Chad's R&R questions, answers

So a couple of you have asked how long Chad's R&R is, it's for 18 days with a possibility of 2 days with us from travel time. After his time here he will then return back to Iraq and finish out his deployment. Army has the longest deployments. It's just one of those lovely facts of life for us. I never thought a 12 month deployment would look so good, but once you're in the midst of a 15 monther you see things differently.

So in a couple weeks we'll mark 8 months down, wow I guess now we're officially at the half way mark of this deployment. Half way done and we're already at 7 1/2 months. I will say I'm ready. I'm ready to have him home. I wish he was going to be staying for good, but I accept that he has to return after our 2 1/2 weeks and finish out the deployment. It'll suck. It'll be hard for all of us, especially the kids, but we'll get through it and my goal is with a more positive outlook. I've not had that this deployment and I'm tired of being stuck in the mud about this. It's definitely not helping the deployment go by faster, and it's not helping my children. So I'm going to finish this deployment praising GOD! Praising him that he gave me a man who's a wonderful husband, amazing father, a man of Faith and Conviction, and a man who's not afraid to stand up for what he believes in and not afraid to die for those beliefs either!


Ok...I'm off, got to try and catch up on a few blogs and then off to bed!

It's all good

I got to talk to my sweet hubby earlier and got good news! A few weeks ago Chad changed companies, still the same battalion, just a different company. This has been a VERY positive change for Chad, as he really likes the guys he's working with, likes his 1st Sgt. and Commander, there's always going to be a couple people that grate on his nerves, but over all it's been a VERY positive thing in so many ways. He's not going out on missions hardly at all, which is FABULOUS for me, because the worry of being outside of base camp lessens greatly! He's able to call a lot more often, when he calls he's just been in a really good mood over all, he's able to go to chapel every Sunday now (that is HUGE!), he's been able to have prayer meetings with the Chaplain, and he's in the process of starting back to school (working on that degree!). So anyways when he moved companies he was initially told his R&R would change from the Feb. time slot we were looking at to March. Not bad, I could handle it, but I was totally nagging him on dates! LOL Nagging in a loving way, but I admit I've been nagging! I'm ready to see him, it's been 7 1/2 MONTHS people, I miss my husband! So he called today and I asked him again! ;) He said "hold on and I'll go ask 1st Sgt.!" Wahoo, doing a little happy dance. He returns quickly and says "He told me to double check with "old company" but it's then"! YES,YES,YES! So if all goes as it SHOULD...my husband should be home in just over a month give or take a few days!
So................... cleaning begins! Let me just tell you now, I HATE cleaning. I am NOT organized, I HATE CLEANING. Ok, so can you GUESS what my bedroom looks like? Guess what's the dumping ground in our home? Guess where EVERYTHING is THROWN (sometimes literally) when someone's coming over and I have limited time to clean up. You guessed it, my bedroom. I know, it's supposed to be my sanctuary...HA! It's so far from that! Let me tell you, I had all these good intentions when Chad left in May. I was going to get our room all organized and be my peaceful retreat. Well it's the room I avoid. Of course I also said I was going to go through our storage room...guess what has NOT happened! LOL Yeah, you guessed it, I have ADDED to the mess of our storage room, but sorting through, throwing out, etc...has NOT happened.

I was on a kick that the boys and us were going to trade rooms because ultimately there's more room in their room than ours (we do have an extra closet)...well I wanted to do this during R&R. The boys room is painted Green. Cute for a little boys room, but it's pastel green and it is NOT what this Momma wants. So it meant that Chad would be painting our bedroom a nice beige (NOT off white...darker) and would paint the boys room either green or blue. Well as soon as he asked if I would want him to paint the room, God convicted my butt all over the place. We're NOT changing rooms. What we are going to do is get our room completely organized, we're going to go through all the toys in the boys bedroom and sort through and get rid of TONS, go through clothes, etc....when Chad leaves the boys will have 1/3 of the toys they have now in there. I'd like to get them a love seat for their room. I found one at Momax (think Ikea but even cheaper and about 20 minutes closer to us!). Well they have a loveseat that pulls out to a bed, which would be great for sleep overs. We're also going to pull their beds apart. They have bunk beds and if you read my Not Me Monday, you will understand (if not, go back and read!!). I also have shelf in Emma's room that needs to be hung and some totes that need to come out of her room and a box that I can not move by myself, so when Chad's home we'll be doing that. We will be busy organizing. I am also hopeful we can get through the storage room. We may not be able to do all of the storage room, but if we could get through at least half, that would truly bring me so much peace and I truly believe I'd feel better going through the last half of the deployment.

