Getting into the holiday spirit....

Hello there! I hope you all are having a great week so far!! We have been busy, busy, and again, busy!!! My husband is going crazy with no downtime, and I think I'm starting to catch it too! Luckily this last weekend we had some time to just hang out!

Last Monday was my birthday! We had a great time! Since my birthday is the same day as the Marine Corps' Birthday, the guys all had the day off so we had a huge group celebrating!!! We started with lunch at this little restaurant on base that I LOVE!! We had some great food, and Ashley and Mike brought me a cake :) It was delicious, probably the best ice cream cake I've ever had!!! Joel and Victoria brought me balloons, and I loved them! Jordan loved them too! Then we had about 20 people that came out to the beach at Bellow's and just hung out all day! It was fabulous!!! The guys had their man-time in tihe water with their boogie boards, and Doc showed his buddies how to body surf. Meanwhile the girls had fun having girl talk and getting some great rays!! Jordan and Kamryn played and had a blast. We all were out there for about 3 or 4 hours!! The waves were VICIOUS!!! The girls and I tried to boogie board, and it was downright comical! We could barely even stand up because of the waves!! We're all strong swimmers, so we braved it for a while, and then finally we just quit! LOL Mike McDaniel and I figured out that day that we had a common favorite movie (The Cowboy Way) so he and Ashley and the Silva's came down that night and we ordered pizza and watched the movie! It was the perfect birthday, and I am so thankful for everyone who came to celebrate!! Doc hid a card on my pillow, hoping to surprise me when we went to bed that night, but I found it early :) It was adorable though, and I loved it!!

I am finding myself really longing for some Illinois fall weather right!! Yesterday it was about 68 degrees, and SUPER windy, so it felt ALMOST chilly! It was amazing!! I took Roxy for a super long walk and just enjoyed the weather!! It got me into the holiday spirit!!! I've been going through all of my Christmas decor and trying to decide how I want to decorate!! I don't think I'm EVER going to find glasses to go in my sconce in my entryway, so I think I'll take it down and do stockings there!! Since Doc and I are going to be gone for Christmas, I had originally thought that I didn't want to decorate, but I was so wrong!!! We are still going to do a holiday party, which I am super excited for!!! The girls and I are doing a cookie decorating party of the afternoon while the guys frolic, and then we're doing appetizers for dinner and a couple's board game night of the evening. I'm very excited to have this party!! I had planned on hosting most of my friends for Christmas this year, but when the opportunity to spend it with our family came up, we jumped on it!! We're so excited to see them!!!

Doc and I had a very scary experience on Friday night. He had just gotten home from a field op on the Big Island, and Jord and I were on our way home from the battalion's family day. We got home and saw that Daddy had already eaten, so we were heading back out to the car to hit the McDonald's drive through. I decided to take Roxy with us, since she loves car rides. I stuck Roxy in the car and shut the door REALLY fast so that she couldn't jump back out. When I did, I looked down, and Jordan's fingers were latched shut in the car door! I opened the door REALLY fast, and she started bawling!! I felt like the worst mother in America!!! This is a happy story though, because God was right there with her, and she wasn't injured at all! It definitely hurt, and it was red, but no broken bones, no bruises, minor swelling that was gone by the end of the night, and NOTHING else!!! It was incredible!!! We have always been praying for her protection, and God was right there with her!! We are so thankful!!! He truly is awesome and faithful in every way! My husband had a feeling we should take her to the hospital just in case, and though all x-rays came back fine, I'm glad that we did. Acting on those intuitions is something he and I are working on very heavily. It is our firm belief that THAT is how God leads us, and we need to not be prideful and fight it, but rather listen to Him and go with it!

So as I type this, I am completely and udderly in amazement at my daughters development. Last weekend she sat down and read Doc and I an entire book!!!! She's not actually reading it, it's just memorization, but still!!! She remembers EVERYTHING!!! She's such an intelligent child, and I find myself SO concerned with doing whatever I can to keep it going and keep inspiring her to learn more!!! She sings songs with me in the car alot now! Her favorite is "Lucky" by Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait. (my favorite too!) She can count to 20 in English, and to 7 in Spanish. She is still doing her signing, but not as much now that she is speaking in full sentences. She knows almost the whole alphabet, though she gets a little turned around sometimes. She is in the new phase where she repeats everything like a dramatic newscaster! She says "Do you see it Mommy? Do you SEE it????" It's so funny, and so adorable!! While we were at the ER on Friday night she stood up very boldly, stuck out her pointer finger and said, "Oh my gosh!!! There's a puzzle Mommy!!!" I laughed so hard at her!!! Doc, however, was not so thrilled. He says that "Oh my gosh" is a gateway saying and that we need to break her of it. I guess that means that I will have to stop saying it too...

Well, I hope you all are having a fabulous November. I will update again soon, and we love you all :)

BEST GIFT EVER!!!!!

Aloha!!! I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend so far! We are having a great one! So far we have had a blast!! AND, we still have 2 days to go! WHOOHOO!!! We sure love those 96's! :)

I have had SO much on my mind this week! After all, it has been a pretty huge week! We have a new president, President Elect Barack Obama. Living on a military base, I see ALOT of disappointed Republicans right now! I'm not one to debate politics, and I surely wouldn't call myself an expert on the subject, but I am excited for the change that I think he will bring! I do not vote party, I vote candidate, and I almost always would consider myself a Republican until t his election. I understand the concerns that our more conservative friends have for our country, as I myself don't agree with everything he stands for. But I do think that, as in any election, the things he stands for that create debate were very VERY stretched and exaggerated during all the campaigning. The one that sticks out to me the most (that I actually posted on myspace and believed until I did my research on it! OOPS!) was the video of a nurse talking about his support of partial-birth abortions. They make the man out to be a homicidal lunatic, ready to begin his 4-year baby killing rampage in January, and that is SO far from the truth! His thoughts on the war were another one that got blown out of proportion. The Conservative media made it sound like he wants to pull completely out and surrender. The debate that I listened to talked about pulling out of Iraq within a year and a half (far long enough to wrap up) and then shift focus to Afghanistan, ya know, the country we ACTUALLY went to war with in the first place!!! I'm so glad we got Sadam, but I would be pretty dang excited if we could catch Bin Laden!!! I'm glad that this will be a priority now! I am very excited about his urgency to find another energy source and do away with our rewardless oil dependency. The relatively immediate future of this planet depends on our ability to stop polluting it, and I thank God that we didn't put someone in office who's answer to everything is to keep drilling. Please, don't get me wrong, I'm far from an earth-muffin. I'm just a mom who wants to see her children be able to grow up and have children of their own without climate change interfering. I have always felt as though his thoughts on healthcare are far more conducive to accomplishing the goal of a well-insured America, and I am excited to see him take action with both of those issues. Our pastor today talked about the election, and with a completely unbiased opinion, he reminded our congregation that regardless of how we feel about our new president, we all have a responsibility to pray for him and all of our leaders. With the shape of our war and our economy, whoever was to be elected would be extremely needy of all of our prayers. I will pray for President Elect Obama everyday, and for the task he has at hand, and the decisions that he makes. God is still sovereign over all of creation, and that alone is enough for me to have faith in our future!

Doc, Jordan, and I have enjoyed a very quiet weekend so far! We went to a cookout on Saturday with all of the Corpsman that Doc works with. It was a nice opportunity to meet people, since most of my friends are Marine Corps wives :) I got to meet alot of Doc's, and a couple wives, and Jordan had a blast with all that guys! She was the only child there, and her big bright eyes and charming smile had won over everyone by the time we left! All by herself she started calling one of Doc's friends "Uncle", and then she sweet talked another into giving her a chip buffet, as well as emptying her tippy cup of water and refilling it with soda! LOL Man she is growing SO SO fast!! I really thought that we were in for a terrible day yesterday when I saw 16 single men show up and not one person with other children, but Jordan quickly became the life of the party and we had a great time :)

Tomorrow is my birthday, and a big group of us are going out to lunch and then to Bellow's to the beach all day! I'm super excited for a nice low key celebration :) I think this next weekend Doc and I are going to try to do a date night, and have our own little celebration then! It should be lots of fun!

