2011 highlight reel

Oh my. This year has been full of blessings!  The one thing I miss about NOT sending out a Christmas card is that I don't do the mental-year-in-review if I don't have to write that letter.  You miss a lot if you don't look back.  So I'm trying to start out 2012 with an intentional look back at all the good things we encountered this past year.  And also a bit of quiet time to look ahead at what God has planned.  As I looked back this morning, I realized that I became horrible at taking pictures after Brad got me the iPhone... or at least horrible about updating this blog with pictures since then.  Most of these will be familiar to you...

What a thrill the Got Goat? campaign was!  We're so honored to have been able to do this as a family... prayerfully considering what might be next!

A getaway for the two of us!  It was wonderful; I hope its something we can do again - SOON!

Great grandparents visited!  Loved it!  We got to see them again in September at Uncle Steve's... which helped a little since we missed them while we were in MI this year.

Family bonding around the new dining chairs, with Yaya's help.  Fun memories!

The beach!  Loved our Spring Break getaway!

Linds and Ari came for a quick trip!  Don't forget - Spring Break is coming up... book your reservations soon ;)

The boys at Rangers in Action this summer.... if you don't make Spring Break reservations, but you want to visit, try and time it with a Rangers in Action Demonstration - so awesome!

The Peachtree 10K.  What a fun weekend with an awesome family!

Back to school time!  Momma was tearful at this point, remember?  Walker's first day!

Cub scouts!  Being an assistant den leader this year has been lots of fun... looks like it, right?

This is one of my favorite pictures that Emily took in November.  Captures the moment so perfectly!

Wilson and Breeze at Thanksgiving.  It was such fun!

Marathon Man.  Still brimming with pride over this milestone!

Walker loves some of the features on my iPhone; he's especially fond of self-portraits with rainbow options. 

All for now.  Hope you liked the look back as much as I did ;)

fairy tale

We got to get all fancy last night.  The handsome prince and I went to the 4th Ranger Training Battalion Ball.  It was pretty fun and I fared well in my {SUPER} high heels.  The only mishap was when I was in the buffet line and my earring fell into the broccoli cheese casserole.  Oops!  I think maybe Brad and I were the only ones that noticed.  I scooped it onto my plate.  ;) 

Happy Thanksgiving! {a few days late}

We kicked off our Thanksgiving week with a walk through the lights at Callaway Gardens. Once a year they allow pedestrians to walk the 6.2 miles through the lights and the proceeds from ticket sales go to the March of Dimes.

We traveled this year for Thanksgiving.  Which is a first for us since moving from MI.  We went up to visit Bryan & Emily and David, Casey & Breeze.  We had the added bonus of seeing Ben too, because he rode down with Casey's dad for the weekend! I seriously only took my camera out one time while we were with them...  I got a picture of Wilson with Breeze.  He had been wanting to hold Breeze all day and finally the time was right.  He LOVED it so much.  How adorable is Breeze?  Emily did take some AWESOME family pictures.  You can click here to see them.  (I'll probably post some here eventually, but it might be awhile!)

I also got a chance to go visit our friend, Kelley and their little guy John Buckley. It was awesome to get to see him... and I actually got to hold him too. It was amazing to hold that itty-bitty miracle in my arms. If you think of it, please keep him in your prayers. Specifically pray that he would outgrow his apnea problems.

And here's my sweet friend, Kelley taking his temperature. Please keep praying for her too; for strength for each day, and rest each night.

And, you know a Thanksgiving post would not be complete without our Turkey! Thank you for sending your feathers back! The boys LOVE this tradition so very much!

We have so very much to be thankful for!  We are blessed with immeasurably more than we could ever need.

26.2

Here are some pictures of the Soldier Marathon. The boys and I were able to see Brad 7 times along the route. There were 1200 runners but less than half of them did the full marathon.

This picture is close to mile 21... the boys decided to give daddy fives to help him finish strong.Here's our runner entering Uptown Columbus... I think this might have been about mile 15. It was a very, very beautiful day.
This is Brad passing us on his way out (the fives picture above is on the way back). My best guess is mile 12 or so. The course wasn't out-and-back, some parts were repeats and some weren't. We were the only spectators at this little spot.
And here he is running to the finish line. Can you see his escort? Wilson has had a runner's high since his run the night before. He was determined to run the last leg with Brad. He actually asked if he could run the last mile, but I had no idea where that would've been so he just ran in the last little bit down the avenue of flags at the National Infantry Museum.
Brad finished his first marathon in 4 hours and 48 minutes. We are so proud of him. He's begun talking about when the next one will be... it did take a couple days for him to start talking about that. ;)

kids' marathon

Wilson has been logging miles since September so he could compete in the first annual Kids Soldier Marathon.  He was running 3-4 times a week so he could log all 25.2 miles.  He didn't always want to run, but he determined to finish what he signed up for.  He took turns running with either Brad or I, and usually ran between a half mile to a mile... alternating running & walking.  The day of his race, Wilson's goal was "to not be last."  We talked about maybe having a target pace of 12 minutes.  He had run/walked a mile with Brad at close to 12 minutes during his "training." 

