If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.
Interests:God-my Father, my husband, daughter, son, coffee, soccer, snowboarding, reading, mountain biking, photography, oh lots... Expertise:I would have to say coffee! Occupation:Wife, mother
So, some of you may know but many may not. The kids and I have left the blinding cold of Minnesota to be closer to Mike in balmy North Carolina!!
We are staying with Mike's uncle and aunt which is about 3 hours from the base but Mike comes up to their house each weekend to see us. It's a huge blessing for us to even be able to be down here in the first place! We are so thankful for how Mike's uncle and aunt have taken us in and cared for us. Mike is a couple months into his training now and it has been going alright. It's a lot of stuff he already knows from going to school for mechanics and there's not a lot of hands-on, so he gets a little bored sometimes! But temporary bordem is a welcome trade for hearing that this is the happiest he's ever been at any job he's ever had. He's told me more than once that he loves his job now - that he's found his niche! He is over half-way done with school and we are looking forward to graduation and going back home to warmer weather than it is currently! We've been spoiled by having a few days in the 70s and a number in the 60s! I can't believe that I have been out walking with the kids in early February. :)
Most exciting - today is George's FIRST BIRTHDAY!! I can't believe he was born a year ago already! It seems like just yesterday - which I know is cliche - but it really does go that fast. He was a little 7lb 3oz, 20 inch, blue-eyed, jaundice baby! Now - he's almost walking and eating table food and starting to give up his bottle. Not to mention, he has 7 teeth and is getting another one. :) We had a small celebration last night with us and the Thompson's with cupcakes and a couple small presents - both he and Emma were covered in red frosting!
Well ... when I am able I will try to get a video or some pics of last night and our fun! Hope you are all well.
So it's been quite a while since we just gave an update on life. Facts: Emma is 19 months now & 26.5 pounds, George is 9 months & 22 pounds. Mike is really enjoying his new job at the base. He leaves December 12 for school but should be home for Christmas. I am now 14 weeks along and doing well - I have a check-up next week.
So, the last 2 weeks have been a drain on me physically and emotionally. The week before Thanksgiving both children got the stomach flu. Emma was throwing up about every 25 minutes from 4:30 until about 9 pm. George started the same at 8 and went until 11. The next day (Friday) Emma didn't throw up at all but was exhausted and had a fever but George kept throwing up. Saturday Emma still had a fever and George got one too. They both were consistently crabby and weren't eating. The diarrhea started on Friday and continued through the following weekend (the weekend after Thanksgiving) as well as the crabbiness. After Thanksgiving they both started getting colds - runny noses and coughs. On Monday (the 19th) I took George to the Dr. about and ear infection but he didn't have one. The this last Friday (the 24th) I ended up taking Emma to the Dr. with a temperature of 103 and she did have an ear infection. She cried the entire time the Dr. looked at her and was miserable the entire day. :( Yesterday George had a temp too but only of 101 so we didn't take him to the Dr. and both their eyes have been draining goop. So last week I definitely hit my breaking point. I was so exhausted and drained. Plus I wasn't communicating well with the Lord and wasn't getting the time with Him that I needed. I finally broke down this last Saturday and sobbed, telling Mike that I didn't want to be a mom anymore. I didn't know if I could do it anymore and I just didn't want to right now. I don't think I've ever felt that way before. I was so tired and so sick of taking care of everyone ... I wanted to be done - at least for a little while.
I'm still not where I want to be or even need to be emotionally to be the mom I want to be but it'll get there eventually. It's getting better - that's for sure. Today we had a hard day but a good day. Emma and I had some battles that she didn't want to lose but she doesn't get to win. The good part was that we didn't turn on the tv at all and we listened to worship music all day ... in the afternoon we twirled and lifted our arms and sang - it was so wonderful and adorable! Plus the kids loved it. I needed it!
So all in all things are getting better and I'm getting some rest and we're focusing more on what we should be focusing on - Christ!
Here are the lyrics to this amazing rap. Let me just say everytime I've watched this so far it has brought me to tears - not just a single tear but tears! All I can really say is WOW.
And She called...
Blacks, Whites...wait African Americans and Caucasians, Asians, excuse me.
Vietnamese, Philipenes, Koreans and Jamaicans or Haitans, waitin' Hispanics y'all.
