An Update...

So I just thought I'd update everyone on the happenings of my life lately. Let's see, the boys finished out their ball season about 3 weeks ago. They both recieved a trophy and to be honest, Jack and I were glad it was over! No more practicing 4 nights a week and early saturday morning games. But it was alot of fun watching them play. It's amazing to see how much the kids improved from the first game to the last. I'll be looking forward to next year when they can do it again! Scott has already informed me he wants to play soccer in the fall and Ryan wants to do basketball again.

Memorial Day weekend we all went camping with my cousin Sarah, her husband and their 2 yr old Ryeland. We went to Durhamtown Plantation in Union Point, GA. It's pretty much like Disney World for people who love to ride ATV's . Sarah and Jeremy brought their camper, and there was a little restaurant there, tons of trails and tracks, and even a swiming hole. Ryan has a small dirt bike, and it was so fun watching him ride around the 'pee wee' track. We all had a blast! Ethan loves to ride the four wheeler with me and enjoyed playing with his cousin. Finally, a kid his own age to play with!

My neighbor and good friend Clarissa who lives across the street had her baby last wed. and I offered to keep her 2 kids during her hospital stay. Spenser is 10 and Chloe is 5, so when you combine them with my 3 little monkeys, it was like a zoo in here! Poor Jack would come home from work so tired and help me with the kids, he was so patient and understanding that I really wanted to do this favor for my friend. Her baby is so precious...his name is Easton and he weighed almost 9lbs. I absolutely love newborn babies- to me there is nothing more precious in the whole world. For a split second I almost got baby fever, then I quickly snapped back to reality when he started crying and needed a diaper change! :)

Sunday morning we woke up and Ethan had to be taken to the emergency room with pink eye...It is clearing up since we starting giving the antibiotic drops. Vacation Bible School started on sunday evening. Lori and I are leading the preschoolers (3,4,&5 yr olds). It has been alot of fun but a little stressful at times. I guess when you get a group of kids together it's not always going to be perfect. It is a blessing to see these kids learning all the songs and dancing, and really putting their heart into it. We do snack time, recreation, missions, bible study, and arts & crafts. Tonight is family night when all the parents will come to see what the kids have learned and awards and prizes will be given. I was so glad to be able to help out again this year and do my part. Also I have enjoyed spending time w/ Lori!

Only one more week and we will be leaving Beaufort. Our vacation starts on June 16th in Orlando, and let me tell you- this girl can't wait for vacation! We'll be going to Universal Studios, Island of Adventure, and probably Sea World again. The boys have been waiting for this since Christmas, and It's finally here! When that's over, we'll be going straight to Georgia to move into our new house! I am very excited to see what God has planned for our lives.

PCS-ing

Or in other words, permanent change of station. That's the orders my husband recieved about 10 days ago. It was very sudden with no warning- I was at the pool with my boys and Jack called my cell phone and told me the news. Obviously I was shocked, actually for a minute I thought I might have a panic attack with all this information coming at me at once! He was asking me what I wanted to do, he had to give and answer by the end of the day. You see, he was served with the orders and if he accepted them, he would have to re-enlist and we would be moving to the Atlanta area this summer. If he denied the orders, he would no longer have that option to continue his career in the Marine Corps. We had been contemplating for a while about getting out, moving back home to TN or GA and just being a normal, non-military family! I know I have spend many nights in prayer about the future- where will Jack work? Where will we live? How in the world will we pay for insurance? I guess we've gotten a little spoiled by the government...and to be quite honest, it made me sad to think of my husband getting out. I do love the military lifestyle (minus the deployments) and it's what I've known since I was 19. I guess it's just kinda scary to make such a big change. So to make a long story short, I said a quick prayer that day, and felt like this was simply a door opening up for us. I told Jack I have a good feeling about it, and go ahead a sign the papers. That weekend we drove up to Marietta, GA and found a lovely house that I'm sure was built just for us ;) and things are moving along smoothly. We have prayed consistantly for God to guide our footsteps, and He is good all the time! I feel like this is Him saying he has something wonderful in store for us and to just trust him. I am thrilled to finally be close to our family again. We will be less than 2 hrs. from all grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, ect.! And my mom & dad will be a short 6 hrs. away as opposed t0 8. I truly feel blessed right now!

