Friday, May 22, 2009

TEN YEARS

Faith in God
3 Children
2 Souls in heaven
6 Moves
5 Homes
6 States
8 Vehicles
1 ATV
50+ Camping trips
221+ Campfires
Endless loads of laundry
Too many deployments
1 Week in San Antonio
3 Trips to Wisconsin Dells
Countless travels to Connecticut, Michigan and Georgia
7 National Parks
2 almost 3 promotions
Hundreds of projects
1 Entertainment center
2 Cradles
1 Set of bunk beds
5 other pieces of furniture
1 Wood shop (1 to come)
1 Home built
Many tears dried
Hugs and kisses everyday
Millions of mistakes
Loads and loads of love and forgiveness
1 Man and 1 Woman united under God for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death due us part. We are both better people for saying those words and honoring our commitment to each other and to our children. We are in love even on the bad days, we have faith in our Father that pulls us through the rough patches and we forgive over and over again. That is just the first ten years. Now with a lot of prayer we'll head into the next fifty plus.

A Typical Morning




I finally caught a morning on the camera. One of my favorite parts of everyday now that the weather is nice is walking behind the kids to the bus stop. I love watching them run or dilly-dally, or race (and sometimes argue about the winner). I love watching their backpacks bounce up and down and Luke trying to keep up, he usually holds my hand. Today he did run ahead. I love Anna tiptoeing over the cow guard, she didn't cross it alone until a few weeks ago, she finally overcame her fear. She amazes me. We usually have one dog with us, sometimes we get a leas, sometimes not. Today Zip broke his tie up and came with us. Sometimes the kids held on sometimes he ran free. The picture on the fence will forever be one I love until I take some with better smiles. They sit there every morning for a short time, until the rocks need thrown or grass needs picked or on a really good day there is a bunny to chase. I love that the house is in the background, our house, I love our house. The sun is shining and the grass is green. Summer is almost here. Soon we won't be racing to the bus stop, but we'll still be up early enjoy the cooler mornings and spending our days exploring. I'm looking forward to the end of this school year routine and forward to our summer routine, whatever it may be. Enjoy a glimpse into our morning.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Finger Toes and Firewood

Luke has been full of information lately. Last night he informed my that are toes are called finger-toes and they go thumb finger finger finger pinkie. I tried to convince him otherwise but he wouldn't go for it. We have crocodiles in Montana and now every lake is called turtle lake because there might be turtles in them.
We got another load of firewood. Anna works so hard everytime, I wish the boys would pull their weight.
And on a side note, Beau is signing up for football camp. Who knew?
All in one Tuesday.

Friday, May 15, 2009

One last note

On Sunday, Mother's Day we transplanted six plants from a friend's yard. It was fantastic. We finally have plants in our yard. It makes a nice small barrier between our property and the lot next to us. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will have a few more plants and the other side of the property will have a line of bushes, plants, trees, anything.
However, Monday morning we woke up to this...


See my poor plants languishing helplessly in the cold soil covered in snow. It is disheartening, but maybe they will live.

Then last night as I was sitting on the couch catching the season finale of Grey's Anatomy (pretty good I thought, Ben thought it was cheesy, what he watched anyway) I looked out the sliding door to see this. I couldn't stop myself from grabbing the camera, and I love what I captured.


I have a new project for myself soon and you can bet these will be used in it. It involves an old door my great friend has waiting for me.

Got Snow...

Make a snowman. That is what Beau and Anna did after it snowed in May. I got stuck twice in the driveway from the stupid snow, but the kids enjoyed themselves after their initial grumpiness. We had to dig back out the winter coats and boots. Next year I won't put them away until June.







Hair cuts and Doing it himself



I finally caved and gave the boys haircuts. They were in severe need of them, but I always put it off. One because Beau doesn't sit still and it is always a fight and two because I really like little boys with hair you can comb. However, I think I have finally realized that the cows have licked my sons' heads one too many times and we will never be able to comb it.

Luke has entered the realm of doing it himself. He loves to make his own sandwiches with the white stuff. On this occasion, I caught him enjoying the miracle whip a little more than I wanted him too. His grin shows just how guilty he was.

Not the Mom of the Year...

...or wife of the year, or daughter of the year, or sister of the year, or friend of the year. I am just me forever flawed. Take it or leave it, thankfully most people accept it and I move on to accepting myself flawed and impossibly imperfect. It has been far too long since I updated with pictures and stories so today while Grandma Rita's bread is in its sponge state, I will update.
So stay tuned for pictures and info from the far north.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

LIFE

Some days are so simple, wake up, pack lunches, put kids on the bus, clean house or whatever, pick kids up, come home, get dinner ready, read to kids, put kids to bed, clean kitchen or whatever, then go to bed. Simple right, oh but wait, "mom, mom, mom, mom" interrupts those things so many times, and I don't mind but nothing seems to be simple then. Not to mention bizarre things, like getting a splinter that gives you an infection so that means a doctor trip, child care, pain, and then follow up doctors appointments, where Luke hangs on you while they are slicing your thumb open with a #11 scalpel. Random things like that really throw a wrench in plans.
Then there are moments like today when Anna is in the I'm an overtired girl in an emotional meltdown crisis. Everything makes her cry. She pushed Luke so I told her to sit in the chair until she said sorry 25 minutes later I was tired of looking at her so I told her she had to go to bed now if she didn't say sorry by the count of ten, she said it but she didn't mean it. Does that still count? She is now in another meltdown mode that will only be resolved when I give into her cries and go sit with her for the next 20 or so minutes. I don't understand girls. Thankfully these days are rare and far between and I will go sit with her until she is calm, and she is still going to bed early. She needs some sleep.
Only a few more weeks of school, which means only a few more weeks of the routine mentioned above. Then we start a whole new routine. I am looking forward to summer and the new routine, but on days like this I wonder why.
Luke is standing behind me playing with my hair, a normal daily activity for him. Someday my hair will be cleaner because his dirty hands won't be in it all day.
I dropped my laptop in a puddle a few days ago and I think our DVD player is on the fritz, I think we should just get rid of electronics and simplify. NO WAY!!! I can't live without my computer, but I will be getting a new bag that the computer doesn't simply fall out of. Life is crazy, unpredictable, and challenging, but I wouldn't want it any other way.
God bless,

Friday, May 1, 2009

A Birthday Message

Today is our Goddaughter's birthday. She is 10. Ten years ago in a country submerged in poverty this light of God's was born. Through God's grace and the determination of a wonderful family whom I have the privilege of knowing and loving, our Goddaughter was brought home to the United States when she was about nine months old. Her first few months were rough and were spent in the hospital, but since then she has thrived physically, emotionally and most important spiritually. She is a little flower in God's garden that has blossomed so that so many can see her inner beauty and that is a credit to her parents. Unfortunately our life of moving and moving some more has not allowed us to get to personally visit very often and our lives our lived out through letters and prayers. But I pray for her often and I am so privileged to be her Godmother. God has allowed me to have an inner connection in the heart toward her that I can't imagine my life without. When she was being brought home, I lived in Alaska, I'd seen one picture and I followed their e-mails daily, but I didn't know her. But I did know her, I had vivid dreams of her, I felt her in my heart more intensely than any relationship I'd ever had before. God gave me a gift and showed me the power of prayer through our Goddaughter and I am incredible grateful for that. So today I wish her a very happy birthday, her card will be late because that is how I am, but I do want her to know we are thinking of her today and praying for her always.
God Bless,