Also this week, Doc and I received the most awesome gift, and we are SO SO SO SO SO excited for it!!!! For a wedding gift, my Father-in-Law and Step-Mother-In-Law, as well as Brother-in-Law and Sister-In-Law bought us 3 plane tickets to come to Oregon for Christmas!!!! We will finally get to spend the holidays with Doc's Dad's side of the family out west, as well as with John and Brenda (Doc's brother and his wife). There are no words to explain how much this means to us! I will finally get to meet some people that I have been emailing for years and never gotten the chance to meet face to face, and we will be able to have a Christmas with our family!!! WOW! We have never been able to spend a holiday out west, so this is just awesome! AND, the best part is that it will be COLD there!!!! You wouldn't believe how much you actually miss that! I can't wait to go shopping for jeans and sweaters!! (and surprisingly enough, they actually sell them here! the locals like to pretend like they have a winter....they're a little nutty!!) Hopefully we'll see snow, and get to take Jordan tubing! SO exciting! We are set to fly out on Dec 23rd, and come home on the 1st! Anyway, we'll keep you all posted on that!

Well, I hope you all have a great week this week! Have a wonderful Veteran's Day!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE thank a Veteran if you see one!!! As a matter of fact, THANK THEM ALL!!!! They all deserve our most sincere appreciation, and as a daughter of a Veteran, I can personally tell you that it means the world to them to know that someone remembers their sacrifice! Thank you to all of my friends who have or are currently serving our country, and thank you to all of their families! You're all heroes, and your courage and bravery has made this country what it is today! One Nation. Under God. Indivisible. With Liberty And Justice For All! Have a great week!

It's been a long time!!

WOW! It's been a LONG time since my last blog! So much has changed and I have so many updates and so many praises and blessings to tell you about!! I can't believe I neglected this thing for so long, and I am so sorry, but it has been crazy busy around here with Homecoming, Jordan's Birthday, the wedding, out-of-towners, Marine Corps Ball, my birthday right around the corner, and now work-up for the next deployment already! However, I will brief you on all of that!

1. HOMECOMING!!!

It was perfect! Absolutely perfect! We spotted the plane in the sky, and as it circled back to land, we couldln't see it, but we could hear it. Ya know what sound I'm talking about? The sound of plane landing.....I will never forget it for the rest of my life! Then as it got louder and louder, it finally touched down about 20 yards from our faces!!! It taxi'd for what seemed like FOREVER, finally came back, the Marine Corps Band started playing, and finally the door to the plane opened! The guys started pouring out, and they all looked exactly the same. Until, Doc came out. I spotted him within seconds of his feet hitting the pavement, and he spotted us too! It was amazing, he couldn't get to us fast enough! We were running, he was running, it was amazing! Jordan wasn't scared of him AT ALL!!! She went right to him, and said "It's my Daddy!!!!" The rest is history.....He loved his surprises though, so I will remember that for next deployment.

2. Jordan's Birthday!

My baby is 2!!!! She had a great birthday party! We had about 20 people over, and we grilled hot dogs and brats (on our new grill!!) and enjoyed the outdoors! (with our new patio set!!!) We laughed at what a Dora-freak this child is, because EVERY SINGLE GIFT was Dora themed!!! Except for one, and I'm pretty sure it was still in a Dora bag!! LOL We are so thankful for our friends here that have become family! Our friends here love Jordan and care about her so much, and it is just such a blessing!!

3. Just in other news:

On September 28, my husband was baptized in the ocean!!! Doc was raised Catholic his entire life, and had been going to a Nazarene church with me before he left for BUD/S, and before we moved out here. He was baptized as a baby, as all Catholics do. While he was in Iraq, he started reading "One God, One Message" (an awesome book, by the way). I haven't finished the book yet, so I can't speak for entire thing, but I know that it changed my husband's life!!! He converted to Christianity and accepted Jesus as his Savior in Fallujah, Iraq, and came home eager to go to our new church and get involved in ministries! We attended a new members class, where he expressed the interest to be baptized! The following Sunday, we were blessed that my parents and my lifelong best friend Jenny (from Illinois) and her boyfriend were able to join us at Sand Island State Beach here in the ocean and witness my husband's public confession of faith!!! WHAT AN AMAZING THING!!!! My husband was in the most stressful, dirty, dangerous conditions for 7 months, and yet look at this AMAZING blessing that came from it!!!! I am so proud of you Doc, and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us as we continue to serve Him! We are just getting settled back into our church (after a couple weeks off for wedding stuff) and we are eager to start giving ourselves to the ministries where we can be of service! I'll keep you all posted!!!

4. Now for the one I know you all want to know about: THE WEDDING!!!!

It was absolutely amazing!!! We had such a fabulous time with our family and friends, and we were so blessed to have them here with us!!! Staying in our home we had my parents, Jenny and Dave, Doc's Mom, and Christy! That was interesting, but we made it work and it was great to have them all! Doc's brother John and his wife Brenda, Doc's Father and Stepmother, and one of my best friends Dana and her boyfriend Stuart all stayed downtown in Waikiki. We had a BBQ for everyone on Wednesday, which was a blast. On Thursday Doc and I took our wedding party to Bellow's for some good bonding time at the beach! Friday started the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. We did both at Germaine's Luau. We rehearsed on the beach, and then went into the luau at check-in. We had a great time! The girls and I all went on stage to learn to hula, the guys learned the proper way to give a hone hone (kiss on the cheek), and we had SUCH a great time!!! Doc went to stay with the Gambles that night (one of our groomsmen and his wife), and Saturday was the fun day! We started early with mani's, pedi's, and hair downtown at the salon that I usually go to. Our stylists had put together an awesome champagne breakfast for us, and we had muffins, fresh fruit, cheese and crackers, champagne, juice, and sparkling cider for the mom's and I. We had a fantastic morning of girl talk and bonding, and I couldn't be more thankful!!! My best friend here (Ashley) got to meet all my best friends from back home, and all of our family had such a great time getting to know everyone! The girls went home to get ready, and I went to MAC to get my make-up done. I finally made it home, got into my gown, and the limo came to pick up us girls at 5PM. We headed to base. All the way there I couldn't stop asking Jenny if she had the vows, and asking Ashley if she had the ring! I had to be driving them nuts, but I couldn't help it! The limo pulled right up onto the golf course, and drove us all the way back to the hole for our Hollywood entrance! The 16th hole is about 10 yards from the shore of the beach, so we were able to have our beach wedding on grass! A perfect compromise. My Dad (in tears, as well as I) walked me down the isle, as our Ushers (my friends' husbands in USMC dress blues) fluffed my dress. Doc and I wrote our own vows, and I'm so glad. Doc's were amazing, poetic, romantic, and everything I could have ever wanted them to be. Mine were funny and serious, but very honest and romantic. The Chaplain of Doc's unit did our ceremony, but we also opted to have our Pastor from our church do a prayer and scripture reading so that he could be a part of the ceremony! We had a perfect 70 degree day, with a perfect sunset, and everything went off without a hitch!!!!

After the wedding, we hopped in the limo and headed to the Officer's Club for the reception. We ate some delicious chicken and shrimp scampi, listened to some beautiful speeches by Jenny and John, and got ready to dance! My Dad and I danced to "I Loved Her First", and then he turned me over to Doc :) Our first dance was to "Love Me Tender", by Norah Jones. We cut the cake, ate it, and danced for a couple more hours. I feel like the whole thing is just a blur. I hate that, but I knew it would happen. We went to a hotel that night, since we had people at our house!! We actually stayed 2 nights in the hotel, but ended up coming home during the day to be with our friends and family that were visiting. A week later, our house was empty :( It was so sad to see everyone go, but we were ready to get settled in. It was actually the first time SINCE HOMECOMING that we didn't have houseguests. We felt like kids who's parents has just went out of town! LOL It was awesome! We had our friends here over for dinner alot, spent time with each other, and had a really great time enjoying the rest of Doc's post-deployment leave. And thank God we did.....which brings me to our next exciting piece of news...