Please be paitent Mexican, Puerto Ricans, Venezualean, Cuban,
Dominican, Panamanian, Democrats I beg your pardon, you partied with the late, great
Reagan? Republican, Independent, Christian, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, 7th Day Adventist, 5 Percenters,
Hindu, Sunii Muslim, Brothers and Sisters who never
seen the New York city
skyline when the twin towers still existed.
But still She called.
From the bowels of Ground Zero she sent this 911
distress signal. Because She was in desperate need of a hero, and didn't have time to decipher what to call 'em, so she called 'em all Her children.
The children of the stars and bars who needed to
know nothing more than the fact that she called. The fact that someone attempted to harm this daughter who covered us all with her loving
arms. And now these arms are sprawled across New York City streets.
A smoke filled lung, a soot covered faced, and a solitary tear poured out of her cheek. Her singed garments and carpets Pennsylvania Avenue and the Pentagon was
under her feet. As she began to talk, she began to cough up small
particles of debris and said, "I am America, and I'm calling on the
land of the free."
So they answered.
All personal differences set to the side because right now there was no time to decide which on state building the Confederate flag should fly over, and which trimester the embryo is considered alive, or on our monetary units, and which God we should
confide. You see, someone attempted to choke the voice of the one who gave us the right for choice, and now she was callin. And somebody had to answer. Who was going to answer?
So they did. Stern faces and chisled chins. Devoted women and disciplined men, who rose up from the ashes like a phoenix and said "don't worry, we'll stand in your
defense." They tightened up their bootlaces and said goodbye to loved ones, families and friends. They tried to bombard them with the "hold
on", "wait-a-minute's", and "what-if's". And "Daddy, where you goin?". And, "Mommy, why you leavin?". And they merely kissed them on their foreheads and said, "Don't worry, I have my reasons. You see, to this country I pledged my allegience to defend it against all enemies foreign and
domestic. So as long as I'm breathin, I'll run through
hell-fire, meet the enemy on the front lines, look him directly in his face, stare directly in his eyes and scream, "I AM AMERICA! WE WILL NOT BE TERRORIZED! WE WILL NOT BE TERRORIZED! I REFUSE TO BE AFRAID! I'LL FIGHT YOU ANY COUNTRY, ANY CONTINENT, ANY
TERRAIN. I'LL FIGHT TO MY LAST BREATH!"
And if by chance death is my fate, pin my medals upon my chest, and throw Old Glory on my grave. But, don't y'all cry for me. You see, my Father's prepared a place. I'll be a part of his Holy army standing a watch at
the Pearly Gates. Because freedom was never free. POW's, and fallen soldiers all paid the ultimate sacrafice along side veterans who put themselves in harms way.
Risking their lives and limbs just to hold up
democracy's weight, but still standing on them same broken appendages anytime
the National Anthem was played. You see, these were the brave warriors that gave me
the right to say that I'm Black. Or white.
Or African American or Caucasian, I'm Asian, excuse me. I'm Vietnamese, Philipene, Korean, or Jamaican. I'm Haitan, Hispanic
Y'all, Please be paitent.
I'm Mexican, Puerto Rican, Venezualean, Cuban, Dominican, Panamanian, Democrat I beg your pardon, you see I partied with the late,
great Reagan. I'm Republican, Independent, Christian, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, 7th Day Adventist, 5 Percenters,
Hindu, Sunii Muslim,
Brothers and Sisters We're just Americans. So with that I say "Thank You" to the Army, Navy, Air Force,
and Marines, for preserving my rights to live a diverse life and paying the ultimate price for me to be...
For
all those who want/need to know what has been going on in our family over the
last few months! It’s an update but it’s long so be forewarned.
An
Interesting Road . . .
That
exactly describes the journey that God has taken me on over the last many months.
Things have definitely been interesting and the Lord has taken me down a road
that I thought would be much better paved and much clearer than it has.
The
whole journey started in June when I got a text message from Mike saying, “I
really want to go active duty.” I wasn’t surprised by this message; we had been
discussing the option for almost a year before that but had never made a
complete concrete decision. When he texted me that day, during his two week
duty with the Marine Corps, I had a feeling that this time it was more than
just a thought, that it was serious. Once he was home we talked through things
and made some decisions. He decided to go active duty. This didn’t mean
immediate deployment; it meant changing from working a full-time “civilian” job
to working a full-time job at a military base. This meant that we would be
moving out of Minnesota
to an active duty base.