Here are all the kids at the start... I think there were about 80 kids for this inaugural year.  They did the pledge of allegiance before the race.

The course was at the National Infantry Museum around the memorial walk and the parade field.  Walker and I stayed near the start/finish line and Brad went out across the field to cheer Wilson on when he came by.

Wilson passed us once during the course and he was doing great.  I was such a proud momma!  Daddy decided to finish the last bit with Wilson encouraging him along the way.  I was all teary-eyed at this point!

He ended up finishing his mile in 9 minutes and 30 seconds.  I think you can kinda tell he was pretty proud of himself.  It was so fun to see him beaming.  And of course, he had to wear his "got goat?" shirt! 

He said later in the weekend that he wanted to run a 5k with me this weekend.  We think he might need to train a little bit more before that happens.  ;) 

It was kind of a bummer that it was for ages 6 and up.  Walker really wanted to be a part of it!  Hopefully he'll get his chance soon enough, maybe next year if we are still here!

halloween treats

once again we were able to do Halloween costumes on the cheap ;) Walker wanted to be Super Walker again (can you blame him?) and Wilson finally settled on being a jockey after some debate about whether or not people would "get" his costume. We were able to use some of the horse-racing stuff that Uncle Steve had sent the boys last spring. I just had to cut down his shirt and use the scraps (+ black felt) to make his jockey helmet. He really wanted to bring Muskoka trick-or-treating but she has no concept of personal space when it comes to small children, and that's just not a good combo.
I finally got Super Walker to strike a pose that wasn't just showing off his new "wrist cuffs" which were an upgrade to his costume from last year; I also had to add new elastic to his mask. So super!
It was sunny for Halloween, can you tell?
A shot with daddy who, by the way, was up since 1:45am. He still managed to carve the pumpkin with Walker after school right before dinner right before trick-or-treating.
Such cuties! I took the boys & Brad stayed home to pass out candy. We were out for about 45 minutes, and Daddy only had 3 pieces of candy left we came home!

praying for an itty-bitty baby...

So, I know, I haven't been posting as often as I usually do. I just wanted to quickly ask any of you that still check this blog for updates to please add your prayers to ours for this little baby. He was born last week at 27 weeks 2 days. His name is John Buckly and he has the nickname "Lil Buck." He is amazing the doctors each day, but has a very, very long way to go. His parents are good friends of ours, you've read about them here before and here as well. They moved over the summer. Kelley's due date was in January. She is staying at the Ronald McDonald House near the hospital with the baby, about an hour from their home. Every prayer on their behalf is welcomed.

As for us, there isn't anything substantial to update you on... we are still waiting on the adoption, we are waiting for Brad to {possibly} get orders for somewhere, sometime. We are also praying about how to finish up Wilson's fundraising for the year. He has met his goal, but we are not convinced that he should stop just yet. We're praying we can help him finish it well. Also, if you didn't know, I started another blog for my sewing business and a FB page. Although I've not done much with either of those the last week or so too... I am working at finding balance and choosing the most important things. Eventually I'll figure it out.

seven words...

Adoption update.

Or non-update, depending on how you look at it.

We still wait.

Every day.

And believe wholeheartedly that God knows every detail perfectly well and His plans surpass our wildest hopes.

Even in the midst of wholehearted belief, there is fatigue. And I think that its OK. Reading through the Psalms you can see that David did not hold back in revealing his heart to God. So that is what I've been doing too, revealing my whole heart to God. I don't often reveal it to everyone else though. And I think that is OK too.

Last week at PWOC, we sang the song "Blessings" by Laura Story. We had sung it the week before too, and I totally boo-hooed through it. I did the same this time. And then following that song we sang, "Waiting Here for You" by Christy Nockels. That did me in. Tears rolling down my cheeks, with my hands lifted high in praise...

The praise team dismissed the body to fellowship and snack time but also invited those that wished to stay and worship to do so ... and also invited anyone that wanted to pray at the altar to come forward. And I did go forward, as they played through "Waiting Here for You" again.

