I'm Still Here

As usual it has been way too long since I have posted. I have been busy.

The move went well. The movers didn't break anything. So far the only thing that I am missing is the front tray from my double stroller. I am not saying that they lost it yet, I need to look for it some more. However the more time that passes, the more it looks like I may not see it again and it must be riding around the country on a big orange truck or maybe one of the other military families got something new in their household shipment. I will be sad if I don't find it. It doesn't affect my ability to use the stroller, but it sure is nice to have.

I love our new tiny house. It is only 900-something sq feet, but somehow we have all the room we need. We even have a little bit left over! Its like one of the several miracles in the Bible where God caused something to multiply. (bread and fish, widow's oil, etc.) The space in my little miracle house just kept multiplying until I had all that I need. Somehow we have 3 walk-in closets. I love that, as do the girls. It's like an extra room to play in! I'm sure that I love the house more because we are all together here, but it really is a pretty nice house. It is old, and a lot of people complain about them. Maybe I've just never lived anywhere super nice, but I don't see what's so bad about it. The kitchen has been remodeled and it has new paint and crown molding. Other than the bad carpet and dishwasher I have no real complaints. The base is tiny, but I love it too. The Commissary and BX are super close and sometimes I will go at least a week without even leaving the base. My gas tank has lasted a month!! This again is something to love. We live withing walking distance to the playground, and the weather here is wonderful! We are still able to go to the playground often. It is (until this week anyway) still in the mid to high 70s during the day...and the wind doesn't blow!!!! I love that for sure!
It is a lot more wet here than in Amarillo. There are more trees too. There are Pecan trees everywhere on the base. There is mistletoe all over the town as well. I may have to go get me some for Christmas!
The day we finally got here. Yay, living in the same town again! (We were tired....not sure about the look on Tony's face!)

Our house. The pictures are a little blurry, they were taken with my phone.


Living room
Girls' room Dining room
Kitchen

Tony is doing great in school...no big surprise there. I'm so proud of him. His classes are not easy for most people, but he is sailing through them. He is enjoying most of what he is learning so far, and is looking forward to actually doing the job.

Natalie loves the new house and going to the playground. I have started her in preschool (home school) We haven't done it very much yet, but she likes it so far. She already knows most of what is taught in preschool, and she is only 3. So by starting now I am able to take our time and not push her. I don't have to worry about getting behind when we move in the spring either. We have a year and a half until kindergarten to learn the rest of what she doesn't know. We are working on writing letters and their sounds right now. I am amazed with how much she already knows and how easy it is for her to learn things. She loves it. Just like her Daddy. I hope she is always this way!

Gabbie is like me when it comes to learning...there is just so many better things to do with your time! She doesn't like to sit still long enough. We are working on potty training. It is a lot harder than it was with Natalie!! So far she has learned to run to the potty AFTER she wets her panties, and to say that she needs to potty when she should be in bed. She will sit on the potty for about 5 seconds before she says "done!" One night we had 2 successful trips to the potty, and I was SO excited! That was I got though. Gabbie knows more than she lets on though. She won't talk much at all, but every now and then she will let a few words out in the form of a sentence! She gets a look on her face like, "oops!" Then she goes back to acting like she doesn't know how to say those words. Silly girl! One of these days she will probably just start talking in perfect sentences and surprise me. Maybe that is her plan with the potty too...someday she will go from acting like she doesn't have a clue, to perfectly trained in 1 day. I can only hope. The military doesn't pay enough at Tony's rank to afford pull-ups, so I hope that day is soon!

The girls love their new big room. They play together all day in it! They get along about 90% of the time too. They love each other. The first thing Gabbie does when she wakes up in the morning is look for "Nat nat".

I am just trying to adjust. Adjusting to my babies getting so big, and adjusting the learning and discipline that goes along with that. Adjusting to the "stupid rules" of the Air Force. Most of the rules make no sense and are harder, more time consuming, and cost more than doing things another way. Nonetheless, we (especially Tony) have to follow them. I don't mind rules if they just had a purpose and made sense! It will be a lot better once we are permanent party in the Spring, but even then there will be things that don't make sense. Oh well, such is my life now. I'm not complaining at all, just trying to get used to it. I'm adjusting to getting up at 5:00am in the morning with Tony to help him get ready to go to class. I'm adjusting to him being gone from 5:20 in the morning until 5:30 or later at night. Some days I feel like I am adjusting better than others! I am adjusting to a new church. I miss Trinity Fellowship SO badly! There isn't really a good selection of churches here, so I am glad that we are only here temporarily! We have found one that will work for now. I am adjusting to a new town. I can make it to Wal-mart and the rest of the shopping I might need (they are on the same street. shhh, don't tell ;o) ) without my GPS now!

We went back to Amarillo for Thanksgiving weekend. It was good. We look forward to going back over Christmas. We had fun with family, and it made me realize that I consider here to be home now. Home is wherever my family (Tony and the girls), and my house is. I can make anywhere be home. That will come in handy over the next several years I think!

We are so blessed and Thankful this Holiday season! It has been a big year for us. We have done things that we never would have imagined for ourselves. In it all we know that we are exactly where God wants us, and we are headed down the path He wants us to travel! We are so happy where we are right now, and excited for where we will be next year!

Enjoy this wonderful, blessed season!

We Are Going...

So I said that we should find out any day where we will be going for our permanent Duty Station. Well, it was actually that day! :o) Tony texted me that night with the news.
He will be graduating March 17th from his tech school, and then we will be going to BEALE AFB, California! That was not one of our top choices of places we wanted to go, but as soon as I found out that it was a possibility I had the strongest feeling that we would be going there. I was right! So I can't say that I was super surprised when he told me. Sometimes I just know things like that.

