Prayers Please

One of my best friends is going through the worst nightmare any parent can go through, the loss of her child. Emily's 3rd daughter was born 5 days ago. They new about 1 1/2 months ago that there was something wrong with Miller Grace's brain, but they couldn't know exactly what it was until she was born. Unfortunately there's nothing the drs can do. Miller Grace will be meeting Jesus face to face at any point now, it could be hours or days...but either way she's going home.

Emily continues to praise Jesus for the blessing of Miller Grace for even a few days. I ask that you hold up Emily & Matt. Pray for their 2 other daughters as the little sister they've been waiting on will not join them in their physical home, but will one day meet them in their Heavenly home. Pray that Miller Grace's entrance into Heaven is gentle.

My heart breaks for all of them. I wish so much that Emily of all people did not have to know this pain. I love her so much and the thought that we have this in common breaks my heart. I don't want her to know this pain that will last a lifetime. Even though we can rejoice that our children are in Heaven, we are still human and still want them here with us. It's the human in us. The mother's in us, who wants to be able to rock and nurse her baby, to make her feel better.

Pray for Emily as the days and weeks go by and her body aches to nurse this precious baby, as her body goes through post partum and her arms are empty of this precious baby she grew for 9 months.

Childhood

(I wrote this earlier today)

This morning Chad and the boys went over to the battalion. Chad had some reciepts he needed to turn in and talked to a couple people. Then he took them to the park. I had no idea they went to the park, otherwise I would have joined them. Today is also the last day of public school here on post. I'm sure the park will have a lot more kids out in at during the day from here on out. Of course we'll be spending our days at the pool for the most part, but honestly it's nice to hear the sound of kids playing. That was always something that bewildered me at Ft. Riley. It seemed like so often the kids were not outside playing. When we first moved to our house from the apartment (different area on post) there were all kinds of kids and then they just seemed to disappear. They would rarely come out and play. It's really sad that so many parents let their kids stay inside. They NEED outdoor play. They NEED that excercise! My goodness it just lets them sleep so much better at night. They're healthier inside and out as well. On average the boys are outside 3-6 hours a day/evening and with summer coming it's going to be even more. We're all stocked up with new sunblock, lipblock, etc. I'm truly looking forward to our days at the pool. I want my boys to have wonderful memories of their childhood! Some of my favorite memories are from summer breaks. Although we're raising our children quite differently than I or Chad was raised in the fact that we homeschool. We're a military family as well and let me tell you that in and ofitself is a world apart in so many ways than how either Chad or I grew up. We live in Germany for starters!! Chad is often gone about every other year for a min. of 12 months. Me I grew up with 2 parents, both worked. We grew up in a small town in Kansas of aprox 3500 people...everyone knew everyone for the most part. I grew up walking country miles, watching the waving wheat (literally) and loving it. I grew up riding my horse, running in the pasture with my brother and neighbor friends, playing in the creek (while my crazy brother and the boy neighbor went swimming in the pond...YUCK!). Chad grew up with a single mom and his sister. Although Chad and I had different childhood's, much different..they were still pretty average.

I look at my boys and want a good, carefree childhood. I don't want them to worry abot adult problems, which seems to be all the rave anymore for some rediculous reason. What is so wrong with letting kids be kids. They don't NEED to be watching violent movies and cartoons. They need carefree fun. They play Army just like Chad did when he was a kid. They play superhero's, cars, etc. Yes Daddy is a real life soldier, but they don't know exactly what he does when he is deployed and they don't NEED to know. Reality will come soon enough. I hope my boys look back and remember a carefree childhood, where yes Daddy was gone but they always knew they were loved. Where they got to go and play and have fun daily. Where adult problems were just that and kid problems were just that.
Right now I'm looking at a 3 yr old who for the 3rd day in a row is wearing a Spiderman costume. He HAS clothes on under it, but it's kind of pointless! LOL We've taken that boy all over the place in that costume, but this is where parenting comes into play...you pick your battles and is it worth fighting with a 3 yr old over a custome so he can pretend he's spiderman? Not in my opinion. Before I know it, he won't want to dress up anymore.