5. Deployment #2

We have begun work-up for our second deployment already. Doc is set to leave in March. Yes, that is less than 4 months from now. That's insane. What's even more insane (if I may gripe about the Marine Corps for a moment) is that some GENIUS decided that it would be better "for morale" if they give the guys their pre-deployment leave over Christmas, and then send them to CAX in Twentynine Palms the first part of February, and deploy them straight from there, which would pretty much tack on an extra month of deployment. There is loose talk about them not leaving until May, so with any luck, that will be the case! We also found out recently that this deployment will not be to Iraq, but to Afghanistan instead. That absolutely scares the bejesus out of me. When Doc left for Iraq a little over 9 months ago, I was very sad that I wouldn't be able to see him for the next 7 months, but I never doubted that he wouldn't come home. I always knew that he would come home to me, and I had a feeling of security and comfort the entire time he was there. I prayed for it, and I was given it. Thank God for his faithfulness! This deployment feels different. I know this sounds insane, but I actually feel comfortable with Iraq. I feel like I know the terrain, I'm familiar with the places and the cities and camps, and that it is totally safe there. (I know that is far from true, but it's how I feel) Afghanistan is different, hostile, and scary. I know that I need to get it together for my husband. I know that I don't have time to be afraid, and that I don't have time for a pity party. I need that security back, and I'm praying for it daily. I know God will see us through this!!! I just know it! I ask for your prayers over this situation!

Well, I believe that is all for our updates!!! There is so much more I would love to say about our family and friends visiting, and I know I'll never have time to tell them just how much we appreciated seeing them!!!! We had an absolute blast with you all, and we love you so much!!!! Thank you for being here with us, and we will cherish these memories forever! Thank you all for the prayers over homecoming, the wedding, and our lives in general. We are constantly praying for you all as well, and we hope the best for everyone. Well, back to my housewife duties I go! Doc is already back to working 12-14 hour days and hits the field again next week! For THAT grouchy of a man, only a Tammy's Famous Quesadilla will help, and I have chicken to thaw.....Love you all!!!! :)

PS Here are some pics from the Marine Corps Ball this last weekend! It was awesome!! Before another grueling training cycle, it was exactly what I needed to restore my pride in my husband's work and sacrifices! Again....we love you all!!!

Ain't No Sunshine When He's Gone....

Well, I've been dreaming about these next couple weeks for months and months now. I dreamed about how happy I would be, and how perfect I would feel. I didn't dream of the anxiety that would make me toss and turn for hours each night, or the nasuea that comes with thinking about whether or not he's even going to enjoy the things I have planned for him when he comes home. It's been over 200 days since I've seen this man I love. He's not in some air-conditioned hotel room, preparing for a "super stressful" business lunch followed by an "exhausting" 18 holes and martini's. Not at all. When my husband goes on a business trip it's not good news. It's 7 months of hell followed by a welcome home to a wife and child that he barely even recognizes. He's been in the most stressful of conditions for over half a year, and the sole responsibility of making his homecoming perfect falls on one person. Me. WOW.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade this homecoming for absolutely anything in the world, and I am EXCITED AS HECK to see Doc!! Nothing could ever change that. I guess I just assumed that this would be the LEAST stressful of times, with my stressful days of maintaining a household alone almost over. Yet somehow these days seem MORE stressful. I'm starting to become more aware of the fact that I have changed alot in 7 seven months, and I know Doc has, too. I just have all these fears....what if he doesn't like some of the surprises I have for him? What if Jordan freaks out and gets scared to be around him? How will that make him feel, and how will I comfort him if that happens? What if he doesn't like the church I have chosen for us? What if he's dissappointed in some of my wedding choices? (Actually I really don't care about that one...it was his choice to let me do everything and he has never once responded to my questions asking for his input, so PINK AND YELLOW it is buddy! LOL) What if my outfit isn't very cute to him? (I don't know how that could happen either, I got the most fabulous little black dress and some smashing red peep-toed stillhetto heels!) but still, what if all of a sudden that's not what he likes anymore? Come to think of it he's really not fond of stillhetto's, because he says they look dangerous, like a womanly weapon. No wait, that's just what he says about pointed toed shoes. WOW A D D, My mind is running about 100 MPH these days! ANYWAY, it can be really overwhelming at times. I do think that in the end he will be happy, because I am doing absolutely everything I can to get us all ready for him!!! Doc is a very laid back man. A nice lasagna and a glass of milk (that has been put in the freezer for about 3 minutes before drinking it) will pretty much get you anything you want with him :)

This homecoming is more than just a "return from 7-month deployment" for us. After 6 months of dating, Doc and I lived together for 2 and 1/2 years. Yet for the last year and half we have lived under the same roof for 2 months. And 1 month and 1/2 of that was in a hotel. He did 4 months of Great Lakes transitioning, seeing each other about twice a month, followed by 4 months in BUD/S at Coronado by himself. He left there to come to Hawaii and get everything ready for us, and a month later we finally got here. 7 weeks later he left for Iraq. This homecoming is the start of getting a somewhat normal (as normal as a military wive's life can be anyway) routine back. Even though he deploys again in a year, our cup is DEFINITELY half full! We will have a FULL YEAR to enjoy each other! (minus a couple months of training, but still, WAY better than before!!!!) I feel like it is my job to get this new routine set-up and running for us, and I can't help but wonder if I will do a good job or not. The whole military life is still relatively new to me. Seperations I am a professional at, but having him here in a military setting is completely new. AND EXCITING, but stressful none the less. I'm sure to anyone who has never been through this I have to sound like a complete rambling lunatic. Thanks for listening anyway! :)

This will definitely be our last blog until Doc gets home! I will not be able to tell anyone even when I do get the date for his arrival, so just know that I will let you know very soon after he arrives! I will post pictures on my different pages, and I'll make sure everyone is updated in a timely fashion!! Now back to my obsessive cleaning, nit-picking, re-arranging, and tossing and turning! AHHH this will all be over soon! :) Please keep my dangling sanity in your prayers LOL :) But really, keep us in your prayers, as we will you as well! Have a great week, and we'll talk to you soon! Love to you all! :)

So close to Homecoming!!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Daddy is coming home THIS MONTH!!!!! We no longer have to count months, we can count weeks....and those are so few, we can count days!!!! We have our window of time for him to come home, and we'll find out more about the exact date when we get closer to time :) Words cannot express our excitement!!! We are just about to jump out of our skin waiting for Daddy!!! We're keeping very busy though! We have been painting banners, welcoming new comers to the island, and getting the house in perfect condition for Daddy to come home!! It's about dang time!

My parents are also planning their trip out to the island! They want to be here for Doc's homecoming, and they are coming 3 weeks from today :) They are staying clear through to the time of the wedding to help me with Jordan and be there with me for wedding appointments and etc. We are very excited to have them, and blessed that they are in a position to be able to come and visit for extended lengths of time like they do!

Speaking of wedding planning, everything is really starting to come together wonderfully! I am working hard to keep us on budget, and ready for another wedding dress fitting! I wanted to let everyone know that though gifts are COMPLETELY unnecessary, I did set-up a bridal registry at Wal-Mart. I have had a lot of people asking for a registry, and I will send out an email about it as well :) I can't believe how close we are to having all of our friends and family here!! We absolutely can't wait! Our wedding is only 60 days away, and we are SOOOO ready!

Jordan is growing like a dandelion! She's now saying pretty much everything. It's incredible. There isn't a thing I can throw at her that she can't repeat right back to me. Her favorite is "hippopotomus". I said it to her thinking that she wouldn't be able to repeat it. Wrong. It came right out. She's putting together sentences, and songs! She's almost singing her ABC's and she does a great version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star :) She has been telling me that she has to go "pee pee potty" or "poopy potty" for quite some time now. I decided that though it's fairly early, I would go ahead and start potty training. I bought her a fantastic talking potty, and told her we were going to Potty like rockstars :) At this time, she loves to be in the bathroom with mommy, and will hug and kiss her potty, but is scared to death to sit on it! LOL We are working through it, and she's getting closer everyday, so that's good! Her favorite thing to do right now is read. We read about 50 books a day, if not more. We go over and over and over all of her favorites, plus our bible story every night. She LOVES to pray, which is the sweetest thing I could ever hope to see. We will pray before a meal, and sometimes she will stop me in the middle of the meal and demand that we pray again! I will pray with her as many times as she wants, and I hope her love for talking to the Lord stays with her!

