I have a new 6-yr-old

We were so blessed to have T’s parents and sister here with us to help celebrate LB’s 6^th birthday!

Granted, I went a little over-board. It was a bit too much work and the budget was a bust, but fun was had by all and, well, how many times do we get to celebrate one turning 6???

Oh, how I love this child with all my heart and soul. Every year when my girls celebrate b-days, I cannot help but think of their birth mothers who loved them SO much that they a) chose life for them and b) knew their situations and their hearts enough to place them up for adoption! I’m so thankful for these women and hope they know, in their hearts, they made the right decisions and how loved these children are.

Happy Birthday my darling... we LOVE you!!!

While I'm Waiting

Nothing much to say except THIS is where I am now... as well as where I've/we've been for the past 18 months....
(working on the 'peaceful' part)... :)

1st day of school

How come when I was in school, the time dragged and dragged... year after year. It seemed as if I would NEVER make it to my senior year in High School.

Now that my kids are in school, the years are whizzing by. I vividly remember when it was Xian that was starting school. In fact, I was reminiscing last night about it and ended up finding his Kindergarten teacher and sending her pix from yesterday’s first day of school.

Yesterday, LB started Kindergarten and Xian started 7th grade. Mims won’t start pre-K ‘til September. They both had wonderful days. LB’s details were sketchy, but I could tell she enjoyed it. She has a male teacher that came very highly recommended to us. He seems amazing! Xian has an aggressive schedule. He was placed in advanced math, so I’m hoping that I’m smart enough to help him out with it! I met all his teachers and was impressed with all but one… (nearing retirement, I think.)

Although I’m going to miss our lazy summer days, I’m happy the schedule is here and the kids will be learning again.

I'm a l-o-s-e-r

Here is what I’ve determined today – I AM A TOTAL LOSER!!!!!! I spent a little too much time browsing on ye ol’ world wide web today and it really hit me like a ton of bricks…

Have you ever gone to a friend’s blog and then ended up seeing her friends, then those friends, and on & on??? That’s what I did and that’s how I came to realize what a l-o-s-e-r I really am.

This is what other SAHMs are busy doing while I’m neglecting my kids – well, they are on their computers in their rooms (I think we have too many computers) and hanging out online….

Making homemade soaps, jams, bracelets, quilts, pillows, hair bows, backpacks, etc. ALL of which are very crafty & cute! They are baking & cooking all kinds of fabulous pies, breads, sandwiches, iced cookies, etc. AND then taking & posting pictures of their creations. They’re taking amazing photos and digitally making them works of art. Many of these ladies are sewing experts and seem to push out at least a dozen or so different CUTE outfits for their little ones every day! Some of them have multiple blogs – one for each kid, one for photography, one for their online business, one for their pets, etc. etc. They post about their fav. beauty products and rename their hair color! MOSTLY, what so many of them blog about is how freakin’ organized they are. As if I didn’t already feel badly enough about my non-creative, non-baking, non-good-camera-having self!!!

So, let me be REAL for a moment…. Here is what I’ve gotten accomplished today: I did get up early, but then went back to bed. The kids had pre-packaged food for breakfast. We haven’t left the house yet. I’ve baked nothing, cooked nothing, made nothing, created nothing, and cleaned nothing. I bought nothing on sale. I did manage to do a couple of loads of laundry. I stripped my bed, but haven’t remade it yet. I talked on the phone for at least an hour or two. I am dressed.

Man, that is the last time I go for a "quick" browse on the internet… thanks for nothing!

Daddy is home

T returned (once again) from the Middle East a few days ago. We are so thankful and grateful to have him here,
if only for a short time.
He will again, return to FL and his job.
We continue on with the pursuit of selling our house, but are now really hoping Tony can just get back here.
For now, we will cherish the moments we have together as a family. They are few and far between.

Panama City Beach, FL

We were able to visit PCB, FL again a few weeks ago. This time, our guests were Ricardo, our Spanish exchange student and my beautiful mom from SD.

The atmosphere was entirely different from when we were there in February when it was cold & vacant. This time, there were people EVERYWHERE while the sand and water were warm and inviting!!! It was so wonderful. The water was crystal clear, the sand was hot and sugary, the kids had a great time, my mom and I just enjoyed being together and relaxing.

The highlight of the trip had to be our ‘swimming with the dolphins’ excursion! We had a pontoon and a captain for 2 hours out in the gulf. Right off the bat we found a pod of dolphins and the captain started shouting, ‘go, go, jump, get out there NOW!’ We were in and out of the water many, many times and came VERY close to touching the dolphins – within a foot or so – but Ricardo was the only one of us that had contact. We did this for 1 ½ hrs or so and then anchored while we all got out and swam in the crystal clear water seeing tons of little sand dollars below. We have quite a stash of them now.

Anxious to be able to go again soon!!!

Numbers...

Today, Sunday, July 12th, I will have been married to my sweetheart for 22 years! I’ve now been married for 3 years longer than I was single. Hard to believe! I’m pretty confident that no one thought it would last. After all, I was only 19-years-old, T was 23. We had only known each other for 6 months and had only been ‘engaged’ for 3 of them! The odds were most certainly stacked against us. Neither of us had any money, college degrees or good-paying jobs – aren’t those the pre-cursors to a healthy, successful marriage??! And, bonus, T had orders to leave right away – moving to Sicily, Italy. I should have recognized the start of a very stressful pattern – absence & sacrifice. We were however, madly in love and no one could convince us to think rationally!

I moved my very naïve self across the world and joined my beloved in Sicily. As blissfully happy newlyweds, we had 3 male roommates. T & I us shared a twin bed! Yes, there was 1 communal bathroom for these 4 men & I; how romantic!? After 1 year in Sicily, we moved to FL for 7 years, then NE for 2 years, then SD for 8 years, now in GA for the past 3+ while T divides his time between FL and the Middle East.

We had 9 years of ‘DINKhood’ (dual-income-no-kids) that allowed us to mature, grow, travel, basically get to know each other, etc. I got my much-sought-after college degree(s.) T’s job turned into a 22 ½ year career in the USAF. Fast forward to today with our 3 wonderful kids and 1 albatross (thanks for the great word, KL) of a house that we can’t get rid of; life certainly has thrown us some curves.

We have spent countless numbers of years apart from one another within his career. T has consistently given huge portions of his life to his job – his country - in order to support his family and continues to steadfastly agree with me that one of us needs to be home to care for the family & the home. I’m so very thankful that God brought me a man so like-minded (at least on that subject:).

16 months is how long we’ve now been separated by T living in another state & country…. again, sacrificing for our well-being. Over 486 days that our children have not had the continuity that an intact family life brings. Approximately 11,000 hours have gone by that the kids haven’t been able to count on their Daddy being at home:(…. My heart continues to ache for them.

An infinite number of tears I’ve cried. Limitless numbers of wiping noses. Immeasurable numbers of conversations we’ve had. Endless numbers of prayers we’ve lifted up… ALL without T here. However, we know he loves us and he cares for us and he would change the situation in ONE minute – if he could.

So, even though today’s milestone – my wedding anniversary, finds me alone yet again, I’m choosing to be thankful… thankful that I have a terrific man to love & who loves me. Today, even though the absences and sacrifices have never been easy, my joy comes from knowing that we share a love that surpasses numbers whether they are time zones, zip codes, phone numbers, or addresses.

I love you, T – today & always.