I'm just so thankful that so far my children have a carefree childhood. Their worries are whether they can take water guns outside and where their bike helmuts are. I want them to have fun, enjoy their childhood.

Little Update

Not sure if I even wrote about this, but well almost 2 weeks ago I took my glucose test and it showed up bad, then I went to a specialist and he said my results showed up as borerline, so all last week I pricked my finger an hour after I ate. All my readings came back great. I had 3 fairly high ones, but I knew why (a couple poor choices) and that was all the dr wanted to make sure of (that I'm aware of what makes my blood sugar high and I definately do!!). So....anyways I went back this morning and he was really happy and now I just have to check it once a day. I will go back and see him one last time in 3 weeks, which I'll be 33 weeks pregnant at that point. I will continue to watch what I eat.

Chad had knee surgery and had his stitches removed today. He will start physical therapy now. He will finally be able to take a real shower, can go swimming anytime after 7 pm tonight! He's thrilled! It'll be nice for him to start being able to do things again. He no longer needs to use his crutch, another plus. He'll turn those back in tomorrow! He's on leave until Sunday. His unit is out in the field,and is ortho told him he is NOT to go, so we'll see how the 1st Sgt takes that. It really doesn't matter, because at this point Chad's health is the most important thing and the fact that this battalion (the LTC in particular) put this off even after the surgeon said he NEEDED surgery..but hey who cares! Anyways!! :) The surgery is done, he's on his way to healing and becoming completely healthy again. He's really looking forward to when he can once again running.

Summer is definately here and on Friday we're buying an A/C. I can't handle the heat the rest of this pregnancy. We had a few days of the 90's last week and this weekend. This week is supposed to be cooler, but they're calling for a long and hot summer here in Germany and since housing doesn't provide A/C, we'll be buying one. I've found quite a few in the paper and if those are gone by payday we'll go off post and get one, since the PX is always out of them. I've had one summer baby and in Kansas for that matter. Most of that summer was in or close to 100 with high humidity throughout the whole summer, it's liveable with Central air and we had a very large pool in our backyard. We will be going to the swimmbad everyday that it's hot...so between staying there and having the A/C I will hopefully be comfortable! :)

Well time for Jacob's school work. We're just doing one subject a day during the summer (on days to the pool we'll do school in the morning).

Have a good day!

Prayers

One of my best friends, Emily is pregnant and there are some issue's with the baby. They've done all the tests and ultimately what's going on will not be known until she's born. They know it's something, but because she's not given me permission to share more than that I will not. I just ask that you pray for Emily, Matt, their 2 daughters and their little girl waiting to be born.
Emily is a Christian and has shown grace over and over.

I ask that you lift them all up. That you give the drs the wisdom when their daughter is born to figure out exactly what is wrong, and that everyone's seeking Christ when decisions are to be made.

Long Time

Jackson after his tball game
My parents and the boys in front of the Bavarian Alps, at Edelweiss in Garmisch, Germany
Jack and Jacob up at Eagle's Nest, in the distance is Salzburg Austria, the views were amazing
Chad and the boys in The North Sea in The Netherland's
The boys at Keukenhof in The Netherland's

It's been over a month since my last post. Life's been busy to say the least! My parents came to visit for 12 days and we made the most of the time they were here! We went to Garmisch for a night, drove over to Eagle's Nest the next day. Came home and took a rest for a day and then we got up and headed to The Netherland's! We all stuck our feet into the FRIGID North Sea. The next day we went to Keukenhof which is a beautiful garden with over 7 million flowers and bulbs. We got there the next to last day they were open, they're only open for 2 months, so I'm so happy we got to make it up there before they closed for the year! (Next year I plan to go up in April with the kids and a friend or two and spend more than just 2 days!!). We stayed in Haarlem which is the home of Corrie TenBoom and next time I plan on going to her home, it'll be a great history lesson for Jacob! We came home and debated going to Rothenburg odt, and decided we all needed a break from the van and just stayed home. The next day off to Triberg, which is in the Black Forest. My parents bought a Coo-coo clock, which was the main reason for going there, but we got an extra treat by seeing the tallest Waterfall in Germany! We walked up to it and it was GORGEOUS! I still need to download the pictures from then!