I have been praying for this-our first duty station- from the moment we signed up for the Air Force. I have been praying that God would put us at the best base for our family, one that wouldn't deploy Tony's job very much. I told Him I didn't care where we went, as long as it was His will, I just wanted what would be best for our family. From what we can tell with the little info we have on the base so far...it looks like Tony may not deploy very often from that base! So while we are a little nervous, and obviously very sad to be so far away from all our family here, we are very excited to see what God has in store for our little family!! We are at peace about this, and we totally feel God's hand leading us down this path! We will just take it one step at a time and hold tight to Him on the next stage of our adventure! We may not know why He is taking us to California, but I know I can't wait to find out!

But for now, the movers will be here in the morning to take our stuff to San Angelo. The next part of our adventure is upon us! I am so excited, and I know that the next 6 months will be a wonderful, happy time for us! For now, California is on the back burner and I am looking forward to embracing our time at Goodfellow! I will say that I am so happy to know where we are going next, but I also plan to soak up where we are now.

Your prayers are very much appreciated for the next couple of weeks, as we will be moving and getting settled into our new home. It will be at least a week after we get there before Tony is able to live with us, but we are still excited to see him everyday. We miss each other more than we thought possible! We will be living a few days without all of our stuff as well, so pray that the girls adjust and handle it well. The movers will be here early in the morning, and I must be up earlier than that, so I will say goodnight! I will be back in a few days to let you know how our adventure is going!

We Made It!

It has been a long time since I last posted. I haven't been all that busy really. I've just been focused on surviving! Tony being gone has definitely been the hardest thing I have ever done! I thought I was prepared for it, but I wasn't! There is no way you can prepare yourself for your husband to be gone with very little contact at all! It was like he didn't exist for those 2 months. I wrote him a letter everyday, but the most I heard from him was pretty much once a week. I went the last 15 days with no contact at all!

I met a great group of 4 other ladies online who's husbands were graduating the same day as Tony. God brought us together for sure! It was so much help to have someone going through the same thing at the same time! We knew exactly what the other one was going through and how we were feeling. They made these last 2 months so much better. We were able to help each other through the dark days of BMT.

It got a little easier at the end, but that's when everything started going wrong! It was the longest 2 months of my life so far! While he was gone I only got one real phone call, and 5 letters. I got a couple of other "official" calls where he was getting or giving me information, but we didn't get much time to talk on those calls. Not like we had a long time to talk on his 1 "real" call either....only 15 minutes! Well...

WE MADE IT!!!

Tony graduated BMT on September 18th! That is the Air Force's birthday, which was pretty neat. I am sooo proud of Tony! He graduated as an honor graduate! Only up to 10% of the 799 people graduating were handpicked for honor graduate! He also got a perfect score on his final exam! He did awesome, and I am so very proud of him.

I left here on the 10th of September and went to Wichita Falls to see my best friend. I left there the next morning and went to Houston to see my sister and her husband, and then my aunt and uncle. I left Houston on the 16th to go to San Antonio!

We had a blast in Houston, in spite of my car getting towed from the parking lot of my sister's apartment! My aunt took the girls and I to the Houston zoo, and the downtown aquarium. The girls had a blast and they got to ride a train at both places, which they thought was pretty neat. At the aquarium we rode the little train through a tunnel aquarium where dozens of sharks swim all around and above you. I thought that was pretty neat!

When I got to San Antonio I picked up a friend of mine from the airport. Her name is Jennifer, she is one from the group of ladies I met online. Her fiance was graduating the same day as Tony. We finally got to meet the day before graduation, and it felt as if we had always known each other! After we got to town we went and explored the base a little bit, and then we split a hotel room that night. We got up super early the next morning to be on the base by 7:00am.

Thursday was the Airman's run in the morning. It was so neat to see! I couldn't pick Tony out of his flight, so I was a little disappointed about that. Then after what seemed like a very LONG time of waiting it was time for the Coin Ceremony and Retreat. All of this waiting in the hot sun was not fun with two toddlers, let me tell you that!! It was so worth it though!! After the retreat they tell you to go and find your Airman!! They have to stay in formation on the grounds, and all the families get to go and find them. I had managed to finally pick Tony out of the crowd I thought during the ceremony. Well they told us to go find our Airman, so the girls and I took off to where I thought he was standing...but when I got there it wasn't him!! I thought "Oh no! Now what do I do? I don't know where to look!" Then I looked closer at the person that I thought was him...and I read his name tag...and it WAS him!!! I didn't recognize my own husband!! He had lost 20 pounds, which wasn't all that noticeable I don't think. He was so tan! And the way he stood and carried himself, and he had no hair. I guess all of it combined made him look so different. Let me tell you though...he looked goo-OOD!!! :o) (Check out the pictures on the side) We got to hug for the first time in two months! But only for a second. There are very strict rules about any kind of PDA while he is in uniform. Plus we had to hurry to get to the ceremony honoring the Honor Graduates. After all of that he finally got "released" to us. We had some lunch at the mini mall. Natalie would not leave her daddy alone!! She would not let me sit by him, or by her for that matter. That was "for my daddy to sit" We had such a good time being back together! I was able to stay at the hotel on base, so we were able to go back to the hotel and have some family time. I got to get a real hug and kiss! The kiss was better than our first! :o) The weekend went by way to fast though.

