My Brother, Citizen Soldier

Please be in prayer for Stephen and his unit. They are getting ready to head over the pond. I can't give details due to security (OPSEC). We won't have contact with him for about a month while he's transitioning in Kuwait. Please pray for my sister-in-law, Lacy and his 3 kiddos, Ashley, Jaime and Hunter. They miss him terribly. We love him and are so very proud of him for sacrificing time with his family to serve our country.

Remembering Loved Ones

The past couple of months have marked the anniversaries of several loved ones that have gone to be with the Lord. A sweet baby boy that I only knew through the stories his mom told on her blog. Oh how I wish I could have known him in person. As a mom, my heart breaks for the grief she's going through. I wish I could see her and give her a big ole hug and kiss to show my love for her and her sweet family. A hug and a kiss can go a long way to comforting a hurting heart. We pray for our family members that live so far away - pray that the Lord sends them comfort and peace.

My thoughts have turned to my precious mother-in-law and the loss of hearing stories about Randy when he was a little boy. The stories of how much she loved him and Jodi and how different they were. Stories only a mom could remember. My heart hurts because my sweet little boys will not get to know her and hear her words of wisdom in dealing with the ladies. She raised Randy to love and respect women. She raised him to put others before himself and to give generously and to love unconditionally. I thank God for her every day because she blessed me in the way she raised her son, my wonderful husband. My heart hurts for Randy because he and his mom were so close. They were 2 peas in a pod. Both artistic and tender-hearted, quiet but full of wisdom and grace. Mary Jane was such a free spirit. She loved life and experiencing new things. She loved to send special gifts on birthdays or just because. She had a way of reading people and knowing what they would like. Randy got this trait from her and for that I am greatful because it has helped me to not be so anal and "go with the flow". Old habits die hard, but I'm trying. Hey, he's gotten me to eat Chinese food!

The most recent loss was that of my mom. It's hard to believe she's been gone a year. Life does go on and we learn to deal with our grief, but it's never an easy task. I missed Mom calling me on my bday this year and singing off key to me. She would do it just to get a laugh. It's hard when you don't have anyone to call when your boys are sick and you don't have a clue what to do. It's hard when you're so tired and stressed and in pain and nobody understands. Mom always did and she would always pray with me and tell me "everthing will be alright, baby. God is in control." I wish I had a recording of her voice saying those words to me so I could just push play when I'm feeling tired and stressed. I wish I could just curl up next to her and have her sing to me and play with my hair like she used to when I was little. Grief is a funny thing. It can reduce you to a puddle of tears one moment and the next, you'll be laughing uncontrollably at some silly memory. My boys didn't get to spend near enough time with her and it hurts that they won't have more memories of her.

She won't get to see her son off to serve his country. She was so proud of Stephen's choice to join the Texas Army National Guard. She was so proud of all of us. When we hurt, she hurt. What's that old saying, "you're only as happy as your saddest child." She celebrated our successes and always wanted more for us than she had - that's what moms do.

"They" say time heals all wounds. I don't think time will heal the hurt of losing a loved one, it might lessen as time goes by, but it will never be completely healed. There are so many firsts and special occasions that will not be shared with them. That is the hurt I feel for my boys. They've lost both of their grandmothers. Grandma's are supposed to be the ones to spoil them when mom and dad are not around and bake cookies with them and make special gifts for them and a whole host of other "special" things. I don't wish for them to be back in this world for me because I know they are in a much better place. But, oh how I long for my boys to be able to have these special memories with their grandmas. Kids need their grandparents around to tell them stories of yester-year and to teach them the Word (along w/their parents) and to share their wisdom and insight into the world we live in. I remember my dad's mom teaching me how to make her "special" fried chicken. We didn't get to see my dad's parents often, but when we did, it meant the world to me. I loved hearing her say, "I'm so glad to see you, baby doll. Granny's got your favorite dinner cooking." She said it to all of us, but it made each of us feel special all the same. I loved her hugs and watching her go through her nightly routine. She always cleaned her face with Ponds cold creme. I love that smell.

It's truly amazing the things you remember when loved ones have gone. I wonder what my boys will remember about Nana and Grandma?

My prayer is that we all remember that life is short. Outside our relationship with God, family is the most important thing. The one thing that has pierced my heart since losing our loved ones, is that you cannot replace a loved one once they're gone so spend all the time you can with those you have left. The only guilt I feel is that we let lack of money keep us from visiting our loved ones more often. We lost out on special memories not only for us, but for our boys.

May the comfort and peace that passes all understanding be with you and your loved ones. May God bless you richly with family and friends that love you unconditionally. May your home be a destination and not a stop along the way. Be intentional in all your relationships. Share Jesus. Share Love. Share Yourself.

Eagles Soccer

Ethan decided he wanted to play soccer this fall. He's having a fun time learning. Their record is 3-3 and they have 4 more games to go. I've uploaded a bunch of pictures and videos on my Facebook page.,but here's a few for those not on Facebook.

We're just glad he's found some type of physical activity he likes. It's hard prying him away from the computer and books.

Brotherly Love

This my favorite picture of the boys.

Ethan - Our Soon-to-be 3rd Grader

It's so amazing how fast time goes by. It seems like it was just yesterday that Ethan was born. He is growing up to be such a loving and smart boy. He's very shy and doesn't like to have his picture taken (always covering his face), so I don't have any good ones of him to upload.

