Palm Trees and Cool Breezes

I'll never forget the layover of a lifetime...I had spent 5 days in the jungles of Panama sharing goods and Jesus with Pastor "Indians" sleeping in a tent bathing in the river and eating great food. We were about to board our plane to come back to the States. We got the "dreaded" news that our flight had been cancelled. Little did we know that at the airlines expense all 17 of us would get our own 2 queen bed room w/balcony, meals tickets worth $24 a meal for two days. It was at the airlines hotel that had an amazing pool area, golf course.
My favorite part about the downtime was sitting by the pool under the grassy umbrella feeling the breeze, sun and view of the palm trees and friends enjoying a game of water volleyball. I read my book for 3 hrs straight no interuptions. The book was about being a wife and mother as a daughter of Jesus. Some of the Proverbs suggestions I could only dream of doing or being one day but with one day at a time I think I can come closer today than I was yesterday.
I want to master the art of beauty, homemaking, mothering, and the gift of being my husbands wife and a Daughter to my Father in Heaven. In the end of this life I want to hear the words well done thy good and faithful servant. I don't want to settle for Sundays only for "church" I want to be the church to a hurting world, my hometown is small on the charts compaired to many, the needs here in our community are great I want to be used to help the weak, tend to the hurting and give to my family the greatest gift...to show them to have compassion for others.
Ive got a few goals in mind...they are working Im excited that results are coming from doing when nothing could have been done. I want the effort I put into it to be laborsome but yet the reward to be as the day I sat and felt the breeze and carefree moment that allowed me to dig deeper into something bigger than myself.

Each day is a day closer to good bye

My wish of hoping the last two weeks would fly by was granted now I wish time would slow down. Just said good bye to hubby for the next 4 days just to have him home 2 then gone 10 what is wrong with this picture? We are in the ballpark of 3 1/2 - 4 months till departure for aprox one year. What bums me out is I feel like I just got him back home from the last one...tis life. Each day that goes by is another one closer to good bye cannot wait to say each day gone by is one closer to hello.

Date Night

K, so this week I have planned a date for my hubby and I. I got a sitter ready now just to pick out the location. I'm thinking Im gonna spice it up a little and try a new place. So 10-20 new places in a hat I'll pull out one and that's where we will go. We need this time to re-charge after quite a bit of drills school days out of town, busy schedules and all. I love being a wife and want to invest in our marriage.

Ring and not the door bell kind.

With more and more people getting engaged with huge rings I ponder more about when I got my ring. My DH and I picked it out together. After trying on jumbo rings cause that's what the movies and ads and our friends tell us ladies we should have I moved on to something more simple. I picked a 1/2 carat set. When we got to hubby's truck thoughts began to swirl, is this the RIGHT one for SURE, should I have gotten a bigger carat? Does the carat size really mean he loves me more or less? I looked over and even asked my Husband should I have gotten the 1 carat? His reply was: Would you like the 1 carat? My mind was racing , oh it's bigger who wouldn't want bigger, but is bigger necessary? However my heart was content on a 1/2 carat ring. The ring was a symbol not the value of our union.
One day prior to our wedding Ken's sister showed me a magazine that had a huge ring in it. She asked wouldn't you like a ring like that? It brought to my attention that I had not shown her my ring yet. I went upstairs to Kens bathroom (soon to be my bathroom too) and got it from the medicine cabinet. Upon showing her she was in disbelief, glanced at the ring back at her ring the the ring in the box. We had the SAME ring. She had gotten her's 4 years prior at the same store. However I had never seen her ring and guess what??? It was the same carat size too! Kens dad told me his daughter always had good taste and that I must have good taste too. He then said welcome to the family. It will be one amazing story to share with grandkids someday.
I often see the huge rings and wonder why...is it the taste of the one who bought it, or the sales person wanting a higher comission by selling it, or for show?

Normal reaction to and abnormal situation

Found this on a site: "The emotions you experience during the cycles of deployment are a normal reaction to an abnormal situation unique to the military." SERIOUSLY???? REALLY???? I am reacting normal to and abnormal situation? They state the 7 steps of pre,during and post deployment. I feel like they are reading my mail...how do they know so much about me and is the government really more incharge of my brain than I thought? Nah it's really years and years of research on how people react to these situations. It does make me wonder if they are warping me though ; /. Not to mention that my Son is going through the same emotions. Ready for this roller coaster ride of emotions to be over...till then it's me and Jesus and staying busy.

The boot list

It has hit me like a brick that Ken has been gone a lot 2 1/2 weeks gone, home a week gone for two more weeks home a month except a drill then gone 5 days and another 2 weeks. WHEW! So here I am and I've got my big girl combat boots on ready to take on the tasks that come each day except the emotions. That part is too big of a job for boots or background. Each deployment is different, and I have held my own until today. The first time anyone has asked me how I am doing with this pre-deployment stuff and I got teary eyed. You see I ask myself all the time and really I am tuff but it's harder to be tuff when it's someone else who knows you well. So big girl boots on I ponder how to make the "best" of it. SO I have come up with crazy things to do to pass the time...it's called the boot list. Things I'd like to do during the deployment. #1 Spend more time with God #2 Take as many sweet shots as I can before, during and after this "adventure". #3 Remove stress factors #4 Cow tipping! (yes I know) #5. Meet the needs of others #6. Be real about it. #7. Keep the tissues handy #8. Bless my husbands socks off. ; ) and many more to come.

Shutter Bug Fix

Last night and today I got to get in my shutter bug fix. I did Cristy's Promotion pictures last night and a wedding today! It feels great to capture these memories for family and friends.