Oh for fun during R&R we're going to Salburg, Austria!!! I'm soooo excited! This is in my top 3 places to visit so we're going to mark it off! I just need to book us a hotel or apartment for the time we're there. I can't do that though until he's home really, because until he's on that flight from Kuwait heading to Germany, nothing's a definite. We will do some other fun things too, but they'll be more locally!

Oh none of you realize just how excited I am to know that next MONTH I'll get to actually hug my husband, kiss him, sleep beside him, hold him, cuddle with him, oh and ready for this...I can take a shower without anyone banging on the shower doors aka EMMA! Wahoo!!!!!!!!!!
Oh I'm just so ready to have him home with us!

Well, I have to get to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow. I have a Tea tomorrow afternoon. I'm giving a friend a ride to it, and she's going to look at the train table that I'm selling, she wants to buy it for her little boy! Yeah!! One thing out of the basement and extra money in the pocket!!

God Bless and Goodnight!

Off to bed

I'm heading to bed as soon as I'm done with this. I was sick AGAIN last night. I think I've figured it out. This stupid insomnia is doing it. I wasn't able to fall asleep until 5 AM Tuesday morning and was up by 8:30 or so with the kids, so 3 1/2 hrs is simply not enough sleep for this girl. I woke up with that all too familiar taste in my mouth, which I know immediately what will be coming eventually. I felt pretty ok most of the day, but knew it was coming none the less. Soon after dinner I vomited for the first time. A couple hours later, not feeling good at all, laying on the couch, talking on the phone to Emily...here it came again. I was exhausted, layed back down on the couch. I'd grabbed a trashbag at this point, because I was very concerned I wouldn't make it to the bathroom...smart thinking on my part. I'd been laying on the couch talking to my friend Tami and here it came again. I took the hottest shower my body could handle and have to say felt much better.

I'd talked to Chad yesterday evening too, and he was so baffled by how much I've been sick since October (it's been at least once a month, I think in November I was sick twice with this same thing)....so I started putting things together as far as I can recall. I get sick like this when I have the least amount of sleep. So, the insomnia is now destroying my immune system. So as much as I'm ANTI medications, I'm taking benedryl (it's safe to take while nursing).

It's not going to be an every night thing, but if I feel really wide awake at 10 pm, I'll take it so I can be sleeping by midnight, I hope. I took it a little late tonight so I'm fastly getting exhausted. I slept off and on all day today. I woke up and had an allergic reaction from the pink lemonade I drank last night (for my upset tummy) and my ears were swollen and my head was itching like mad. The benedryl helped with the allergic reaction and it also made me so tired, I was useless. The boys made pb&j sandwiches and they made me one too. Emma ate a little of hers, but she's not a big pb&j fan yet.

The boys did school this afternoon and thankfully they didn't need a lot of assistance from me, because I was so out of it I was pretty worthless to them. Jack missed out on his reading, but we'll make up for it tomorrow I told him.

Well, I'm off to bed. I hear it SCREAMING my name! :)

God Bless, I know this was a completely boring post.

PS Please keep me in your prayers on this battle against insomnia. I've dealt with it for 8 1/2 yrs and have done a great deal of research. I just can't keep living like this.

A little Challenge From Emily

So little Miss Emily was tagged and she tagged me to, go to the 4th folder of my pictures (or wherever on your computer you store your pictures) and pick the 4th picture in that folder, post it, explain it, and then pick others to do it too!





So this is my best friend Tami's son and Jacob. We were there visiting them this summer in August. (I am totally organized when it comes to my pictures, unlike some one I know who has them stored all over in her computer and only by year!ROFL!!)