The sad news is I will have to say goodbye to the best friends I have ever had. And I'm not just saying that- I mean I really have some amazing people in my life! Friendship is something I have struggled with since Jack and I were married. We moved to Jacksonville, NC and lived there for 4 1/2 yrs. and when we moved, I never looked back. This is sad to say, but there wasn't a single person that I would miss. I never developed any real friendships- just a few 'aquaintences'. After moving to beautiful SC, we found a wonderful church, and suddenly I was meeting so many new friends I didn't know what to do! The girls in the flip flop club :) have been truly amazing and I'll never forget the memories we've made. There have been times when I don't think I deserve to have such good friends in my life, people that truly care about me and would do anything for me. They were all there for my surprise bday party back in April, and it was SO HARD for me to just accept that they wanted to do something nice! Why do I feel that I'm not worthy of good friendships?! Probably just the enemy tryin' to bring me down...Oh well I'm getting off track. I make a point to praise God everyday for my friends, and not just the flip floppers, also our friends Jeremiah, Bernie, Bobby, Polly, and the list goes on and on. These people have been such a blessing to my husband and me. There's no doubt in my mind God placed them in our path to help us grow in so many ways.

So now how on earth can I say goodbye? I hate goodbyes anyway, I have already begun to build up a wall. Thursday night we missed choir practice, partly b'c I had a headache, and partly b'c of my selfish reasoning. I asked Jack if we could just sneak away in the middle of the night and not have to tell anyone goodbye! LOL It's just so hard, I can't even explain the hurt I feel and the sadness it brings upon my heart. I always knew this day would come when we'd have to move away, but the fact that it's so sudden- it just hurts.

Please be in prayer for us and all the upcoming decisions and changes coming our way. I love you ALL!!!

Just thought I'd update everyone on the happenings of my busy schedule and let you all know I do still aknowledge that I have a blog!!! My wonderful mom came up for a visit recently and we had a great time. It's always sad to see her go, though. I cried all the way from Savannah back to Beaufort when I dropped her off at the airport...The boys started baseball/tball about a month ago. We were spending 4 nights a week at the ball field and now it's only 2 nights a week which is so much better. It's such a blast watching their games! They're both doing great and loving the game. Ethan's 3rd bday is coming up on the 15th of April so right now I"m planning a small party for him! He is so excited about his birthday. I'm just a little sad that my 'baby' is turning 3 years old!!! Oh and in 2 weeks I'll be turning 27...but enough about that! Jack and I are loving the new young adult choir at church. At first I wasn't sure about it 'cause lord knows I am not the best singer. But I absolutely love it and get so much enjoyment out of it. We all have such a unique bond and I just look at it as this is my way of praising the good Lord! Oh I hosted a dinner at my house on St. Patricks Day for the flip flop club. We had such a blast and I can't wait 'til our next get together. I have the best friends a girl could ask for! So in a nutshell that's about it. Life is WONDERFUL right now, we're all healthy and completely blessed. Things get a little crazy sometimes- matter of fact, I just got finished trying to get a big wad of chewing gum out of Scotty's hair with peanut butter...but that's just a typical day of mommy hood when you stay home! I love you all whoever is reading this and I promise to blog more frequently from now on.

What happened?!

I cannot believe it's already the end of February! I feel kinda guilty about not keeping up with my blog lately but like everyone else, I've been super busy. The first part of the year always seems to fly by, probably 'cause I have 2 bday parties to plan for my oldest boys and get totally consumed with it. Then of course there's Valentines day and everything in between. I just can't believe that in a few weeks it will be spring!!! It seems like just yesterday it was New Years and I said to myself that I had plenty of time to get to the gym and work out and start eating right before swimsuit season. Now it has crept up on me and if anything I've gained weight...Oh well enough about that! Ryan just finished out his basketball season on sat. He won a trophy and couldn't be more excited about that. Oh and he had his 7th birthday a couple weeks ago! Hard to believe I have a 7 yr. old. I had so much fun watching his games, He got most improved player and I am just so proud of him! In a couple weeks he'll start coach pitch and Scott will be playing t-ball. I can't wait, I never knew watching your kids play sports would be so much fun.

