It wasn't supposed to be this way: A life that seemed perfect six months ago was crumbling apart today. In a matter of minutes, Suzanne Murray's husband would board a plane that would take him to war. Suzanne, swollen with pregnancy, would be left to give birth to their second child, care for their firecracker of a toddler, manage her new company, and deal with the leaky pipes and cranky tenants from their rental properties-alone.

Two years before the fateful day in the airport, Suzanne and her husband decided to trade a conventional life and corporate job, like so many of their generation, for the high adventure of entrepreneurialism. They let go of a Wall Street income from the investment bank Lehman Brothers, moved from a luxury apartment in New York to the apartment of a row house in rundown West Philadelphia, rode the housing boom by acquiring investment properties with no money down and set their sites on building Suzanne's promising writing business. They called their new lifestyle - less money and security, but more time for the things they loved - their happiness project. Life was their smorgasbord, and they were destined to be the authors of their own, happy destiny.

When Suzanne's husband, an Air Force reserve officer, gets word that he will be deployed to Afghanistan, Suzanne faces the greatest challenge of her young life. Eight months pregnant, with a three-year-old son in tow, Suzanne says goodbye to her husband for six months that will put her strength, sanity, financial savvy and happiness to the test.

In The Happiness Project, Suzanne takes readers on a very personal journey that begins when apprehension and powerlessness threaten to overcome her as she sends Bob off to war. Inwardly, she is falling apart. Outwardly, she chooses to fight tooth and nail for a happiness that seems more elusive than ever. From an ill-advised but memorable vacation to Disney World with her son despite a looming due date, to the unexpected birth of her daughter in a Philadelphia hotel room without the help of a midwife or doctor, readers watch as little by little Suzanne finds an inner strength and emotional balance she didn't know she had. The Happiness Project is one woman's journey from self-doubt to self-belief, from feelings of weakness to recognition of her own relentless strength. Suzanne discovers the secret to finding happiness in chaos and the faith to believe that by just practicing the happiness project, she's already made it a success.