They had been playing on this pile of dirt all day. The picture does the height of this pile no justice, it was about 3 feet high and the boys dug in it for about 4 or more hours! By the time they came inside they were filthy, happy,and tired! LOL IT was a good day! :) Jacob and A are good friends and Jacob was so happy to be there to finally have a boy HIS AGE to play with, it was the first and only time during our trip...he spent a lot of time with girls! A little older and he'd probably appreciate that, but he's 7 and I'm glad he can't appreciate it yet! LOL

So who am I going to tag????

I tag Lori .

If you don't read Lori, just why not? She's sassy, she's a country girl at heart, and if she could, she'd live in the South! Plus she's just funny!

Next is Kelly
You know Kelly, she leaves nothing to question! I love her, I've been reading her for years, we've talked on the phone, I love chatting with her, she's just real and out there and if you don't like it..oh well!

Janis you're next! She just had her 2nd daughter not too long ago and oh she's a beauty!!


Traci you're up too! She's another homeschooling momma and she's multitalented!

Last but not least is Amanda who if you don't know her is a God-fearing, just baby girl delivering Woman of faith!

Ok so I not only tagged them, but also totally pimped them..go read them if you don't already!

Not Me Monday

So it's that time again, it's Monday.

I have not decided that I really should keep notes throughout the week, so that when it comes to Monday I can have really good things to share. No, I'm not vain like that and I most definitely am not blogging just for the entertainment of others (ok seriously I blog 95% for myself, 5% for others...but well this one, is all for others! LOL)

I did not have to pull little Miss 17 month old Emma off the TOP bunk bed of her brother's too many times to count, and get to the point that I was just telling her big brother to get her off when we'd hear the all too familiar laughter, because she once again scaled up the side of their bed.

I am not, and I mean AM NOT admitting that I'm a little impressed that little miss 17 month can get UP to the top bunk, since there's no actual LADDER, just the slats of the beds to climb. I have yet to catch her, so I'm not quite sure how she manages, but she does and again I'm not impressed at all that she's figured it all out. I know it's dangerous.

I have not locked Emma out of her brothers room, for the simple fact that I'm SICK and TIRED of getting her off the top bunk, because next to sticking her finger up her nose (just for a reaction) (ewwwwwwwww) it's become her favorite activity to do.

I did not actually yell at her when I got her down from the bed and put her down, for her to take off and me being distracted by talking to her brother, did not see her climb BACK up to the top bunk before I'd even gotten to the door way, and was just FLOORED that she'd climbed BACK UP to that stupid bed.

I can not WAIT for my husband to come home from Iraq for his R&R and put him to work, taking those bunk beds down. (I would take them down but they're HEAVY)

I am not stunned at how fast my home as become a complete WRECK in just 2 days. I have surely kept up on house work and have not been lazy.

I did NOT forget to call my friend yesterday to tell her Awana was cancelled because of the snow. She did not drive 30 minutes for absolutely NO REASON. I'm a better friend and a better Sparks Director than THAT! She did not buzz my apartment, and ask me if it was cancelled. I did NOT feel like a complete dog. I definitely did not admit that I'd been napping either!

Speaking of not napping, I did not nap for 2 hours yesterday, while my boys were outside playing in the snow. I did not have my neighbor who's son was out with them, check on them, so I could selfishly nap while Emma napped, because the day was just a day calling for a nap. No, not me!

I am NOT, repeat am NOT hooked to the Wii. I do NOT love Mario Kart. No, I can't. I'm anti video games. I do not feel all nastalgic thinking of the original nitendo and the original Mario Brothers an I definitely do not think that they should come out with Classic Mario brothers for us Mom's and Dad's to play on the Wii and have fun flashback's. No, I told you I'm anti video games obviously!

I did not wait until today to take down my tree and all the Christmas decorations because I was too lazy to do it until today. No I was right on top of that on New Years Day. I surely have NOT left the bag our tree is in, that's taking up 1/4 of my dining room, and the boxes our Christmas things are in in the dining room, because I'm too lazy to haul them down to the basement, which is 4 flights of stairs down. No, I'm right on top of that!

