A Higher Ranking Official in My Midst

You made it through basic and tech school,
A cop you wanted to be.
We got sent to Minot,
And I was not happy.

We made it through the trials there,
As you were away for days.
We made some wonderful friends,
Then you retrained and we parted ways.

Off to North Carolina,
to a tiny town called Goldsboro.
You were now a Personnelist,
Working hard, being diligent and thorough.

Then you decided to become a teacher,
Moving us to Mississippi.
To the heat, the 'deep south', the gnats and hurricanes,
I wanted to escape in a jiffy.

Today marks a day of triumph,
As you sew on Technical Sergeant.
You tested one time and made it,
It sure paid off to be diligent.

Through your years as an Airman and Sergeant,
You were put to the test.
Things still aren't easy and you are still tested daily,
But God will give you rest.

You have been such a faithful worker and steward,
To our faithful God up above.
You, in return are being rewarded,
And I am so proud of you My Love!

Congratulations Zach on sewing on your stripe today! I am so proud of you and all the hard work you do. You put up with so much and yet you work so hard! Keep it up!

Thoughts on my surprise

My last post came as quite a surprise to me. If you are like me, when you want to become pregnant, every month in your mind you think you are. You think that every little thing could be because you are pregnant. You're tired, you have cravings, you seem to be going to the bathroom more, you have more mood swings. Until BAM, you are hit with your monthly. Or you take a test only to see a negative sign. And nothing hurts more than those negative signs. So, when I was more tired than usual I just thought it was due to a long trip. When I thought I was going to puke in the van I thought I was carsick from reading. When I craved green olives I thought it was all in my head. I told myself I wasn't going to take a test until the 1st. But I bought it early because sometimes when I go to buy them (at good ol' Dollar Tree) they aren't there. I decided to buy 2. Of course, once I have a pregnancy test in my presence I can't wait DAYS to take it! What would I be thinking??? I had to know- NOW! The first test I took, the second line appeared very faint at first. I went and got Zach. I thought maybe I was imagining that line there. But I wasn't. It grew darker over the 3 minutes. I decided to test again a couple of days later. But once again, with a pregnancy test in my midst I had to know! So, I took that one. This time the second line appeared quicker and darker. But I still couldn't believe it. It just didn't seem real. I didn't really 'feel' pregnant. I thought it was all in my head. So, I went to the doctor to get it confirmed. I had to wait on the phone. By this time I knew I was pregnant, but while waiting for the result I began to panic inside. What if I'm not? I would be crushed. Of course, the answer was positive. It is becoming more real to me now. Of course I was immediately excited, but I just couldn't believe it. I am going to have 4 kids? 4??? That seemed a big scary to me. I am now into my routine with three. Now I'm adding another! Am I crazy? The world probably thinks so. I know my family does. But I am ecstatic. I mess up on a daily basis at this mothering thing. I wonder if I will ever get it right. But, God has blessed me with another child! How great, how awesome is that?!?!

The two older ones already have their 'orders' in. Of course H wants a sister. She already has two brothers! J said he wants a boy, but later he told me he want me to have two babies- a boy and a girl! The don't quite understand that I have no say in the matter, but H tells me Jesus told her its a girl! The night I told J when I was putting him to bed and when I went to turn out his light he asked, "Will you have the baby tomorrow?" Oh, the sweet innocence of children!

Here is a poem that tends to circle around some e-groups I'm in. The author is unknown, but it is a good poem.

Have you ever cleaned out your pocket

And discovered a ten dollar bill?

You really weren't expecting it,

But it gave your heart a thrill!

Have you ever opened the door

And there before your eyes

You saw the flower man standing

With an armful of surprise?

Well a surprise is exactly what's happened

To us as a man and a wife

The Lord has been gracious and perfectly good

By adding to us a fourth life!

We could have told you in person

But it's very important you see

That we only see thoughts and reactions

Of happiness, smiles and glee!

So once you've had time to digest it

And been able to ponder it all

When you have a nice word about all that you've heard,

Feel free to give us a call!

Surprise!

#4 is on the way!!!! 

Here Come the Pictures

On our drive up we drove through an Amish community in Illinois. I am so fascinated by the Amish way of life. I didn't want to appear rude taking pictures, but I did try to snap a few.




























My friend, Chris, the maid-of-honor from our wedding. I hadn't seen her in 7 years, but she still looks pretty much the same!














A view from Quincy Hill in Hancock, MI. It is so beautiful up there.

G enjoys a tender moment with Nanny (my mom).

Here is Papa (my stepdad) with G on his shoulders up on Quincy Hill.