We have had some great friends move to the base this week! One of Doc's first friends when he arrived here was a guy named Rob. We offered to let him store some stuff in our garage while he was deployed and he mentioned to me that he was married and that his wife would be moving out right before the guys came back. I gave him my phone number and email address and asked him to give it to her so that we could keep in touch throughout deployment, and I had an email from her just a couple days later! We have been talking for the last 6 months, and have become great friends! She just moved out here on the 31st, and we let her stay with us until she moved into her base housing. She has been SUCH a joy to have around! She's Italian, and her mother came with her from Rhode Island to help her settle! They have the cutest accents, are so fiesty, and so hilarious to be around! We've been helping them get settled and get everything done for their move. After moving here and seeing how hard it can be, I will absolutely jump on the chance to help someone else with their move, and in the process I am making some REALLY great friends! I am so thankful that God has led these people here to the island, and I am so blessed to have them be a part of our lives here! The best part of all (well, maybe not the BEST, but right up there!) is that to thank me they cooked me a homeade made-from-scratch Italian meal!!! OH MY GOSH!!! DELICIOUS!!! Thank God for those left-overs!!

Well, that's about all for us!! We will try to update you again before Doc comes home, but if we don't get a chance to, we'll update as quickly after homecoming as we can!!! Love you all :)

UGH!

Wow, I'm not even going to try to sugar-coat these last couple of weeks! Just a few days after the holiday weekend I got sick, and it has NOT been fun! I have giardia, and for any of you who have ever had it, you know how unpleasant it can be! Apparently it is really common in Hawaii, with hygiene not being a number one priority for most people, and my doctor said that he has had it twice just since moving here! I'm not going to go into detail of the disgusting symptoms of this fabulous infection, just please be advised: if anyone tells you they have it, STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!! Believe me! YOU DON'T WANT IT!!!

Poor Jordy has been coming over to me and saying, "You OK Mommy?" It's so sweet, but it breaks my heart at the same time! This is one of the times where deployment just stinks!! I'm the only one here to interact with Jord, and I feel like she has to pay the price for Mommy being sick. It makes me feel so guilty, but also makes me get creative, so that's a plus.

I spoke to Mike a little over a week ago, and he is still sounding very homesick. He stressed the way Jordan's pictures make her look so grown up, and how he can't wait to come home! He is working alot now, and he's really happy about that. I think when he first got here, no one knew him or his work ability, so they were hasty with giving him tasks to do. This deployment has really given him a time to shine, and he hasn't hesitated to do so. Now he's up for promotion already this fall, and studying everyday for his test so that he can embrace his new position! I'm so very proud of him! He is also going before a board for a medal, which he is very hopeful to receive! God has really blessed us since we came back into this military lifestyle, a I'm so thankful to know that we are in exactly the place that He needs us to be!

My friends that just moved here (Chris and Jordan and family) have been going to church with us every Sunday. They are such a blessing to us, and I don't know what I would do without them! Chris and Mike couldn't be more alike, and neither could Jordan and I! She is in almost the exact same place that I am spiritually, and she, just like me also, is so eager to develop a stronger relationship with God. Most of the people I meet at church are so much more spiritually mature than I am, and they are great GREAT people, but it can be kind of intimidating in a learning environment. I feel like Jordan and I are at the same place spiritually, and we will have alot of fun learning and growing together!! That is SO VERY important to me, and I am so thankful to God for bringing them to us! Now if only Chris wasn't deploying just days after Doc gets home!!!

Well, I am going to go try to play with Miss Jordan! You all have a great day and a great weekend! We love you all! :) And by the way, we ARE SO excited that our wedding is only a couple months away and we will be seeing you all soon!!!! :)

Let Freedom RING!!!

What a fabulous holiday! This year I feel as though my passions for this holiday are so intense that it consumes me, and all I can hope is that each and every one of my friends and family feel the pride for their freedom, their protection from enemies, and their country in general that I do! I pray that for just a moment today we can stop focusing on the negative things that the news reports, and realize how VERY MUCH good there is in the world today!!! The news needs a story, and nobody enjoys an uplifting story nearly as much as a tragedy, but great things are happening everyday!!! Let's think about those things. Let's stop thinking about Democrats vs. Republicans and start thinking about how very blessed we are to be living in the UNITED States of America. Let's honor those who have given their lives so that we can enjoy our freedoms, but let's also remember the MAJOR positive accomplishments we have had and continue to have in Operation Enduring Iraqi Freedom. Let's stop griping about gas prices, and start thanking God for the fact that we have a vehicle, and running water, and electricity, and a government that, say what you will about them, has successfully brought us 232 years of pride in calling ourselves American's. That's what I'm doing, and I'm tellin' ya, it's the way to go! :)

Our times have been a bit trying these last couple weeks. Doc's unit has experienced their first casualties for this deployment. The emotions that come with that our breath-taking. A part of you feels helpless, sympathetic for the families, and all-over grief-stricken. Another part of you feels thankful that it didn't happen to you. The guilt that comes with that feeling is powerful, however, I feel as though I have no other way to be. I will be in regular prayer for those families who have lost a husband, father, or son, but I will also be praising God for the answer to my prayers for Doc's safety. I know God's plan is hard to understand, and it's really not meant for us to understand. It is meant for us to trust, and that is what I am doing. I am relying on my faith to lead me. I wasn't close with the men who lost their lives. They were the top commanding officer's of the unit, as well as one of their guards. I didn't know their wives that well, but we had chatted a few times over bunco club or command-sponsored events. That being said, I wasn't expecting a huge emotional reaction from myself after this, but it definitely impacted me. I really didn't think anything like this was possible, given the relatively smooth deployment we've had thus far. It reminds us that it is a crafty folk we are fighting, and that we need to be in prayer for our troops regularly.

Well, after that fun paragraph, let's return to some upbeat conversation, shall we?!?! We helped welcome some of our friends to the island recently! We have been having a great time spending time with them and helping them with their PCS. (Permanent Change of Station, for those non-military who may be reading this! LOL It's a fancy term for move) We have also been enjoying our 4th of July weekend thus far! I will put up some pictures from our journeys to see concerts and enjoy the scenery :) Jordan has been finding great joy in going to the pool, playing with her friends, putting on her new hot pink patent-leather rain boots (first thing she does most mornings! LOL) and reading her new books from Nanny and Poppy. We are busy busy busy, and loving how fast time is going by!!! We can't wait to get that man home, and he will be here before we know it!!! AHHH we're so close! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and please keep Doc and his unit in your prayers as they undergo a time of change and continued efforts moving forward! :) Love you all!

Summer fun!

Aloha!

Summer is now completely upon us! It's funny how summer is still really exciting here on the island, even though the weather is no different than any other time! The kids go to school year round, so it's not like this is there only break. But still, there's something about summer that just get's our mojo's going!

Jordan and I have started our summer off very nicely! We have been eating some healthy food, hitting the gym when we can, and wedding planning wedding planning wedding planning! I actually just hosted a girls-night-in on Friday, that was a fantastic time, and we did my wedding cake tasting that night. Unfortunately the cake was not such a good time. It was awful!!! I'm so glad we tasted it first! It definitely happened for a reason though, and God has led us to another woman who is just fantastic!!! We will be doing a tasting with her, and I'm certain that she will be the one! She is a military wife, located at MCBH, gives almost HALF OFF to military families, and her cakes are FABULOUS!! I don't know if any of you remember that cake I had made for Doc when he left for SEAL training, but her work is that good!! And she is just the sweetest thing!

We are getting so excited for homecoming!!! We just have a couple months to go! We're at the point where we can't send out any more packages, and Doc will actually be sending alot of stuff home to us! OH we can't wait to see him!!!

