It's Been Way Too Long!

Wow! I knew it had been a long time since I had blogged, but I had no idea it had been such a long time! I really do want to get back into blogging, although I'm sure I will never be able to keep up with it the way I want to. I am barely able to keep up with Facebook, and it requires little to no time or thought. =)

So much has happened since the last time I blogged. I won't try to write everything here. I'll just post the highlights for anybody who is interested. I really do want to be more consistent in blogging, so keep me accountable.


***We started our 3rd year of homeschooling in August. How can that be?? It is going great, and as of this week we are half-way through the school year. Tyler consistently makes A's and B's on all of his tests and quizzes. He seems to do especially well in math. Jackson is doing well in K4 as well. He is working mostly on his fine motor skills, which seems to be a weakness for him. He does very well with letter sounds and recognition, as well as counting and number recognition. He is even learning to sound out easy words such as cat, dog, bat, etc.


***My mom's husband passed away suddenly in early September. It was a very hard time for her, but thankfully the boys and I were able to travel to Tennessee and stay with her for about 6 weeks. I am so thankful that we were able to be there with her! She is doing ok, just taking each day as it comes. Some days are harder than others, of course.

***When Keith came to pick us up to bring us back from TN, we took a quick 2-day trip to Huntsville, AL to check out the area and look at houses. As of right now, that is where we feel led to retire. It is not definite yet, but we are certainly praying about it and both have complete peace about it if it is the Lord's will for us.

***In December, Keith had rotator cuff surgery and 3 days later we were on the road again to Tennessee. It was a quick trip to see our families for Christmas and then to bring my mom back out here with us for a few weeks.

***Speaking of retiring, Keith "pushed the button" this week and officially requested retirement from the Air Force effective 1 October. He should be through working in early June, and we expect to be leaving Missouri around that time.


We are looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us in 2013. It is already looking to be a very busy year!

Hello, Goodbye.

Goodbye Old House

Hello, New (temporary) House


I am about two months late writing this, but we have moved! We put our house on the market in late February, and by the middle of April we were in our new house. God truly was in all the details of the sale. We received a full price offer from the second people who looked at the house, and everything else went as smooth as possible. We feel truly blessed to have such a quick and easy sell, especially in this housing market. God is good!

We are now living in Base Housing until Keith retires from the military. This is by far the nicest base housing we have ever been in. It is a brand new 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath two story home with huge windows and more closets than I know what to do with. =) It is a beautiful house, and we are thankful for it, but it is not "home" for us. We don't know how long we'll be here, but no more than a year. We have hung a few pictures and a few curtains, but that is it. I plan to spend our time here cleaning, organizing, and purging what we do have and getting ready for our next *big* move.

Over the course of our marriage, we have lived in one room "apartments", tiny houses, big houses, really old houses, and brand new houses. None of those things really matter though. As long as we have the Lord and each other, we have all we need.

October Review

I know October isn't completely over yet, but it feels like it should be. This month has worn me out! And honestly, I am ready for it to be over with. I have some birthday pictures to post later (when I have time to download them), but for now here is a recap of our busy month.

-Prepare for trip to TN
-10 day trip to TN (4 days driving)
-2 Birthdays
-2 Birthday parties
-Missions conference
-Base Exercise (12 hour shifts, no off days)
-Stomach bug x 4
-Cold/cough/fever/congestion/headache x 5
-Minor surgery

Yeah, that about sums it up. Except for the usual...cooking, cleaning, homeschooling, church, family time, etc. Those were in there too. =)

I am also soooo looking forward to my neighbors removing their less-than-innocent Hallowevil decorations.

Hurry, November.

22 Down, 2 To Go

Today is just another ordinary day for most...and truth be told, nothing is out of the ordinary here at home either. But today is a special day for us. Today marks 22 years of active duty Air Force service from my husband. Today he also reenlists for 2 more years...his last two.

