My own drops of awesome

I know I said I was back, but life just sometimes gets in the way.  Especially when you're a single parent.  It'll be 2 weeks tomorrow that I've had to do this parent thing by myself.  There have been some good days and some bad.  I know I've been so negative for a while now and I'm really trying to see the silver lining in things.  I've been struggling for a while thinking what a failure as a mother I've been, especially when Ben is gone.  I find that my patience just isn't where it should be.  My kids drive me nuts.  All I did was yell and scream at them all day.  I didn't anything fun with them.  We didn't read scriptures, again, for that day.  All these things I think about at the end of the day.  One night, as I was going through all my failures as a mom, I felt the Spirit tell me that my Heavenly Father knows that I'm trying.  He knows that I give my best, for that day.  I felt like the Lord is proud of me and that I should always remember that he is there for me.  I am a good mother.  Then I thought of all the good things my kids do for me.  They clean up their rooms, even when I have to get after them several times, they still do it.  They give me hugs and kisses all the time, even after yelling at them.  They know that I love them.  They love me unconditionally.  Most importantly, I felt that He loves me.  Always.  He will pick up the slack.  All I can do is repent and try harder tomorrow.  I've never felt such a peace.

I recently read a blog entitled "Drops of Awesome."   Anyway, she wrote about what I had been feeling.  She had mentioned how just the little things we do as mothers should be counted as drops of awesome.  We're so hard on ourselves as women, wives, and mothers.  These little drops of awesome will uplift us and our spirits.  Here's the link to this amazing blog post.  Please read:  http://www.daringyoungmom.com/2012/12/19/drops-of-awesome/

So to all you mothers who may be struggling with your self-worth, God loves you.  He knows you're trying and doing the best you can.  He is there for you and will lift you up when you need him.  And last, but not least, find those little drop of awesome!  He believes in you, you just need to believe in yourself!

Back Again

Well I'm back.  Hopefully.  It's so hard to keep up with this blog.  I haven't been on in two years.  But I'm going to start writing again because Ben is deployed and I want some way to communicate with him and let him know what's going on with us here at home.  This deployment has been a little harder.  Not sure why.  I miss him very much and so do the kids.  We haven't been able to communicate as well  because of time difference and he's very busy.  It's a little frustrating.  I'm hoping this will give me a distraction.  I'm not writing this for sympathy.  This is just my way of explaining why I'm starting up again.  So here's to you Babe!

Family visit and a week without kids *Gasp

The week after the SLC marathon, my parents and 2 youngest siblings came to NE to visit for Easter. We had such a blast with them here. Unfortunately when they got here, they're car was acting up so the next day we had to take it to a dealer's. Apparently a mouse had made a nest in the wires and chewed some of them up. Some of you non-country folk may be disgusted with that, but when you live in the country it's really not surprising. Anyway, that took up the majority of the day but we hung out and it's always fun to just gab and chit chat. I think that night we went to the mall and let the kids play around. Then came home, ordered some yummy pizza (not Dominoes, Pizza Hut, or Little Cesaer's)The next day we went fishing. It was really cold and it took us a while to get going. But ended up being a really fun day. Before we even started I told Ben I didn't want him being disappointed if we didn't catch anything. Again, being from the country you don't fish at stocked lakes. It just doesn't happen. Well, by the end of our fishing experience, we had caught 8 fish! I caught 2 (one with my hands, I know, just call me mountain girl). Ben caught the most at 4, my dad caught 1 and Kennan (my baby bro) caught 1. The next day was Easter and we enjoyed a nice relaxing Sunday. Went to church and had a big Sunday dinner. Monday my parents packed up with my kids and left. It was weird having a quiet house. But it was nice. I was very much anticipating our cruise and the break from kids. Yes, we had 2 weeks without kids. I got to recharge my mommy battery and get some much needed rest. Ben and I went on several dates and just got to spend some time alone together. It was a nice break and I would definitely do it again. The kids had fun too and ran amuck at Nana and Papa's. They're always saying how they want to go to Nana and Papa's house or they want to see Kennan and McKenzie.

Friends and a Half Marathon

I know...you're all shocked that I finally posted right? Or not. You probably didn't even notice. I hate playing catch up so I'll post pictures and write very little. It's just easier for all of us that way. Or I might end up writing a lot. I don't know. We'll see how far I get. Ben has the kids with him (he bravely took all the kids with him to pick up our Harry Potter 7: Part II movie tickets), so I'm hoping to get a little bloggage done.

At the beginning of April we headed down to Missouri to see our good friends the Pilk's (ok, not their name, but that's the nickname we've given them....they probably hate it). We hung out withfor a couple days. We went to an amusement park called Silver Dollar City and spent the whole day there. We had such a blast and Lilli and Emma were inseparable. It was cute to watch them. We miss the Pilk's and hope to see them again soon. Megan and I are already planning annual girls' trips for us and the girls.