Palms on the floor, face to the carpet. Tears dropping straight from my eyes to the ground. Crying, praying quietly the only words I could mutter... "God please, give me patience to wait, give me courage to praise, while I wait. Bring our babies (?) home" Another lady came behind me and prayed over me. I recognized her voice...

... we had been in a study together a year ago. She and her husband were retired missionaries and she just felt she needed to plug into the military community. I had appreciated her prayers and encouragement over the last year. I was grateful that I knew who was crying out on my behalf. I recalled catching up with her about two weeks ago and telling her that we were still "just waiting." I thought for sure our conversation was on her mind too as she called out for God's peace to rest on me...

...As the praise team finished their song, someone brought me a tissue and I pulled my hands from the ground, resting back on my legs. My prayer warrior pulled me close and whispered, "Is there anything specific I can pray for you?" I blubbered, "I just want my babies to come home. You know, this adoption process has been so long..."

And y'all her 7 word answer encompassed a wealth of knowledge, a measure of peace, and a dose of reality all at the same time.

She put her hands over her heart and exclaimed, "Oh thank God that's all it is!"

I knew immediately that she was right. God has reassured me so many times that He has this in His hands. He knows who and He knows when. He has led us well. For a brief moment, I felt bad and wondered what on earth she might have feared I was crying about! And peace washed over me and my blotchy-ugly-cry face. I hugged her and thanked her and she promised to pray with me this week about our adoption.

I've gotten so many encouraging words even in the last 5 days. There is a song out by Matt Redman that I posted sometime in the last week to FB. It has been a HUGE encouragement to me knowing that not one single step of this journey is alone.



It's kinda like a sneak peek into the future. Whatever you are waiting for I hope you are encouraged to know that He is faithful.

scars and struggles on the way
but with joy our hearts can say
NEVER ONCE
did we ever walk alone
carried by your constant grace
held within your perfect peace
NEVER ONCE
NO, WE NEVER WALK ALONE

NEVER ONCE
did we ever walk alone
NEVER ONCE
did you leave us on our own
Because You are Faithful
God You are Faithful
every step we are breathing in Your grace
evermore we'll be breathing out Your praise
You are faithful,
God, You are Faithful

a message from Walker J

(they called him over the intercong)

We are really proud of him.

He was disappointed to find out that being "Student of the Month" doesn't get you out of doing chores at home. I guess he thought it was like a birthday. He was helping me in the kitchen that evening and said, "I don't know why I'm having to do this, because I am student of the month!"

We've since had his conference with his teacher too. He is doing VERY well and progressing just about perfectly. We are thankful that he is doing well and praising God that he has a caring teacher!

POPCORN! POPCORN! get your fresh, hot, popcorn!

a brief video message from the cutest cub scout ever...



if you have any popcorn-related questions just let us know... thanks!

remembering

This morning I had to walk the boys into school when I took them... because I forgot to turn in Walker's shot record and the voicemail message from the nurse emphatically stated that he would NOT be able to return to school until I took care of it. I swore I had turned it in, but there it was in his vital records file -- whoops!

But that is not the point of this post.

As we walked in, the announcements were going off. Which I thought was unusual because we weren't late. The kiddos off the SAS bus (think: latch key), stopped in their tracks to say the Pledge. The car-rider line teachers had their hands over their hearts as they opened doors for kiddos. The boys and I said the Pledge as we walked in.

After the Pledge there was some Loyd Panther's Song. And by the time I got into the office to hand in papers another voice came over the PA. "Good Morning, students! This Sunday is September 11. Ten years ago on a day like today our country was attacked..."

And I quietly said, "Oh, I might cry." And the secretary said, "Me too."

The voice on the PA went on to explain the awful things that happened that day, in simple yet powerful words for the kids to understand. Then they played "God Bless America."

The secretaries, another parent, and myself retold our stories of where we were that day.

Ten years ago.

I realized that pretty much everyone we know now has had dramatic changes in their lives because of that day. Brad is in the military because of that day. Even friends that were in the military prior to 9-11 had their lives dramatically change afterwards due to increased deployments.

Everyone we know has said good-bye to a soldier going to war. They've missed at least a year of family memories and celebrations. They've hugged tightly and prayed that it would not be the last hug. They've hoped for phone calls, and sent away care packages. They've written letters, and emails, and became good at IM'ing.

Many have sacrificed so much more. They have gotten that knock on their door; the one every military family knows is a possibility but pray we don't hear. One day the knock came and their world changed forever. Most of those knocks come quietly without media coverage and front page stories. But the sacrifice is the same, immeasurable.