I did not yell at my boys tonight when they went to bed, and have their friend staying the night (he goes to German school and they don't return until Wed. ) when at 11:50 they were STILL giggling and not sleeping. I did not threaten them. No, no, no...I'm a gentle mother earth type don't you know? (Shut up Emily)

I did not tell my best friend to just shut up online, because she has surely NEVER heard me spank my kids over the phone or yell at them. :X I'd NEVER do that!

I did not get all giddy that Awana was cancelled yesterday, because I was not in the mood to deal with it quite yet. I did not yell out "YES" to our Awana Director and have him look at me like I had two heads. No, no....that would not be me!

I do not wish that I was a slacker church goer who does not volunteer for Children's church (among other things) and do not wish that other people would step it up and start helping out us that help with everything. I do not think they're selfish. I do not think that they abuse those of us who volunteer to teach THEIR children about Jesus. I do not think that if you send your child to children's church you should volunteer at least once in a blue moon in some capacity. I do not think that people are more lazy than afraid to step out of their box. I don't think people see children's church as a way to not have to deal with their children. I am NOT getting burnt out, no, why would I after 3 1/2 yrs of straight volunteering. I mean hey we just have over 100 kids each week and the same people over and over again teaching their children...why would I be tired and burnt out???

I am NOT feeling lonely. I did NOT cry in the bathroom tonight after looking at pictures of B and her new house in stupid Arizona. I did not just call Arizona stupid and I surely do not HATE that state right now. I do not feel like it's really setting in that she's NEVER coming back. I do not feel that I'll never have a friend like her again, and just feel overwhelmed in loneliness and wondering why God allowed her to leave, during the hardest deployment of my time as an Army wife. I am not a little peaved at God right now for that. No, I'm sensible. I KNOW God's teaching me something and I'm sitting here Grateful for that lesson. I'm absolutely not pouting. I do not have stinking tears streaming down my face again for the 2nd time tonight just thinking about her.

I am NOT missing my husband. I am not tired of hearing people complain about missing their own husband's because he leaves for a few days or a week. I do not think they're insensitive when they say it directly to me, and think I'm going to be empathetic and I just want to SCREAM at them to shut up. No, I'm all kinds of loving and caring. I have empathy pouring out of me.

I am not in the slightest annoyed that my mother has a facebook page now. I did not think "oh good grief" when she sent me an invite to be my friend and did not comtenplate how I could turn her down and wonder if I'd put anything negative on my page ever about her. :X NOOOO I'd never do that. I do not envy those who get along beautifully with their mother's. I am most definitely not thankful that the Atlantic Ocean seperates us, because we get along better that way. Nope, not me.

I have not spent a good portion of my evening laughing at my cat who's made a home out of the box that Emma's Christmas gift from my parents came in, today. I am not cracking up, beause I JUST now discovered that she was STUCK in the box and paper! LOL Oops! I did NOT take pictures of her before I rescued her out! LOL

I'm surely not done with this post and thinking how I now have to go and post Emily's little game next.

Recipes

Ok so here's the thing, I'm a give or take kind of gal. I could give or take cooking dinner half the time. Seriously it comes down to being tired by then and I normally cook lunch so dinner I'm a little wiped, but normally I make something, can't say it's always with a cheerful heart...but I'm going to try and change that! But...the meal I dislike making the most, that supposed most important one of the day...breakfast. Oh I detest making breakfast, not because I dislike all breakfast foods, oh no..because I'm lazy and detest mornings! LOL But I know it's important and my children always eat breakfast, now it's not always the best of meals but it's breakfast none the less. I rarely feed them poptarts, so I feel pretty good about that. But they do eat more than their share of toastable waffles. Although they love toast and I only buy whole grain/wheat bread so at least it's good on that end. They also like cereal and we normally have pretty healthy cereals as well, so again although not always the healthiest and greatest choices, they are there and hey even the waffles I've been buying the whole wheat, no I have not and I know, I know checked to see if they're honestly whole wheat or not...so I need to get on top of that one. But I want to go one step beyond that and get a waffle iron! I know how do I not have one??? LOL So I'm not on the look out for one! Then I'll be asking you all (not yet!!!) for some good waffle recipes. Right now though this is the recipe(s) I'm looking for...not boxed, I'm mean from scratch muffin recipes. I just made a double batch of (Jiffy) Blueberry muffins for in the morning. We normally are rushed on Sunday mornings, so I like to try and have something prepared the night before, because I want us to be fed a good breakfast before we head out to church. Sunday's are over all a busy day for us because of church and Awana later in the afternoon/early evening, and normally a run to the commissary since it's closed on Monday to grab some essentials (like milk, eggs, bread...you know the things you run out of just in time for the store to be closed! Remember people I'm in Germany!!!). So anyways....I want your best Blueberry muffin recipe, your Apple Cinnimon Recipe, your Banana Nut recipe (although I admit I have an awesome one of those, although I normally just make banana bread vs muffins, but no reason I can't add them into the mix), pumpkin muffins, give them to me! You have an unusal, but tasty muffin recipe I want it! Share it in my comments! IF it's top secret, but you think I'm special and just want to share it with me, go ahead and email me: my3gifts@aol.com NO spamming people! :) LOL

