Well, here we are on winter number two in Western Kansas ;) Do you want to know how I know winter is here? Because my feet are FREEZING!! So I am going to spend the next two months cuddled up under my blanket with my hot chocolate. I might venture out to see Christmas lights, however, because they are the best things man ever created! I really wish more people would decorate their houses for Christmas (coming from someone whose house is never decorated) so that I could drive around for hours and look at them. My mom's neighbor has the best decorated house and I told my mom I am going to set up a blanket and chair and camp out on her lawn to look at the lights....with hot chocolate, and if anyone cares to join me, I will share :) So, while all of you are enjoying your Christmas festivities.....you know where to find me :)

Good friends

I love that I have a friend that can hack into my blog and change it up for me...no really, I am being serious....I LOVE IT!
(because we all know I have no clue what I am doing....now if I could just get her to blog for me haha)

Deployments

Everyone knows deployment just stinks so I was trying to think of the good things we have experienced during deployments...

*During our first deployment, we were able to become debt free, now the extra money makes for some great family vacations.

*Even though Damon has been gone multiple years, he has never missed our kids birthdays. We were always able to schedule R&R around their birthdays (he did leave once on the morning of Cody's birthday for the field, but we celebrated the day before)

*I have learned that I am pretty strong and can handle almost anything (through God's strength) but I will admit, I do put some things off until he gets home.

*Being apart allows my husband to write me sweet letters (hint, hint, Damon)

There are also things that I enjoy that I usually don't do when Damon is home but I would trade them in a heartbeat to have him here.

*sleeping with my kids in my bed
*hanging out in the front yard until 9 at night with friends watching the kids play
*going down to the neighbor's house to borrow something and coming back two hours later...oh wait, I did that while he was home, too, OOPS!
*making sandwiches or cereal for dinner

Although I hate Damon being gone, and I know he hates it probably even more, I feel like we have this under control (somewhat) We have gotten to where we are in a routine and we do what needs to be done on both ends and wait for the day he will be home. Until then, we will just keep trucking along! Btw, we are well into the downhill portion of this deployment...happy dance for us!

PS Magic Jack and Verizon's friends and family have been my best friends...so much better than the MWR phone calls!

How I Really Feel...

Dear Army,

I feel like I have been pretty patient with you. In fact, I feel like we have gotten along until now. I have quite enjoyed moving around with you for the most part. I have been places I never would have gotten to go. I have walked on glaciers and had moose in my front yard. I have watched my husband catch fish that weigh three times the weight of my children. I have met some of my best friends through you....
BUT...you are really starting to get on my nerves now. I am getting tired of it always being about you. In the last 30 months, you have had my husband for 22 of them. I am not okay with that. Did no one teach you how to share? I mean, seriously? It would be nice to have my husband home. I am done with this deployment and all future ones. My kiddos are ready to have their daddy home to play with them. I am ready to hang out with my husband without a deployment hanging over my head. I would like to have more than a few months at a time with my husband...just sayin'. So, all this to say, I am going to have to sever this friendship with you. I will be civil, but the love is gone. When you decide to let us be a family again...all together in the same state, then I will reassess our friendship. Until then, you are on the outs with me.

Sincerely,

Me

Dr. Cody

Cody's first day in Medical School!!!!

I bought a new CD today. I have been listening to Amy Grant ever since I can remember. I grew up memorizing all the lyrics and idolizing her. Anyways, she came out with a new CD recently and it had a song on it that I really liked called "Better Than a Hallelujah". It talks about how God just wants us to be real, how He doesn't want us to just go through the motions of singing praise songs, but to really worship Him from deep down and be open and raw with Him...it is a really thought provoking song. God can handle whatever we throw His way, our anger, our hurt, our confusion, and also our love, our praise, our adoration...all of it!
So back to the CD...I picked it up today and was listening to it on the way home and another one of her songs just hit me. Yep, it smacked me right upside the head. The lyrics said,
"If it all just happened overnight, you wouldn't know how much it means.
If it all just happened overnight, you would never believe what you
cannot see."
Wow..I know this is common sense for most people, but it is so hard for me to remember in my daily life. I want everything to be good, to be okay, and to be fixed, and I want it now. I am fully willing to admit that. I don't like to wait when it comes to having things turn out okay. I don't like hurting, and I don't like to see others hurt. But you know what? If it happened overnight, I don't think I would appreciate it. If my marriage was perfect overnight, we wouldn't grow closer through the trials. If my kids became little angelsovernight, I wouldn't be able to work through life with them and see how far they have come. If people were healed overnight, if friendships and marriages were built overnight, I really think we would miss out on so much. Not all of it would be good, but all of it would build us into the person God wants us to be. Along the way, we would hurt, laugh, cry and celebrate with the people we love, and at the end, we could look back at the memories and the growth that took place.
Life may stink sometimes, but the process of living is what God uses to mold us to what He wants us to be....deep thoughts for a simple lyric :)

Five Girls and a Coffee Shop

I went out to dinner and coffee with some friends the other night. It was sort of an impromtu dinner with a secret plan to celebrate a special little boy. It is good to get out with friends and just laugh, and boy, did we do a lot of that! There were presents for baby and some for mom....which we won't mention here, but it was absolutely a fun time.
After dinner, we walked across the parking lot to Borders to get some coffee. Now, mind you, Borders has some weird closing hour of 9, and we didn't get over there until 8:40. As we walk into the little coffee shop, the girl behind the counter used a word that I only use when speaking of spiritual matters and then proceeded to mutter under her breath something to the effect of "you have got to be kidding me" Really? Was that necessary? Anyways, being the nice people we are, we didn't say anything and just proceeded to order our drinks.
We got our drinks and went outside to sit, since she obviously wanted us out there...yes, I do think you holding the door shut as soon as it closed and locking it as it was still shutting was a bit much, but that's just me.
So, here we are, five stay at home moms, with two babies, sitting on the curb outside borders. It was well lit, but I do have to say, I was glancing around occasionally at the "interesting" people walking around.
All my fears were laid to rest when we realized the skills we possessed collectively to ward off any attacks. Between the five of us, we had a mean, intimidating woman with some lip gloss (which she says is more than just lip gloss), someone in possession of foul smelling diapers, a person who had mace, a cup of hot coffee, and someone who had mad ninja skills....all in all, we were pretty well off should anyone decide to take us on.
We drank coffee, laughed some more, mean coffee lady came out and said "You are still here?", prayed for a little girl, laughed some more and decided we might just need new friends...NOT!
Thanks for the evening and the friendships...I couldn't ask for a better group of friends to be stuck in Kansas with!! ;)

Btw, I know someone looking for a new friend, so if anyone in Colorado Springs...ahem, Kansas, needs a friend, give me a call and I will hook you up!