Turning the Page

Dear Husband's JAG crew getting ready for the Christmas season in Iraq!!



Well, November is almost done and I am getting ready to turn the page on the calendar again. December is right around the corner and all the joy and celebration of Jesus' birth is about to begin. I am pausing to think about this last year right now and to try to make the most of this last month on the calendar. It has been a year of ups and downs, struggles and triumphs, but mostly a year without my dear husband.

Nothing seems right without him here among us and I miss him. I decided to blog about how things were going as a marker to me that everything would be okay and that God is with us now, even in these last few months before he comes home to us for good. All of modern technology is wonderful and does bridge the gap of missing him, it is helpful for the kids and I to connect with their Dad using Skype and texting and e-mails and even the good old fashioned postal system. We have all learned a lot from this deployment and that is what I am trying to gather up in my thoughts today. The kids have learned the meaning of sacrifice and putting others before themselves. They have learned how to communicate with their Dad so far away and how to help out even when they do not feel like doing so. They have seen a love relationship between their Mom and Dad that I hope will inspire and encourage them when they leave home and begin their own families.

The holiday season is upon us and the page on the calendar is being turned and I want to be able to celebrate Jesus' birthday with my children and family and friends. Yes, it is going to be different, and yes it will be very difficult, sometimes the reality of dear husband not being here is overwhelming and tears flood my eyes, but I know that God will work all these things out for His glory. So I am turning the page on my calendar on Tuesday and looking forward to what December will bring for our family. I know the children are excited about two more weeks left in school! We are getting close to finishing Unit 2 of Tapestry of Grace Year 3, and we are trying to hit our goals for reading and math. Nutcracker performances begin in Chapel Hill this weekend,Advent activities from the wonderful book, Celebrate with Joy, Christmas parties, gingerbread house decorating, cookie making and decorating the house and getting the crazy tree up! I want to enjoy it all. So I am resolving to give God our holidays, give Him the month of December, really as I should do with every month and ask Him for guidance and help to know what to do and when to do it. Won't you join me as you turn the page on the calendar to the last month of this year and resolve to give the month to God!

Almost Thanksgiving!

Well, the month is just about gone! Thanksgiving is two days away and we have taken the week of from school!! Enjoying a little free time for cleaning, cooking, thinking and preparing for the joyous month of December. Before we get there though I wanted to pause and think of all the things that we have as a family and as a nation to be thankful for this year of 2009. We are a family that is separated by many miles, but our hearts are bound together even closer than before this deployment began 13 months ago. I am thankful for my soldier husband and his service to our great nation and his example for our children. I am thankful for my three beautiful, wondrous children and all the laughter and love they bring to our lives and the growing they cause me to do in my relationship with Christ. I am thankful for all of our family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and dear friends that are family and our church home. I am thankful for the honor and the call to homeschool my children and for all of the amazing resources to do so. I am thankful for my life and my health, thankful for God's provisions and blessings. Thank you dear Lord for all that You have done for us! Thank you and help me to keep my focus on being thankful and not on missing my dear husband!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

The Blur That Was October

Well, amazingly enough October 2009 has come and gone. The month has faded into one big beautiful blur! Our family begin the month traveling with dear husband who was home for 16 days on R&R. Our travels took us to Busch Gardens at Williamsburg and the Great Wolf Lodge, followed by a few wonderful days at the beach, soaking up some sun, but mostly enjoying one another and making memories, the weather was a little wet!


Dear husband returned to Iraq October 9 which left us with the rest of October and we continued the whirlwind of activities with birthdays, Ginger's and mine, the State fair with the chocolate covered bacon and finally our church's Fall Festival.



Our time with dear husband was fleeting, but having what one of our friends calls a "Practice Homecoming" was wonderful. I can only hope the rest of our deployment time will fly by as quickly. I surely appreciate having a completed family time because nothing really is the same without dear husband. God continually reminds me daily even when I feel so very overwhelmed how blessed we truly are, and what an honor it is to have my husband who is following God's call on his life to serve his country and set an example for our children. Yes it is hard, but it is so worth it. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I am going to try to get back in the habit of posting more regularly. I will always remember the blur that was October!