B2 dropping missiles

It's kind of a bittersweet feeling. Part of me is so ready for this journey to be over, and for us to start a new chapter. A chapter where (hopefully) we won't be wondering when the next time Daddy will be leaving. A chapter where Daddy can be more involved in our day-to-day lives. A chapter where we can learn what it is to be a "normal" family.

But, there is a (big) part of me that will be sad to see it all end. The military has been Keith's only job...ever. In the end he will have given 24 years of service to his country. It has, in many ways, been his life. And it has become mine too. When we got married almost 10 years ago, I had no clue what military life was and it was quite the adjustment in the first few years. But, after the adjustment phase came a deep love for this life of ours! I can't explain it, except to say that I feel like I have been woven in to this military family. I feel as much a part of it, in many ways, as I do my own biological family. And when it comes to an end, I feel I will mourn the loss of it. Yes, we will always be a part of the military family. But the everyday-ness of it all will come to an end. It must. And it's only two short years away.

I'm feeling very reflective today. And very thankful as well. I hope you all have a blessed day in the Lord!

(P.S.- The significance of the picture is that my husband is assigned to a B2 base, and his job is to build the bombs that they drop. Pretty neat picture, I think.)

The Days Are Long, But The Years Are Short

Well, it seems as though the end of another year is upon us once again. I suppose I, like most people, have begun to reflect on all that has happened the past year. This has been an interesting year for us, to say the least. But looking back on it, it is amazing to see the hand of God in it all.

Here is a little summary of our 2010:

-January was spent preparing for Keith's upcoming deployment, as well as finishing up some renovation projects before he left.

-February-the Hubby left for Guam. I'm pretty sure most of the rest of the month was a blur. I did start my own remodeling projects to help pass the time.

-March- I was in full renovation mode. I tore out our master bathroom fixtures and began a major remodel.

-April- Had a yard sale and then took a little trip back to the mother land (TN) to visit my family. It was good for all of us to get away for a while.

-May-back to reality, back to work. This month was spent choosing tile, carpet, paint colors, etc. I had to rush to get all my projects wrapped up before Hubby's return.

-June-New carpet goes in. Tile goes in. Painting is done. And at the end of the month, Hubby was home.

-July-was filled with Daddy's return, a quick trip to Paducah to visit with family, and saying goodbye to a dear family in our church who moved away. Oh yeah, and we were blessed with baby #3 this month.

-August-Normal summer business. Another yard sale, Lots of gardening, and playing. I got my usual first trimester sickness around the first of August and that was about it for me for the rest of the month.

-September-for Hubby's birthday he requested a trip to Branson, so that is what we did. For the rest of the month I was too sick to do anything...except check myself into the hospital for a few days. =( We also had to say goodbye to another great set of friends.

-October-both boys had their birthdays and I was too sick to do anything about it. It was another hard month. Hubby was out of town for a week, also.

-November-the sickness fog began to lift...Praise the Lord! Hubby had a very busy month at work. We were able to make another trip to TN to visit our families. It was a great, but hard, trip. The boys loved every second of it and were truly heart-broken when we had to leave.

-December-Well, this seems to be the month where a whole year's worth of activity is crammed into a few weeks. Is it like that for everybody? We are having a revival at church all this week. Next week, one of the missionary families from our church are returning for furlough. We also, have a celebration dinner at church on Friday night. Oh, and the Hubby takes his promotion test next week. The week of Christmas, Hubby has his PT (physical fitness) test. We are hosting a going away dinner at our house for another family in our church. (This seems to be the year of goodbye's.) And then there is Christmas...I have done nothing to prepare this year. I see it being another year without a single present around here. I am fine with that. We are so blessed, and need nothing. But, you certainly do get a lot of strange looks when you tell people that your kids didn't get anything for Christmas.

So, there we are. It has been a busy year, but a good one. God has certainly sustained us, and we are looking forward to what 2011 has in store.

