I will follow

Bad, bad, blogger am I. Rande has been home for what, 3 months? As you can tell, things have been crazy busy. We were on leave for a months or so, school started, activities started....phew! It's been nice though to be a complete family again and go through the craziness TOGETHER.
Recently God has been really speaking to us and leading our family into a new direction. I remember when God had been speaking to Rande and I back in 2006 about joining the ARMY. I remember being extremely opposed to any type of change. However, when God has a plan for your life, he will work on our hearts and speak to us in any way.
Since coming to Ft. Lewis, we have had ups and down, and grown quite a bit in our relationship with God. I realize now the ARMY doesn't decide where we go next, but that GOD is ultimately in control and he issues our orders.
This song (above) has been speaking to me lately. Listen to it and I will blog later on what God has been saying to us.

He's HOME!

It has been over 48 hours since Rande has been home, and it has been so surreal. What a joy and honor it is to have our family complete again. My heart is overflowing with love. The kids won't stop hanging and loving on daddy, and it is such sweet music to my ears to hear them say his name..."daddy".

While there is much joy and excitement, there have been a few tears and awkward moments. I was in the kitchen the other morning and heard someone walking up stairs. The kids were outside playing and I was a little scared. But then I remembered, "oh yeah, Rande is home". I kind of giggled at myself.

Before our meals the kids would pray and ask God to take care of Rande and keep him safe. I think it almost became a habit, that I had to remind them Daddy is home, and we can thank God for bringing him home safe and sound now.

Well tonight, Christian prayed this prayer:

"Dear God, thank you for bringing my daddy home safely. Please watch over the soldiers, and I hope the soldiers that died are having fun in heaven".

It's hard to explain, but your heart is happy and filled with joy for your own happiness, and yet broken and filled with sadness for those who don't get to experience a homecoming. For us it is the end of a long hard year, and others, just the beginning of a new life.

Thank you for all our friends and family who have supported us this past year with your thoughts and prayers. Please continue to pray for those families who will not welcome home their sons, fathers, and husbands. Pray for strength and guidance in their lives.

Getting big

Lately Christian has been a booger. BUT...he's also been showing how grown up he's becoming. I feel as if the booger/grown up behavior is common in boys this age. He's trying out new waters and seeing what rules still apply and don't. But here are a couple pictures of him being a big boy lately.

He was playing with his LEGOS in the living room the other day while I was doing laundry, cleaning, typical mommy work. When he brought this to me and I was so proud of him. He followed the directions perfectly and build an great plane (with a gun on top mind you).

Ashlee had to get a picture with brother, she was so proud of him too
Christian's creation!

A couple weekends ago, I needed to mow the grass. I asked if Christian wanted to learn how to mow...and with great excited he said "YES!". He did a great job, still needed help because of the weight of the mower, but he was so big. He came up to me later and said that his friends (who are older) were jealous because their mom's never let them mow the grass. I felt pretty cool too!

Our baby graduated preschool

I struggled with putting Ashlee in preschool this year. I really wanted to home school her, but I noticed she needed to socialize more and deployment was taking it's toll on me. But now, that the preschool year has ended I have noticed some huge changes in Ashlee. She went from a shy, insecure little girl to friends with EVERYONE and very confident little girl. We have made some good friends through strong beginnings as well, and I mean BOTH of us.

They had a graduation ceremony on Friday, and it was adorable! Ashlee was cute as ever and such a ham. We celebrated afterwards with lunch and a movie (TOY STORY 3) - very cute by the way.

Ashlee and Teacher Marcella

Amiayah and Ashlee

Getting her diploma

AM Strong Beginnings

Singing the trash song

Ashlee and Tony

Jocelyn

Andy (the little boy who wanted ALL the girls to have flowers..what a sweetie)

Christian and Ash

My big girl! So proud of her

Baseball is over :(

As much as I may have complained about being so busy with baseball, gymnastics...I'm sad to see it come to an end. Last weekend was our last baseball game :( Chrisitan made such improvements, and really grew a lot this season. I see now how important it is to have the kids involved in activities (not too busy). It helps with self esteem, and teaches them how to win/lose and play well with others.

Rande in Afghanistan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RgOcsUNjlQ

The above video is of Rande's platoon in Afghanistan. Enjoy!

Birthday Cakes and Mud pies

Sorry it's been soooooo long since I've blogged. We have been busy like usual, and quite frankly, I've been a little lazy about it. :) These pictures are a little out of order (it's been a while since I blogged) -

I did a 5k "down and dirty mud run" here on post on May 15th. We all had such a great time. Here are a few pictures. Olina, Tara, Mary, Becky and me
Onlina made us shirts

Us after the run...I had to wash my hair 3 times to get all the mud out

Even though Rande was thousands of miles away in Afghanistan, the kids wanted to celebrate daddy's birthday. So we bought cupcakes from coldstone. Every year for Rande's birthday we always buy a coldstone ice cream cake. We couldn't break tradition.

Christian feeding daddy

Birthday card send via email to daddy

3 3

There are more pictures on our photography website. Apparantly I don't have permission to rotate my pictures.

My brother, sister-in-law, Tucker and parents came down for Christian's birthday. We took a trip to Seattle, saw a Mariner's game, had coffee, lunch and a little shopping.

Can't go wrong with Star Wars
Christian, Grandpa, and Daddy
Howeth Family
Christian and his "halo" cake.

Here is a video of the kids singing happy birthday to Rande. Like I said, a bit out of order. Please check our webiste (Henderson Photography) for more pictures and videos!