The next week, Ben had signed up for the SLC half marathon. It was a quick weekend trip. We stopped at my folks for a day of rest, then headed up to SLC. He ran the race and then we drove home. Ben did really well. Beat his previous time by about 10 minutes. I'm very proud of him!

Nebraska

It's been a while since I last posted. A lot has happened and it seems that a lot is yet to happen. We moved from GA to NE in January. It was so hard saying goodbye and leaving our first house. The night before the movers came, we had a big dinner and invited a few friends over. I have pictures but I don't have the energy to download them. Anyway, so now we're here. We like it. At first I hated it and wondered why we did it. When we first got here, we're talking, just drove in to town, Aidan had another seizure. He was crying and fussing and I noticed his cheeks were red. I tried giving him water but he wouldn't take it. I remember thinking I should probably take his sweater off but I didn't for whatever reason. But I know the Lord was looking out for us, because he had his seizure right as we were driving by the hospital. So we took him in and they were able to see him right then. I was a wreck. It doesn't matter how many times your child has a seizure, you're NEVER prepared for it and the reaction is the same. Panic, dread, sorrow. Just writing this I'm tearing up because I remember so vividly what he looked like and how I felt. There's nothing the dr can really do for him except watch and make sure his temperature goes down and that he doesn't have another one. But I KNOW the Lord was watching over us. Anyway, and then I got really sick. I hadn't been that sick in a long time, and we were staying at someone else's house, which is hard too. Thankfully, Ben didn't have to work and could watch the kids. Because we just wanted to get into a house, we ended up settling on military housing. We have 4 bedrooms, but about 400 sq ft less than what we were used to. It's taken some adjustment, but we're settling in well. There's no free pre-school here so we went to go get her evaluated for one. Apparently she's too advanced to qualify, which I'm grateful for but it's just, again, taken some adjusting. She's all registered for kindergarten for next year and I'm excited about that. It look like we'll be staying here at Offut for a while, which I'm grateful for. No moves anytime soon. The boys are adjusting pretty well too. There are 3-4 playgrounds right behind out house so we get to choose which one's to go to. Atleast for the one week of good weather we had. It's turned cold again and we haven't gotten out. All three kids are also sick. I think Aidan has an ear infection. We'll see today at the dr. It's been hard, but we're a family and we made it through and are STILL making it through. I'm grateful for a wonderful husband is very patient with me. Like I said, i've had a really hard time being here but it'll be ok.

April is a busy month for us. Ben leaves this week to visit family. Then next week we're meeting out good friends the Pilkington's for a few days. We're really excited about that. And then we'll have a little break and then the next week we leave for SLC. Ben's running the half marathon there. The week after that, my folks and siblings are coming here to visit us and then they're taking the kids back with them and Ben and I leave for our cruise the next week. Fast forward another week and Ben leaves for some more training. I'm way excited for all the craziness! I've had a really hard time adjusting so it'll be a nice change. Anyway, I'm hoping to be a little bit more blogger friendly and keep posts updated. hahahaha We'll see how that goes.

2010-2011

I've got so much catching up to do, I'm feeling very overwhelmed. So this is going to be a quick rundown. Ben got home at the beginning of November. It was amazing! He surprised me, which was awesome! It's been an adjustment having him home, but I'm SO GLAD he's home. Thanksgiving we celebrated with some good friends. We had a great time. We had a mini celebration for Ben's birthday. He turned the big 3-0. And he's still hot! We decided for Christmas we would DRIVE out West to his folks' house. We left December 15th, expecting a short drive to Nashville. A 6 hour drive turned into a 12 hour drive due to an accident on I-75. We sat still, not moving, for 7 hours. It was late at night, and kids weren't sleeping. We got into a motel that morning at 5 am, slept for 5 hours and then hit the road again. Over all, the traveling was great. We stopped at my folks' for a day and then headed up to Washington to celebrate with Ben's folks. It was so fun! All the kids were there and it was just great spending time up there. Then we drove to my folks' house and spent time there, brought in the new year. And then started the trek back to Georgia. We had family for a couple of stops, so that was great. I finally met Ben's Grandma Eastman and his "Aunt" Julie. They're great. They live in Omaha, which is where we'll be moving here in a couple of weeks. I'm so so excited, but I'm really really sad. We have so many great friends here in Georgia who've become like family. I will miss the South, but ready to be closer to family, especially with Ben deploying again. I'm looking forward to a great 2011. We're going on our first cruise together in May. We're moving closer to family. It's going to be an exciting year! I'll TRY to post pictures here.......ok....that's a lie....I'm not going to. I've got more important stuff to do.....like getting ready to move. But once we're settled, I'll post pictures......maybe....if I remember..........we'll see.

Family Pics of 2010

My friend April is a fantastic photographer. We went downtown in Augusta and she took our family pictures. I thought they turned out great (even though the kids were not cooperating and stressing me out). Thanks April! We love them!

Click here to see some of them.