdown after the craziness of January. I am so grateful that God blessed us with the opportunity for me to tag along on Josh’s business trip. I’m also looking forward to whatever else 2026 has in store for Josh and me.