Monday morning at 3:30 Tony was on a bus to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo(about 3 1/2 hours from San Antonio) Tx for more training. I met him there that evening to give him some of his personal things that he is now allowed to have. I left the next morning to come home, and left him there. Finally after 12 days and a little over 1400 miles, the girls and I were back home! We were all sick our first few days back. (Big surprise, huh?)

Because his school is so long, the Air Force is moving us to be with him! He will be at that base for 25 weeks. The movers will be here Friday! (Oct 2) I am so very, super excited! It could still be a couple of weeks before he is allowed to live with us, but we will be in the same town and be able to see each other every day starting this weekend! I'm happy with that for now! We have been able to talk everyday since he graduated which makes things a million times better than they were during BMT, but seeing each other everyday will be even better yet! I am working on patience for the next step- him being able to live with us! Each step is better, but I really want to be living in the same house again! Because of the no PDA rule, I am not allowed to even hold his hand in public when he is in uniform. So unless he is able to get permission to come to our house in his free time, there will still be no hugs and kisses for me for a couple of weeks! So will be able to see him everyday...but not touch him! So please pray for favor from his higher-ups, that they will grant him permission to come visit us at the house before he is able to live with us, and that the day that he is able to live with us is very soon!

I better run. Gotta get back to getting things ready for the movers to come pack it up! I don't know when we will have Internet after we move, but I will be in touch as much as possible. We should be finding out our orders for our next location any day! That is very exciting too! These next two weeks have a lot going on, and so much of it is unknown! That is the way my new life will be, so I am trying very hard to get used to it. I am so excited to take this next step! This week has been dragging!

Missing Daddy

Before Tony left we took the girls to the Bear Mill and got them puppies in an Air Force Blues uniform. I put Tony's cologne on them so the girls have a little reminder of Daddy while he is gone. They love them, and Natalie is always saying "It smells good! It smells like my daddy!"




Daddy and his girls and their "Special Dada puppies"


Gabbie and her puppy watching Veggie Tales




I got my first phone call from Tony yesterday! This is the dreaded 30 second scripted call where he gives me his address. We actually got to talk for 2 min and 11 seconds! Yay! He was not very scripted, and there was no one yelling at him in the background. He sounded really good! Now I can write him letters. That makes me feel better, but we still miss him a lot.

Today...

..Is the first day of the rest of our lives! We have officially become a part of the Air Force! We are so excited, but it is also a difficult transition for us. Please keep us in your prayers.
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Getting Ready...

As you can tell from my countdown on the side, Tony is leaving very soon! Thankfully he was able to take the last few days off of work and still get paid, so we have had a little while to get things ready for him to go, and also enjoy spending some extra time together.

About a week and a half ago, any time I would think about Tony leaving I would start to panic. How am I going to survive for the next 2-3 months all by myself? Well our couples life group had a special prayer time for us last week. They shared words that God had given them about us as well.

Some of the things they said-

God was impressed with Tony on the amount of prayer and seeking God and his will, in making this decision. Because this is HIS will for our family, we will be blessed and successful! (We joined this life group after we had decided to join the Air Force, and haven't really told them our story, and just how much we had sought God on this decision. ) It was so good to hear our leader say this. It is confirmation that his word did come from God.

He said that Satan knows that there is a "Hedge of protection" around our family. Job 1:10

They prayed peace over me, and said that they felt that God was going to make this time go by very quickly!

During the prayer I felt His peace. The fear and anxiety left, and I am feeling pretty good! I really feel like this is going to be a great time of growth for me as a person, and better time spent with God. I think it will also be good for our marriage, as we will better see how we take each other for granted, and don't appreciate each other as we should. Don't get me wrong...I will miss Tony a lot, and I'm sure that I will have days that I am ready to pull my hair out and I will be clinging to that peace by a small thread. However, now I think I have a much better perspective on the next 10-12 weeks. Please keep praying for me! I feel them already.

Now I don't want to come across as complaining in any way. We are very excited about our new life, and are willing to make this small sacrifice. I know that someday deployment will come and we will be apart for longer than this. So many women have gone through what I am facing and so much more! I know that I am nothing unusual or special in this case. This is just the first time that we have been apart more than 1 night since we have been married. It will probably take some getting used to! I'm not sure if adding 2 little girls to it makes it easier or harder. I will be busier and not as lonely, so that will make it easier. On the other hand...I will have two toddlers all by myself! Yikes! Definitely pray for me on that one!

Tony has to meet with the recruiter at 4pm on Monday. From there he will check into a hotel in town. We will be able to hang out with him there a little bit. We plan to try to take the girls swimming, if there aren't too many other guys there waiting to leave as well. After we eat supper, then we plan to come home and put the girls to bed and then I will take him back to the hotel. He has to be at MEPS at 4:30 the next morning. We don't know what time his flight to San Antonio is yet. That is the plan anyway...we'll see if it actually happens!

We'll keep you posted on this new chapter of our life.

Is it Summer or What?!

The heat has really hit us here all of a sudden! Today was 102. Tomorrow is supposed to be 105, and the forecast for the next 6 days is all 100 or higher. Not a cloud in the sky.
I think it will be too hot for the girls to even play in the pool. We played out there today, but I got burned pretty bad. I put sunscreen on the girls, so they only burned along the part of their hair, and Gabbie has a couple of strange splotches where I missed getting the sunscreen on well. Poor babies.
It is still 91 degrees now, at 10:30pm.
It's dry here, so that is better than humid 105 degrees I guess...but some clouds and rain to cool it off would be so nice!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

This is a test...