H and I were looking at an old train.














Here is J with his 'Bad to the Bone' face riding on the 4-wheeler.














My cousins boys, N & N. They're so adorable!

My cousin's daughter, P is a month older than my G. They are so cute together. Here they are giving hugs.














H is sporting a cowgirl look.














Here are my friend Jodie and I with our kids.














Here's G loving on mommy!
 

P and G had fun in the mud puddles while it rained at our picnic. It was a riot watching them. G was even sitting in them. Boy, was he fun to clean!



















I thought I'd capture their feet in mud in motion!











Some brotherly love between J and G.














Here's H holding Grandpa Larry's dog. She loves that cute little dog!

Digging into and devouring their Ice Cream Sandwiches.










H and I having a mommy-daughter moment.














The boys with Grandpa Larry (Zach's dad).














J playing at Kid's Cove, the park in Marquette. I would play at this same park while in college. The kids had a blast! This was the day we got to see Grandma Linda (Zach's mom).

A view from the breakwall at Presque Isle. In college I would go and sit on those rocks and spend time with God. It was so peaceful.














H enjoying the rocks.














My Dad, Pat and I.














My cousin, Darci, and I.
 

H with her friend A, my friend Jen's daughter. They send pictures, postcards and letters througout the year.














Here we are in front of the Arch in St. Louis.



















And again.














Here it is, the famous Arch. We didn't go inside because there was a long wait. But it was neat to see in person.



















*I wish I had gotten more pictures of visits with other people, but sometimes I just simply forgot to take a picture while visiting! 

Long Recap of our Trip

Whew. It is so nice to be home again. It is refreshing. This is the first time all month that life is normal and it feels so good. We had a wonderful time in 'da U.P.' visiting family and friends. It was a shorter trip than last summer, so we only had the chance to see some people only one time. But I guess once is better than not at all. I am one who really likes to spend time with people though, so seeing somebody for only 2 hours out of a whole year doesn't cut it! Especially when it is family! But, what can you do?

We had a great time with our family. My mom had a picnic for us one day with her family. My family is a bit crazy (whose isn't) and there are some disputes among my grandma and some of her children. Last summer was the same way and she didn't come to our family reunion activities because of it. This summer I sat with her before the picnic and told her how important it was to me that she be at the picnic. We all worked on her all week, and I was so excited to see her come! Maybe her heart is slowly softening. I can only continue to pray for her. Then, bless her heart, our last night there she wanted to come and visit us so badly but the power went out in alot of the U.P. and she couldn't get gas because of it and couldn't come and visit. I could tell she was disappointed. She has faults (don't we all) and tends to play favorites with her kids and grandkids. I am one of the favorites. I don't like it, but what can I do? For a long time I was the youngest grandchild. I practically lived at my grandma's house as a little girl. I have many fond memories of being with her and spending time with her. Anyway, I am getting off track here...Sorry. Our picnic was fun, despite the rain and thunderstorms. It was good to get together with the aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Well, on that side of the family. It is hard because both Zach's and my parents are divorced, so we have 4 sets of parents to see!

We got to visit with Zach's dad a few times and he had fun spoiling the kids with gum, ice cream sandwiches and the works! They had fun running in his sprinkler in their underwear and torturing his poor dog. On our last visit there when we left J just bawled. I have never seen him cry like that over saying good-bye to somebody! It was so touching! He wanted to stay with Grandpa Larry!

We saw Zach's mom only for a few hours. She lives further away now, so it is difficult to squeeze in a visit. We went out for pizza and took the kids to a park. It was good to see her. H had fun talking her ear off and riding with her to the park!

We visited with my dad, my grandma, aunt, cousins and kids for a few hours another time. While a short visit, it was nice to see them all. Like my other grandma, I have wonderful memories of this grandma too. I think she is the cutest old lady. I always have. She can be stubborn, I am told, but she is so sweet. It was good to see my dad and stepmom, Pat. I always love joking around with my dad. It was fun to see all the kids play together too.

We also saw Zach's sister, Rachel and her four girls. They had just moved into a new house so I got to help her unpack a few boxes and hang a few things. H had a blast playing with the girls! From the moment we arrived I didn't even see her until it was time to eat! It was nice visiting with Rachel too. Wish we would have gotten to see her husband, but he was off at work.

One day we played at my cousin, Jodi's house. My kids love going there. J got to drive a 4 wheeler (my aunt showed him how). He was having so much fun- until he ran over Jodi's son. Luckily he was ok, but I guess J completely ran him over! Good thing it was a child size machine. H was even getting in on the 4 wheeler driving! They all were cruising around the yard! The kids always have such a fun time together. Zach got to learn to play ladder golf and had fun doing that with the guys.