We were home Wed. and Thursday, which Jacob has his last tball game on Wed (moved from Friday since it was a 4 day weekend) and Jack's on Thursday. Friday, my mom and I were up at 4 am and by a little after 5 am on the road with friends following in their van, to go to Poland! Mom loved it and of course I did too. I am tired of going there when it's hot though! The way down took us 5 hrs. We were stuck literally about 1 mile or LESS just outside of the town we went to shop in, because of an accident, which a fatatilty was involved. Thankfully our friend (the husband) asked the truck driver behind them for another route into town, so after sitting in the traffic for 45 minutes we got out of it and headed to town to get some shopping done and boy did we! My mom and I both got a ton of stuff. We finished up, went and grabbed a bite to eat, then headed home. We were on the road about 3:15 and got home with 2 stops at 7:30!! Pretty good timing! :) It was a great trip. Saturday (the next day) we took my parents to the airport.

The time went by so quickly and it was so very hard to say goodbye to them. Both boys just cried their hearts out, and that just made it that much worse for me and Chad. We hadn't seen my parents in almost 2 yrs (2 yrs would be in July since we moved here). I'm really hoping my mom (who retired in Jan) will come when the baby is born. It's killing her to think she'll miss out on one of her grandchildren being born. She's never been in the room for the birth, but she's at least been IN the hospital and if she DID come it sure would be easier to have her home with the boys. We'll just see...right now she's not planning on coming, but I'm hoping she will. I know my dad will not be able to. He works for Goodyear and after the 11 weeks strike getting vacation is not so easy and they're limited to the amount they can take at once (which is why they only got to be here for 2 weeks vs the 3 we all had hoped for).

The pregnancy is going pretty good. I have no real complaints. I am borderline for gestational diabetes. I saw a specialist on Friday and they have me doing a blood check 1 hour after I eat until June 11. I'm also following the diet, which isn't bad at all. I completely cut out pop (Pepsi) and that's been fine. I haven't gained any weight in the last 3 apts I've went to, which is nice. Hoping I don't gain too much more. I've only gained 6 lbs, but I had WAY too much weight on me in the first place so it's not necessary for me to gain really and my ob is happy with how everything is going.

Chad had knee surgery on Thursday. This has been almost 3 yrs in the making. He hurt his knee his first time in Iraq (2004) and he was actually put on nondeployable status when we moved here to Germany, but the "powers that be" felt they knew better than his Ortho and sent him to Iraq vs leaving him behind for a couple months to get surgery, of course because of him favoring his left knee for so long he now has damage to his right knee and his ortho believes he'll need surgery on that knee in the next year or two. But he did finally have the surgery and he's doing AWESOME. He's not complained ONCE! He's been doing great at finding a balance between keeping his knee elevated and walking around. He's really doing so much better than I thought he would, this soon! He's on convelesant leave until June 17 although it may be extended, because his ortho doesn't want him returning to work until he's been in Physical therapy for at least a week, and he said no physical therapy until after the 17th, so we'll just wait and see.

PWOC starts back up this week. I'm excited to see it started back up. They're doing a children's study this year too for school age kids, so everyone can attend! The kids are doing a Kids Beth Moore Study. Jacob's excited about it. I hope he enjoys it!

Well, I guess that's it! I have a headache and I'm exhausted. I've been passing out before midnight lately so it's a late night for me tonight.