My Two Friends who left me in 2010

Hubby working on painting the front door

The new carpet



My Biggest Little Man feeding the ducks



Ice Cream Date with Mom

Summertime Fun

Back Yard Camping with Daddy

4th of July fun with friends

Sweet Little Man

Me and the Bub

The Boys and Papaw checking out the view in Paducah



Little Fishermen



Somebody got a little clipper happy =)

May you all have a very happy Christmas season filled with the love of the Saviour!

I'm A Little Behind

I have been meaning to post these pictures since Monday, but I have been a little lazy in my blogging responsibilities. (ha!)

Last weekend we met my Dad in Paducah for a quick visit. Paducah is pretty close to the half way point between here and TN, and it is a really nice area that we are pretty familiar with, so it makes a nice place for a weekend visit every once in a while.



Paducah has a really nice park and riverwalk area. That is where we spent most of our time, with a little shopping thrown in as well. It was too hot to be outside all day!

Nana and the boys feeding the ducks


The Boys throwing rocks in the water

4 of my favorite guys

When Papaw and Nana are around Mommy doesn't get to do anything, including push the stroller

Tyler, our budding photographer, wanted to take pictures. I think he did a pretty good job!

Tyler's "Best Buddy". (I'm pretty fond of him too)

My sleepy little man

Checking out the view...We had a really nice one. =)


Tyler was rubbing Jack's feet after a long day. We thought it was sweet. =)

Papaw and his men at the park.

I'm so glad we were able to meet my dad. I know my kids, Tyler especially, are crazy about him. I want to encourage that as much as possible. While we certainly can't have weekends like this every month, it is nice to be able to see our family every once in a while without either of us having to drive the entire way.

I am hoping to one day live closer to our families so that our kids can spend more time with their relatives. Keith and I both come from close families, and even though we are a military family, we still want our kids to experience as much of that as possible. Lord willing, one day we will be able to make that happen. For now we are just thankful for the times that we do have together.

R&R, Cleaning Up, Hair Cuts, and Cooking Out

The hubby's R&R began yesterday. He is supposed to get two weeks off. So far, we have been keeping very busy with working on projects around the house and trying to have a little fun too.

Today:

I got a haircut. I need to get some highlights still.

Hubby cleaned out his closet

And the boys had some man time in the back yard...hot dogs and marshmallows included =)

We will be busy for the rest of the week. Tomorrow we have several more projects to complete. Thursday we have a military function to attend, and Friday we will be at a friend's house for a 4th of July celebration.

Next week we will hopefully be taking a short trip somewhere. We have 3 or 4 different places we would like to go, but we will see what happens.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Readjusting

Hubby has been home for almost two weeks now. He should have been off work this whole time, but instead was back at work 41 hours after he got off the plane. Nothing surprises me anymore. =)

He is supposed to be off next week, and has promised to take his little men camping. That should be fun for them! I think I will take that opportunity to work on the house a little. I have an itch to demolish the hall bath now that the master bath is finished. =)

We are still in the getting used to each other again phase. I am not the type that just picks back up where things left off. It takes me a while to readjust after he comes home. Not that I'm not happy to see him, I am. Maybe some of you know what I'm talking about. Or, maybe I'm the only one. I don't know and it doesn't matter. That's just the way it is.

But, anyway. Life has been really busy since he has been back. Work last week. 12 hour shifts this week. Boys constantly asking for their daddy. Tons of laundry to wash, sort, and put away. Meals to be planned. You get the idea...life.

So anyway, we are here. Adjusting...loving...talking...playing...being a family again.

Oh, and in other news-Jack indeed did fall down and break his crown last night. The poor kid was climbing on a chair, fell, and hit his head right on the corner of the fireplace. HUGE knot! He screamed for 5 minutes and then went back to playing like nothing has ever happened. He is one tough little cookie!

He's Home!

