Five favorite smells

I find it amazing that a particular smell can remind you of a special event, make you feel safe, or turn your tummy. Today I'm going to share with you my five favorite smells and please comment what your five favorites are. This will be fun!

1. Gain 

2. Rain/thunderstorm after a hot summer day

3. Clean babies

4. Flowers (but seriously, who doesn't like the smell of flowers)

5. My husband

This is going to be gross, but I love the smell of his deodorant and body wash. When he is all clean, his smell relaxes and comforts me.

Anxious

Thursday I'm leaving for five days/four nights and flying to Montana to see my little sister graduate. I'm so stinkin' proud of her and thanks to my parents I can be apart of this joyous day. 

The reason why I titled this post "anxious" is because I can't seem to stop thinking about being away from my two precious kiddos. Yes I know I will be away from my husband - but honestly - this military wife is use to being separated from him for years on end. Don't get me wrong, I always miss him when he is gone, but it's nothing new.

However, with my kiddos, I have only been away from them maybe 15 days of their little lives. Cut the cord, right? Because Rande's job is so unstable, I try to be the stability for them - their constant. I feel as if I'm going into the doctor to have my arm or my leg amputated.

Today God laid a verse on my heart, Philipians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God". So I prayed and I petitioned to God to give me the peace he promises in the following verse (7).

So today I have a peace. I know that this weekend away will be good for the kids and for me.

I couldn't resist and had to share this picture of Ashlee. She was probably 3 years old and dressed as Hannah Montana for Halloween. Too cute.

This guy has the best smile and looks so much (and acts) like his dad.

4th of July in 2009 right before Afghanistan deployment. Their smiles just melt my heart.

Undecided Voter

Has anyone seen this SNL clip about the Undecided Voter (click to watch)? Some have said it is too harsh, but I think it's still funny. American's should take the time and decide their vote. I think a little humor should be added once in a while on the subject of politics, since it seems to get people's blood boiling.

If you are undecided, or even those who are decided, let me ask you this. Why are you voting for that particular candidate? The reason why I ask, is so many americans are uneducated on the "issues" that our country faces. They look strictly too the news media to tell them what they need to hear. However, did you know that the media is bias?....gasp! Growing up I thought that the news was suppose to bring fair and balanced information to us. Many news stations have become anti-rebublican or anti-democrat over the years. So educate yourself peeps, this stuff is important.

Oh and don't forget to take my poll. I'm trying to get a little interaction, so please don't leave me hanging.

Who are you?

I can see you!   Yes I know who looks at my blog and doesn't leave comments....ha ha. Just kidding. I don't know who you are, but I can see on my stats the views, where they are from, what operating system they use, etc.   I've been wondering lately who are the people from Malaysia, Germany, Russia, Latvia, UK, Poland, Switzerland, and Slovenia looking at my blog? I'm not super techie, but are they creeps or just people who want to know about the baseball themed birthday party? It has made me start thinking about going private.   What should I do? I don't want any creepies looking at my kids or anything or taking my identity. No one has said anything, but it still is weird to me.

I'm too old for homework

In January I made the decision to go to college. My reason was because Christian and Ashlee were in school full time. There was also very little chance of me getting a decent job for three reasons: I only have a High School education, I have not worked in over eight years, and I am a military spouse. So my thought was while we were stationed here, I would pursue my degree and go back to work.

I began this long journey by enrolling at Ashford University. In July I took a two week break. The way Ashford works is the classes are condensed into five weeks and they do not offer a break until December (for two weeks). I really enjoyed the school, never had a problem. However, I discovered their accreditation was being threatened. Two major factors were; they pushed enrollment of new students so much they went from 10,000 to 90,000 new students in one year. However, their retention rate is only 37% or so. The other factor that leads to possible loss of accreditation is, the instructors to student ratio is completely overwhelmed. Instructors are given, sometimes, 70 students per class, and that does not allow for them to grade and spend adequate time on each student's work. So with all that being said, I decided, since it was early in my education, I would transfer.

