One more thing . . .

Even though we've had a lot going on in recent weeks (Drew's birth and buying a home), they have all been good things. Today had another piece of good news. Hannah has gone on the potty twice today (wee-wee and pooh). I can't tell you how happy it would make me to have her soon potty trained! They (the experts) say that girls can be trained earlier and are a bit easier (we'll see about that!). Hannah has been showing a few signs that she is ready. I'm sure it helps that Luke goes wee-wee like a big boy. However, I've been begrudgingly holding her off because Drew was born and we had traveling to do. I guess I can't wait much longer to work with her. We probably won't do anything too intense for a few more days, but I definitely won't discourage her. In my opinion, the sooner she is potty trained the better. I'm only hopeful at the moment!

Good News

I will try to spare you all of the details, but long story short, we were supposed to close on our house today, but it got delayed until Wednesday due to some requirements that the sellers did not fulfill. Anyway, it looks like nearly all of those items have been taken care of today. Thanks for your prayers! I just find it unfortunate and hard to understand why these things have to take up until the last minute. Maybe it's for me to learn a lesson in patience and having unmet expectations. All of that to say, we are feeling quite relieved at the moment that it looks promising that we'll get to close on Wednesday.

Kansas or Bust

Last week proved to be an adventurous week for us, but thankfully quite uneventful. The packers came last Monday to pack all of our belongings. Tuesday, they loaded it all onto a moving truck. Wednesday, we cleaned and checked out of our home in Georgia. First thing Thursday morning, we said good-bye to Warner Robins, Georgia. It took us two long travel days to get here, but again we were quite thankful that it was quite uneventful. We were also quite thankful that the kids traveled really well considering how young they are. We also were blessed to be able to enjoy a visit with some friends in Oklahoma City. Our time there flew and made the rest of the trip seem quite short.

This week will also prove to be an adventure as we are in the final stages of buying a home. Please pray that all of the final details would come together smoothly before closing on Wednesday (it's already been moved back a couple of days because things were not done). Also, please pray for our new church home - wherever that may be.

We'll continue to keep you posted on whatever the latest happens to be. Thanks for your prayers!

My Fly Hunters

We have had a few flies in our home over the course of the last couple of weeks. Chris has taken to hunting these down and "smashing" them with his ever present fly hunting assistant, Luke. It's actually quite cute/funny - however you look at it. We're usually relaxing when Luke and Hannah spot a bug or "bu" as Hannah calls it. By the way, it is definitely not a fly, but a "bug" according to both of them even though I've tried to educate Luke on the difference. Chris will then grab a flyswatter and kill it with Luke helping him spot it. After the kill has occurred, Chris gives Luke the flyswatter so he can get the fly (so, he's actually hitting a dead fly) followed by Luke's statement that "I got it". This is sometimes when Luke wants to touch it - the only thing I can think is UGH!!! Don't touch that, Luke! Anway. . . after Luke has hit the poor dead fly several times, Chris directs him that it is time to throw him away and the proceed to get it to the trash can. They eventually get it there.

Today after they had been loading the truck all day, there were several, several flies in our house because they had the doors open a big portion of the day. It was quite unfortunate for my fly hunters that the flyswatters had been packed with all of our other possessions. They would have had quite the fly hunting party.

Moving Update

Well, we still are not in Kansas, but we are making progress to get there. We no longer have our belongings in our house and they are on their way to Kansas via Florida. Currently, we are staying in a local hotel with the coveted wireless connection allowing me to update all of you a bit. We have one more day here in Georgia if everything goes according to plans, we will be on our way to our "new house" (Luke's name for this) first thing Thursday morning.

I have to thank all of you for your prayers. Everything has gone quite smoothly the last couple of days. We have had some very hard working gentlemen packing us up. At the end of last week, it didn't look too promising to get it done in the allotted time, but they did a good job, taking few breaks (which is not always the case) and working in some quite hot and humid weather today as they loaded the truck.

Chris has also been the cleaning king. I've needed to run a few errands and keep the kids occupied today so he has been cleaning to fill time and to get it done sooner than later. I almost feel lazy, but I definitely feel grateful for all his hard work. I'm looking forward to finishing up all the cleaning tomorrow with my husband and hopefully celebrating with a quick meal out just the two of us & our very quiet son, Drew. We have also been blessed with some friends here who've been quite willing to watch Luke and Hannah making the process easier for them and us.

I'll keep you posted on the latest as much as possible.

A Military Wife

A fellow military wife and friend sent this to me and I thought many of the lines/thoughts were quite accurate. Enjoy!


What is a MILITARY Wife?

A Military wife can be tough to describe.

She is a southern belle, a
northeastern mets fan, a California 3rd generation re cycler, a
Pacific Islander.

She is short or tall

a tomboy

a fashion diva

a physician's assistant

a Republican

a Democrat

A Military Wife is a career gal

a home-schooler

a scrap-booker

an accomplished cellist

an auto mechanic

What IS a Military Wife?