Since I haven't blogged in awhile I thought I would just update everyone on what's been going on. First of all, we had such a great 'vacation' during the holidays! We got to visit with all of our family, which is spread out all over NW Georgia and SE Tennessee, so there was alot of running around but it was nice to see family, some of which I haven't seen in a few years! We had a professional picture taken of the whole family on my mom's side, which included my Granny, my mom, 3 aunts, my uncle, 2 cousins, my cousins son, my brother and my 3 boys. It was a fun experience, but the funniest part was when the pictures had been taken and we had to go in this little room one at a time to tell the photographer which photos we wanted to purchase, Scott snuck into the other room and started playin' around on the computer that the pics were put into and ended up shutting down the whole system into overnight mode!!! I thought that poor woman was gonna have a nervous breakdown right then & there! It was a disaster at the time but now I can sorta laught about it. We had to do everything all over again! Christmas was great, the kids got lots of neat things, and it was nice to just relax and enjoy family being together. We were really hoping for snow, but it never did. We went to the mountains and did lots of sight seeing, saw a waterfall inside of a mountain, which was so awesome! We got to see Casting Crowns on New Years, and one night we went out to dinner with a bunch of our old friends! Needless to say it was wonderful but I was so glad to be back home. Now Ryan is playing basketball and doing great at it! He's had 2 games so far and it is so exciting to see him play. Scott had his birthday party last week and it was alot of fun, There was 9 children (including mine) and everything turned out great! I just wish I had sent the leftover bday cake home with someone else but myself! Now I'm already thinkin' about Ryan's birthday which is in less than a month...I hope everyone is having a great New Years so far!

Happy Birthday Scott Jakob!!!

At 3:17 am on Wed. Jan. 10th, one of my babies will be turning 5 years old! I myself find that hard to believe. It seems like just yesterday I was going thru such pain and anguish of pregnancy and couldn't wait to be done with it and meet my 2nd son. I was 10 days past my due date, Jack's parents had come to our home in NC to look after Ryan while I was in the hospital, and once my due date had come and gone, everyone was just kinda watching me like a time bomb- ticking and ready to explode any minute! So I was going to the doctor 1-2 times per week, and on Jan. 9th the nurse did an ultra sound, and to my surprise (and hers) she discovered that there was little to no amniotic fluid left in my uterus! That's 'cause I was overdue and was carrying a large baby...So they rushed me upstairs to the labor & delivery floor, straped me down w/monitors and hooked me up to IV's and got the process started with pitocin. A grueling 11 hours later (which really isn't that bad) my little baby was here. And get ready- he weighed a whopping 10 pounds 8 onces and was 22 inces long! He was so sweet from the beginning. He has always been quiet, easy going, and very affectionate. He is a very smart little boy, he knows what he wants and is very confident. He has brought me so much joy just watching him grow and I thank God every day for having him in my life!

Merry Christmas

It's been another crazy week for me. Scott had to go to the doctor yesterday for a terrible cough. I was afraid it was strep, but after the long wait to see the doc, I walked away with a bottle of Robitussin...it's just a viral thing, and today he seems a whole lot better. I finished up my shopping and now I can't believe it's already Thursday! We are leaving saturday a.m. for Georgia to spend Christmas at my sister-in-laws. I haven't even thought about packing, mostly because my house looks like an F-5 tornado just came through and my laundry is piled up to the ceiling! I need a maid! And Ethan needs a haircut before we leave, and tommorrow I have a Christmas party to go to and we are going Christmas carroling tommorrow evening (which I am very excited about!) I haven't done that since I was a kid. Anyhow I am feeling overwhelmed right now. I just can't wait to take a little break from my domestic duties for awhile...And I feel bad 'cause I always do this at this time of the year. I mean we're so busy and worried about traveling and shopping and visiting family, when I need to just slow down and remember the TRUE meaning of this holiday, and thank God that I'm able to do everything that needs to be done. So I just want to tell everyone reading this that I love you, especially my flip floppin' friends- every single one of you are a blessing to me. I never thought I would have such amazing women in my life!!! So thank you, and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! May God continue to bless you all and I'll see you next year!