Day 115

He's HOME!! Well, he's stateside at least! I arrived at Fort Bragg just after he did tonight and we've enjoyed just being together this evening. Sans kids. Awesome. I'm going to enjoy the next few days of togetherness and freedom so very much!!

Day 114

Last day, last day, LAST DAY!!! SOOO very excited! I planned on doing all sorts of fun activities with the kids today to make up for the fact that I'll be gone all week, but that quickly turned into me trying to get the house in order and letting the kids entertain themselves. It went OK at first. Maura volunteered to ride Bennett on the scooter--which he absolutely LOVED!! BUT, like always, playtime disintegrated into a game of chase, which always leads to tragedy. This time it was Bennett's eye. Poor baby!

I probably shouldn't be giving you a preview of coming attractions, but we were working hard this evening!

Ouch! He's going to have quite a shiner. I still think he looks handsome!

Day 113

113 days. It's been a long, long journey. Some days I felt like we might not make it to the end. Some days I was so tired and frustrated and angry and sad. Some days were full of happiness and joy. Through this whole journey, I have learned to lean more on God and trust in His perfect plan. I may not always feel like it's perfect, but He desires to love me and bless me and SOMEHOW this must fit in. I learned how much I depend and trust in YOU and how much of that trust needs to be transferred over to the Lord. I learned that I am a much better parent when I parent as part of a team. I get frustrated easily with the kids and there's no one around to tag out with. Some days it's not pretty and the kids tell me I hurt their feelings when I yell at them. Some days this makes me feel like a complete failure as a mom, but when I ask for their forgiveness and give hugs and kisses, I realize that this is a whole lot like how God feels about us. I disobey, God disciplines, I get my feelings hurt, then ask for and receive complete forgiveness. I only hope that I can model Christ for them. Now that you're winging your way back to us, I have so many hopes and dreams and desires for our family. I want us to be so much better, so much closer, so much more in love. You all are my greatest earthly gifts and I always want to treat you as such. I love you so very much.We are blessed, BLESSED!! I can't wait to lay my eyes on your handsome face on Tuesday. I love you!!

Day 112

Sometimes you just feel like a game night. Sometimes you even play by the rules. Sometimes you don't even cry when you land on the dog, or the bird or the "spill the basket."

...but sometimes you do.

Day 111

We celebrated Friday with some cookie baking, eating and movies tonight. Mmm, chocolate chips! The kids were VERY helpful--Tristan helped by cracking an egg all over the counter and floor. :)

Day 110

I just hung out at home tonight with my cheetah, kitty and little daddy.
We had cheetah hunts...

and barbecues once the gazelle was in the bag.

We had kitty naps.We had lots of lovin' on babies, which was cute and sweet and wild when he whipped the babies up into the air!

But he did pat his baby, sing her a song and send her off to dreamland. So sweet!

Day 109

Yesterday was...interesting. I got a call late in the afternoon from Mom asking me to hurry back home(I was shopping. :) Her neighbor had just called to inform her that a tornado had just touched down near their home. Mom rushed home to find complete devistation at the back of their property, a very worked up horse and absolutely no damage to their house and barn. We headed out today for a quick peek at the damage. The kids were VERY interested in all this and had a lot of tornado questions. The scene was very intimidating--the pictures don't do it justice.