I discovered that Liberty University had online degrees. With Christian and all of his appointments and therapies I need online so I can be available to take him. The kids also have no other means of transportation to school and we can not afford after school care. Liberty offered the degree I wanted to pursue (Finance in Business). I actually considered going to Liberty when I wa 15 years old, but the distance and cost was too much.

I am really enjoying the school so far. It has, and still is, taking me some time to get use to the layout, expectations, etc. I also am adjusting to doing two classes at a time rather than one. In fact, by two subterms run together for about two weeks, and I will be doing four classes at once. I don't know how I'm going to survive those two weeks, but I will. Currently I am taking an apologetics class and learning so much about the beliefs and cultures of others and how to defend the Bible. I may make a few posts on something that interested me, and feel free to comment and disagree. I am very curious to hear what others have to say.

So that is what I've been up to lately and why I have not blogged. I miss blogging and I have a few more posts over the next couple of day, so check back peeps!

2011

Can you believe we are already a week into the new year? There are a few things this year that I can already look forward to. Our 10 YEAR anniversary, Christian turning 9 yrs old, Ashlee will be 7, I am going to have a niece this year. Already sounds exciting, right?

I have a 'Type A' personality, and love to plan things ahead of time so I'm prepared. Over the past few months though I'm really liking this "who knows what's going to happen, and let's just go with the flow" mentality.

I promised myself that I wouldn't start thinking about moving until the new year. I really just wanted to enjoy the holidays. Now that they are over with, I'm already making my lists and working on my projects. I found a PCS (permanent change of station) checklist on military.com that is so helpful. The checklist starts about 3 months away from your moving date, which for us would be March, crazy huh!? Rande is at a school right now in Ft. Benning and won't be home until February 18th. That means when he comes home, time to start the process.

While he's gone, I'm working on a few things that I meant to do while he was deployed and never got around to it. Ok, so I'm lying. These are things that I've been meaning to do for about 5 years. I'm really excited though about completing these tasks/projects - so I want to share them with you. Plus it will hold me accountable to actually get them done.

1. The kids' quilts
I saved several baby clothes that were my favorites from when the kids were babies. I also saved their favorite outfits from the past few years. Instead of keeping a bin full of clothes that just sits there, I'm going to cut a 4"x4" (or so) square from each outfit and make a blanket. I plan on taking a photo and writing a little something about the outfit and why I saved it and make a scrapbook too. There are a few outfits I'll save like the one they came home from the hospital in. I may even copy my friend Tiffany's idea and make a shadow box with their hospital momentos in.( ..hmmm.)

2. Kids' scrapbooks
Do you see a common theme here, "kids". I'm just tierd of looking at these bins. They take up space and no one can see all the precious things that are inside.
I'm taking my sister-in-laws sister's idea and putting the kids keepsakes in a 3 ring binder. Thanks for the idea Faith.

Those two projects will keep me busy until Rande comes home, along with going through the Mountain of papers I need to shred, and file....then prepare our taxes.

I had no resolution this year, but I guess you can say completing all my procrastinations from the past few years would be close to a resolution.

I hope 2011 is a great year for you as well. No matter the ups or downs it brings, just remember that God is by your side.

Captivating

For several months now, I've been wanting to read this book, Captivating, by John and Stasi Eldredge. This book has been very, well let's say, CAPTIVATING and I love it! I hope you'll take the time and read it as well. I wanted to share with you an insert from the book that just really struck my heart the other day:

God wants to live this life together with you, to share in your days and
decisions, your desires and disappointments. He wants intimacy with you in
the midst of the madness and mundane, the meetings and memos, the laundry
and lists, the carpools and conversations and projects and pain. He wants to
pour his love into your heart, and he longs to have you pour yours into his.
He wants your deep heart, that center place within that is the truest you.
He is not interested in intimacy with the woman you think you are supposed
to be. He wants intimacy with the real you.
Here's how the flow goes in Hosea. First, God says that he will thwart our efforts to find life apart from him.

"Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them. " (2:6-7)

He does this, as we said, in order to wear us out, get us to turn back to him
in thirsty longing. Then he begins to woo us. He often takes us aside from
every other source of comfort so that he alone can have our heart's
attention.
"Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." (2:14)

After reading this, I realized that God isn't the "Sunday morning God" or the "Big guy upstairs", but as the pursuer of my heart, my romancer.

Thankfulness

I see all over facebook, people writing what they are thankful for each day for the month of November. It is such a great idea, and I'm glad everyone is taking a step back and looking at the blessings God has bestowed on them. I started to examine my own life and realized I take so much for granted, and don't realize what I'm blessed with.

My children:

Recently my mom told me of a neighbor who's little boy (2 yrs old) has a brain tumor and will possibly not make it to Christmas, or even Thanksgiving. It is so sad and my heart breaks for this family. So many days I take for granted the fact that my children are healthy. Yes, they may drive me crazy some days, but those days I wouldn't trade for anything.

Husband:

I am so thankful that I have my husband here, safe and sound. There were so many 'close calls', last year, but he's here. God shows me again and again that he has so much more in store for Rande, he's not finished with him yet. I thank God every day; even the days Rande drives me up the wall, that I have someone to share life's joys, sorrows, and exciting, moments with

Job:

Rande's job has been pretty stressful lately. I said to him the other day to just remember how blessed we are to have a job. Our country is hurting economically right now and people are losing their jobs, and homes. There may be some downfalls with the ARMY as an employer but we have a home, food, clothes, job security and are blessed with a little extra each month.

Family:

Moving to Georgia has really made me open my eye and see how blessed I am to have family within a day's drive away. My brother, sister, and nephew (soon to be nephew/niece) are less than 4 hrs away. My parents (sister) are only 8 hrs away, and just 2 more hours we are at Rande's parents, and my Grandparents. Tickets from Georgia to Montana will run us $2400, I don't' think we'll be making multiple trips to Montana throughout the year.

Christ:

I'm so humbled by our Savior's love and forgiveness. He is gracious to forgive me even when I am such a mess, and filthy. He never ceases to amaze me by taking care of us, blessing us with so much more than we deserve. He is truly my best friend, and I long for the moments I am able to spend with him; learning, praising and just being with him. He is my refugee through life's storms.

So what are you thankful for this year?

When I grow up......

When I was a little girl (about elementary school age) I wanted to be a MISSIONARY

Then around middle school I wanted to be a NURSE

I realized how expensive college was, and the recruiters started calling me. I almost joined the NAVY, because they said I could earn my nursing degree and THEY would pay for it.

Well the NAVY didn't work out, and college was still to expensive.....so why not travel? I always loved flying, and what an adventure! So a FLIGHT ATTENDANT I would be

Then I met this guy....the love of my life and.....

Became this....a STAY AT HOME MOM/WIFE

I love love love being a stay at home mom/wife. Next year Ashlee is going to Kindergarten, and now I'm pondering the question..."what do I REALLY want to be when I grow up?"

As I looked back on my life, I realized that I love to HELP people.

So this fall I'm going to enroll in ISSA's Elite Tranier Certification program from home. When completed, I will have my personal trainer certification, fitness nutrition certification and fitness/exercise therapist certification. So far this is my plan, but I would like to build upon this and eventually become a PHYSICAL THERAPIST and help soldiers rehabilitate.

What did you want to be when you were little?

Fearless Living

If only we could order life the way we order gourmet coffee. Wouldn't you love to mix and match the ingredients of your future?

"Give me a tall, extra-hot cup of adventure, cut the dangers, with two shots of good health."

"A decaf brew of longevity, please, with a sprinkle of fertility. Go heavy on the agility and cut the disability."

"I'll go with a grande happy-latte, with a dollop of love sprinkled with Caribbean retirement."

Take me to that coffee shop. Too bad it doesn't exist. Truth is, life often hands us a concoction entirely different from the one we requested.

Life comes caffeinated and surprises. Modifications. Transitions. Alterations.

From the book Fearless -by Max Lucado