So I am supposed to be able to E-mail a post to my blog from my phone, or other E-mail device. Although if you have access to your E-mail on a computer, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to post directly on r blog. So I guess this is mostly for your phone. This is a test to see if I have actually figured it out! If you can see it, then I guess I have!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Where Did June Go?!

Wow, this month has gone by so fast for me! I can't believe that it is July already. June seemed even busier than May was, and it definitely went by faster to me!

I want to start by saying hello to my new followers! I now have someone other than family members following my blog, Yay! Now I just need to give them something interesting to read... Hang in there, not all my posts will be about my kids! :o)

We finally got the tubes put in Gabbie's ears. She is doing great.

My parents are in town for awhile, so we are enjoying spending time with them. The girls of course are getting lots of Mimi and Pawpaw time which they love!

Tony's parents came to visit for a few days as well. They lived in South Carolina and came to see us on their way to Japan! Tony's dad is a MGySgt (Master Gunnery Sergeant) in the Marine Corps and they are PCSing (moving) to Okinawa for awhile. It was great to see them. We haven't seen them since March of last year. Gabbie was just a tiny baby last time they saw her! Both girls took to them right away and had so much fun with them. It's hard to believe that Natalie may be 6, and Gabbie will be 4- older than Natalie is now, next time they see them!
Yesterday marked exactly 3 weeks until Tony leaves for BMT! I am only a little nervous so far, but if I think about it too much than I get a lot more nervous! I have plans to visit some of my family while he is gone to help keep me busy, so hopefully those 2 months will go by fast. Right now we are just trying to get everything taken care of that we need to before he leaves. We have a list of stuff we have to get done. Once he leaves, he will not be back here to live! I will be moving everything myself in the fall. That's where things get a little nerve racking!

It seems like I had something on my calender a few days out of every week in June. It was crazy! July so far is pretty empty! That is good though. It will give us a chance to get stuff done and have some family time before Tony leaves. We are leaving on Friday after Tony gets off work to go to Wichita Falls for the weekend. Our good friends moved there several weeks ago, and the guys have days off that line up, so we decided to go! It will be a short trip but I am looking forward to getting out of town. I told Natalie yesterday that we are going to see Katie, her best friend and she is super excited!

Have a happy Fourth of July everyone! Be safe and remember all the men and women that make sacrifices to make this the great country that it is! Thank you!

Long Overdue

Usually my lack of blogging is for lack of something to blog about. That is not the case this time! We have been so incredibly busy the month of May. From Natalie's birthday, and 2 weeks of company, to the garage sale I had this weekend I have stayed very busy. Now I am sick. Not a huge surprise there I guess. The house is a disaster, but I am on light housework(just laundry and dishes) restriction, until tomorrow when I hopefully will feel better. Hopefully I can tackle the disaster zone then.

Here are the highlights:

The 10th was Natalie's 3rd birthday and Mother's day! Her birthday being on Mother's day brought back memories of my FIRST Mother's day- I had been a mother for all of 3 1/2 days! It was defenatly a special mother's day that year, and this year too! Both years there was more focus on Natalie than Mother's day, but then I guess that's kinda what mother's day is all about. The children that make the mothers. Natalie's great-grandparent's from Dumas came over and Auntie Neena, Uncle Clint, and Mimi and Pawpaw all made a trip to visit for the special day. It was a lot of fun, and a very busy weekend. I will put pictures in a separate post.

The week after that I had overnight company for a week straight. For the first couple of days Tony's grandmother from Rhode Island came for a visit. It was her first time meeting Gabbie, and only her second time to see Natalie. Both girls took to her right away. We really enjoyed her time here. My grandparents from Oklahoma came literally 30 min after I dropped her off at the airport. They were here for 3 days, and then a couple of hours after they left our best friends came to visit. They just moved from here to Wichita Falls. It was really good to get to spend another day with them. Natalie and Kaitlyn, their little girl are best friends. They still talk about each other every day, even though they don't get to see each other any more.

In the midst of all this we had been getting out storage trailer cleaned out and ready for a garage sale. That took up most of our evenings off and pretty much all of Tony's days off. We finally got it done, and our part of the storage is almost empty! Which makes me wonder why we even moved and stored all that stuff in the first place!!? Mostly because at the time of our last move we didn't have time to go through it all I guess. I didn't to move it all again, especially twice in a year like we will be doing, so we got rid of it. I had the garage sale this Friday night and Saturday. Tony had to work so I did it ALL BY MYSELF!! Rebecca helped watch the girls, which made it possible for me. Friday I started coming down with something, and Saturday I felt REALLY bad, but I wasn't able to take a break until today...so I crashed hard! I haven't felt this bad in a long time! I am so glad to have it behind me though. I didn't do very well on the sale Saturday. but I have a friend that is having a sale in a couple of weeks. I am going to put what I had that didn't sell in her sale. That one should be a lot easier, and hopefully with that one all of our stuff will be gone!

