Friday, July 1, 2011

not in vain.

So, it has been a while since I've last blogged. As many of you can imagine, I have been quite busy.
School ended a month ago and June flew by! July is gearing up to be quite busy as well! I have a trip to Norfolk, NE to take today to see my dad and step-mom for her birthday. Tomorrow we are traveling to Ida Grove, IA for a wedding of one of Sarge's cousins. Monday we are going to Battle Creek, IA to see Chris's family some more and to celebrate our dear country and the freedom we all enjoy and take for granted. The next Saturday is Chris's family reunion (because we NEVER see each other!) that his mom is hosting!!! I love these family reunions. They are always fun! The weekend of the 16th may be busy as it is my dad's birthday on the 17th. The 23rd we are celebrating Jacob's 4th birthday - hopefully Sarge will be home by then!!!! (he better be!) and by the 30th - i am hoping we will be on our way home from our vacation traveling around iowa.

Over the past few months there have been so many things that have happened too! My brother and his 2 kids came to visit a couple weeks ago and my mom surprised me by flying in as well!
The girls had a birthday in April - Bradee is now 2 and Taylor is 9. The birthday was great, but a few days before the party, I remember thinking that things just wouldn't be right without Sarge. He has never missed a birthday of one of the kids yet . . . well, this isn't entirely true. Jacob's first birthday Sarge was on AT (Annual Training for the National Guard) in California so me and the kids went to Florida! We had a party when we all got home which was nice so technically, Sarge has never missed a party here in Iowa, until this deployment.

Which brings me to my next point that I alluded to in the first paragraph. Deployments can suck something fierce. I have totaled up the amount of time Chris and I have been separated due to deployments and the number totals . . . . . keeping in mind we've been married not quite 11 years . . . . . . our separation totals . . . . . .3 years. Think about getting pregnant (for you ladies reading this) and having a baby and then your husband leaves and doesn't come back until that child is 3  years old! Now, granted this time has been separated across 4 deployments ranging from 6 months, 7 months, 9 months and 15 months.

Now, for my soap box. I get a lot of people asking things like "why are 'we' even over there?" they say things like "we should just get out of there and keep our troops home" . .. . things along those lines.I know that there are people that don't understand what that means to someone like me. To say that to me it is like saying that what my husband is doing and what my family and I sacrifice is worthless.

For those that ever feel like saying this -  think twice. We have a purpose of being over there. It is to defend those that cannot defend themselves against the tyrants of the world. We are trying to help. The news media isnt and doesnt show the good that is going on. What good would that do? It would actually mean that the decision to fight this war was worth it! I understand that there are many soldiers dying - but if there wasn't someone willing to die for you and your freedom, you too would be under and tyranny. Year after year, war after war - people die. I have been fortunate enough that my husband has returned safe and sound from each of the deployments he has been on and I fully expect him to return back home from this 4th one. If something awful should happen between now and then - I am prepared to handle that. I had to be before he even left. But his potential death - along with all of the other deaths that have been and will continue to be are not in vain.

This is why we have bar-b-ques, fireworks and parades coming up. To say that those that have fought, are fight and will fight do not do it in vain.

Thank you.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

babbling with bubba

So, as many of you (and some may not be) know, Jake doesn't speak the greatest.
He has been in speech therapy for 4 to5 months I guess???
After discussing his progress within the past few weeks i realized a litle something . . . for nearly the entire year last year, Jacob was in the house with Sarge (a full time student and not a man of many words) and Bradee (a 1 year old who isn't advanced in the land of speech as well) - all day, nearly every day. No wonder this poor little guy wasn't developing in his speech development!
Since Sarge has been deployed and I work full time - Bradee and Jake are at a baby sitter's house all day - interacting with other kids and adults as well! He has grown leaps and bounds . . . but still needs therapy to help him express the ends of words and some other various sounds . . .

This brings me to my "babbling with bubba" . . . .
Driving home from church the other day i told Jacob that he was so cute and I asked if i could eat his face.
His response was: "no mama! da wou ow me!" (translation: No mama! That would ow (hurt) me!"

(WOW! trying to spell fonetcially in Jake-speak is kinda hard!)

Until next time. . .

Thursday, February 10, 2011

You never know. . . .

Nearly 15 years ago I was a freshman in college. I dediced to skip class one afternoon and just after I layed down on my all too small of a dorm room bed, I got a phone call. It was a step-mother telling me that my father had been hospitalized. He eventually became diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. Basically this means that his lower left ventrical of his heart was 4 times the size it shoudl be and that his heart was working correctly. For the next year, dad was in and out of hospitals and nearly on a transplant list. His cardiologist had a look upon his/her face at a yearly (maybe a 6 month) check up that my dad described it as a look to say that that dr. was surprised to see him alive.
During this time, my father quit smoking and had to get on disability (which was a huge struggle). Another major thing that happened during this time was that my father got saved. By continued prayers from someone we may not even know . . . or possibly my step-mom??? . . . my dad's life was spared. 
He currently has a variety of health issues . . . but when you consider the life he led for so many years, he's doing ok.
He is literally a walking miracle. Less than 1% of those diagnosed with his specific heart condition live 10 years without open heart surgery . . . the worst my dad has had to endure is an angioplasty.
He's fine. His heart is nearly normal. He is a miracle. Jesus gave us that miracle.

