5K in the am for SB!

I am totally excited for the Spina Bifida Walk/Run tomorrow morning! I will be running the 5K with my little brother and there are a good number of family members from both sides of our family doing the walk. Totally excited to run for my little girl. Wishing Jake could be apart of this, but someday he will. Sadly enough Lydia has had a fever on and off since Wednesday afternoon(due to a shot), but she will be there! She may just be 'cheering' us on from the sidelines. Go Team Lydia! Happy Friday Ya'll

Wisconsin state fair park

Haven't been to our State Fair Park in 5 years, but I took Isabelle yesterday. We met up with my girlfriend and her 2 kids. Such fun, so many perrty cows, horses, baby chicks, n piglets. Not to mention the fried everything on a stick. :) Isabelle and I shared a fried cheese stick, mini cinnamon sugar donuts and a fresh squeezed lemonade. She went on 3 rides and 4 hours later in the heat we were ready to go home. Unfortunelty she woke up just before midnight puking, yep! Long night, she is feeling much better this am...and I am enjoying the snuggle time. It's times like these I am thankful that my job is to just be mom.

A heavy heart

I am in a rut... Missing my man... A wife of a Soldier...leaves a lot of 'missing you' times. So I thought I would write about it. Last night I watched an old black and white with my mom; about 4 Soldier returning from WWll and the how the 4 of them were dealing with life and integrating back into what is considered normal life. One Soldier, a Navy man, lost his hands. He came home with prostheses(sp?) hands, he had to rely on his father and mother for help with certain things...of course there was a women involved. His neighbor, a child hood sweet heart. The beauty of it all was she didn't even notice his hands, she loved him so much and didn't care that she had to help him for forever-she saw right past it. He was willing to let her go, but she didn't want to go anywhere. She still loved him and just wanted HIM. My heart aches and I have to pray to God to take away the fears I have of the unknown with my husband and his job. All the unknowns we have yet to face knowing he is deploying again. Jake has only been gone a few weeks, but having him state side the last 2.5 years makes a month away drag on and on. I am an optimistic though, heaven knows you won't last being married to a Soldier if your a pessimist. If you are, well everyone knows how depressed you must be and unhappy! Seriously! :) Anyhow, When I get down like this I have to stop and look around at the beautiful things I, we, do have and thank God for the daily reminders I have of my husband around me. It makes the time we do have together so much sweeter. Our love is so strong. Always having the want and desire to be in each others arms again. To say goodnight to each other, to wake up to each other...every time Jake leaves for longer than a few weeks, I get to fall in love with him all over again! I literally get butterflies and sweaty palms waiting to pick him up. I blush and get all tongue tied and all I can think to do is hug and kiss him. I am thinking of that today-not the negative, not the scary. It's Friday, another stick, hot, day. Not as hot as Jake is in OK right now, triple digits...He made his E6. STAFF SERGEANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!He waited 1 year and 4 months. He has been short by 2 points (it's all based on a point system) at least 2 times...with that said we are so proud, so honored, and walking on air with Jake's promotion. Thank you Jesus! Happy Friday

(beer cans, courtesy of my 26th birthday party and 4 good friends.)

Someone turned 1!

That someone is our little Lydia Mae. What a fun day it was...a bit of the county fair, home made cup cakes, and family. The only thing missing was Daddy. Check out this cutie

She is our Christmas in July :) Time is flying by in Wisconsin. The girls are growing and learning so much. Have a great Weekend all.

The Gehl Cabin

Take a deap breath, Jake made it home safe and sound with his parents! NO MORE DESSERT! The hubs grandfather had a cabin built off of Harris Lake near Manitowoc, WI. Jake spent endless summers up there but after high school has maybe been there twice? So I thought it was time we go up to the Gehl cabin as a family and it worked out perfectly that none of the other Gehl's had plans to be there over the 4th of July. So off we went...and it was just so beautiful and perfect. Jake shared so many stories and memories of his grandpa and grandma, cousins, etc...it was like taking a peak into the past. Making our own memories with our little ones was just as beautiful. We had a few days to our selves and then we were joined by Jake's parents, sister and husband. It was such an awesome visit, so much laughter, and just good to get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life and enjoy mother nature and the beautiful cabin that Ralph and Leah established. Not much else to discuss other than we are enjoying every day here in Wisconsin. Such a weight had been lifted knowing when we leave we are not going to be so far away. Lydia loves to point at the trees and birds, Isabelle likes killing daddy long legs and big black ants. Jake and I are enjoying going on runs together and just the little things knowing our girls are in good hands. God is good, life is grand...Now if we could just get some rain! :) Happy Monday All.

Happy 11 Months to you!

