If I were three

I would spend my lunches

teasing my mother

with the action of putting my head
in water she begged (er, told) me not to

then I would shake said wet head all over her.

For dinner I would melt her heart with a simple lean.
What would you do if you were three?

Finding Normal

It feels as if our life has begun again. As if the wheel that God has been turning for my family has finally picked up to a pace I can recognize. But I am finding myself remembering that even the slow pace was good and familiar because it was what God wanted for my family, so it is in turn was what I wanted for my family.

We find ourselves in a new kind of normal. One that involves a state with a city that has unspeakably good weather all year round. Weather that makes playing outside in the sand at 6:30 in the evening more then bearable. Especially after having just finished eating a home grilled meal outside for the third night (or is it fourth?) in a row.

I am thankful that we even have the opportunity to find normal, because the joy of watching my sons chase after their dad is wonderful.

And then getting to feel the joy of seeing Conner become happy and adjusted...

At every angle?
Now that is a wonderful normal.

There is nothing quite like watching your children light up with joy as they play with their great grandparents. Great grandparents that are your grandparents.



Seeing my children play on a deck that my mother had brought me to when I was this little is something else. And although the house and deck may look a little different (and I stress a little), the love that is poured out has only gotten bigger.

Baby faces

While in Louisville I got the opportunity to meet up with some of my friends that all had babies in April. It was such a delight to be able to see these new lives so soon after they has entered the world and most of all to get to hold and snuggle with them. This is truly the first time one or more of my friends have had new babies at a time that I do not. Generally I do not get to enjoy them in the manner that I most love since I would have a baby of my own in my arms. Thank you ladies for letting me love on your precious babies!



Here is little Benjamin, who is my friend Terra's first son. Isn't he so precious?




And here is a little boy I was super excited to meet, Shepherd! He is the first born of my original community group leaders Maggie and Dave. I have had the pleasure of calling them friends for a little over three years and have been looking forward to the day when they would become parents.

So while all the babies I got to love on are precious, this little boy holds a special place in my heart, even if Maggie and Dave didn't know that until reading this :)


And although he may not be a baby any more, here is Malachi, a little boy I love as my own, being a goof ball. Oh, and his mom and my bestie Rebekah too :)

Because some pictures don't need captions

Preview

Just a very small preview of our new "pad". I am super excited about it, as it is a brand new town home with an attached garage just six miles from the base! And it has my favorite color cabinets through out. Oh and have a mentioned Target is right across the street? Oh and a huge park with walking trails and a lake. Yes sirree I am excited to be home!

The not so wordless Wednesday

I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAACKKKKKKKKKKKKK! After many many days away from our computers I am finally sitting in my living room writing a post to you! Can you believe it? If I were not sitting here myself I don't think I would.
Conner is playing drums on our plastic plates and Brooks is climbing up and down our stairs for the millionth time this morning. I am hoping Joseph is getting in the request for our stuff to get moved here as we, er, I type, because right now we have this very beautiful townhome with very little in it to call it home. Well except my family all together. Which is wonderful thank you very much.
Later I will have to give you an in depth post with pictures and all, but for the time being you will have to trust that we are doing wonderful and are very happy to be home. Oh, and I am hot and its only eight in the morning.

Thoughtful Thursday and Finally Friday

We are leaving tomorrow! It is officially official that after morning muster and room inspection tomorrow morning we finally get to leave, so by the end of the day we will be Louisville! Hip hip hooray!

Today was a beautiful day outside, the weather was warm and clear and the wind was calm. We spent most our morning picking daffodils, chasing balloons and brothers, both little and big.




Then when we were all done we watched from our window as the grass was cut and the daffodils disappeared. Now I sit next to my boys as they wrestle in bed after waking up from a wonderful two hour nap. All in all a good last day.

Relax

Sometimes plans don't quite work the way we, well, planned them to, so instead we find ourselves doing the same thing, just in a different way. When this happens you have a few choices in front of you, you can either;

A. Get frustrated beyond all end that your plans changed regardless of the fact that you are still doing the same thing.
B. Be thankful you are getting the chance to do anything in the first place
C. Decide to not do anything at all and sulk all day at your misfortune

So when our plans seemed spoiled for the umpteenth time this weekend, what reaction do you think I chose? Especially after I wrote a post the day before about being fine with whatever happened? Well lets just say it was not reaction B. Well at least not until I had simmered down a couple hours later when I finally found myself in front of a Target. After a seven mile walk.

See what I failed to mention in my last post was the qualification of what made it ok for us to still be here. I failed yo say, I am perfectly fine with still being here as long as we rent a car so that we can break the heck out of here this weekend and only come back to sleep, oh and to not walk a gazzilion miles in the rain. I wanted a car. But God did not want me to have a car, so it was made impossible to get one. So I huffed and I puffed and I was anything but thankful for the fact that the weather had suddenly cleared, money was saved, and that we were graced with the ability to walk anywhere our feet could take us.

So we walked seven miles to Target on Saturday


And ten miles on Sunday to the Children's museum


Which just happened to be free. Alright Lord I admit it, your plan was much better. Even if my feet do feel like they are going to fall off.