And even this morning as we remembered where we were that morning, my eyes welled with tears. I drove home from drop-off past the basic training area where young men & women are becoming soldiers. Our all-volunteer military continues to grow. Families continue to say good-bye and pray fervently for their loved ones. Sacrifices continue. Ten years later, we have not forgotten.

run for the fallen

Last weekend, we participated in the Run for the Fallen here at Benning. Brad actually got up and ran 12 miles before we went over to the event at 8:30! It was a one mile walk/run. We figured we would walk, but Brad told Walker that if he wanted to run we'd run at his pace. We ran a lot more than I expected. I didn't bring my phone to the run, so I didn't take any pictures there, but we stopped at the Ranger Memorial afterwards.
The Run for the Fallen here was sponsored by the 75th Ranger Regiment so they had names of all of the fallen rangers from The War on Terror. When we got there to register, there were still about 20 names left on the table that had already been printed. There were also blank forms if you wanted to fill in a name. We decided that we didn't want any of the names to be left on the table so we all took a different name to wear.


We looked up some of our names in the book a the memorial and found their markers...

Wilson ran for PFC Thomas. He was 18 when he died in a helicopter crash in 2007. We didn't know this until we got home (where I looked up each soldier's story); but the ranger Wilson ran for, and the ranger I ran for SPC Garbs, died in the same helicopter crash. SPC Garbs was 20 years old.
Walker ran for PFC Garza who was 19 when his vehicle left the road and crashed into a river in Jalalabad on our anniversary in 2005. Brad ran for SGT Regan who was 26 when he encountered an IED in Iraq in 2007. All of these men represent families that have given the ultimate sacrifice. All we know about them is that they gave everything for our country. I hope the families know that they are not forgotten.

I'm glad we got to go out and participate in this event. It was solemn. It was both encouraging and sad to see my friend, Mandy's husband's name on some of the tags. This war has demanded a high price.

a little less crazy...

...its true... I pad the before picture so the after looks that much better... Brad snapped this after we ran on Friday morning... cah-ray-zee...and after... a free haircut (!) because 9 inches was cut-off and donated to Children with Hairloss
I went to a new salon because my friend gave me a groupon for $75 dollars worth of services... and she moved to Korea so she wasn't going to be able to use it. I knew that when Pam got her hair cut for locks of love that the lady didn't charge her, but I also knew that it was Pam's last time at the salon before she moved. I didn't figure that the lady would cut my hair for free since she had just met me! So Pam's gift is multiplied!!! ;)

Cannot believe how much faster this is... like no time at all. A little diffuser, a couple twists of the curling iron, some finishing creme, and viola!

a few pics...

here are a couple more Spooner pics... Walker was dancing down the side of the hill as Wilson slid...oh, and even Daddy tried a little Spooner action... I sorta wish I had the video on for it...that's all I'll say about that... ;)
Walker's first day on the bus was everything he dreamed it would be... which was a relief for us, because we've had some rough bus days around here...
oh, and did I mention that Walker has been letting me rock him to sleep at night? I pretty much love it. yes, its a crappy-phone-pic, but you get the idea, right?

learning new things...

Wilson got "The Spooner" from Yaya for his birthday... it arrived this week, so he's been trying out some moves on it in the afternoon... Here's a little video of what he's got so far -




and Walker has been learning some new things at school, too -

gifts...

so, you can't start school without some goodies for the teachers, right?
Here's what the boys gave their teachers yesterday...

• the white frames were 99 cents at Ikea. They are two-sided, so you can see both frames in the pic. One side has scrapbook paper with the teacher's initial and the other side has a print of Phil. 4:8. {You can find the free printable here, it was on this blog originally. I just resized it to 4x6 before printing} I included a note stating that I really liked that verse but if they wanted to change it out with something that worked better for them that was totally fine. I just really couldn't give them an empty frame! :)
  

• The stack of monster cookies included the note "because teachers cannot live on apples alone."
  

• The post-it note holder was an idea Barbie shared with me... and she gave me the 4x6 acrylic frames so the only thing I had to pay for was the target-brand post-it notes $1.97 for four. I used a cute scrapbook paper and printed, "make today awesome" in-between the little birdies.
  

• And finally a two-pack of sharpies... because a teacher can never have too many sharpies! I price-matched those at the PX when they were on sale somewhere for 25 cents a pack.
  

• Rene donated the gift bags when she sent the boys' birthday presents (Thanks, sis!)

So, I think I spent a total of $1.75 each on these gifts... plus the cost of the ingredients in the cookies, but that recipe makes 72 and I only gave away 12... so that couldn't have been too much. Mrs. Z told Wilson that "the sharpies are a perfect gift for me!" and Mrs. G sent a note home saying that she "loves homemade cookies!"