This year has been a little tough on him. We moved to a new school district and switched churches so that he could be more involved in the children's ministry and meet new friends. Then, my mom passed away. He has felt very insecure this year, but has still managed to make straight A's, except for 2 B's in 2 different six weeks. He has a hard time paying attention because his mind is always wandering to some new "creature" he's making up in his mind or some new invention he wants to make. We do not want to squelch his creativity, but he's gotten into trouble several times because of it. So, if anyone has any suggestions on how to keep him focused on the task at hand, I'm open to hearing them.

He and Jeremiah have become much more interactive with each other as of late. By this I mean that they are constantly getting into little skirmishes. You would think I would be used to it with 4 brothers of my own, but they are SO LOUD!!! I guess it doesn't help that we live in a small apartment and sound carries. You know that I wouldn't change it though. All this "fighting" now will only help to secure a strong bond as they grow up. Brotherly bonds are VERY strong and not easily broken.

I was always following my brothers around when I was little and we are all very close. I call them all "Bubba" so when we're all together, they all turn. It's so funny! It's amazing how memories come up at the oddest of times. We're all in our 40's and 30's, but we still act like little children when we get together. I wouldn't change it for anything because we love each other so much and I know they've "got my back" if ever I needed it.

Anyway, back to Ethan. He has met a sweet little friend, Connor. They are very close and do all kinds of stuff together. We have started a babysitting group with his parents and we trade off for date nights. What a blessing they are to our family. We all go to church together, so that makes it even sweeter. Jeremiah thinks Connor is his friend too and it's hard for him to understand that he and Bubba will each have different friends. Connor is sweet and tries not to get frustrated with him...he's an only child and not used to having a little one tag behind him. They are all so cute together.

He went to the dentist last month and only had one tiny cavity. It's on one of his baby teeth...that's loose and about to fall out. He will thank me as he gets older for making him brush his teeth so much. He did pretty good during the cleaning. We tried to get Jeremiah to sit in the chair, but he wasn't having any part of it.

Here's Ethan's class picture.

Front Row, lst on left

I'll try to remember to do this more often.

Jeremiah's Tball Team

It's been several months since I've been on blogger. I've been attached to Facebook...so much easier to upload content and pictures. Since I know not everyone is on Facebook, thought I should put some stuff on here.

Jeremiah (he doesn't want to be called JT anymore) started playing Tball in April. He didn't like it much at first because the games were early and it was still cold, but he's gotten used to it and loves playing now. He has got a strong arm. I think he gets that from his grandpa Jerry. Maybe he'll be a major league pitcher one day. It's so much fun just dreaming about all the possibilities your children hold.

We were even able to go to a Texas Rangers game with my company and he had a blast. I'll put some of those pictures up too. He's so cute because his tball team is the White Sox, so he wants to cheer for the White Sox. I told him we cheer for the Rangers since they're a Texas team. He said, "Oh yeah, that's right. Duh!" Where do kids pick this stuff up. He and Randy will watch the Rangers on TV sometimes and he pretends to pitch the ball, hit or catch it. So cute!!

Jeremiah is on the bottom row, 2nd from right.

I don't have any more pics on my USB...the rest are on my computer. I'll put a cute video up later.

Christmas

Well, I would have a bunch of pictures to put in this post, but Randy accidentally deleted ALL the pictures I took of Christmas. He thought he had downloaded them to the computer and then he deleted them from the camera. Poor thing, I think he was as upset as I was. Oh well, we have the pictures in our minds!

They boys had a wonderful Christmas. We don't do Santa at our house, but we've started our own tradition where Randy & I give the boys each 3 gifts to symbolize the 3 gifts the wise men gave Jesus. They get more presents from family, so believe me, they're not missing out on anything.

This year a friend of mine told me about The Jesse Tree. She made us one and we started it the day after Thanksgiving. You make a huge Christmas tree out of felt material and then in a notebook, you have bible stories that lead to the birth of Christ, with a symbol for each story. You read one story a day until Christmas and put that symbol on the tree. We had a great time reading all the stories. Jeremiah couldn't sit still long enough to read through a story, but he enjoyed putting the symbols on the tree. I will take another completed picture and upload it later. Here's a link that tells how to make the tree.

http://www.crivoice.org/jesse.html

My family's first Christmas with Mom was different. We just had snack foods and did a chinese gift exchange for the adults. We normally draw names since there are so many of us, but we wanted to do something fun this year...to take our minds off Mom not being there, I suppose.

I think my dad has the most fun of all. He had all the grandchildren gather around him. For those that don't know my dad, this is not like him at all. I think they all thought he was gonna give them a "talking to" about being thankful or something. Then, he took out his wallet and handled out $10 bills to each child. You should've seen their eyes. It was like they had won the lottery or something. It was so much fun. None of us knew he was gonna do that and didn't even expect him to do anything. Of course, the money was burning holes in our boys' pockets, but we made them wait and decide if they wanted to save it for something really special or find something now. They chose to go to WalMart and buy more Hot Wheels cars. I think we've got some cars fanatics on our hands. We're gonna need a separate room for all the cars they've collected.

We had the boys clean their toy box and pick items they would like to donate to the Christian charity store. At first, it was hard for them to let go of their stuff, but we reminded them that there are children out there that don't have 1 Hot Wheels car, much less the dozens they have. They're beginning to get it.

Well, another Christmas is behind us and the hope for a brighter new year is upon us. We pray that all our loved ones know how much we love them and appreciate the support they've given us during the past couple of years. We honestly don't know what we would've done with you in our lives.

Happy New Year!!