Also, how about from scratch pancake recipe! We love pancakes and I just use the box pancake mixes, but know homemade can not be that hard! Actually as I write this I think a blog that I read has posted a recipe for some...but anyways...send those my way too! Oh and I have a confession...I've never added anything extra to my pancakes, I'm scared! Like chocolate chips, blueberries...I've always worried the choc. chips would melt into a big mess...so let me know if you do this and if there's a good way, bad way, or just go for it and experiment!

Last year I thought I'd try to go Raw. ROFL! Ok I know, if you know me, you know that I like meat. Seriously I like it, no getting around it. I grew up on a farm in Northeast Kansas, my dad has cattle, we always (they still do!) have a cow butchered every year, and eventually when we move back to the states, they're giving us a cow to be butchered for Christmas!!! Wahoo! :) Seriously that pleases me more than you know! It saves money and the meat tastes soooo much better! So anyways....my goal this year is to get away from as much processed foods as possible. I have an admission....we love velvetta. I know it's one of, if not the worst! I know! I don't use it in everything, but in plenty! I have yet to find anything that melts and tastes as good when making mac-n-cheese. So...have any mac-n-cheese recipes you want to share? My kids would appreciate it. I'd like ones that are fast and ones that take longer and do NOT say "Kraft" out of the box! LOL It's processed, we know all about that one! hehe :*) No I want to try to get away from as much processed foods as we can. I have pure maple syrup in my fridge that I was blessed with by a Secret sister, she got it from her Mom who lives in Northern New York! I ate it this morning on my pancakes...can we all say it together......... YUMMY! mmmm.mmmmm...good! I was selfish and didn't share it with my kids either, yeah I fed them the junk that'll never be completely out of their bodies because there's not a single thing in it that is natural, not even the sugar...I looked and was totally convicted (this was of course after I drowned their pancakes in it!) So no more being selfish, my PURE maple syrup has a website address on it, so I'll be ordering from them, much to Chad's dismay (pocketbook) but I will say that a little goes a long way with the pure stuff!

So...be prepared for possible weekly requests of better recipes.

Ok...I'm off to make a snapfish order! They have a deal going on until tomorrow...75 pictures for $9.99 and FREE shipping! I love me some deals!

Fixed!

Ok so I got confirmation from Emily (the Creative!) that I'm showing up in dashboard, finally!! Wahoo! Good deal. So if you're "behind" catch up, what are you waiting for?

Thanks Emily for letting me know that it's working!!!

Test

Trying to see if I can figure out why my posts are not showing up on dashboard.

Following God

Do you ever feel like a fraud? I feel like one constantly. I feel like when I'm writing here I'm all over the place. I wish sometimes I could just post it all. I have quite a few "saved" posts that will never see the light of day so to speak. I find that I start off with one thing and turn around and am going in the completely opposite direction and it doesn't flow together at all. The thing is though, that's truly how my mind works. If you talk to me in person or on the phone...I'm all over the place and often forget what I'm saying midsentence. I often find myself writing that way and well, it just doesn't work.