Jordan is growing so SMART!!! She has been getting really into her signing, and she can sign about 20 things! She is talking really well, and putting together sentences! I'm doing everything I can to promote a good learning environment. It's very important to me that we keep her zest for learning and reading alive! She is doing great though, just great! I am trying to stimulate her brain as much as possible, and she keeps right up with whatever I throw at her!

We have a pretty exciting week coming up! We have friends moving to the island, a meeting with our new wedding cake designer, a trip to the zoo for Honolulu's Military Appreciation Day, and a book club meeting! Next weekend we are going to TONS of concerts for the 4th of July! The military bases have a lot of great entertainment for the families planned for the 4th! On the 4th we are going to Schofield Barracks to see Billy Ray Cyrus perform (I was totally in love with him in 3rd grade, this is going to be awesome!), then that night we are seeing Little Big Town and Rodney Atkins at the Marine Corps Base! The next night we have 3 Doors Down, Everclear, and Live also at MCBH! It's gonna be a great weekend! In 2 days the number of concerts I have attended in my whole life will triple! How fun! :)

I will try to update you all later this week as to the wedding plans, and etc.! Just know that we are so excited to see each and every one of you, and we are praying for you all! :) Love you guys, and you have a great week!

Summer fun!

Aloha!

Sorry it's been a while....

You can thank my wedding for the absence of my blog for the last couple weeks! Wedding plans are really starting to keep me busy! GOODNESS! Between invitations, flowers, catering details, centerpieces, favors, addresses, groomsmen who NEVER email me back on time (I still love them though), and much, much, more, I am one busy lady!!

There is this excitement in the air! It's the feeling that we've already been through more days of deployment than we have yet to go through! It's the fact that last night was our LAST deployed spouses meeting: from here on out it's Return and Reunion Briefs!!! It's in Doc's voice when he tells me he misses me, and he can't wait to come home! IT'S HOMECOMING!!! And it's coming in a little over 2 months!!!! WHOOHOO!!!! I know it's still a ways off, and I'm trying not to get too excited about it. (it makes the time go slower) But secretly, I'm ready to jump out of my skin!! I'm so happy!

We have a lot of fun things happening this summer! On June 26th, an old buddy of mine and his wife and 2 kids are moving here! He is a Marine, and they are getting stationed here! I can't tell you how happy I am to be able to see a familiar face! I've been talking alot with his wife about getting their move set-up, and I plan on being their one-man welcoming committee so that they feel comfortable with their move here! I can't wait for them to get here! Then at the end of July a buddy of Doc's that he is deployed with has his wife coming out! She is staying with me for a couple weeks untill her house is ready to move into! I will be helping her with her move too! I figure, I would have LOVED to have had someone here that we knew or that was willing to help us when we moved. I'm really looking forward to being "that person" for someone else.

Jordy has started testing me. It used to be that when she did something wrong, I would say "Jordan Elaine! NO!" and she would stop and look very sorry. Now she keeps going and smiles, waiting to see what my next move is going to be. I'm just trying to be consistent in my disciplinning, and hope for the best. We're using the time-out method, along with discussions about what she did that was wrong. I realize that she is 1 and may not understand what I am saying, but when I take her back to the scene of the incident she looks at me with sympathy in her eyes for what she did wrong. She looks ashamed and humiliated. I think she does understand. I am sticking to the "no-spanking" thing. I can always change my course of action if necessary. I am also learning alot about "active listening". I heard a speaker about it last night, and I am going to buy a book about it. I think it is so important in parenting, and I am eager to learn more. I already practice it with Jordan. Even though she babbles and says off the wall random things, I always respond back to her with a word or two or a gesture so that she knows that I am listening. We'll see how this all goes!

I hope that all is well for all of you out there! Jordan and I think about you often! We love you all very much, and hope to talk with you soon! :)

Today is the day that the Lord hath made!

Man, there is something about Sunday that just get's me all fired up! I LOVE IT! I love my church, I love the worship team, I love the sermons, I love spending time with Jordan all day just the two of us, and I LOVE SUNDAY! I'm so ready to have Doc here for our Sundays! Cookouts, beach trips, the zoo, it's all so much better with him! Either way, Sundays are so blessed and full of joy, and I hope you all are having a FABULOUS one!

Tonight is a most-special night for me. I am going to be baptized tonight! Until about 5 years ago I was under the impression that I had already been baptized as a baby. I had seen pictures of it and etc. Come to find out, I was actually only dedicated. I'm very glad for that, because it is my firm belief that baptism should be a personal decision. It is a decision that I have made! I am ready to publicly commit my life to the most-perfect will of God, and I can't wait to see what he has in store for us. I give all the thanks and glory to Him for all the things he has blessed me with in my life, and especially for the ultimate sacrifice he made in giving his Son so that we may be shown grace and mercy. I am going to be baptized at Sand Island Park, in the ocean. I think that is such an amazing concept, to be submerged in the body of water that God made, and be reborn to him at his hand. It is something I am really looking forward to! I wish my family could be here, and I really wish Doc could be here. However, this is something God is calling me to do now, and I know that everyone else is excited about it!

This week has been excellent! Last Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day with our friend Amy and her son James. We went to Waikiki for seafood, and spent the day just enjoying each other. Doc called that morning to wish me a happy Mother's Day :) It was so thoughtful of him to do! He said that everything is going good for him, and that he's absolutely ready to come home! That makes me happy. I know it sounds crazy, but these men train day in and day out for deployments. The time that they are deployed is the only time they feel as though they are ACTUALLY doing their job, so they look forward to it. It's good to know that home is still where his heart is :) (There never really was much doubt) :)

Today the island has been invaded by the falsely self-righteous idiots of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. They are holding protests at all military installations, including the Marine Corps base where we are stationed, and Pearl Harbor/Pearl Harbor War Memorial sites about 3 blocks from our house. They carry signs that say "Thank God for Dead Soldiers!" and "D-Day: You Finally Got What You Deserved!" I have to say it's disheartening to see. However, the thrive of these people's very existence is attention, and for that I will pay them no bother.

Jordan and I are going to the gym everyday now, and getting back to the focus of my weight-loss goal! It's going to make for a very busy 4 months, and for that we are EXCITED! We will keep you all updated often! We love you all!! :)

Preparing for a long couple of months...

Wow! It's hard to believe my parent's visit has come and gone so fast! It seems like they were only here for a day or two! I can't believe it's over, but we had SUCH a wonderful time! I will post some pictures of it at the end of this entry!

I had a deployed spouses meeting on Thursday, and they said that the 4th and 5th month of deployment are the worst. Today, I definitely understand why. I've had so many visitors and fun times in the last month, and now I have absolutely nothing going on for 4 months untill homecoming! WOW! We're not even half done yet. WOW AGAIN! Today is feeling a little gloomy. I slept like crap on Saturday, tossing and turning and convincing myself something was making noise in my house. I ended up getting a migraine yesterday because of it. After a long, nauseaus day yesterday I finally went to bed and slept pretty good. I felt a little woozy this morning, which is pretty normal the day after a migraine. I wanted to go to the gym today but Doc had emailed me last night to say that he was going to try to call today. But he didn't. Yesterday's email was the first communication in over 2 weeks. I know he's ok, and I trust God to take care of him, but it never gets any easier to hit the 2-week mark without contact. I figured that since I was home this morning I would make the most of it and do some wedding stuff. I called and booked our chair covers, and set up a cake tasting. (that was more for my own benefit) I'm so thankful to have wedding planning to help fill my time! It really makes things go by a little faster!

My dress lady REALLY ticked me off today. She did something careless that has cost me a lot of money that I wasn't suppose to owe for another month. I'm contemplating what to do about it. She has the best prices in town, and she's a really sweet lady. I know she didn't mean to do it, but when I asked her to refund me the money she pulled out that "sweet little old lady voice" and munipulated me into just letting it be. I HATE to feel munipulated, so I may need to re-think some things.

Well, here are some pictures of my parents visit! I will update more later on! :)

Exciting times are near!!!

