Christmas

Christmas was great this year, but it was very obvious that Chief was not here.  I just don't feel complete when we are away from each other.  The family all came over to Mom and Tiny's house on Christmas Eve, and we opened presents.  We Skyped Chief in so that he could share in the chaos and fun!  We had great conversation, amazing food, and a wonderful time.


Christmas morning was wonderful as well.  The kids were so excited to see what Santa had brought them this year! We also Skyped in Chief, so he was able to share that time with us as well.  Mom made a breakfast casserole, we cooked all afternoon, and then we went to my Grandma's house later on in the day for Christmas dinner.

Miss Priss checking out her new Teacup Piggy

Jackson "fainting" after he got the Wii game he wanted from Santa

The day after Christmas, we picked up Mookier at the airport in Amarillo.  It was great to see her and have all of our kids under one roof again.  We spent the day at my brother and sister in law's house with my Dad that drove in from Elk City, OK.  We had prime rib, watched the kids play on the Kinect, and just visited all day.  It was a wonderful day as well.

Christmas Eve is especially hard for us since it is Beckam's Birthday and also the day he died.  It is hard to believe that it has been 7 years because it feels like yesterday.  The raw hurt is still there on this day every year, and I don't think it will ever go away.  I still "what if" myself, question God and his reasoning, and think about it every day of my life.

Today in church, I finally have let go of the "what ifs".  Nothing really stands out that caused this, but I started thinking about how selfish I am for questioning God!  Who am I to do this???  He sacrificed His Son for our eternal life.  Beckam was blessed to me for a short time, and God took him back to be with him.  We are so blessed that we were able to have 2 1/2 hours with him and on Christmas Eve. It only seems fitting if you think about it.  The Dr's kept telling us to prepare to lose both babies, but I knew in my heart that He would not do that to us.  We wanted those babies so much and had tried for so long for them.  I was meant to be a Mom, and I know He wanted me to be one as well.  By God's hand, my pregnancy continued against all odds.  When you have a greater than 97% chance of losing the other baby, you would think there really wasn't any hope to hold on to.  I pulled every hope and strength out of myself that night and had complete trust in God that He would save our Monkey Doodle that was still growing in my tummy.  When Monkey Doodle was born, they told us that he had a 80% chance of cerebral palsy, 100% chance of learning disabilities, would probably have horrible eyesight, and would be on the smaller side the rest of his life. Our tiny, wrinkly, beautiful boy had a long road ahead of him and a lot of obstacles to overcome.  We gave him over to God once again, and He again showed us His grace and love to us.  Monkey Doodle is now about to be 7 years old 1 month, and he has no physical or learning disabilities whatsoever, top in his class, and is in the 95% percentile for his height and 50% for his weight.  He is the size of an average 9 year old and reads at a 4 grade level!!!  It is quite obvious that he is a complete miracle and is destined for something special on this earth.  He has the sweetest and most gentle spirit, and everyone loves him. I truly think that God took Beckam from us to save Monkey Doodle.  He knew what He was doing, and I have no business questioning God.  He gave me exactly what I wanted!  I have the husband I always dreamed of, 4 beautiful kids even though one was not born to me and one is in heaven,  and an incredibly interesting and amazing life! I also have a family that loves me and a God that loves all of me, including my faults.

I look at our life, and we are incredibly blessed with amazing and healthy children, good health for us, amazing families, wonderful friends, a beautiful home, live in paradise at the moment, and have a wonderful career with steady pay.  God always provides even when we don't ask.  We always end up in the perfect house, the perfect jobs, and all around perfect situation for us.  

God is so good, so good all of the time.

Where did the time go?

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted!  I am really slacking off on this blog thing, and I will try to be better.  A lot has gone on in the last few weeks, so I will try to catch everyone up.

We had a terrific vacation in Texas, and we were sad to go.  We THOUGHT we were moving there in November for a year while Chief is in Iraq, but the Army had different plans for us.  The kids and I will be staying in Hawaii while Chief is gone, and we are OK with that.  The kids will have stability for school, stay in their current home, and keep their current friends.  We will make it back to Texas for Christmas though!  This does make the year a little harder on us, but we have fantastic friends here that will make it easier on us.  I hope everyone will come and visit us to make the time go by quicker though! We should be here until June 2012, and then we will hopefully be moving to Wiesbaden, Germany for 3 years.  I am excited to be able to live in 1 house for the next 2 years, and then I am very excited to move to Germany!  What a great adventure for us and the kids!  The places we will see and the culture we will experience will be a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I dream of the day that I can tell Jeremy that I want to go to Paris for lunch, and off we go!

We had a terrific 4th of July that we spent with friends and had a huge BBQ at our house.  Schofield had a celebration right here on post, and it was fantastic!  We sat around and listen to the band, Smash Mouth (think of the theme song from Shrek, and that is what they sing),  chatted with lots of friends, danced, and watched the fireworks display. It was really really good!

We have been spending quite a bit of time at the beach since we got home, and we are loving it!  We went to Shark's Cove last week, and me and some friends snorkeled all the way from Shark's Cove to 3 Tables Beach and back.  It took us about 1.5 hours, and it was a beautiful trip!  Monkey Doodle has really taken off with snorkeling as well, and he goes out really far with us while not even holding on to us.  I hold his hand about 50% of the time, even though he doesn't need me to.  That is the helicopter parent in me, I guess.