Gabbie is still having trouble with her ears. We have an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor on the 9th to start the process of getting tubes put in. I can't wait! I am ready for her to be sleeping through the night again. She is WAY too old for me to be going through this again! I want her to be feeling better too, poor thing.
She sure does think she is big stuff. We have moved her out of the highchair to a booster seat at the table, AND she has moved out the the crib into a big bed! We weren't planning to move her into a big bed this early, but we got some bunk beds for the girls. The only bed that we owned for them was the crib, so obviously we needed some for when we move. We decided on bunk beds in case we only get a 2 bedroom house when we move to San Angelo and don't have much room for 2 separate beds. The beds will separate into two beds for when we get a 3 bedroom house though. We were keeping an eye out for one, and found a really good deal, so we went ahead and got it now. We decided to go ahead and put the girls in the new bed so they wouldn't have to adjust to a new house AND new beds when we move. Adjustment to a bunk bed is kinda a big change in and of itself I think. For Natalie sleeping on the top, and Gabbie going from a crib to a bed. Both girls adjusted really well! Gabbie had a little trouble settling down the first night, but she slept great once she did. Natalie of course thinks it is really neat that she gets to climb stairs to get to her bed! We haven't had a bit of trouble with either girl in the new bed. They are both getting so big! Gabbie has started telling me when she is going to the bathroom in her diaper, even when she just pees. So I guess in August when the girls and I get back from visiting some family we will work on potty training. If I can get her to tell me BEFORE she goes, not AS she is going then I think it will be pretty easy. :o) She already is showing more interest in it than Natalie did at the time that I potty trained her! Hopefully I can get it done in that window of time that Tony will be gone and I am not too busy. It will give me something to do to keep me busy!

That's most of the highlights for now I guess!

May Pictures

The new beds and new curtain that I love!

Natalie's Dora birthday cake that Mimi and Mommy made!
She got so excited when we started singing happy birthday. The huge grin on her face was priceless! The picture didn't capture it well enough.


Natalie blowing out her candles!


Riding her new "motorcycle". That's what she calls it.

Opening birthday presents!


The new dress-up skirt from Gramma and Grampa
"No, you're supposed to wear it like this!" She likes it better that way.

Are You Serious?!

It is so sad that this is what it is coming down to. I don't know if anybody watched the Miss America Pageant this weekend. I didn't but I did see a story about it on the news. Miss California Carrie Prejean's answer to this question cost her the crown. She wouldn't say that she thinks the rest of the states should make gay marriage legal, and she said that she believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Because of THAT, she didn't become Miss America. While I'm not necessarily a big pageant fan, I know that it was very important to her.

This makes me so angry!! There is no way that they would NOT give the crown to someone because she WAS gay...That would be discrimination. But to not give someone the crown because she believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, THAT'S FINE?! In our world of double standards I guess I shouldn't be surprised at what "side" won...but it still makes me mad!

So to Carrie Prejean, I say this: "Congratulations! You stood up for what you believed and suffered because of it. I'm sorry that happened to you, but we are proud of you for not giving in. May God Bless you because of it, and give you much greater things than the Miss America crown."


***Make sure to scroll all the way down the page on my blog. I posted two new posts yesterday, so there are 3 recent posts.***

Quick Update

As usual, it has been awhile since I posted last. Every time that I think I get an opportunity to sit down long enough to do this something else comes up, or somebody wakes up from their nap! I hear snoring coming from the baby monitor, so here goes...

Tony got a job and will be leaving for his basic training on July 21st. He will be in San Antonio from then until the weekend of September 20th. His graduation will be that weekend if anybody will be in the area and wants to come. :o) I think it will be really neat. These dates could possibly change...but this is how it should be. After that he will be going to San Angelo, Tx for more training. He will be there for 19-22 weeks. We aren't sure yet which it is, we have heard both. We are thinking it is more around the 22 weeks. There is a possibility that the Air Force will move the girls and I to San Angelo since he will be there for so long. Even if the Air Force doesn't pay our moving expenses, we are still thinking about moving ourselves-it's only about 6 hours from here. It would be a lot harder (I would have to move by myself!) and cost us a little more, but being apart for 8 months when we don't HAVE to be sounds worse to me! Hopefully we can save up the money to make that possible.

The girls are healthy right now. Natalie goes next month to the Dr for a checkup, so we will see how her weight and iron levels are doing then. She and Gabbie love playing together. Gabbie is getting old enough now where they are having more fun. Gabbie is getting a lot more teeth and saying a lot more words. She is all of a sudden changing into more of a little girl. She is good at following directions and picking up after herself. She is still better at making messes though! She loves to throw trash away...but sometimes things that aren't trash get thrown away as well, so I have to check it all the time. She gets the trash and laundry hamper confused sometimes. Natalie is still loving her gymnastics, and Gabbie is going to be my dancer I think. Every time she hears any kind of music she dances to it. She will even put her hands together above her head and spin around. I have NO IDEA where she learned how to do that! Maybe it just came natural?

I am just trying to stay on top of all the housework and other stuff that is going on around here! Some days all I can do is keep from getting too far behind...forget about getting ahead! I am trying to get more organized and scheduled. It looks like Spring may be here to stay...The forecast for the next couple of weeks looks good! (Except for the wind of course) The weather can of course change overnight without warning, but if it holds like this that will get us into May. Our chances of staying nice are a lot better after that point. I am trying to plan our days so that we can have time to play outside, without me getting behind on what needs to be done inside. It is a work in progress! Hopefully I will get something that works for us in the next few days. I promised Natalie that she could play in the sandbox after her nap, so I have to get some stuff done while she is napping. This will be the first time for Gabbie to play in the "box", so I am scared! :o) Hopefully I can keep her from eating too much of the sand, or getting buried by her sister!

We only have 3 months until Tony leaves, so we are also going to be cleaning out and getting rid of a bunch the junk that we don't need anymore. It's funny how your perspective can be changed and what you thought you just had to have a year ago, now is not important to you. Thinking about moving around a bunch of extra junk helps a lot with that!