Sweet Lydia Mae, You are 11 months today! As always time flies when you are having fun, that's why we can not believe you are almost one. You are such a gentle spirited girl and so easy going. We contribute that to your crazy big sister and all the madness here at home. How we love having you in our lives and oh do we love your tight squeezes every time mommy or daddy get you out of your crib. You are a quiet little thing, but boy do you know what's going on. You have yet to say 'momma', and you know I want you too smarty pants. But, you are making me wait. (And that's okay.) You are trying to say 'fan' and you love to point. Point at the fan, light, eyes, nose, ears, teeth. You like when we say what you are pointing too and it is only a matter of time before you start saying those words. When someone yells, you put your head down. Really, have we said how sweet you are? You don't like when your sissy cries and you put your hands up in an "I don't know why" gesture. When anyone takes something away from you then you speak your peace, really more of a wine and half cry...you are learning what you like and when that toy or whatever get's taken away you tell it like it is. :) Left and right you roll around, you are practically crawling which is so fun to watch. I walk out of a room and when I walk back in you are on the other side of the room or stuck under the couch. You like your dolly, and you are learning to feed her a bottle. It is the cutest thing. You give her 'love' and its so sweet. Foods you enjoy are bananas, applesauce, chef boyardi, goldfish, pancakes, toast with jam, and eggs. You are still in a size 3, which is sure to change soon. A ham you are, wearing 12-18 month clothes. All your big sister's outfits she wore at 18 months. Teething has begun, about 2 weeks ago you cut your first tooth on the bottom. You like when mommy clicks the silver spoon on your tooth and you hear the noise. Recently, you have started pulling your hair clips out.Are you trying to tell me something? We are leaving our first home, your pretty purple room, and all that is normal to you. But oh the joy's you will have when we arrive to Wisconsin and everyone is going to spoil you with such love. You will feel the soft grass, hear the birds chirp, and hopefully warm up to the pool; which freaks you out as of now. :) We love you hunny girl.

Here comes the emotional roller coaster

It is that time again for our family, being a military family to move on to our next duty station. With a PCS (Permanent Change of Station) comes waves of emotions. I am a glass half full kind of gal and it's times like these that it pays off. Let's start with the sad first and I will end with the happy. We are leaving our first home, first home we bought. Wow, such a milestone in our adult lives to purchase a home and now it is time to say goodbye. We may never see this house again, which is okay. Or we just may be back here again! As a mother and wife I have grown leaps and bounds in the mothering department, being a SAHM, and being a Christian wife. There are a lot of good women around me I have to thank for that and those women I will miss. It was such a blessing to be surrounded by Christian Army wives and mom's. Little Isabelle, who is growing like a weed has made many friends herself. She will miss her girlfriends and I am sure I will be hearing their names in months to come. One thing I have learned and watched is how resilient Military children are; all children are in general. However our children will learn and are learning that our lives will change every few years and that it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Hopefully leading by example our girls will learn that we can now bless and be blessed by new friends, a new home, etc... Back to this dessert; we have experienced crazy brown outs/sand storms,drought, have been blasted by a hot hot sun, and have hiked through some gorgeous mountains. Although I have come to appreciate the rocky forms, I will not miss you. :) On a happier note... Since being here we've had our second little girl who is truly an angel. Such a blessing she is to us. We have been able to travel to New Mexico because of her doctor appointments and that has been such an adventure and learning experience. Seeing another part of the Southwest and experiencing different culture. Many pictures and memories to show the girls when they are older. Although my husband has struggled with his unit he has been with here, he has been stateside for 2 and a half years. Such a blessing in this time of war. We have had 2 birthdays, Christmas', New Years, Anniversary's, etc...and it has done our hearts good. We know we will be facing another deployment as early as this fall; but God will carry us through another one and we're ready for the next chapter of our lives. As I sit in my living room with my girls playing house and eating cheerios part of me want's to just break down and feel sorry for myself, but why? Ahh we have so much to look forward too! Again the benefits of being a SAHM are allowing me to go home for the summer to Wisconsin with our girls. To see our families, friends, extended family. Jake will go to school for a month knowing his ladies are in good hands. I am ready to see the girls play in the grass and to watch a black ant (NOT RED) tickle Lydia's hand as it crawls around. Ready for grandma's to giggle with joy over something silly Isabelle has said. Ready to have Jake stain his sneakers green as his dad will let him cut the grass. Our girl's will get to go to a fair or 2 and see the big Wisconsin dairy cows and all the baby chicks. We will wake up to the soft sound of a train coming down the track and softly blowing it's whistle. Another new sound Lydia will learn. The thing I look forward to most is RAIN. Yes you know the country song 'rain is a good thing!' I am like a kid in the candy store when I just think of the rain pattering on the roof tops and hitting the windows. Maybe we'll even get a few rainbows. The list goes on and on. Needless to say I am grateful we won't be here to watch our household goods get packed up. That we won't be sleeping on an air mattress in an empty house with 2 little ones. We have a close friend so graciously willing to oversee the movers. I am grateful that we aren't driving back the 27 hours, that my father in law has once again volunteered to help us(Jake)out with the drive. I will wake up the 26th and take my last shower in our home. Have a cup of coffee with my husband and then we will wake our girls up, have our last bowl of cereal and daddy will take us to the airport. We will ran de vous with him on the 2nd of July. I am thankful that I can lean on my husband for his strength knowing that he is my rock. This move is so different than our first, but with it comes the same excitement of change and being able to start over again. I read in a book by Priscilla Shirer something that has always stood out to me, she writes that 'a satisfied women is noticeable and restful...' That is my thought for these next couple of months. It will hit me late next Tuesday nigh the girls are tucked in for the night, that our time in El Paso is over, that we won't be going back to our home there, that it really is time to start over. And when it does, I look forward to being able to go up to my mom or dad, and just let the tears fall as they hold me...and then I will have gotten over the last hill of the roller coaster! (We always need our mom and dad don't we?) :)