Almost home.

Well, the time is finally here! The day my love is to come home! We are all so ready to see him and can't wait. So we will keep busy to help pass the time and soon we will have Daddy back into the house! But till then, we will call and check the updates on what time the plane is to land, we will finish getting things done around the house and we will wait. See, the military does it's best to get the troops where they say they are to be at the right time, but as of now, the time has already changed a couple of times! I do think it will probably change again, but all that is A OK with me as I know that they are on their way and soon we will see all the uniformed troops walk off the plane and into their loved ones waiting arms! The count down is on, it's hours now not days or months!

God Bless America and please watch over our troops in their travels!

He is so sweet...

Today I was going to take a nap. I was just relaxed and just about ready to fall asleep when I hear the doorbell ring and the kids go wild. They want to know if they can see who it is. I say go ahead and head downstairs and Carly is saying "Look, I think it's more flowers! But that is a different flower box!" She is bringing it in and so I help her out... this looks good! We take it to the kitchen and open it up to find these wonderful looking strawberries! Talk about good! They are so tasty! At first I thought they were way to pretty to eat... but had to dig in and so glad that I did! Yummmmm! My husband is just amazing and I thank him for this and everything else he does for me! I love him so!


Here are the flowers that were delivered yesterday, on our 14th anniversary! They are so pretty and smell o-so good! My hubby is good to me! He is so wonderful!

Remembering our first date... on our 14th anniversary!

There once was this guy. I didn't know him, but I did know of him. What I knew was not much; just that he was 'tall and good looking' nothing more, nothing less. Then I started talking to him on the phone. See, I was not trying to meet someone, but hey, meeting 'guys' was always a good thing at that age so I really didn't mind. I would call him pretty much every day. Not to talk to him although I didn't mind one bit. But since I am a good friend and a friend would ask if I would call and see what the love of her life was doing and if he wanted to talk to her. See this love of her life, well he liked to sleep so most of the time when I would call he would be sleeping, or that is what I was told. So we can't waste a good phone call so I would talk to this 'tall good lookin' guy and I got to know him pretty well. He seemed sweet and he seemed to know what he wanted and he was working towards that in life. Somehow I was falling for this 'tall and good lookin' guy that I had never seen. The first time I had the chance to meet him; I was not able to go. I don't remember why, I just remember being so sad and kind of mad that the meeting would have to wait. The phone calls didn't have to wait and we talked more and more, I'm sure only costing a small fortune. All that didn't matter at the time, still doesn't. What matters here is that I was getting to know someone and I wanted to get to know him more and more each and every time I spoke to him. See what I didn't know was that he had gotten a 'sneak peak' at me, not one of my best pictures, but he had seen what I looked like, well kind of anyhow! It seemed like we talked for ages before it was time to finally meet. O boy, do I remember that day, the day I first laid eyes on him, that 'tall and good looking' guy. I was then 'in love' with what I saw! I had already been falling for him on the phone and really at that point I think that he could have looked however and I still would have had feelings for him. So when I laid eyes on that 'tall and good looking' guy, I really liked what I was seeing! He was sitting or leaning against his car, just kickin back waiting for the love of his life to show up. No really, waiting for some teen girls to make sure they "look good" before finally making it out to the parking lot where they wait. I know I loved what I saw, but how did he feel about me? Well, I wasn't sure but I sure did want to find out. So we as a group talked and messed around. I wanted to get closer and see if there was something there. I jumped at the chance and hopped up on his back and he carried me all around. It felt right. My heart was racing, it felt good, and I felt I was where I needed to be, right where I was supposed to be. Did he feel the same? I wouldn't know right away, see we needed to figure it all out still. Being young isn't always easy! So we did some group dates with said friend and the man of her life (they would later marry) and her sister, my best friend. We always had a blast and there was something definitely there. Soon we would go on our first 'real date' just the two of us. I think we will both remember that date for as long as we live, maybe even longer. See, looking back at it now, I see that God has ALWAYS had His hand in our relationship. That first date that we went on could have had a horrible ending before it ever really started. See we were going to go see a movie, what movie you want to know, well I can't even remember I think I was still to freaked out to even take in the movie. We had stopped and picked up our tickets, since it was a movie that everyone was going to see, and there weren't nearly as many movie theaters around we got our tickets long before the movie was to start. We had time so we were going to go somewhere and just hang out and talk, get to know one another a bit more. We were on our way to that place when it almost happened. We were almost in what would have been a horrible car crash. It was bad as it was, but it could have been so much worse. See this is where God puts his hand down and says that we are not to be going to the hospital or morgue that day. There was a car in front of us that was going to turn left; the car behind us didn't see our tail lights since the sun was on them. I remember is 'tall and good lookin' putting his hand across me and telling me to hold on. I didn't even have time to take it all in and I could hear crashing and see car parts flying. I was waiting for the car to move, to be smashed at that point, it never happens. Instead I see 3 or 4 cars that have been crunched up and spun in every direction. Us in the middle of it untouched. Wow. Thankfully everyone that was involved also walked away, but not as untouched as us, how that car didn't smash into us or us get hit by flying parts, well that couldn't have happened without the hand of God right there covering us, protecting us. We still went and hung out for a bit and made it safely to our movie. It was a great date, definitely one that won't be forgotten. A start to a great friendship, to a great marriage, to a great life of togetherness. Who could ever ask for more?