WHAT is a Military Wife?

What is a MILITARY Wife?

They may look different and each is wonderfully unique

But this they have in common.

They have THIS IN COMMON!

lots of moving---

moving

moving

moving far from home

moving two cars, three kids and one dog----all riding with HER of
course

moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house

moving curtains that won't fit

moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours

moving away from friends moving toward new friends

moving her most important luggage; her trunkful of memories

often waiting-

waiting, waiting, waiting for housing; waiting for orders; waiting
for deployment; waiting for reunion; waiting for phones calls;
waiting for the new curtains to arrive; waiting for him to come home
for dinner----AGAIN!

They call her "military dependent", but she knows better

she can balance a checkbook

handle the yard work

fix a noisy toilet.

She is intimately familiar with drywall, anchors, and toggle bolts.

She can file the taxes, sell a house, buy a car, or set up a move, --
--all with ONE Power of Attorney.

She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her.

Reinvents her career with every PCS; locates a house in the desert,
the arctic, or the deep south and learns to call them all "home".

She MAKES them all home.

She is fiercely IN-dependent

Military Wives are somewhat hasty

They leap into decorating, leadership, volunteering, career
alternatives, churches and friendships.

They don't have 15 years to get to know people.

Their roots are
short but flexible.

They plant annuals for themselves and
perennials for those who come after them.

Military Wives quickly learn to value each other.

They connect over
coffee, rely on the spouse-network and accept offers of friendship
and favors and record addresses in pencil.
Military Wives have a common bond.

The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands his commitment
is unique He doesn't have a job, he has a "mission" he can't just
decide to quit he's on-call for his country 24/7 but for you, he's
the most

Unreliable guy in town!

His language is foreign

TDY

PCS

OPR

ACC

BDU

And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his.

She is the long-distance link to keep them informed the glue that
holds them together.

Military Wife has her moments----

She wants to wring his neck, dye his uniform pink, and refuse to
move to Siberia.

But she pulls herself together.

Give her a few days, a travel brochure, a long hot bath, a pledge to
the flag, and a wedding picture.

And she goes.

She packs.

She moves.

She follows.

Why?

What for?

How come?

You may think it is because she has lost her mind.

But actually it is because she has lost her heart.

It was stolen from her by a man

who puts duty first

who longs to deploy

who salutes the flag

and whose boots in the doorway remind her That as long as he is her
Military husband,

She will remain his Military wife.

It Worked!

Ok, maybe this will be my official last post.

Sometimes it doesn't take much to make me excited. This would be a good example. While we've been in Georgia, I've had a couple of shower curtains (fabric part) that have done a pretty good job of growing mold/mildew on one corner. I couldn't get it off and I didn't want to use bleach in fear that the entire curtain would be ruined. So, I went to the internet to see if there were any ideas there. It didn't let me down. There were some very involved ones, but there were a couple of simple ones that I decided to try. One was to set it in the sun. Yes, that did no good. It may have killed the mold - I don't know, but the spots were definitely still there. So, another lady suggested Soft Scrub with bleach. Now, I didn't want to use bleach, but if I could just scrub it on the area, I thought it might work. It did! I scrubbed it this morning, let it sit for a few minutes and then threw it in the washing machine. They both came out in great shape. There is no mold and they still have their color. One of them may be ever so slightly faded, but it is definitely not obvious. I will definitely remember that one for future use!

So Long

It's hard to believe, but it's been almost exactly a year since we moved to Georgia from Oklahoma. It's even crazier for me to think that we are now in the process of loading up and heading out. That's right. This time next week, all of our possessions should be packed, loaded and maybe even on their way to our new home in Kansas. We have enjoyed our time here, but are excited about this new adventure that God is taking us on. It's exciting for a couple of reasons. First, we are supposed to be there for at least four years. We have not lived anywhere for that long since we've been married so I'll let you know how I like it later. Right now, I think I'm really going to enjoy staying in one spot for that long. Second, Chris & I are in the process of buying our first home. I say "process", but really all we have left is the closing. It's fun to think about and dream about what we'd like to do to the house. We'll just have to wait and see what actually gets done. Third, we won't be too far from some friends we made when we were in Oklahoma. It will be fun to see them more often and reconnect with them.

That's the latest of where we are at today. We'll keep you posted, but it may be a few days before you hear from us. The internet is supposed to shut down today so this is quite possibly my last post from Georgia. "See" you when we get to Kansas.

Hannah's Words

Hannah is now eighteen months old and beginning to develop her vocabulary. Here's a list of what she clearly says and a few things that only we can figure out.

baby: any real baby, stuffed animal, Drew or anything that a baby uses
up: she wants some sort of change of scenery whether it is up, down, left or right
Mommy: sometimes said to Daddy as well
Daddy: sometimes said to Mommy
no: well, we all know what that means!
ba: this refers to a Nutri Grain bar, ball or book
night-night: she likes to play this with either Luke or Drew
bye-bye: I think she's figured this one out
wee-wee: I definitely need to work on the potty training thing as soon as we get moved
do-do (pronounced "dog" without the g): any dog that is a safe distance away, in pictures or on TV. She's definitely not as thrilled when they want to personally meet her.