Well, I am SO excited to say that my parents will be here in less than 48 hours!!!! We have missed them so much!!! It's amazing to think how much has happened since we got stationed here! Jordan does a million more things then she did in Illinois, my Dad's foot has made a MIRACULOUS (thank you to God and all of you who prayed with us for that, by the way) FULL RECOVERY, my goodness my own mother hasn't even seen my beautiful engagement ring yet! It's just insane I tell you!!! But the craziness stops in 2 days, and Jordan and I cannot wait to have them! I am so happy for my parents that they have the opportunity to come here! They haven't been on vacation since the last time they were in Hawaii, in 1972 when my Dad was on R&R from Vietnam, almost 40 years ago! I already have a sitter lined up for 2 different days while they are here so that I can take them to an authentic Hawaiian Luau, and then also to go out to dinner for my Dad's birthday that I missed back in March. I can't wait to show them the base, take them to the beach, and just spend time together! OH it can't come soon enough!

This weekend I found a GREAT place to take Jordan! At Hickam Air Force Base they have ALL kinds of little-kid-friendly stuff! I've learned that there is a major difference between "kid-friendly" and "little-kid-friendly" and Hickam is definitely LKF, as I call it for short! I figure if the military can use acronyms for everything, I can too! LOL Anyway, they have a kiddie pool there where the water only comes up to Jordan's little knees, and its perfect to introduce her to the idea of a pool and swimming. The ocean is far too powerful for me to just let her run on her own near it, but this place is great! I walk around with her in the pool and I'm only a couple feet from her if she falls down and gets scared, but for the most part she can be independent in it! I am starting her in Mommy-and-Me swim lessons next month, so I figure that this will be a great introduction to that!

Speaking of Jordy, we had her 18-Month check-up today! She is doing fabulous! They said she's growing well, and her development is right on target! I am always so happy to hear that! She had a lot of fun and wasn't even too scared this time! She did, however, throw up IN MY EAR in the waiting room! MAN you're not a mom untill you've been through that, let me tell you!!! I guess I picked her up too fast or squeezed her too tight or something, because she wasn't sick, it was almost like a "wet burp". Disgusting is what it was! The pediatrician, however, found it QUITE amusing! LOL

Well I may not be able to update you all for a couple weeks while my parents are here, but I will have pictures of their arrival and visit as soon as I can!! I hope you all have a great week!

UGH!

Have you ever had one of those days where you just need to stop, evaluate yourself, and then quite possibly just get back in bed and try again? Thats my day today! I'm just so annoyed!

I haven't been to the gym in a couple weeks, and I really think that ultimately that's what's bothering me. The first couple days that I didn't go I was running around like crazy to get things ready for Cara and Anna's visit, and then the rest of the time they were here. Last week I had a ton of stuff to do on base and my friend Monique came home from a long visit to the mainland, so we hung out alot. Today I was so excited to go, but Doc emailed me last night and said he was going to call our home phone today, so I waited for that. He didn't call, and needless to say I waited for too long and kind of missed my golden opportunity to hit the gym. (childcare purposes) When you incorporate strength training into your workout and you don't SEE massive results you really have to be persistent, and I feel so dissappointed in myself that I haven't been able to go. Running the household by yourself is hard, but I've always managed so well, and I just feel like this is my first defeat. I understand that no one can be perfect and have the perfect schedule and be able to do everything, but I really hate defeat. This motivates me to hit the gym hard tomorrow though...given that I don't wait by the phone all day. I just think that if Doc were here he would be so dissappointed in me :(

Jordan has went into an AWESOME new phase (totally sarcastic) of throwing fits. Now when I tell her "no" she growls and screams. Sometimes she even cries for a second or two. I knew this was coming, but I was hoping it could wait untill Doc got home! LOL She only does it about once every couple days, but I hate it! I want her to remain my sweet little girl that only wants to please her Mommy! For the most part she still is that girl, but GOODNESS when she is mad it is a whole 'nother story!

I've been getting kind of annoyed by alot of other random things, too. Its mainly nothing, just a lot of stupid things, like the way people say things, and etc. I think I just need a break from Jordan and my friends and everyone for just a little bit. So, I've prescribed myself a much-needed day of tranquility: More like 3 hours, but still! I made an appointment for Jordan on Thursday to go to the Hourly Childcare Center on base and use some of my "deployed spouses" coupons. I'm going to run a couple quick errands, and then go to the beach. By myself. And just lay there, and not think about one single thing for 3 long hours. I hope it does the trick! I'm sure it will! It just takes ALOT for me to be in a bad mood, and they never last long, I just hate it because its so abnormal for me! I need to nip it in the butt, NOW!

AND, I've also noticed that this blog is really helping me out more than I realized! As I read back through it, it looks like I have one of these "bad days" every month....so I'm not as stressed out about today because I see that its perfectly normal! That's something to be positive about, right? At least if I'm going to be in a bad mood I can be justified in it! LOL I will talk to you all later! :)

Great Visit!

Well, sadly enough Cara and Anna's visit had to end today :( They left for the airport at 5:30 AM this morning! Jordan has been asking about Aunt WeeWee since they left! Its so funny to hear her! I don't understand how she gets "Wee Wee" out of the word "Cara" but thats what she calls her! We had a wonderful time! We went to a Luau, spent a few lazy days on the beach, did some shopping in Waikiki, went whale watching, and were fortunate enough to celebrate Easter together, along with some of my friends from here!

Jordan is HILARIOUS right now!! She repeats EVERYTHING I say! When I was picking up the girls from the airport I was getting a little annoyed by the traffic and right as a guy cut me off I yelled "Duuuuude!!!" Not 2 seconds later Jordy's little voice from the back seat said "Duuuude!". It was too funny! She says it EXACTLY like I do, accentuates the same syllables and everything. She also started saying "cookie" (which comes out as Coo-coo, and is funny as heck), "bye bye", "night night", "yay", "whoohoo", "bite", "beach" (which comes out "bee"), Ashley (comes out "Ally"), and she now calls Spongebob "bubba"! She is learning SO fast! She is trying to say everything that she hears, and she has this amazing zest for learning! We work on the ABC's and the 123's all the time now, and its coming along very nicely!

I am learning so much about this island! I am so much better at getting around now, and I can't wait for Doc to come home so that I can show him everything! When we were at the Luau the other night the performers did this "Dance of Love" and dedicated it to all the couples in the audience who were in love. Cute idea, if Doc were here. It was, of course, the longest routine they did. This deployment is coming right along though, and we are nearly 2 months into it already! We will get our chance to enjoy this romantic place when he comes home! The saying "Distance makes the heart grow fonder" is so true! I find myself SO passionately in love with this man everyday. As much as I think about him you would think that he were right here next to me! God is working so hard in our relationship to strengthen us and keep us close during this deployment, and we are so blessed by Him that it humbles me to my knees!

Well, I better get to bed! I joined the social committee for the Key Volunteer's of Doc's unit, and we have our first meeting tomorrow! My friend Ashley joined with me, and we are so excited! I am attatching some pictures of my fabulous friends from here on the island, as well as our visit with Cara and Anna and Easter! Love and may God bless you this week and always :)

We Found a Church!!! YAY!!!

What a fabulous week we are having!!! SO much to be thankful for! We had an A-MAZ-ING weekend!!! We had our Saturday "Beach Day" tradition with the girls (minus Monique :( who is visiting family in Louisiana). That evening my neighbor's daughter Faith babysat Jordan and I went to a Deployed Spouses Outing. We played Bunco and had YUMMY pupu's <--- Hawaiian for appetizers :) It was a lot of fun.

Sunday Jordan and I were up early and rarin' to go!!! We did our breakfast joint, and then tried out a new church!! We went to Island Family Christian Church, a non-denominational worship service. They have outgrown their sanctuary, so they hold their services at a middle school about 45 seconds from our house! As soon as we arrived there, we were greeted by a very friendly lady who showed us around and took me to see their childcare area. The people there were very nice, and Jordan went right to them to play with the other kids! Meanwhile, Mommy got some un-interrupted worship time!! The second song they sang was "Beautiful One" by Jeremy Camp, my all time favorite worship song. I have been listening to it alot lately, but I had yet to hear it at a church here on the island untill then! God was speaking to me LOUD AND CLEAR, letting me know I was in the right place!! And how fulfilling is that!!!!! If the church I am meant to be in is here, then obviously I am MEANT to be right where I am! The pastor preached several very moving segments about the brutality of the cross and why it is so important for us to remember it. He closed with "And surely I will be with you always, untill the very end of age. Mathew 28:20". That is one of my favorite bible verses, I have a picture frame with that on it on my entertainment center. I have NEVER heard that verse used in a sermon untill Sunday. I am SO happy that we have found our church!!! Thank God for leading us there!

