Friday, January 24, 2014

Struggles.....

I know everyone deals with struggles.

I have mine.
You have yours.

I don't plan to do a confessional of my struggles here....I just plan on being real.
That is my new goal in life.
Being real..... Not having struggles.
(Just wanted to clear that up.)

You know when you go somewhere and people ask, "How are you?"
Normally, we reply, "I'm fine." or "I'm great" or "I'm doing good."

Well, there are times when we lie to people.

We are not always fine, or great or even good.

There are times when we are struggling to stand, to breath, to live.

But most do not want to hear this. Most want to hear that we are fine.

Now, I will be the first to tell you that I do not want to hear about every ache and pain in places we have no business discussing, and sometimes we have so short a time together that I want to hear your happy news, but in all honesty, I just want to talk to you. I want to be your friend. I want to pray for your specific needs. And if you need to vent, I'm fine with that.

Sometimes, I need to vent.
Sometimes, I need you to understand what I am not saying.
Sometimes, I need you to pray for me.

Life is hard.
Life is unexpected journeys, mountains and valleys, long walks, and short sprints.
Life is richer for having friends and family.
Life is richer for being real with each other.
Life is better when we pray for each other.


Blessings!!!!

(This blog turned out totally different than I expected. Life is funny like that!!)



Friday, January 3, 2014

Bear Sign.....???....

My whole family loves to read!!!
My husband and I can spend a whole evening together reading...he, his political or warfare (paper) books and I, my mystery romance books (on a Kindle -first generation!!-!!)!! He doesn't have nearly as much time as I do for pleasure reading and it is hard for him to just go to the library to pick out random books to read, but when he has a good book we can sit together for long periods of time reading!!!

My Kindle looks just like this!  I won't complain though.....it was given to me!!!  =)Product Details



My kids get to go to the library every Wednesday as it is on the way (to or from) piano lessons!!! We didn't go for two weeks because of Christmas break and being out of town, then everyone has been sick!!!
 My oldest son was going into library withdrawals!!!  Poor kid!!
Never mind that he has a built-in bookshelf in his room that is jammed packed with books! Well, he has read every single one of them, but still, you'd think he could re-read one once in a while in a pinch!!  All of our kids love to read!! Time at the library is of utmost importance to them!
 I love that they love to read!!! As a home-schooling mom one of my biggest challenges was teaching them to read. But not just read...to comprehend and love to read also!!  I think that has been a success!!!

As my husband was growing up he had a few favorite teachers. One of them gave him a Louis L'Amour book...he was hooked!!! (He should have been a cowboy!!)  As a young boy, he would spend his money on Louis L'Amour books!!! He has read every one of them he can get his hands on and he has quite the collection of the little paperback books that he re-reads whenever he is in a pinch for a book!!!
Somewhere in the stories the Louis L'Amour so artfully tells there is something about a man looking only for a woman that can make "bear sign".  I've never read this story, and I have read my fair share of them! But my Army Man says that "bear sign" is a type of doughnut!  
So while we were in our little cabin "roughing it", he made "bear sign"!!!   I must say, they were delicious and super easy to make!!!

 I can't think of too much that I like to look at more than my Army Man cooking something!!!!
 He is a keeper!!!


 My job was to press the biscuit dough down and make a hole in the center....this sounds easy, but you have to work quickly. The dough fries up very fast and has to be put in powdered sugar right away.  
Tough job, but someone has to do it!!! 


 These are, apparently, "Bear Sign"....I just call them yummy!!!!



Just look at all of that powdered sugary goodness!!!!  Yes, they were delicious!!! 
It is also something we do maybe once a year!!!! 
Possibly less....my kids don't ever remember having them!!! 


Blessings!!! 

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Holidays are over-rated!!!!

 Merry Christmas from Panama City Beach, Florida!!!!!! =)


Awesome park at the Navy Station Marina!!!! =)
I wish you could hear the screams of delight!!!

For our family, anyway, holidays are way over-rated....my Army Man likes to downplay all the hoopla around the Christmas holidays!!! He would prefer we just have normal family time and forget the gift giving and shopping. Mainly the shopping.
For Christmas this year we decided to put an emphasis on family time!! Our little family of 5 went to a cabin near the beach for the week of Christmas!!
Our little cabin on St Andrew's Bay!!!!! 

 From the kitchen area....this is the living area and hall to the bedroom and a view of the loft!!


 The (fully furnished) kitchen area in our little cabin!!! 

The kids absolutely LOVED sleeping up here in this loft!!!! It was by far the best week away from home they have ever had!!! (Even with a sick mama and an evening waiting in the ER waiting room!!!)

 It was an ideal getaway for our family and we were so looking forward to our time here!!!
We drove down on Monday afternoon...by Monday evening I was not feeling well. By Tuesday (Christmas Eve) I had a fever and was in bed all day!!! Tuesday night Army Man took me to the ER...I had a fever of 104.5*!!!! Yikes!!! I also had Strep Throat. =(    I felt much better after a shot of penicillin and 2 liters of IV fluids!!  Christmas day was spent in bed listening to my children play with their tiny remote controlled cars!! Since we did not have shopping time (I was sick, in bed) we gave the kids $50 cash to spend however they wanted.  They say that was the best Christmas ever!!!  =)   They were so excited about that cash!!!
 Happy Dance!!!!!  =)


 By Thursday I was feeling much better and we took the kids to see The Hobbit, 2.... (as part of their Christmas)!!! They loved it!!! I love hearing them laugh out loud at movies....it just makes my day!! They had a great time and we had a wonderful family day together!!!



As part of our week we, of course, had to go to the beach!! It was only 2-ish miles away!!!! The weather was not ideal, but really, you just cannot improve on the beach. Cloudy, stormy, sunny, windy, empty... it is always beautiful at the beach!!!
 Racing down the deserted beach!!! Thrilling!!!


 I have no words for the beauty of the beach....



 They were trying to skip rocks (or maybe it was shells) on the water!!!  
I think it was about 55* on this day!!  Brrrrr.....too cold for me to be in that water!!!



This is a ship that we watched in the bay where our cabin was located....
...it sailed out of the bay while we were at the beach!!! SO very cool!!! =)


 This is the Bay where we were staying!!




On our last day here we let the kids play one more time on the very awesome playground!!  They had such a fun time!!! =)


All in all, I'd say our trip was a complete success!!! We had some very good times together as a family and may I just say, we had "The Talk" with all of our kids (dad with the boys and mom with the girl!) and it was not as bad as I thought it would be. We are a very openly affectionate family so it was easy to explain some aspects of loving.
"Practicing Love with Motions" has a whole new meaning for our kids and when we say it, even in jest, all of our kids make those gagging noises!!! So much fun to tease these kiddos!!!! =)

~~So here is to a new year of making moments count and making memories with your family!!!~~

Blessings!!!