Miss Priss had an accident on the trampoline a few days ago.  She hit her mouth on Monkey Doodle's head, and she has a fat lip, some bruised and cut gums, and 2 loose teeth!  Chief took her Urgent Care, and they said she should be fine and not lose the teeth. It has been a few days now, and they are definitely tightening up, PRAISE GOD!  I would have hated to see her lose one of her 2 front teeth along with the one next to it.

We also added a 12 week old kitten to our family!  Isabella Claire is a Blue Point/Snowshoe Siamese, and is absolutely beautiful!  She is exactly the kind of kitty we wanted, and is a great addition to the family.  She took to us right away and already sleeps with Chief and I.  Her and Lucy are already the best of friends, and Lucy treats her as her baby.

Chief's niece is here visiting along with her girlfriend, and we are having a great time!  We will get to enjoy them until July 22nd!  Then, BOTH kids start back to school on August 2nd!  I cannot believe the summer is more than half over!  I already bought a lot of the kids' school supplies, and it was bittersweet.  I cannot believe we will have both kids in school!  What in the world will I do with my free time?  Gym, running, beach, yoga, cooking??  The possibilities are endless, at least until 2:00 PM everyday!

I will work on getting up another post on our Texas trip along with pictures soon.  I also need to post pictures of our house all finished and decorated!  That post is a few months late, but my friend at www.chelseamckinleyphotography.com took some pictures for me on 4th of July, so I hope to post them soon.

Movin' on down!

I wanted to update everyone on my progress today.  I am down 2 more pounds, so 6 of the 8 are gone again!  I feel so much better, and I hope that it keeps coming off.  We leave in 2 days, so I am hoping to have to have the last 2 lbs gone by Tuesday.  Seeing the scale move in the right direction definitely keeps me motivated!

We are pretty much packed now except for our carry on bags.  I am ready to see my family and also be back with my husband!  I also cannot wait to see our beautiful graduate, Mookie, and see her walk across that stage.  It will definitely be a bitter sweet moment for us. Only 2 more days, and we can say ALOHA to Texas!  

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe that she is 18 and going to college. It seems like yesterday when a little 5 year old, blond haired girl with big blue eyes and a huge smile on her face came up to me and introduced herself.

I used to beg her to let me put bows in her hair or braid it when she was little, but she wouldn't let me. She was determined then, and she is determined now. I was so excited to have a little girl in my life.  It was such a huge bonus when I married my Chief.



She has grown up to be such an amazing young lady and wonderful person.

 I always get asked to braid her hair now, and I still love it!

With her witty sense of humor, kind heart, and even her sarcastic personality(that she completely got from her daddy), she still impresses me every time I see her or talk to her.

She has been successful in Cheerleading, Student Council, Junior Achievement, National Honor Society, Advanced Placement, Choir, Church, and so much more that I cannot even remember.

Her beauty and grace still take my breath away. 

She has achieved so much already, and I cannot wait to see what else she will do in her next adventure in life.

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 I don't think she will ever know just how much we love her and are proud of her. 

 She will always be our little Mookie.

What has been going on in my life....

I cannot believe it has been this long since I blogged.  Time has completely gotten away from me this past month, and we have had so much going on.  I think a list will be the best way to handle this.


1.  I have been planning our month long trip to Texas for Mookie's high school graduation and visiting family and friends. We couldn't decide if we were going to be adventurous and take a military flight to the mainland or purchase tickets to lock in our timeline.  We chose the latter because we didn't want to chance losing too many vacation days for Chief. 

2.  I have been in Georgia since April 24th.  I got an email on Thursday, the 22nd, that my Grandmother was in ICU and not doing well.  Ava and I ended up flying out on a military fuel tanker, KC135, on Saturday from Hawaii to Knoxville, TN.  Our cold/slightly uncomfortable but fun flight ended up being 10 1/2 hours instead of 8.  The plan was to rent a car and drive to Atlanta, GA that night to my dad's hotel.  We ended up renting a car and getting a hotel room due getting in very late and horrible storms with tornadoes.  We got up the next day and spent the next few days up at the hospital visiting with my Grandmother, my Dad, Uncle Duke, and my cousin Steve.  My 86 year old grandmother was very sick with her heart, diabetes, kidneys, and had a fracture in her back from a fall that left her in tremendous pain.  We really didn't think she was going to make it out of the hospital this time, but she is already out and back at the nursing home!  She still has a long recovery, but she is doing very well considering the circumstances.

3.  I also was able to spend time with my best friend and her 2 boys as well!  She lives 1 1/2 hours away at Ft Benning, and it was soooo nice to see them! I stayed with her and then drove back and forth to the hospital to sit with my Grandmother.  We spent a lot of time chatting, eating bad things, and watching the kids play.  Her husband deployed before Easter, so she has her hands full with a 2 year old and 9 month old.  I loved every minute of my time with them and hope we get to see them again soon.

4.  We found out that Chief is getting promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 5!!!  I am so proud of him because he has worked so hard to get to this moment.  This is the highest rank he can go, so it is a huge accomplishment.  We even have special parking now at the Commissary and PX, and that is always a good thing!

5.  He is also working on our next assignment, and it looks like we might be moving to Wiesbaden, Germany in Spring 2012. We are excited and anxious about the possible new adventure in our ever changing lives! 

6.  We also found out that Chief will be deploying again to Iraq in late 2010.  We will move to Texas while he is gone for the year, and so we are starting to prepare for that as well.  The logistics of all this is a nightmare when trying to plan for storage for our stuff, car shipping, packing, living arrangements in Texas, transferring schools. etc.  We are going to miss him so much, and I am just not same person when he is away from me.  It is hard to function with my other half not being there.  We will keep it together though and get through it!