Our friends spent Sunday evening with us, and that was great! I cooked dinner and we watched our shows :) Our friends are amazing, and I am so thankful for them!!

Today is a day of ANXIOUS AWAITMENT!!! CARA WILL BE HERE TOMORROW!!!!! YAY!!!!! We cannot wait!!! We will be picking her up at the airport at 8:30, and she will be ours for a whole week!!!! We are so excited!! Please keep Cara and Anna in your prayers as they travel!! We are so glad to spend Easter with them! I will be cooking dinner here at our house, and our friends will be joining us as well!!! I probably will not be able to update for a while, but I do hope that you all have a fabulous Easter, spending time with family and remember what this holiday is for!! I love you all :)

Great day, good night!

My day today started out on the VERY right foot! Doc called!!! YAY! I have started making lists of everything I have to tell him, so that I don't forget anything! Its very efficient! He still sounds wonderful :) He does say that he's getting a little bored, though. He's not losing focus of his mission at all, he is just missing all the exciting stuff there is to do in his off-time when he's at home! Jordan was able to talk to him again today, and she was just the happiest little thing!! She was smiling and giggling all the way through her conversation, and she got to tell him Hi, Daddy, Moooooooo, throw him a kiss, and say bye bye! He was ecstatic! It was just adorable! I cannot get enough of his voice!!! It STILL makes me giddy, like it did when we first started dating almost 4 years ago! I turn into this little school girl, nervous to say the right things, and laughing flirtatiously at everything he says. I don't know what I did to deserve this love that consumes me to the depths of my soul, but I thank God for it!!!

Speaking of love, the other love of my life, Miss Jordan Elaine, has been pretty amazing lately as well! She has started adding the "EEEE" sound at the end of things! Instead of calling me Mama, she now calls me Mommy! Talk about LOVE...that is the most precious thing I have ever heard! I realize more and more everyday that Jordan, at the very old age of 18 months, is truly my best friend! I talk to her about everything, Lord knows she gabs my ear off, too! She cheers me up when I'm down, and I love nothing more than returning the favor! She trusts me and counts on me to be there for her, and I hope she knows that it will be one of my ultimate goals for the rest of my life to never let her down. Tonight before we went up stairs for me to tuck her in, I just held her in the cradle position and rocked her and sang to her for a while. Now, the only reason she allowed this is because she was VERY tired! Normally Little Miss Independent would have been kicking for me to put her down! LOL It was such a great moment though.

Today we went to lunch with our friend Amy that we met on a military wives website! I'm normally not one for making internet buddies, but when you're dumped on a island about 6 weeks before your man leaves for war, you have to make friends somehow!! LOL We had a fabulous time!!! She has a 2 year old son, and he and Jordan quickly became partners in crime! Amy is so down-to-earth, young, and refreshing! We had a great time. Tonight we hung out with our fabulous foursome for dinner before Monique heads home for 2 weeks. We are going to miss her very much!!!

It has been so long since I've been in "making new friends mode". I guess that the last few years in Illinois have really spoiled me, being around my childhood best friends everyday. I feel like I'm a little rusty at this. I still, at times, in conversation find that I'm struggling to find the right words to say, or to make my thoughts come out right. I know its because I'm nervous, but sometimes I feel like it makes me come across as desperate or "trying to hard". It's weird, because I'm really neither of those things. Tonight I got the drift that I was coming across that way. I figured it would be best to just cut the night short and come home. I love my friends, and they love me, so I don't know why I feel so nervous around them. I couldn't be LESS shy, however I do think that these feelings are a direct product of being removed from your comfort zone! The feelings are going away more and more everyday, so I know I'm getting back into the swing of things! I LOVE new places, and I LOVE new people. Its just been a while since I was able to experience it!! LOL Its just crazy, being the new girl, ya know?

Anyway that was just me kind of rambling a bit! (shocking, right) I think I'm gonna go watch some Friends and curl up on the couch!! For those of you who are jealous of the horrendous amount of excitement I have going on a Friday night, you're pathetic! LOL Love you all, have a great weekend! :)

I HATE chicken fat!!! WOW!

Well today has been VERY productive!! Healthy breakfast, GREAT workout, healthy lunch, healthy snack, and now a very healthy blog! Jordan and I are both doing wonderful :) We had a great weekend, including a beach trip on Saturday (which is slowly but surely becoming a tradition!!) and our "unhealthy day" on Sunday! Denny's for breakfast and KFC for dinner :) Sunday is always my "cheater day" where I let myself eat what I want. I LOVE breakfast, so out breakfast is always delicious, but at dinner I think I got a little more than I bargained for. It was almost like a greasy food epiphany. I ordered our food through the drive-thru, and brought it home. I fixed my plate: a chicken leg, a chicken thigh, mashed potatoes, and a biscuit! My mouth was watering, let me tell ya!! I ate my chicken leg, and it was great. I started to bite into the chicken thigh, and I was seriously nausiated! I couldn't eat the skin! "What the hell is wrong with me???" I thought, as the crispy delicious skin has ALWAYS been the best part!! I had to take the skin off to eat the rest of it! I think this "healthy lifestyle change" of mine has started taking effect!! It was great! The grease was too much for me (in more ways than one) and I was able to NOT eat it! I felt so victorious! Now don't get me wrong, the first piece was GREAT! BUT...I can tell that all the hard work I've been doing to promote healthy eating habits is working! Nothing is bad for you in MODERATION, and thats exactly the lesson that I learned!

My workout today was great! I went to a circuit class, and it was SO much fun! I have always wanted to try one, and I just loved it! They have all these eliptical machines, treadmills, nautillus equipment, and basic stuff like exercise balls and mats for crunches and pushups. They break it up into 30 "stations" and you rotate around them. You give your all to each station for 60 seconds then take 30 seconds to move on and get ready to start again at the new station. It incorporates all the fundamentals of a great workout: strength training, cardio, and intervals! PERFECT! Anyway I loved it, and I will be doing it every Monday and Wednesday for sure!

Doc emailed me this week with a HILARIOUS story!!! He apparently had a little company in his sleeping bag the other night (a mouse) and had a pretty good scare! The way he words things just kills me, it totally made my day!!

My friends and I are getting so much closer everyday, and I just love them! They are just everything that I needed right now! I don't know what I would do without them! Their husbands are officially stalking Doc! They are in Iraq too, and my friends keep telling them to go find Doc and get to know him so that we can all be friends when they get home! LOL Doc is apparently quite the popular man over there :)

Well, I suppose my housework isn't going to stop calling me untill I do it, so I'm off! I hope you all have a great week! We will talk to you soon! PS In just TEN short days Cara will be here!!!! YAY!!!!! And her sister Anna too!! YAY!!!!!

1/7 Of The Way Done!!

YAY!!! We are 1/7 of the way done with this deployment!!! 11 paychecks to go! WHOOHOO!!! I'm feeling pretty victorious about how far we've come! Now we just have to keep on keepin' on, and we'll make it to homecoming in no time!

Jordan is such a busy girl these days! She has more of an agenda then she ever has. Its so fun to watch her run around and play as if she has it all planned out! She says Poppy, bye, bite, mmmmmmmmm (when something tastes good), and RAHHHH to scare me! These are all things she started doing just last week. She is so smart, and such a fast learner!

I am feeling so thankful this week! I have been praying for God to lead me to great friends, and for the last couple months I have to say, I'm not really sure what he was doing! HAHA However, I am so happy to report that I have found my group of friends that I have been longing for!! They are so fabulous, and I am so thankful to have them! They are diverse, positive, and a breath of fresh air! They're husbands are all deployed as well, their first deployment, and their first duty station, just like me! I'm finally starting to feel like I'm meeting people, and I'm lovin' it! I just wish that Doc were here to enjoy it with me! I know he will love my friends!! And I know they will love him!