For the six or so words that she has, I thinks she's maxed out on their meanings. I think it would definitely help her if she could say more. One day I'll probably wonder why I wanted her to talk :)

OK, Chris just reminded me of a couple more words we've heard her say, "hi" and "toe". So, I think that brings her total number of words way up!

Nice Touch

"Nice touch" is something we've said and worked on with Luke since before Hannah was born. He's done a really good job. I think it's more of his personality more than us working with him. He's very brotherly and protective of both Drew and Hannah. Anyway, maybe he's learned the lesson too well. Since Drew's been born, he's obviously seen me feed him. There are times that when I burp him, Luke will take my hand and have me barely touch Drew and at the same time say, "nice touch, Mommy". I love it that he's so tenderhearted and protective, but it makes the difficult task of burping Drew even more difficult.

Hannah and Clothes

Hannah has really made me smile lately with her fascination with clothes. I think it's kind of hard to tell from the picture. However, Hannah found a pair of Luke's shorts and put them on (correctly, I might add but not all the way up) under her dress. She would love to be able to dress herself. A couple of days ago, I dressed Luke first. When I got to Hannah, she had her shirt on around her waist, tried to put her diaper on and put both legs into one leg hole of her shorts except it was from the bottom. I have to give her kudos for the effort she puts into it. She also loves to take her shoes on and off. Those entertain her for a long time.

One of these days, she'll figure it all out and before I know it, she'll want to even pick out her own clothes!

Fireworks on the 3rd

Our local fireworks were held last night. Since they were held at the high school stadium across the street from our subdivision, we decided to join some of our neighbors and load up the stroller for an evening out. Little did we know at that time what a long, but enjoyable evening it would be. I think it's kind of a big deal for these parts. They said there were around 20,000 people there. Plus, they broadcast it live to troops overseas.

Our evening was a task of waiting, but it was good to be with friends and neighbors that we will say good-bye to shortly. We sat for about an hour before two F-15s did a practice fly over. Then, we waited probably another hour before the Air Force reserve band played some patriotic selections. The first one was the National Anthem with the two F-15s flying over once again (I think this may have been Luke's favorite part). Then, we waited some more for the main music group, Lonestar. By this point, it was well past nine. However, it was much cooler and surprisingly, both Luke & Hannah were going strong. We still had not seen the fireworks, but we decided to go ahead and load up and find a place less congested and closer to home to watch the fireworks. By the time we found the perfect spot, we still waited another 20-30 minutes. The fireworks were great, though. They were probably some of the prettiest I've seen (I guess that may not be saying much since it had been a few years since we'd seen any). Drew slept through the entire event. Hannah fell asleep half way through the fireworks. Luke initially wasn't sure about the whole thing. He ended up sitting on Chris's lap for part of it and then eventually braved sitting in the stroller, but still holding Chris's hand. We made it home about 11:15 (we even did it about as time efficiently as we could have. I don't even want to know when we would have made it home otherwise) Luke was still awake. I was barely awake. I could have slept in this morning, but believe it or not, both Luke and Hannah were up around 7:00 this morning. Yes, long afternoon naps were greatly needed by the time they arrived.

Just as a side note. I apologize for the dark picture of Hannah. It was the best way to get her glow sticks given to her by some friends of ours. Both Luke and Hannah enjoyed these new toys. Unfortunately, I didn't really get too many pictures of Luke and the evening.

June Photos Now Online

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Two Week Check-Up

It's hard for me to believe, but we took Drew in for his two week check-up today. He weighed in at 8 pounds 1 oz and was 21 3/4 inches. I could only think that he's growing up. (Chris found me crying when Luke was 10 days old and it was because I felt like he was already growing up). Anyway, that is the 50th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height - translation - one skinny baby. He is beginning to fill out his skin, though. He's also acclimating to life here on earth and when awake, looks around taking it all in.

My Three and Me

This has been a week of firsts, at least it started out that way. Monday was the first day that I had all three of the little ones by myself. I was a little nervous about it. I have no idea why and in retrospect there was no reason for the nervousness. Chris had actually had all three of them by himself before I did. He didn't seem to have any issues with it beforehand and didn't seem adversely affected when I got home. Anyway, our day was rather uneventful and I'm glad I can say that I survived - survived with flying colors. I'm sure some days are better than others, which is true of any parent no matter how many children one has.

The following day, I took all three with me on errands for the first time on my own. This too was rather uneventful. The hardest part for me was keeping them corralled while I got the remainder of them out of the van. They did fine and obeyed well, but I just found myself stressing out during that time. The best part was when I had Luke hold Hannah's hand. I can't tell you how cute that was. Luke took his big brother role very seriously. I can only hope and pray that they will continue to watch out for each other this way the rest of their lives. I'm at least thankful that they did it for yesterday.