God Bless

PWOC/ATC

I just got back yesterday from Willengen, Germany for ATC (Annual Training Conference). It was just so amazing! We were constantly doing something from 8 until 9 pm with in the conference and then we'd go to our new local board Presidents room and have bonding time. Saturday night we spent probably the first hour in her room singing. We have an amazing woman who plays guitar, we each picked a song from her book and we just sang. It was beautiful. Then we talked about what our expectations and desires were for the up coming year. We spent so much time laughing that my stomach was just killing me because of the muscles being used! LOL

I learned a great deal about my board position that I did not know during the class that was specifically for the Outreach Rep. I loved that class and just truly got so much out of it. Every class I took was just simply awesome and I walked out of there loving it and just loved how amazing God was in the class, teaching not just me but the room full of women new things about him and about ourselves and how to share those things with other women and even our families and friends!

I can't imagine how anyone lives without Jesus in their life. He doesn't promise to make it easier, but he promises to be there with you every step of the way and he is. He's been through the absolute worst and the absolute best that life has to offer. He loves us so much that he died for us! I honestly ache for those who don't know him. How lost they must feel.

I know that our PWOC is truly an amazing one. We're a small Army community yet we really have a large group that comes week after week (for the size of our community). We have so many amazing women, God-fearing/loving women, who inspire me, encourage me, and make me want to be a better woman, mother, and most of all Christian.

Sunday night was probably the most emotional for me. During our general session it began (every time actually) with singing. The lady who lead it sang a song that just tore my heart out and I ended up just crying through the whole song. The words truly touched my soul. Our Praise leaders wrote the songs down and that was one of them. Every woman from our group had a strong reaction to this particular song (sorry can't remember the name of it).
Oh Linda....the Praise leader, lives in your old apartment! Chris was walking one evening and noticed her lamps and found out that Heather lives in your old apartment!! We thought it was cool! LOL She said it was weird going in to her apartment knowing how you had your furniture set up and seeing how hers is set up! LOL

Well, I need to go since I was gone Friday-Monday I didn't get my last assignment done for our class, tomorrow. We finished our study 2 weeks ago, watched the final video last week and we were challenged with 3 different things to do for this week, so I really need to get busy on that. It won't take me too long, but this pregnancy is wearing me out and the fact that the most sleep I got was 6 hrs this weekend, Sunday night I only got 5 hrs. This baby is demanding that my body get more, which I truly am so thankful for since I've dealt with 7 yrs of insomnia and even in the pregnancy there are nights it still takes over.

God Bless

The Tale of Two Houses

This one is very true. http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

I do wish this kind of stuff would make the news, but it won’t!


HOUSE # 1: This house has 20-rooms (not including 8 bathrooms) and is heated by natural gas. In addition, there is a pool (and a pool house) and a separate
guest house all heated by gas. In an average month, this house consumes
more energy than the average American household in an average year.

The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400 per month.
In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national
average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern
"snow belt". It's in the South.

HOUSE # 2: Designed by an architecture professor, this house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bed rooms) and is nestled on arid high prairie in the
American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat
pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground.
The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in
summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it
consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Native flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It is the private residence of Al Gore.
HOUSE # 2 is near Crawford, Texas. It is the private residence of George W. Bush

Army Extending Deployments from 12 to 15 Months

Gates announces longer tours in Iraq - Yahoo! News

Top News- Pentagon Extends Army Tours to 15 Months - AOL News

I'm saddened, frustrated, and angry over this. It's not effecting us immediately but it will in less than 12 months. We have so many friends here and from other posts that are being effected or about to be effected. What's absolutely the most frustrating to me is the fact that this is ONLY effecting the Army. I'd assumed for a long time that the Marine's deployed for 12 months as well, but their average deployment is 7 months, now they are only home for 7 months too, but....either way at this point we're doing 15 months now.

I look at the average AF deployment being 3-4 months, Navy the majority of them don't go to Iraq or Afganistan...again this is AVERAGE not all by any means and I know there's exceptions. I just cried tonight though. Cried for the fact that when Chad does leave he's going to be 15 months with our children, 12 months has been hard enough. I look at some friends who have NEVER been through a deployment or who's spouses when they do deploy never leave the comforts of their base camps. I accept that War is part of our life. I support it. I support our President. Most of all I support my husband and his JOB. He believes in what he's fighting for. Doesn't mean it's easy or that he likes having to do it, but this is the point of a military...to fight wars. No one likes war, but they're part of life, and always have been.