We also got a REALLY great gift yesterday! Both boys had SUPER first days of school, and neither of them was crabby - which was sort of a surprise ;) Walker spent most of his day learning about the procedures in his classroom. One thing he learned is called the "silent cheer" to celebrate good things. I kept asking him to do it repeatedly, because it was so dang cute. I finally videotaped it... and thought y'all might get a kick out of it too!

It's that time again...

back to school... already!

{yes, they have a.c. in the buildings, otherwise they wouldn't be able to go to school until late September!}

The boys were pretty excited this morning.

as you can see...

thankfully, Daddy got to go into work late
(well, sorta, he had to go to work early to solve an unexpected problem but got to come back home for school drop-offs...)

it's a good thing too, because this is about as brave as momma's face got all morning.
(I thought I was going to be OK by the time we got to school, but Wilson's 1st grade teacher saw me and gave me a hug and the tears just kept on comin'...)

On the way in with full backpacks and teacher gifts!

The K students met in the gym (with the first graders, which is where I saw Mrs. T)... Walker waited very patiently in line, we finally left before they went to their classes for fear of momma having another breakdown; which would've been a rough way for Walker to start school!

Wilson was pretty embarrassed that I was crying, which made it all the sweeter that he has the same teacher and mostly the same classmates as last year. He teased me about it a little as we walked down the hall to his class. I tried to blame it on Mrs. T. but he called me out and said, "You did it even before we left the house!"

He wasn't nervous at all to get to class. he gave Mrs. Z a hug while I grabbed a tissue! Mrs. Z. even graciously offered to let me volunteer once a week after seeing my swollen-crying eyes.

I knew it would be harder letting Walker go to K. Mainly because the house is now empty besides me and that big dog. To complicate matters, I sort of anticipated our new baby-child being home by now. Which leaves me in a place of unexpected empty hands. I've hesitated to commit to anything, because I was certain our new baby-child would be home by now. Through my tears this morning, God reminded me that He is not the least bit surprised by these circumstances. And in that reassurance, I do find peace. Sure, there are tears. And I am OK with that.

To clarify, the tears weren't really out of concern about whether or not Walker would do well at school. They weren't because I'm afraid. The tears fell because time has passed. And quite honestly, whether we had a new baby-child here or not, I most likely would've still been a bawl-baby this morning. Because my boys are growing up. They are getting bigger and this letting-go is hard. And so my tears are the way that I process it. I wish I were a little better at controlling when they would pour out; or at the very least, wish I had one of those faces that didn't get all blotchy-red immediately. But alas, this is who I am and how God made me. So I post pics to tell you that we are where we are supposed to be today. Each one of us. And God has gone before us to prepare the way. He has good plans, and we are blessed to be a part of them.


this morning God gave me two verses to center me and remind me He is faithful...

"In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have refuge." Proverbs 14:26

"Jesus said to him, "Go your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off." John 4:50

ten.

Ten years of walking beside each other.

Ten years of your powerful hand grasping mine and leading me to the new places God calls us.

Ten years of joy and also some sorrow.

Ten years of blessings too numerous to count.

Ten years of growing, learning, failing and forgiving.

Ten years! Sometimes people say, "it just keeps getting better." And I didn't really know how it could get better than what I felt on that hot, August day. And yet God has crafted our hearts together so intricately that I look back on that first day and think, that was just a smidgen of the love and respect that I feel now.

I always feel like I got the better end of this deal. Brad, you are a man of excellence. You seek Him first. You love me deeply. You are a wonderful daddy. You do your work with integrity. I could not ask for more.

Praying God gives us at least another 60 anniversaries to celebrate!

c'mon get happy...

So, I know that last post was heavy. The upside to heavy things is that it reinforces the truth that this world is not our home. There's a song by Caedmon's Call called "This World" and for some reason, its my go-to song when there's a lot of heavy going on in the world around me. So, I've been listening to it a lot recently... But even in the midst of the heavy, and the knowledge that this world isn't home, God blesses with joy. I decided to snap some pre-back-to-school pictures of the boys today. I thought this here blog could use some happy today....

Here they are in their fort...cuties!
and here's big brother reading "Oh The Places You'll Go," I adore that book...
Walker showing Wilson his favorite part... "Kid, you'll move mountains!"
One more of Wilson reading - the quote on the side says "Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero." I saw it on pinterest this morning and typed it up ;)
oh, and I love their faces in this one... I said "Pretend like you just got busted!"
Sure do love these two cuties.

They are both pretty excited for school to start. Tomorrow is the "Peek-In" at school. Thankfully, Wilson already knows his teacher! Looking forward to meeting Walker's teacher, been praying a lot for her! ;)