Anticipation

Sweet husband has started the long Army journey home for 15 days of R&R, which in the past was called rest and relaxation, now it has some other name, but it means the same thing! His first flight on the first leg of the journey was canceled due to dust storms. The new plan was convoy! After much prayer and trusting, I received the call this morning at 4:45am, safe and sound. Now the next part of the journey begins. I do not know when or where for sure, and that is o.k., because I do know ultimately whose hands he rests in, always.

We wait with great anticipation for the final phone call, saying come pick me up, I am HOME! Preparations are going on, cleaning, grocery shopping, making sure that all the comforts of home are in tip top shape for his homecoming. I know that everything to him will seem wonderful, and I don't have to make a big fuss over him. He never has asked that of me, but I want everything to be just right.

He needs the rest. He needs the relaxation. He still has to return and finish the rest of the time of his deployment. Praying for strength and wisdom to know when to do what and how to minister to him. Thank you Lord for this homecoming. I will always remember these 15 days!

Ginger's Return

Our 10 month old yellow lab mix Ginger has returned from her extended time away at doggie boot camp! We are very happy to have her home once again with us. She is now peacefully sleeping in her crate...content to be with her family once again. 

She got to hang out with a lot of really cool dogs, and I think she learned a thing or two from them! She sure has better manners. We ventured to the Millbrook Exchange dog park with her today. She loved running around with all of the other dogs during the work day for the park. She came back to us when it was time to go! I was very impressed! When we got her home we gave her a very long and soapy bath with Dawn dish washing detergent! She is squeaky clean and smells great. She had a compressed raw hide bone and lots of hugs and pats and some ice cubes too! 

Now I have to continue all of her training at home with a firm hand and authority. We will see...I believe I have it in me...I just have to find my pack leader mentality and we will be set! Welcome home Ginger baby! We missed you so much! Sandy even missed you, I think!

Rainy Day Reminders

I am grateful for the rain. Today is a reminder of how much I thirst for God's love, to show it to my children, to feel it from Christian friends, to give it with graciousness to all the people in my life. Thank you Lord for the rain. My sweet husband needs to feel the "rain" of God's love in the dry desert land he is in right now. He is weary, he is parched from long hours,sleep that is hard to come by and separation from his family. He would be receiving words of encouragement and rest if he were here with us in his normal daily life. Please pray for his comfort, for him to feel God's love all around him in a dry and barren place that sees dust storms, not rain storms. Pray for him to see the "rain" in the desert. Thank you and hold on sweetie, the rain is coming for you too!

Summer Time and the Livin' is Easy!

We have been going pretty fast through the month of June and the start of summer with all kinds of fun and adventures. I want to catalog the events of June before we get too far into July! First, we finished up Ginger's obedience classes for puppies. She did graduate, but she is a handful and then some! I cannot believe how much she has grown. She weighs 40 lbs. and is much taller than Sandy our 15 year old hound mix. Ginger is a sweet dog and fills Sandy's days with lots of boisterous puppy behavior!


Youngest son has been playing coach pitch baseball this summer and has had a blast. He has never played before so it has been an experience watching him learn to run the bases and when to run and when to stay. He has mostly played in the outfield but he can really field a ball. It has been great to watch him as he plays and learns more about the sport. He has gotten at least one hit every game and has been able to bring in some runs as well. It has been a great first year of ball. Go Volcanoes!



My dear daughter had her friend birthday get together this month as well. Just could not pull it together during the month of April so the slumber party to end all slumber parties was held in June. There was swimming, jewelry making, blindfolded makeovers,silly string and more! It was lots of fun for the girls and for this Mom! She chose a luau theme, just perfect for a warm summer night!





Finally at the end of the month, after a week of teaching Missions on the Boomerang Express in VBS at our church with 450 kidderos. It was time to help pack up oldest son and send him off for a week of Boy Scout summer camp. I have received reports of low humidity and cool evenings, a campsite by the lake and night time owl hunts. Sounds like fun to me! It was quite a feat getting him to hold still and actually let me get a picture to document this outing, but I did get one. Hope he had a great time! He comes home July 4th so we will see. He looks extremely happy to be having his picture taken doesn't he? I do what I gotta do to capture the moment!