These soldiers who are currently in Iraq and Afganistan need our prayers as do their families as they face an additional 3 months and the soldiers who are about to deploy need our prayers as they prepared for 12 and now have to go there with the realization that it's 15 months instead. A lot of our friends who are about to deploy are currently on block leave and many of them are in area's that they probably have not even heard of this new news and it saddens me that when they come home this is what they'll be facing.

I just really don't understand why the other branches can't extend the additional 3 months, they'd still fall short of the Army's 12 months....but well we will just suck it up and go with it. We have no other choice. I have to remember and remind myself God knew this was going to happen and that it's all in his hands, nothing happens without his permission. Oh how easily I forget that God's got this, oh he's got this.

Keep our soldiers in your prayers.

ABC's of Jesus

ABC'S OF JESUS
Abiding Vine - John 15:4
Bridegroom - Ephesians 5:32
Creator - Colossians 1:16
Deity - John 10:30
Everlasting Life - John 3:16
Faithful Friend - 1 Corinthians 1:9
Good Shepherd - John 10:11
Hiding Place - Psalm 32:7
Image of the Invisible God - Colossians 1:15
Joy Unspeakable - 1 Peter 1:8
King of Kings - 1 Timothy 6:15
Lord of Glory - 1 Corinthians 2:8
Merciful Mediator - Hebrews 2:17
Never ending love - Jeremiah 31:3
Omnipotent One - Revelation 19:6
Prince of Peace - Isaiah 9:6
Quieter of Fears - Proverbs 1:33
Rock of Salvation - 1 Corinthians 10:4
Sacrificial Lamb - John 1:29
The Truth - John 14:6
Understanding Guide - Proverbs 3:5,6
Victorious Warrior - 1 John 5:4
Word of Life - 1 John 1:1
Exalted name above all names - Philippians 2:9
Your only Hope - Ephesians 2:12
Zion's Messiah - Isaiah 55:11

Christ Has Risen!

Well it's Easter here in Germany!! I'm still up at 2 am...grrr. I wish I wasn't. I fell asleep on the couch tonight and got a nap, then woke up and cleaned up the house a little bit so it'll look good for pictures in the morning!! :) I am finally starting to feel tired, so after this I'm heading to bed.


In the morning the boys will wake up and find their easter buckets, overload on candy, and then my friend's going to drop her dog off while they go on to Garmisch for a few days during block leave. Her hubby's getting ready to deploy soon. We'll then get all dressed up in our Easter clothes and off to church we go. We'll then head over to the CAC (community Activity Center) and have the boys picture taken...once we get it back, I'll scan it. Once we get home we're going to dye eggs.................... Once we get done with that Daddy's going to take them outside and hide the eggs and then I'm going to take the boys out and let them find the eggs! They love it. Once they're done we'll hopefully be having dinner soon after! I love cooking holiday meals! I'm planning on making a turkey breast, home made noodles, home made bread, mashed potatoes, and we'll have cranberry sauce that the boys LOVE! Mmmm! I love this meal! :)

Before bed we're going to read the bible and discuss Christ dying for us, how he rose, and how much he loves us. Thankfully the boys love Jesus and both love being read to. One of the things I'm wanting to do as a family is start a bible study together, one that's on the boys level...so that Chad and I both feel that they're learning about God, learning about why Jesus came to Earth, lived, and died for us. Jacob gets quite a bit of this and although Jack's young and doesn't get all of it...they both are always full of questions. They're both so inquisitive.

I want Easter to be focused on Jesus, not on candy, not on The Easter Bunny, not on Eggs....but on JESUS.

Have a wonderful Easter. Remember the reason for this day.

God Bless