My heart is all about sharing more about Jordyn, yet let me tell you the longer she's in Heaven the more personal her story gets to my heart. It's out there for anyone to read, yet to share even more, is just almost more than I can bare. I love talking about her, yet find myself doing it less and less. Fewer people ask (IRL), more than enough are simply uncomfortable talking about my child who gaspeDIEDgasp. I guess if it weren't me, I could easily be one of them. There are those who just don't know what to say and are worried that they'll say the wrong thing, so they say nothing at all. There are those who just don't want to live in a world where children die, so they pretend that I'm only a mother of 3 and keep their sunshines and rainbows all around themselves. I'm here to tell you those sunshine and rainbows...turn into thunder and storms when you least expect them to.

I'm an over all happy person. I love my life, I wouldn't change it. Yes you read that right, I would not change it. I wouldn't bring Jordyn back. She's with our Savior, so why would I bring her back to this fallen world? She's perfect, she's healthy, she's in no pain, and most importantly she's with Jesus! I would love it if her story had been different. If she'd never had cancer or had been one of the children who survived. That's not our story though, it's not her story.

So where am I going with all of this. Right now, right this moment I'm feeling led. Once a month I'm going to share a part of Jordyn with you. Now I don't know where God is going to lead me with this, but I feel that he's leading me here and I'm going to obey.

So...hello, I'm Christy. I'm the mother of 4 children and wife of Chad. Our oldest daughter Jordyn Ashleigh died at the age of 2 yrs 1 month 8 days. She battled AML leukemia for nearly 14 months. She was diagnosed at Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. Treated at Homburg University for 6 weeks, and then transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and had her Bone Marrow Transplant at Children's National in DC. Those are the outside facts.
The inside scoop...she was fantastic. She loved to have tea parties. She had one of the most amazing drs while in Germany who although crazy busy would stop and have a tea party with her, laugh, and just simply love on her. She chased one of her new drs down the halls of Pediatrics In patient calling after him "Daddy" while he looked NOTHING like her Daddy (who was in Germany getting all of our belongings packed and shipped over to the states). She had eyes that sparkled and danced and everyone who met her commented on them. They were hazzle and beautiful and I swear I could see the love of Jesus in them.

That's just a tiny bit of my Jordyn. She made me a mother, showed me just how much I could love, and how much my heart could break. Even knowing how the story would end on this earth...I'd do it again in a heartbeat for just one day with her.

I'm not ashamed to make you a little uncomfortable or to make you shift in your seat. I'm not worried if tears fall down, or your eyes remain dry. My only concern is to obey God. I feel his urging to share her with you, and although I don't know why...I'm going to obey. I've been blessed beyond measure. I hope you'll walk with me through this sharing process, open your heart and be blessed. Not by my words, but by the Lord. Jordyn helped to lead me to know my Savior in a whole new way, she showed trust that was beyond me at 23 (she was not even 2 through most of it!).

God Bless

New Year

Well so far I've done good! I grabbed ahold of my bible and started reading! Read a whole book! I know, I know I should...no really it was a short one! It was Zephaniah. I have to admit, I don't think I've ever read a single word from this particular book, but I have now. I recommend reading it. It's short, and I mean short. It's prophecy, yet there is comfort as well. Our Lord is firm, but loving. He's strict, but gentle. He knows what he wants from us and he's given us his word in we're to live as he instructs. We're the foolish and arrogant ones who often think we can do better. How rediculous is that, to think we can actually do better than what GOD has designed for us? Oh what shallow and selfish creatures we are. Yet God loves us and we ARE redeamable in his eyes! How blessed are we?

Now I'm working on my bible verse that I'm doing through Beth Moore's blog! (The link is over on the right side of my blog...under "Christian and Homeschool links" Click there! (I'm being lazy and not providing a link right here, sorry!).

Anyways I've decided it's time I actually memorize my favorite/life verse!

Isaiah 40: 11
He tends his flock like a shephard:
He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

I fell in love with this verse when it was shared with me by a friend while we were at Walter Reed and Jordyn was going through treatment. The friend was a mom of a child with cancer too and that verse has stuck with me ever since she shared it! To know that God is gently leading us who have young, that he gathers his lambs (we're his lambs!!! our children are HIS lambs. He is OUR shephard!) Oh what a comfort! So I will know this verse word for word with in the next two weeks!

Well, I'm going to hopefully get to bed here soon. I was really tired earlier and should have went then, but foolishly didn't. :(

God Bless