Today is our 14th Anniversary, I could not have asked for a better man to spend my life with. My man is amazing! Thank You Honey for everything you do for us! I Love You more than you will ever know!

Flowers

My hubby is so wonderful! Since he couldn't be here for my birthday look at what he sent me! Along with lots of LOVE!

"I will visit all the time."

Well today my 4 year old tells me that she wants to "move out and move in with someone else." When I ask her who she wants to live with she really doesn't care. This neighbor, that neighbor (who she doesn't even know very well), these friends, here, there... pretty much anywhere but here. What brought this on? Was I being a "mean mommy" cause I have been told that I am a mean one! No, what brought it on the first time was when I fixed her helmet while she was riding her NEW bike. She had the helmet on the back of her head, well, it was kind of on there, I moved it to the right spot. But that was the "wrong spot" and she wanted to move out! When I said we could go start packing her things she changed her mind and all was good again. We spent more time playing and had a good dinner, I had thought that this moving out was over... boy was I wrong! We took the bigger girls to volleyball and the younger ones wanted to stay and play so we did. Volleyball ran a little long and we got home alittle later than planned and so it was time to get ready for bed. Well, that is when it started again. Her and her brother were told to go get pj's on and I was going to let the dogs in and be right up to help. When I got up there they were fighting about something and I told her that she didn't need to be in brothers room. "Fine" and it starts again. She did get her pj's on and her teeth brushed, but hair will have to wait. And all the while she is telling me this and that and that she wants to move out, I again ask her where she is going to go. I tell her that I will miss her so much, she "will visit all the time" don't you know?! I tell her that her puppies will miss her and that her brother and sisters will miss her. I tell her how sad I will be and how sad Daddy will be when he gets home. All of this does not matter you see... it does not matter because she "will visit all the time." I tell her that I don't think she will, she will be busy with this new family and we will all be missing her and so very sad. She just wants to move out. I ask her if she would like to pack her things and I get a "yes" from her. So I ask if she wants a bag or a box... she says "a box, I will need lots of them for all my stuff." I take her a box and tell her that she only gets one, she can take what fits in there and the rest stays here. If she is going to have a new family she will probably just need new stuff. By this time she is in her bed and her music is on, I tuck her in tell her that I love her and goodnight. I turn out her light and close the door and as I am down the hall she opens her door and is coming out with the box. I ask if she needs help, she says "NO" in a rather mad, mean voice and tosses the box on the floor. She says that she doesn't need it! I ask if she is going to stay and in that same mad, mean voice she says "yes" as she slams her door! I am thankful that she has decided to stay, for now, I hope that tomorrow is different and she gets over this whole moving out stage. Not sure where it came from or even why. But all in all it was kind of cute and a bit funny. If she starts with it tomorrow, I am going to tell her to take Abby (the dog) with her!

Why, doggie, why?

I let the dogs in and I smell poo... "Abby did you fart already? Man, I smell it everywhere... time to check feet. Buddy come here." As he comes to me I see that one of his front legs is covered in something... you guessed it... POO! From his toes to his elbow! YUCK... can you say "Bathtime Buddy."

And Buddy does NOT like the bath at all! So I get the little ones off to bed, yes, because I have to find this at 8:30 at night after a long, very busy day... and Buddy into the bathtub to get him cleaned up. What a upper body work out, all 49.7 pounds of him fighting to get out of the bathtub while I wet him down and shampoo him up. Not so fun, but we managed and he smells much better now!

Daddy,
I love you and miss you. Are you ok?
Josh

As I was getting Josh to bed, which he did not want to do, I asked him if there was something that he would like me to type to you tonight and above is what he said. Then he said, "well, I love you and miss you in one sentence and 'are you ok?' in another." When I asked if there was anything else, he said "No, but can I sleep over there where that blanket is?" as he points to the blanket that is on the floor on your side of the bed (the extra warm blanket that I tossed off the bed when it warmed up again). So I told him that he needed to go get his pillow and when he came back I just asked him if he would like to sleep in your spot... He jumped at that! So he is tucked in up there, hopefully when I am ready for bed there will be room for me!

This is the start of an e-mail that I just finished writing my hubby who left last Friday. One week, it seems like it has been for ever at times, then there the times that it seems like he is just at work and will be home in the morning. O he will be home, before we know it, we will look back and say "see, it wasn't that bad, really." But before that times comes we will have our ups and our downs, we will be happy and sad, we may cry, we will laugh and we will for sure miss him. But see we can do it, we can. We have done it before and we will do it again. Our love will grow stronger each and every time and we will find strength that we didn't know was there.