No Time

It's been a while since I have posted anything here. Life is just busy right now. When your husband is gone, you are no longer just a wife and mother (and we all know how busy those roles are). You are also the full time referee, disciplinarian, handy man, trash taker outer, bill payer, problem resolver, and everything else.

There is so much I would like to share, like the big changes that are in store for our family once my honey returns or the many pictures I've taken of our ever-growing boys. But for now, everyday life calls and that all must wait.

Hope to be back soon!

One Month Down, ? More to Go

One month has passed since Keith left. We are surviving...some days better than others.

The boys are doing okay. They love seeing Daddy on Skype, and were very excited when a package arrived with new airplanes for each of them. Jackson, of course, is the easiest. He is just too young to understand. Tyler, on the other hand, has his good days and bad days...and quite the active imagination too. He has told people anything from his daddy is in jail, to daddy had a car wreck and is in the hospital, to daddy is being a soldier for Jesus, and on and on. It has been quite embarrassing a few times when he has announced to a complete stranger that his daddy is in jail. Sometimes I explain, sometimes I just smile and walk away.

We are keeping busy; probably a little too busy some days. But it is just so stinkin' lonely here without my BFF. =) I have noticed that I stay up a lot later than normal in order to chat with him, and therefore I have been a lot more tired lately. Now with the time change, I probably will not be staying up to talk to him at night, because it would be around 2 am here when he gets off work now. I think that might be pushing my limits on sleep.

A lot of people have asked when he is coming home. The only answer I have is I don't know. I'm not trying to be vague, I'm being honest. We have heard anything from June to August, but I am just waiting for him to call and tell me he's getting on a plane to come home. That's when I'll believe it. Until then, it's all just a guessing game. I feel like a pawn to the Air Force.

So anyway, here we are. Surviving. Taking life one day at a time. Rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord and looking forward to being reunited as a family.

One of Those Days

Tonight my Facebook status was: "The three year old pushed the one year old off the bed, busting his nose and mouth. The one year old then decided to wipe blood on every surface he could reach. As for me, I see a career in crime scene cleanup in my future."

It has indeed been one of those days!

I don't know why it seems like things always go wrong and life is always more intense when your spouse is away. It probably isn't any different than when they are here. Having somebody else to bear the burden with you just makes it easier.

I miss my husband so much, and he has only been gone less than a week. We have many, many more weeks to go.

The boys are doing okay with the separation, but Tyler is definitely having a hard time. We have been able to Skype with Keith a few times, which is wonderful, but always makes Tyler cry. I guess the reality of seeing Daddy and realizing he isn't here just hits him then. But, we are all surviving. So far, no major catastrophes. =)

We have a busy weekend planned with a surprise birthday party tomorrow afternoon followed by a political rally tomorrow evening. Then on Saturday we have visitation, I do the bulletin for church, and then Saturday night we are having a Valentine's Banquet at church. Another girl whose husband is gone with Keith is going to be my "date". =) Sunday, of course, is church.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and I hope we have a relatively quiet weekend as well.

5:00 a.m.

Last moments with Daddy


At 3:30 this morning my valentine and I loaded our two pajama-clad little boys and two very heavy suitcases into our car and headed toward base. By 5:00 a.m. our hero was gone.

As you can see in the picture above, we are none too happy about it. But, with God's grace, we will get through it.

Random Thoughts from My Noggin

Life seems to be flying by at whirlwind speed these days. We are finishing up the big remodel, preparing for a deployment/TDY, and generally living a busy life with two busy little boys. While this may not be exactly the things I'd like to be doing right now, I don't dare be ungrateful! God is so good to us! We truly do have a John 10:10 life. We are blessed with more than we even realize, and I am so thankful for all the Lord's mercies he bestows upon us.

Keith will be leaving soon. Much sooner than I would like, although we don't know the exact date yet. Tonight we talked, for the first time really, about things that need to be done before he leaves. It was not a conversation that I enjoyed, per se, because it made me realize just how short our time together is. But, it was good for me (the planner) to have some details on paper. If you've never had the pleasure *cough, cough* of being separated from your spouse for an extended period of time, then let me just tell you--the details that have to be arranged ahead of time in order for life to proceed as smoothly as possible for everyone involved is insane! At least for people like me, who need a plan for everything.