Speaking of Doc......its amazing how he can be 13 timezones away and still give me butterflies! I think about him all the time, and I dream about him every night. I read his emails, and its like he's sitting right next to me. His emails have been so positive, and even a little funny this last week! He doesn't have alot of free time to call, and I can just tell that he's trying to go the extra mile in his emails to keep our communication strong! He's doing a great job!!

Well, its time to make lunch for Jordy and I! Today is my last day off from my workout, and I think my arm is healing very nicely! I'm ready to hit it hard tomorrow, and I will definitely keep you all updated on how it goes! Have a great week!

Bummed Arm

Well hello Friday! Jordan and I are having a pretty busy week. Doc called me on Wednesday morning! It was wonderful...he says that all is well, and is ready for me to start sending him things! Thats great to hear, I feel like it means that he's getting settled in a little more! I worked out with my trainer on Wednesday and it went really well! She's challenging me more and more each session, and I love it! I'm really dissappointed by my shin splint! Its pretty much refusing to let me do anything on a treadmill. Its an old injury, and it basically hates running, power walking, anything like that. There's nothing you can do for it but stretch it out, and it will never go away. Its really annoying me because everything that I read says that running is the only way to get rid of belly fat and excess weight. I think that maybe once I have lost more it will hurt less though. Its an "impact injury", so the less weight I have impacting it, the easier it will be! (or at least thats what I have convinced myself anyway) :) On my way home from the gym I was reaching around on the backseat trying to find Jordan's MP3 player that she had dropped, and I came across the Valentine's Day card that Doc had bought for me but lost! I'm so glad that he lost it, it was unexpected and made my day! It was the sweetest card he's every bought me! Other than the fact that it made me bawl my eyes out while driving on the freeway, it was just the best thing ever!

Yesterday I wasn't able to go to the gym. I babysat a little 11-month old boy for a friend of mine who was in a jam for a sitter. Today I cannot go to the gym because my arm is killing me! You know that feeling you get after you've slept on your elbow wrong, where you can't even extend your arm all the way? Thats what I have...I'm thinking about getting an ace bandage or something for it! I HATE NOT GOING TO THE GYM!!! I am going to do some leg lifts and lunges and ab stuf here, but still, I HATE not going to the gym!!!

I have made a new grocery list to help my healthy lifestyle! I'm not a big veggie eater, and I don't like salad, so its challenging. But I can do it! I'm going to go on the hunt for a salad dressing that I like, because so far I don't like any :(. I KNOW, I'm a picky eater. I need to find one that low in calories and tastes like McDonalds Sweet N Sour sauce...I'm sure I would like it on a salad then! :) I'm getting lots of fresh fruit, poultry, fresh carrots, I'm even going to try to remix some broccoli and see if I can like it! The truth is that Doc makes a really great point when it comes to me not liking things. (I really hope he doesn't read this, I would hate for him to know that this actually sunk in! LOL) He tells me all the time, "Tammy, do you think I like broccoli? HECK NO I don't! But I eat it anyway....just eat it!!". I know you shouldn't force things down your throat all the time during diets because you will get discouraged, but broccoli isn't THAT bad, and it has millions of benefits. So I'm going to take his advice and just do it. Eventually I'll get used to it, and it will get easier to eat it more often. I'm also taking his advice about the rowing machine, it really is great cardio workout to substitute for the treadmill. MAN I hope he doesn't read this! :)

Now I'm off to the base to get some paperwork stuff taken care of! OH the joys of paperwork, it seems I get to enjoy them at least once a week for something or another! Hopefully Doc will call soon so that I will be able to ask him what to do for my arm...maybe I'll just take his advice about that too! :) Have a great weekend ya'll! :)

Hello week...

Wow! Monday is already over? I'm just amazed at how fast the time is going by! We are almost through our first MONTH of this crap-o deployment! WHOOHOO!!!! I pray and pray for the time to fly, and God is hearing me loud and clear!

Doc emailed last night. It was his typical, 20 word maximum email! He is a man of few words, but I cherish every single one of them. He's been very busy, and hasn't had time to call in a week or so now. Hopefully we'll get to talk soon! He had taken some pictures Iraq and I was glad to see this place that he will be in for another 6 months. From the pictures I definitely think he may have exaggerated JUST a tad about how "fancy" his living quarters were! :) I'm sure its leaps and bounds from how it use to be though! He only tells me things like that to help me sleep at night anyway. :)

Well, Jordan and I are off to the YMCA for our daily workout! I have my personal trainer (Madeline is her name) working with me tomorrow, so I need to make the most of today....who knows how I'll feel Thursday!! HA! Once again I would like to give a HUGE shoutout to primetime television....without American Idol and the new Law & Order SVU on tonight, I just wouldn't look forward to Tuesday at all! :)

I think I just had my first bad day...

It really wasn't that bad. I'm just whining. It was the first day during this whole deployment that I woke up in a really bad mood. I made it 3 long weeks, so I knew it was soon to come.

It started at 4AM on Thursday night (technically I guess it would be Friday morning). I woke up to cramps, the kind where you pull your knees to your chest and rock in the fetal position and it still just throbs. I went downstairs and took an Aleve, and 30 minutes later they were still there. So I went back downstairs at 5AM and took a second one, finally by 5:3o I felt sweet relief! I don't know why some women get them TERRIBLY and others don't get them at all but MAN those things suck! Doc hadn't called in 3 days, and he usually calls on Friday mornings around 6AM, so I contemplated just getting up for the day...but I decided that I wanted more sleep, even if it was only 30 minutes! I would still wake up in a better mood because I would wake up to that voice that makes my hearts skip a beat.....but I didn't. He didn't call. He STILL hasn't called. I'm sure he's busy, I just made the mistake of gettting myself all psyched out for something that wasn't even guaranteed to happen. Either way, it sucked.

I got out of bed at 7:30 AM when Jordan woke up, and thats when the cramps hit me. Not menstral cramps, the Aleve took care of that. Body cramps. Every muscle in my body felt like death. I had started meeting with a personal trainer just the day before, so I kind of figured this was coming! She's basically a female version of the Terminator. She's awesome though! I mustered up the energy to go get Jordan and SLOWLY walk downstairs to make breakfast. While I was scrambling our eggs I checked my email, thinking maybe Doc had emailed. He, of course, hadn't. And neither had my babysitter....I had a Dr.'s appt. that day and she had confirmed with me weeks ago that she would be there. I had emailed her as a final reminder a couple days before, and she still hadn't responded. This worried me, as the last couple times this happened she didn't show up! We ate our breakfast, and with only a couple hours until my appt. I called the babysitter. No answer. I could clearly see where this was going. "You've got to be KIDDING me" I thought!!! An hour later I called her from my home phone and she finally answered. She was having an emergency and wasn't going to be able to make it. She had a great reason to not be there, but seriously, could this day get any worse?

I decided that God's plan for Friday was simple. He was saying, "Tammy, clear your schedule because today you're going to lay on the couch and watch Law & Order SVU and relax". Like a good servant, I abided His plan to the fullest! Jordan and I stayed in our pijama's all day and played and giggled the day away. Jordan fed me her goldfish crackers while I laid on the couch, and her and I cuddled a few times. I love her innocence. At a couple different points I just broke down and bawled my eyes out, and I guess she just didn't know what to think of that, but she laughed uncontollably at me! I guess she thought I was trying to be funny! I cried harder, she laughed harder! Eventually we were both laughing!! It was exactly what I needed. She is so amazing :)

When I woke up on Saturday I was still feeling a little down, but there was a social on base for spouses and families of those deployed, and a couple of my new friends were going! I decided that sitting around feeling sorry for yourself doesn't really help, so we went to the social. We had a blast, and I have been back to my normal bubbly self ever since! Now I'm ready to get some rest and wake up fresh tomorrow to go back to the Terminator and my workout! Please keep my muscles in your prayers! :)

The old blog died :(

Welcome to my new blog! I think the old one died...I don't really know what happened, just randomly the site doesn't exist anymore? Oh well! Here we go with a fresh blog!