We have something going almost every week until July. Another reason for me to get our days organized! We will have family visiting 2 different weekends in May and some family here in June as well. I am glad that we are busy, it will help the time pass until Tony leaves. I am not looking forward to his leaving, it's just the sooner he leaves, the sooner he will be back. That's how I am looking at it any way. I don't know if it is logical or not. :o) I plan to stay pretty busy all Summer. I don't want to summer to go by fast necessarily, but I am ready for September and October to be here. I have heard that it is better to stay busy while Tony will be gone, so that is what I plan to do.

That's it for now. I know I kinda rambled but I am trying to get a lot done in a short amount of time this afternoon. I hope that you are able to make sense of all of it! :o) I have some pictures that I will try to put up soon.

Prophecy

I few weeks ago I went to a Women's Bible study at my church. It was a special week, they had members of the Prophetic Ministry there. I know that some people may be uncomfortable with the practice of some of the Gifts of the Spirit today. That's ok, I used to be that way too, until I got involved in our church. I just didn't know any better, or had only seen the "gifts" being used in a way that did not follow the guidelines of the Bible. I am learning not to limit God and his power today. He used Prophecies, Tongues, and Healing in the Bible, so He can use them in the same way today. My God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow! We are the ones that prevent Him from being able to fully display his power, because of our lack of faith and Honor to Him. Our Pastor says this about these prophecies: They are not telling your future or fortune, but simply encouraging words from God.

There are so many great scriptures about these gifts; here are a couple about prophecy (since that is what I am talking about right now) that I like-

1 Corinthians 14:1- "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy."

1 Corinthians 14:39- "Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues."

Romans 12:4-8 (vs 6) "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.

1Corinthians 12:27-30

I have never met anyone on this team, and I have never had a personal word before, but I had this opportunity a few weeks ago. Anytime that one of these people that God has given the gift of prophecy to, gives a word from the Lord to a person, they record it on a tape. They said they do this so that you can go back an listen to it because you may not hear everything that God has to say to you the first time. They also do this to hold themselves accountable to the pastors, and anyone that may misunderstand or misuse what they have said. Understand that in no way do they tell you your future or anything like that, it is simply a word from God to you.

This is some of what they told me:

God says to you, FEAR NOT.
There's some doors going to be opened that's going to get your attention. He says I have prepared a way. The door is opened because I have opened the door. The door is opened because you CAN go through it. The door is opened because you are my daughter. This is just the beginning of your walk. This is the beginning of a new season in your life. You are going to see things and hear things and do things you never knew. It is going to increase your faith, not only in the Lord, but in yourself. Because you do know the Lord, you are His daughter, you are his child. You are his vessel. You are going to be used in a very new way. The Lord says fear not, you are not by yourself. I am the one who opened the door.

This was a powerful word to me, especially in light of the new direction that our lives are about to be taking. Sometimes the unknown gets to me and makes me a little afraid. I don't know where we will be living or what exactly our lives will be like 6 months from now. What I DO know is that we won't have much money!! :o) All that can kinda make you get a little crazy from time to time if you don't put your faith in God to take care of you. Having this word from God is extra reassurance to me that we are headed in the right direction. He will get us through whatever happens along the way.

Date Night

Last Saturday we went to an Amarillo Gorillas hockey game. It was the first time I had ever been to a hockey game, and it was a lot of fun! It is such a fast moving sport. I had a hard time keeping up with where the puck was some of the time.
The Air Force was sponsoring the game Saturday so we got to go for free! That made it even better! :o) During the break between periods Tony had to help with the entertainment. He said that it was a good thing he didn't know about that before we went. I told him that I still would have made him take me. :o) There were several people that are in the DEP (Delayed Entry Program) at the game. During the first break they had to form two teams and throw water balloons across the ice with big sling shots. At the other end of the rink someone had a bucket trying to catch the balloon. It was pretty funny, and Tony's team ended up winning, so we got a gift card to a pizza restaurant.
The Gorillas lost, 7-8. It was still a really good game though, they really fought for it at the end. I was disappointed to find out that it was the last game of the season...so it will be awhile before I can go again. :o) I told Tony that one good thing about Amarillo is that it is a big enough town to have a baseball, hockey, and arena football team, yet small enough that the people really get into supporting the teams.
It was a great date night, and Tony's first time doing anything associated with the Air Force-even though it was just having fun!

God's Plan for Our Family

Like probably all of you that are reading this, we are always seeking God and His will for our family. Several months ago, we felt Him leading us in a new direction. After months of diligent praying, searching, researching, and numerous confirmations, we are certain of the path God wants us to follow. We believe that God has called Tony to join the Air Force! I know that many of you may not think that this could be from God, or a wise choice for our family, but I promise that we have put MUCH prayer into this, and have nothing but excitement and peace from God! We know that there will be hard times in this path, but are confident that God is faithful and will be with us every step of the way!

Tony swore into the Delayed Entry Program/Inactive Reserves yesterday. He scored a 99 on his ASVAB, which is the highest score possible for the test! That makes it possible for him to pretty much get whatever job he wants that is available. He is hoping to leave at the very end of June, or first of July. We won't know if it will be then or sometime after that. It all depends on when his job will be available. We are supposed to find out in about a month when he will be leaving for training.

We are thankful for all of the love, prayers, and support of our friends and family, and in turn we pray that God will give the same peace about this to them as He has given to us. Everything about this decision has been from God. We are excited about the places that it will take us and the lives that we will have the opportunity to influence for God! We are also looking forward to the benefits that it will have for our family, and believe that they outweigh the struggles we will encounter along the way. We are looking forward to the growth and strength that it will bring to us as well.