We still have quite a bit of things that need to be taken care of around the house before he leaves. Tonight I made a list of small tasks that could be completed in one evening, to try to make it easier to manage instead of one huge list that we are trying to tackle. However, while looking over the calendar I realized that many of the days that could be used between now and then are already filled with things like church, ministry meetings, work functions, etc. I know that if the house projects don't get done before he leaves, then it is not the end of the world. But I would really, really, really like to be back to as close to normal as possible before he leaves. Little things like not having doors on the cabinets and all the contents of my drawers being on the counters is really bothering me. I am just ready for a calm, normal day-to-day life. I think it will help my sanity while he is away. I like to have a clean, tidy, organized house and for the past 6 months we have been living in a functional-at-best house. Momma needs her pretty house back! =)

In other news, I think we have decided to try to sell the truck while Keith is away. It will help us save on maintenance, insurance, etc while he is away; and I am perfectly fine being a one vehicle family anyway. I don't need my own vehicle to run the roads in. It forces me to be at home, saving money, training my kids, and being the helpmeet that I need to be. I'll keep you posted on whether the truck sells or not. Hubby is kind of attached. I'm told it's a man thing.

To wrap up this little blog slop, I suppose I will share that I am having a very difficult time deciding if/when/and for how long to visit my family while Keith is away. While you wouldn't think that would be a terribly hard decision to make, right now it is one of my biggest obstacles in planning. I would like to go and stay several weeks so that my family can all have some real quality time with the boys. Most of our visits are only for a week, and that is split between two cities. This is a great opportunity for the boys to really bond with their extended family, which I want for them very much. But on the practical side of things, that means us living away from "our" home, and in somebody else's house all that time. You know the old saying about fish and company...So anyway, we are praying about what to do there.

We have a very busy weekend ahead of us. We have visitation tomorrow morning, then I will do the church bulletin. We are having dinner with friends at a Mennonite Buffet tomorrow night. And, we would really like to work a few h0me improvement projects in tomorrow too.

I hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful weekend. Spend Sunday in a local sin-hating, Bible-preaching church worshipping the Saviour. You won't regret it!

Military Monday

All things military related seem to be attacking me at once, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to ramble a little about the happenings at our little BOnP (Base of non-Preference). =)

If you caught my last post, you know that my husband is now eligible to retire. And to answer the $1,000,000 question, no he has no immediate plans of retiring. He was promoted in December of '08 and so in order to retire at his current rank he needs to stay in until at least December '10. For now that is the plan, and he may possibly stay in longer. It just depends on where we are and how the Lord directs.

My BOnP reference earlier was a joke...sort of. To be totally honest, we had no intentions of ever coming here. None. But the Lord had other plans, and we understand that. I have learned to be content here.

In other news--hubby got word yesterday that a deployment is in our not so distant future- this winter sometime. I am in no way thrilled about this, but it has been 7 years since his last real deployment. Yes, 7 years! So while I don't want to sound like I am happy about it, I do understand that it is our turn. I'm sure as the date gets closer, I will probably not have such a positive outlook. I am going to start praying now that the Lord would sustain me and that I will rely fully on Him for strength to get through it. I am not good with deployments at all.

(This little tidbit doesn't really have much to do with the military other than it happened on base.) Tonight as I was driving around the flight line to take hubby his lunch, I ran over not less that 200 frogs...just on the way to his shop. I have never seen so many frogs at once in all my life. They were everywhere! It looked like a plague. There were also several dozen small white snakes in the road. I really have never seen anything like it. Gross!

Well, I guess that ends my ramblings for today. I started writing this around lunch time and it is now after 10:00. I need to get the house in order and get to bed...if I can. Hubby is on nights and I have no one to snuggle with.