This brings me to the title of this story . . . "you never know" . . .
Today I will be going to a funeral of a man who did everything right. He was healthy. Lived a life void of a lot of physical labor (which tends to shorten our life expectancy) and appeared to take care of himself quite well. What he didn't know for a long time was he had a congenital heart defect. After finding this out, he had to have surgery. While at home during his recovery, this particular man didn't get a miracle.

How is it that my father - who did nearly EVERYTHING wrong - has survived this long and someone who did what seems to be EVERYTHING right passes?

While I am only 33 years old at the time of this writing, I contemplate my own life. I thank God every day that my father is with us and saddened by those that lose their family members too soon.

In no way, shape, or form am I suggesting that God killed this man . . .
I AM stating that I know without a shadow of a doubt that God healed my father though.

You never know . . . .

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Bradee

Since my blog is titled "sharin' stories" i thought i might pass on a quick little story . . .
December 13, 2010 - i only remember because my brother in law came to help Chris install the rest of our kitchen floor that day and it happened to be his birthday - what a guy!
Anyway - i had a friend stop by the house as well and after she left, Bradee had been nagging me about something - not sure what as she doesn't speak too well just yet.

Picture this - a long living room with large windows facing the street (west) with a loveseat in front of it, a few feet farther in - a hallway to the bathroom and bedrooms (going south). just after the hall on the south wall, a regular sized couch with the entertainment center opposite this couch on the north wall. on the east wall of the living room is the door way to the dining room. I am at the door way to the dining room, Grant - the brother in law - is sitting on the couch and Bradee is standing at the front of the loveseat along the west side of the living room.

I ask Bradee if she wanted a drink - or something to that effect.
She looks at me with a stone cold face.

I say again - Bradee, do you need something in the kitchen? (as the kitchen is through the dining room and i was headed that way for her)
She continues the face.

I ask a THIRD time if she wants something from me.
AGAIN - the face!

I finally give up and say "forget it" and walk away.

I then hear Grant laugh so much that i turn away and ask what was so funny.
He proceeded to tell me that after i turned away, Bradee looked at him, smiled really big and put her hands up to her mouth, shrugged her shoulders and giggled!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

It's been a while

Hello all

so, its been quite some time since my last post . . . I guess life has a way of getting away from us at times. To bring you all up to speed . . . we - well, let me be honest - Sarge redid our floors in the living room, dining room, hallway and kitchen from a nasty carpet (living and dining rooms and hallway) that needed replaced 8 1/2 years ago when we moved in and an ok linoleum in the kitchen TO a gorgeous wood laminate. I think im about 75% sure i love it.
I must say that the carpet REALLY hid the dirt a lot better than these floor do. Sadly, all of the work that went into getting the floors installed isnt done and may not be done until this summer . . .
We have the door trim to be put up, transition pieces to install, caulk around the front door, getting a piece of trim for the back door to the deck and there is some other funky piece of something that puts a seal on the floor for the door that leads to the back porch and ultimately into the garage.

The reason for this is fairly bittersweet . . . Sarge is now being deployed to Afghanistan. This is his 4th tour of duty overall and all have taken place in a matter of 10 years. The first was just after we were married in 2001 and he was stationed in Kuwait for just under 6 months. The next was from May 2003 to January 2004 in which he spent time in the Sinai peninsula of Egypt. The third deployment - Iraq(the longest) was from July 2005 to October 2006 and now we are entering the 4th tour.

He is expected to be home sometime this summer . . .
so for now, I am a "single-mom" to the Littles.

Life is always interesting . . . telling Bradee to leave the cat and dog alone, telling jacob to stop yelling and asking taylor to help and asking for God to give me the strength to not kill one of them.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Be educated . . .

a while ago Sarge mentioned a statistic that "most adults believe that 20's are the best years of their life."
I must admit that I went CRAZY! when i heard his (mis)information!!!!!

to start . . . i taught Lifespan Development this past summer and KNOW the real truth and this isn't it! After ranting and raving about how false and misleading this information is, i asked (probably told) Sarge to look up this given (mis)information. He complied and read me what it said. THIS is what the "study" said - by an independent research group (meaning they are NOT funded and probably NOT affiliated with any type of professional publishing and therefore do NOT follow professional guidelines for said studies):

58% of phone interviewed 18-29 year olds believe that the 20's are the best years of their life.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????!!!!!!

ok - if you haven't figured out the problem with this statement - let me put it in simple terms for you.
1. there are 18 and 19 year olds in this study!
2. the 20-29 year olds haven't lived past the 20's in order to even understand the magnitude and bliss that can come from NOT being in one's 20's!!!!
3. 58%?! - techinically this IS a majority - but really - it's barely over half AND it includes 18 and 19 year olds!!!!!

