Happy Friday, and we hope you had a fun, relaxing Fourth of July!

This past week was full of blog posts on coping with a deployment. So naturally, many of our Friday Roundup picks reflect that trend. We hope you’ll find some useful tidbits highlighted below.

So, without further ado …

1) “Bedtime Relaxations for Deployment,” from Singing Through the Rain

As blog author and military spouse, Kathryn, points out, sleeping alone during a deployment can become very stressful. However, to help you finally drift into dreamland, she offers these 10 handy tips … [read more]

2) “Being Out in the Sun and Loving It!” from Combat Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

“Over the past two days I have spent a lot of time with my family outdoors and I discovered something amazing: Being out in the sun improves my mood,” blog author Max says in his post. Maybe this combat veteran discovered something for anyone struggling against the blues … [read more]

3) “Five Ways to Avoid the Deployment Blues,” guest post at chambanachik

Whether it’s your first deployment, or your fourth, finding ways to cope with the intense emotions is always a difficult task. Therefore Adrienne, a military spouse, offers her top five tips to avoid the deployment blues … [read more]

4) “The Emotional Cycle of Deployments,” guest post at Army Wife 101

Matt Puettmann of Military Spouse Central explains the normal, emotional cycle of living through a deployment: from pre-deployment to the return. Does any of this sound familiar, to you? [read more]