The Day They All Dream About

20 years ago today my Airman entered boot camp. That makes him officially eligible to retire. Woohoo! What an accomplishment. We are so very proud of our hero!

Congratulations honey! Thank you for all your hard work and sacrifice, both for our country and our family.

Remembering 9/11/2001

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

~*~Seeking His Will~*~

Do you ever wonder if unsaved people have as hard of a time making big decisions as saved people do? I mean, why wouldn't an unsaved person just make the most selfish, self-promoting decision? Anyhoo. That's another topic for another day.

However, what brought that thought to mind is something that is very much on my mind right now. There is a situation going on with Keith's job right now that involves a big decision for us. In the flesh, the decision seems like a no-brainer. But we do not want to act in the flesh. This is something that will have a big impact on our family, and that is not something I want to do out of God's will.

I am being pretty vague right now for a reason. I feel like if we share too much with too many people, we will be more sensitive to other people's persuasions and possibly less sensitive to the Holy Spirit. So for now, I just want to ask those of you who will to pray for us. Specifically for wisdom in making the decision, for clear direction, for peace, and that the Lord's will be done.

Once we have made a decision, I will share the details. Either way. The specifics are just too interesting not to share (in a big world/small world kind of way). And because I know that inquiring minds want to know.
=)

Let's Recap, Shall We?

I've been a little absent lately haven't I? It's been almost 3 weeks since my hubby left, and he will be back in just a few days (!!!WooHoo!!!). Life got interesting almost as soon as he got on the plane. Here is a bullet form recap, because I'm too lazy to use proper English and form a paragraph.

• We got sick! Very sick. As soon as Keith left. We are just now coming out of the fog. We went to the ER 3 times in 3 days. Yeah, it was fun.
• Either my washer or my pipes decided to leak, all over the laundry room floor.
• Jackson got sick all over the laptop and it went haywire.
• Tyler dropped my phone in the bath water. It is beyond dead.

I feel incredibly blessed that these are the biggest issues in my life right now. God is good!

Military Discounts

The following businesses are known for offering discounts,but not all locations may participate:

Apparel
Aeropostale
The Buckle
The Children's Place
Dress Barn
The Finish Line
FootAction
Footlocker
Gadzooks
Goody's
Hot Topic
Jos. A. Bank
Jockey
Kohl's
Lerner
New York & Company
Pac Sun
Rack Room Shoes
Timberland Outlets (active duty only)

Auto
AutoZone
Big 10 Tires
Checker Auto Parts
Kragen Auto Parts
NAPA Auto Parts
O'Reilly Auto Parts

Restaurants
Applebee's
Arby's
A&W
Back Yard Burgers
Barnhill's
Burger King
Captain D's
Carl's Jr.
Chick-Fil-A
Ci-Ci's
Cotton Patch
Denny's
Dunkin' Donuts
Golden Corral
IHOP
Java Cafe
KFC
Long John Silver
Maggie Moo's
McDonald's
The Melting Pot
Pancho's Mexican Buffet
Panda Express
Papa Murphy's
Pat & Oscar's
Pizza Hut
Quizno's
Red Robin
Shoney's
Sizzler
Sonic
Taco Bell
Texas Roadhouse
Wendy's
Whataburger

Travel and Leisure
Amtrak
Beaches Family Resorts
Blockbuster
Camp Jellystone
Greyhound
Movie theaters
Professional Sports teams
Ripley's attractions and museums
Sandals Resorts

Other Products
Apple Computers
Bass Pro Shop
Champs Sports
Copeland's Sports
Dell
Dick's Sporting Goods
The Discovery Channel Store
GNC
Great Party
Happy Harry's
Home Depot
K-mart
Michael's
Play It Again Sports
Pure Beauty
Sally Beauty Supply
Spencer's Gifts
Sportsman's Warehouse
Suncoast
Wilson's Leather