This, my friends, is the VERY reason we need to be educated individuals. There are TOO many times that words are twisted around in order for information to seem a particular way.

I urge you to research the information that is given to you . . .
be educated.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

What a weekend!

So, I have a fantastic friend who is getting married Ocotber 9, 2010. She had asked me to be the maid of honor to which I was elated to have bestowed upon me. Well, with weddings come bachelorette parties. Since I am not the drinking type so much any more, I volunteered to be the designated driver for those that wished to partake in such activites. This bachelorette party was this past weekend. It all started Saturday afternoon .. . . . 

I was in my truck (car, SUV, whatever) with a member of the bridal party on our way to Council Bluffs to go to the hotel and meet a bunch of gals that were going to be part of the party. On our way, my truck starts acting funny. The battery needle/gauge showed it to be all the way to the right and my "check gauge" light came on. Bizarre? Well, I tried to call my husband, no luck. Tried my dad; no luck. Tried my husband again and he answered but by the time he answered, the needle had returned to normal. Ok . . . ? weird. I explained what was going on and we just agreed for me to keep driving because the truck wasn't acting funny in any way. So, as soon as I get off the phone, it goes back up! Then a bit later, it came back down. Then up again and back down. The total amount of times was at least 3 times - maybe 4. It was weird.
Well, we finally make it to the hotel and are the 1st one's there. That's cool. Pam (the bride-to-be) showed up a little bit later and then a few more people after we were in the hotel room. We are hanging out and just talking and finally decide it's time to head to the restaurant.
We had reservations made for 5pm - early yes - but we were informed that there was a large party of about 35 that was going to be taking up the entire dining room but we should be ok. Alright. Well, we get there about 5:10 and are seated right away. We all order something to drink (me with my water!) and wait for one more person to show up. After she shows up, we wait a little bit longer and decide to go ahead and order as it seems as if those that were going to show up were already there. So, we order and it takes a while to get our food. A little while after we have our food, the manager of the restaurant for the evening comes over and says that since it's 6:20 -we need to hurry up and leave because the other party is coming and they need to be seated. WHAT?! You are seriously asking us to leave when we JUST got our food not more than 5 minutes ago?! Oh, no you didn't! And we see a large party of high school students coming in and getting seated. THESE are the people who have the large party?! At the risk of sounding a bit off - there was NO way that those kids were going to be spending the money that we were at that time - not with what was being consumed by our table (not me though!). (wink, wink)

Well, after much turmoil and discussion - we paid for our food and things and left - not without assuring the manager that this type of thing WILL be reported to her superior. All necessary information was obtained - the general manager's name, her name, our waiter's name - who was GREAT! poor guy!, the time of our reservation and the fact that our reservation was ok'd by a manager when the call was made.
We leave quite upset and wondering what to do next. We decide to go across the street to a bar. We joke around with the staff and tell them what just happened to us. They are stunned. We get a place to sit and drinks (and water!) were ordered. We get some chips and salsa since not everyone got to finish their food and start having a good time. More people have shown up while we are having a good time cackling it up like a bunch of hens. Well, a waitress comes over and jokes around about how we have to leave in 15 minutes. We all laugh and then she says "Seriously though, can you guys keep it down a bit?" Apparently a table she was waiting on asked her to ask us to keep it down! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! WE ARE AT A BAR!!!! We tell the manager/supervisor lady working and she thought we were joking! NOPE! She asked who it was and we told her and I guess some fur was flying behind the scenes with that one! WOW!
So, we got kicked out of a restaurant and then told to quiet down at a bar. What else is going to happen?!

Well, we decide to walk around the Old Market of Omaha and are having a good time. We are tying to find a place called Whiskey Tango - I was under the impression it's a country bar. We eventually find it after a brief stint around the area. We have a good time and are there quite a long time. We eventually decide to leave and go to the casino near the hotel. I lost $2 on the penny slots - but i got a free soda out of the deal! We decide we are hungry (seriously - how could we be hungry?!) so we want a perkins. No perkins around so we eat at some restaurant that was part of the hotel/casino. We feel the need to rehash the 1st restaurant experience of getting kicked out and all the stuff we have gone through! Our waitress is stunned, the other is as well and the manager is beside himself with this information.

Well, we make it back to the hotel and around 2 am, we decide to go to sleep.

The next morning, well  . . . we all got dressed and ready to go. I am wearing sweat pants  and a hoodie with tennis shoes. Well, while trying to go down the stairs, apparently my shoes are getting caught on the carpet and edge of the stairs  - - - or the devil took over my body and kept my legs from working properly - - - so i take a tumble down 1/2 a flight of stairs. I end up scraping up both knees, somehow cut a chunk out of my finger and hit my head pretty hard on the wall. I have an instant headache and my knees hurt. After seeing I am ok, my friends are laughing so hard they are crying . . . thanks guys! ;)

Well, i make it home - no truck problems!!!! To make a longer story short - I end up getting hit in the back of the head by Jake and have ANOTHER headache to deal with and then - Jake ends up hitting his head really hard at church and had to be taken to the ER that night! He ends up ok - but WOW!


What a weekend!!!!