We invite you to pray for us and share in our adventures as we "Cross Into the Blue".

So Busy

So far this year has been so busy for me! I can't believe that it is already the middle of March! Happy first day of Spring!

Last weekend we enjoyed Kaleena, Clint and Mimi coming to visit for a few days. The whole weekend passed and I didn't get any pictures though. I'm telling you, I have been busy!

The girls have been keeping me so busy! I am tired all the time, and it seems like most days I can't get a break. Natalie is getting closer to 3, so she is getting better at listening, following directions, and obeying. -Sometimes! We have good and bad days with her, the good days are REALLY good, and the bad days... well lets just say that her bottom stays pretty red those days! She has memorized her first Bible verse-Col 3:20 "Children Obey your parents." She can say it really well, but we are still working on the understanding of what it means I think.

Gabbie has been having lots of trouble with ear infections lately. She had one a little over a month ago that the first round of antibiotics didn't clear up, so we had to do more to finally get rid of that 2 week long infection. The Dr. checked her and said that it was finally gone, and then 2 days later she started running fever again. We went BACK to the Dr., and she had another one! We tried antibiotics again, and the day we stopped them her fever came back. It was the weekend, and Sunday night her fever got up to 104.2! So back to the Doctor Monday morning. This time we did 3 days of REALLY painful antibiotic shots, and then 5 more days of oral antibiotics. After 4 days of her fever being 102 or higher I think she is finally feeling better. If her ears don't clear all the way up this time, or if the infection comes back anytime soon we will do tubes. I have lost count of how many times we have been to the doctor lately, and how long she has been on antibiotics. I know she has been taking them for around a month now, with not much break.

It is almost time for naps now, it is my favorite time of day!

Something Doesn't Belong...

This is the forecast for the next 7 days in Amarillo. I think something is wrong!! One of these is not like the other...

Thursday: 83 Friday: 80 Saturday:66 Sunday:65 Monday: 70 Tuesday:39

I am so tired of the drastic temperature changes! No wonder everybody is sick! I had to take
Gabbie to the Dr. AGAIN today. She has had a fever for the last few days, and it has been too high for it to just be because she is teething. She has ANOTHER ear infection. It was less than a week since her last one. Great.

We can't even get out and enjoy one of the limited nice days today...the wind is blowing 20-30mph. We have had hardly any moisture all winter, so it's just dirt...and wind. That makes dirt IN the wind-coming at you 30 miles an hour. Fun. No wonder my head hurts!

Yesterday's Dr Appointment

The girls went for their checkup yesterday. Gabbie's ears are cleared up, she is doing great. Her nose started running again yesterday though. I just got all her mucus issues cleared up! I am really bummed and am praying that it is just because of the crazy weather and wind we have been having.

Natalie's weight is still up from when we started her on the appetite stimulant, but she has lost a bit since her last visit to the Dr. We are keeping her in the medicine for the next 3 months. The Doctor said that she is fine with Natalie staying where she is weight-wise now, as long as she doesn't loose any more. So we have to check again in a few months to make sure that is not happening. The Doctor also noticed that Natalie looked paler than usual, so she had us go have blood work done to check her iron levels. That was not fun! Poor baby, had to have big needles in both arms to get enough blood. She did not like that! (Neither did I!) It turns out her iron is low, so she has to be on an iron supplement for 3 months, then they will check her levels again. -I am already dreading that! Poor little girl.

New Haircut

I finally gave in and took Natalie to get a "real" haircut. I was tired of it always looking so scraggly and messy. These are the best pictures I could get of it. Trying to get Natalie to sit still or pose for a picture lately is next to impossible!

Parent Watch Night

This week was Parent Watch Night at Natalie's gymnastics class. Parents aren't allowed to stay and watch except on the last week of the month. After staying this week, we understand why! Natalie loves gymnastics, but once she noticed that I was there she did not do as well as she usually does. She kept needing me to kiss all her "owies". Anytime she got a little bump, she would burst into tears until I went and kissed it and made it better. Once her Dada got there it was even worse! We finally had to go stand outside of the gym so she would stop crying and listen to the teacher. It is hard enough for her to pay attention as it is. There are several classes and age groups that meet in the gym at the same time. Natalie always wants to go join the bigger kids doing the bigger flips and stuff. She really gets into it! Here are a few pictures of her at gymnastics. She is the one with the pink top and black pants.


Somersault time! Natalie is a pro at this!

Natalie at the end of the group.

Here they had to hop backwards across the room. Again, she is the last to finish! It's trampoline time!!

New Colors

Maybe you can tell from the new background, I am ready for spring. I don't know why it seems like spring is always the slowest season to come. Maybe it's because I like spring and dislike winter, or because the weather here is so crazy. It will feel like spring one day and get your hopes all up, then crush you the next with a blast of winter. Anyway, I thought I would start getting into the feel of it by making it look a little more like it anyway. I am in the mood for a change as well, and this is really the only thing that can change right now! It may change again soon. :o)

The girls are outgrowing all their winter clothes, but it is still too cold to buy them new spring clothes! I am getting frustrated! :o) For now I guess they will just have their ankles and bellies showing. Natalie is loving her gymnastics on Tuesday nights. She goes back to the Dr next week to check her weight again. She is doing good, so hopefully we will be able to stop the medication. Gabbie goes back to the Dr next week also to have her ears checked again. She has had an ear infection for close to a month. The first round of antibiotics didn't make it go away so we had to go back to the Dr a couple of weeks later for more. She still hasn't cut anymore teeth. I think the next ones are right there about to come in, but I have been saying that for awhile now! This time I REALLY do think so though! I hope they hurry. She only wants to eat "Big Girl" food, and that is hard to do with only 4 teeth in the front!

