Fayetteville, N.C. — Though Cpt. Kirby Vidrine will soon head to Iraq for a year, the Fort Bragg chaplain insists his wife is the real hero.

"She is the backbone of our family,” Vidrine said of his wife, Wendy. “I definitely married up."

Wendy Vidrine cares for the couple’s eight children – ranging from 12-years-old to 11 months – and she is pregnant with their ninth child due in June.

"We were content with just a boy and a girl and then the Lord gave us another girl, and then another boy,” Kirby Vidrine said.

A typical day involves Wendy Vidrine homeschooling all of the children, cooking, cleaning and taking them to music lessons. It takes a 15-passengar van to transport the family around.

Wendy Vidrine describes a typical day as “crazy.”

“I have my moments, but for the most part, I love it. This is what I'm supposed to be doing,” Wendy Vidrine said.

The older siblings help the younger ones do chores including cleaning the house, which the family does together.

"They help with the dishes and the laundry and the little ones help straighten up and sweep, as much as they can,” she said.

This is Kirby Vidrine’s fourth long deployment.

"I think the hardest part is going to be the children missing him, because they were much younger the last time he did leave. And already they're missing him,” Wendy Vidrine said.

Kirby Vidrine, a Baptist preacher, said his children know his work for the Lord is just as important as his work at home.