Besides seeing family, we also had some time to see some good friends:
*On the drive up we stopped in Milwaukee, WI and visited our long lost friend, Chris. She was my maid of honor. We lost touch for many years (I hadn't seen her since my wedding), and just recently began communicating again. It was wonderful to see her again and to meet her husband.
*Zach got to visit his friends, Harm & Jim (though it was a brief visit). They've all been friends for forever and Zach talks to Harm on the phone more than anybody else. Harm drove all the way from Wisconsin to visit with Zach only for 1 day! They're both Packer fans and as close as brothers.
*Another long lost friend of mine is Jodie. We went to church and youth group together. We tended to be the more rebellious ones of the group, though not too rebellious. I hadn't seen her since her wedding (almost 5 years ago) and we hadn't seen each other's children (although she did see H when she was little). We met at the Bridgefest parade and it was awesome seeing her and her cute kids. They were real shy, but after awhile her daughter warmed up to me.
*We went to Marquette where we went to college and I stopped in to see this lady I worked with. She was kinda like a second mom to me while in college. I hadn't seen her in years either. Last she knew I had two kids. Boy, did we surprise her! It was so fun seeing her!
*The couple we look up to the most, our old campus minister and his wife, John and Dorothy, were a stop on our trip too. It is crazy to see how much their children have grown! It was so fun to sit and visit and eat with them. Just like old times. They are such a neat family and we had a blessed visit with them.
*We also saw my friend from college, Jen and her family. (She sometimes leaves comments on my blog). She was a social work major too, but a year or two ahead of me. Then she got married and moved away. But we've kept in touch. She has three children (her oldest a girl and the younger two boys) just like us. She is so sweet and while we only visited briefly it was great fellowship for us all.
*Due to taking a wrong turn in Chicago on our drive back we went to St. Louis and saw the Arch. Then we visited some friends at Scott AFB (where I REALLY want to go next). Their names are Jamie and Jamie and they were our neighbors in N.C. Our last names even start with the same letter. We call the male Jamie James. They had twins 9 months ago so we got to meet them. We totally surprised them and it was a blast to see their faces!

It always amazes me that even though time may pass at a fast rate between visits, phone calls or emails, you seem to pick up right where you last left off with old friends. It's like years never slipped by, but only days. It is neat how friendships work like that. That includes friendships with family too. My cousin and I are real good friends, and I think of all of my family as friends, for we just pick right up and carry on until next time.

We had such a good trip, despite a few brawls with the in-laws and each other (it is always hard staying at somebody else's house). Not for me as much, since it is my parents, but Zach has a hard time of it, poor guy. I think I'd be in his shoes if it were his parents house too. But, boy there is no place like home and it is good to be home again! Will post pictures soon. And if you made it this far you deserve an applause!

Home Sweet Home

We are home- in Mississippi. We had a great trip and I'll have to blog about it another time. We took 3 days to drive back here and enjoyed ourselves along the way. I am already unpacked (have been home for 2 hours) and I am exhausted! I sure missed catching up on everyone's blog and will return to the land of normal soon!

Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder...

Well, tomorrow we leave for our trip home. I am dreading the drive but I can't wait to see my family and friends. Zach wants to leave at midnight. I am not sure when we are leaving, I just want the drive over! It has been such a busy month of June already, with my friend Beth visiting and now our trip. We had a blast with Beth and her kids here. We went to the Science Museum in Mobile, went to the beach, played in the backyard, went garage saling, toured the area, got sunburned, watched movies and played and talked. It was a blast. The kids were sad to see her go. G kept saying, "Beshh" all day yesterday, looking for her. I am looking forward to spending time with my mom, shopping with her and of course seeing everybody else. It is hard to squeeze all our visits with family and friends into such a short time but we will try. I am sure I will update at least once while in Michigan. I will leave you with some more pictures. Let me just say that I L-O-V-E my camera! I haven't read the instruction book yet or had the chance to fiddle with it too much to see all of the features, but I am in love with it!
Here is G with the "Man" as he calls Ronald, getting all close and cozy.












Here he is again being silly.












Here's H along the beach. She had a good time running in the sand to the setting sun.












J had fun splashing in the water with his friend, Jacob.

Havin' Some F-U-N!

 

The Chosen One

This is what I ended up deciding on for my camera. It was the one I originally wanted, but I wanted to check reviews and all that fun stuff. I absolutely love it so far and have been using it everywhere! With my friend, Beth, here visiting I've been taking tons of pictures. Will post some soon.