We have started going to a new couple's lifegroup on Wednesday nights. We really like it, even though the couples in it are older than in our last group. There is one other couple that is close to our age and they have a 2 little girls. One is 2 months older than Natalie and the other is about 6 months older than Gabbie.


Right now the group is going through the study Honor's Reward, by John Bevere. We are doing the video study that goes with the book. It is so so so so so good!! I HIGHLY recommend it to everybody! We are only 3 weeks into it, but I love it. I am learning so much. It is FULL of stuff that I never thought about, and GREAT lessons from the Bible about honor, and how God rewards our honor. It's awesome.

Nothing very blogworthy is happening around here, so I don't have much to post about. It has just been a long time since I have posted anything, so I thought that I needed to post something anyway. As soon as something blogworthy comes up...you will be the first to know!

Something Good to Remember

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

This verse was on the craft that the girls brought home from church last Wednesday. We really liked it, and Tony thought I should share it with the other couple of people that happen to read my blog. I read some of the verses leading up to it for some background.

Moses had just died and Joshua was taking over leading the children of Israel into the promised land. They were getting ready to cross the Jordan River (a rough, frightening, thing) into the "Land that I am about to give to them." vs.2 This land was unknown, and again a little frightening. They had no idea what to expect-

But God says this: "Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave to you; do not turn from it to the right or the left, that you might be successful wherever you go. Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Joshua 1:7-8

Three times in 4 verses God commanded them to be strong and courageous, once even saying VERY courageous. He says that if we are careful to obey Him and His word, He will take care of us wherever he takes us, and with whatever He has us doing. (That's my translation :o) )

Now I think that's worth remembering!

25 Random Things

I was recently "tagged" to post 7 facts about me on my blog. I didn't do it because I didn't think that I could come up with 7 things! (I'm a pretty dull person) Then I was tagged REPEATEDLY on facebook, so I thought I would try it. So here is what I came up with. Maybe somebody will find out something about me that they didn't know before.



1. I have lived in this area my whole life with the exception of 6 months that I lived in Kansas.

2. I didn't meet my Father-In-Law until almost 1 year after I got married.

3. My first time on an airplane wasn't until I was 20.

4. I was in Mexico in 2003, the day we first dropped the bomb on Iraq starting the war. It was a little scary.

5. On Sept 11, 2001 while watching the news of the attacks in NYC, I felt compelled to pray for my future husband. I did even though I thought it was kinda crazy. Two years later (after we met) I found out that Tony was in NYC on that day, not far from ground zero.

6. Tony and I went to the same church, hung out with the same people, lived in the same neighborhood, and went to some of the same places when we were in middle school. We never met though. He moved to town just months after we moved to Kansas (see no. 1).

7. I have only been to 9 states, not counting the one I live in.

8. I didn't go to college. I knew God was calling me to be a mother, so I didn't waste my money. I do not regret it.

9. If I wasn't a mother, I would probably be a missionary or work with troubled kids.

10. I didn't have a boyfriend, or kiss until I was 18...and I married my first one!

11. I never went to public school.

12. I plan to home school my kids.

13. Most all of my friendships are online. I don't actually see any of them except Whitney, and my family. I still consider them friends though, and this way it doesn't matter if one of us moves away.

14. The births of my 2 daughters were so similar they could have been twins. They were born on the same day of the week, 10 min apart, and there was only 1 oz and 3/4 inches difference in their size.

15. I moved during both of my pregnancies...I really hope I don't have to do that again!

16. I hate spiders and make Tony kill them for me. However, he hates moths, and I usually have to kill them for him.

17. I have only gotten my hair cut once a year for the past 3 years at least. I don't do that on purpose, it just so happened to be that way.

18. We only own 1 car right now.

19. I used to be really good at memorizing scripture. (Thanks to AWANAs)

20. I used to play the keyboard for my church. I haven't played in a long time though.

21. I used to love to read. Now unless I can get into the book in the first couple of pages I don't read much. I get interrupted too much.

22. I love sweet iced tea. I think I could drink it all the time.

23. I have actually had a caffeine IV.

24. I love late Spring! It brings back memories from my childhood of playing outside all day.

25. My favorite restaurant meal is probably a Southwestern Cobb Salad and a Blackberry Tea from Chili's! Yummy! (nobody has to know that I used to work at Applebee's!)

Birthday Fun

Gabbie had lots of fun on her Birthday!


She thinks the table is for standing on.

Gabbie LOVES cake!! She crammed it in her mouth as fast as her little fingers would go! It was all over her and the floor by the time she was finished.

Gabbie went to her 1 year checkup on Tuesday. She weighs 20 1/2 lbs, and is 29 1/4 inches tall. The Dr said that she looked great except for an ear infection. She has had a runny nose and cough for the past week or so, so I was not very surprised. She has not felt good the past couple of days because of the ear infection, and the 1 year immunizations that she got. Last night she would not eat (If Gabbie won't eat, then we KNOW it is bad!), and she had a fever of 102. She was so sad and wouldn't play or anything. All she wanted to do was just have someone hold her. That is unusual for Gabbie too. She is ALWAYS moving! She seems to feel a little better today, although she is still not 100%.