The
first decision was with which branch he would go active duty with because his
contract with the Marine Corps is over in November of this year and that would
free him up to join another branch if he wanted. Well, we decided to go forward
with the Air Force because we thought it was a little more “family friendly.”
So Mike gathered the necessary paperwork and talked to a recruiter a few times
and then turned it all in. There was a lot of back and forth in the decision to
go with the Air Force and both Mike and I went back and forth with whether it
was the right decision; we both have deep ties to the Marine Corps. The
recruiter told Mike that he would call him back in 2-3 days. Well, he didn’t
call and 4 days later when Mike called him, he told Mike that the office that
processed the paperwork was closed for the week and at the earliest he could
call Mike would be Monday of the following week.
Through
that first week and the weekend, and the beginning of the next week the kids
and I took many walks where I prayed over and over: “Lord, if you want Mike to
go into the Air Force have them come back to Mike with the perfect or near
perfect job. And Lord if you want him to stay with the Corps have the AF come
back with nothing.” Well we waited and prayed for 4 days and the recruiter came
back with NO jobs. I viewed this as a complete answer to my prayers! Mike on
the other hand was a little discouraged and a little hesitant. We both had
expected the AF to come back with at least something. He wanted to make the
RIGHT decision for our family, understandably so. So I needed to wait, wait on
Mike, and wait on the Lord. God was taking me through a big test in patience
and trust. I needed to have patience with Mike and patience with the Lord –
that He would communicate to Mike if it was the right decision. I needed to
trust that if it was God’s plan for us to be a Marine Corps family He would
move in Mike. I never once doubted that Mike was trusting God, I just needed to
remember to trust Him myself!
Well,
God did move in Mike and he came home one day, spun me around, and said, “We’re
going to be a Marine Corps family!” Needless to say, I was ecstatic. God had
given Mike the confidence and peace that He had given me earlier. All I had to
do was trust the Lord, and trust that Mike was listening to the Lord, which he
was – and is.
That
started the process of completing the correct paperwork with the Marine Corps.
Mike completed what he could at the base and was sent home with more paperwork
to re-type and fill out which he started working on. In the middle of this (Tuesday
07.31.07) he was laid off from his current job at the Transmission Doctor. Most
people would view this as a bad thing; we however viewed it as the clearest
sign that God could have given us that Mike was making the right decision in
going active duty!
So,
he wasn’t able to fully complete all the paperwork without the help of his
Staff Sergeant who was at WE Fest with the unit doing security. (That brings us
up to this last weekend 08.04.07) So he decided he would bring it with him to
his weekend duty and see if he could get one or two of the guys to answer his
questions.
Saturday,
08.04.07, he went off to duty and over the course of the day talked with a guy
about getting a temporary position at the base to cover his “waiting” time
until his active duty papers went through. While talking with this guy he found
out that a full time active duty mechanic position would be opening up soon –
here in MN. This would mean that he would be Active Duty Reserve – active duty
but working on a reserve base. This also means that we would not have to move
out of Minnesota
for 4 years. This would also mean that he would be deployed with his unit next
spring, for sure.
That
is where we are currently. We are waiting to hear back about the temporary
position (ADSW) that would cover the time from now until he was able to start
training for the mechanic position at the base. There’s more paperwork to be
completed and filed. More waiting!
This
has thrown me onto a very interesting and testing road. I was confident and
peace-filled in the decision to go active duty military, and also with the decision
to go active duty Marine Corps but this whole reversal of plans threw me for a
loop. I seem to have this tendency where if Mike tells me that we’re going to
do something – even if it’s not set in stone yet – I tend to plan it all out in
my mind and run with it. This leads me to having certain expectations and
certain timelines that aren’t real but I make them real in my mind. So, in my
mind, we were going active duty with the Marine Corps meaning Mike would get
this particular job working with Ospreys (new aircrafts) and would go through
MOS training in another state – where we would move with him, and then he would
get stationed at an active duty base in another state as well, most likely NC,
AZ, or CA. In my mind we would be on an active duty base by the end of the
year, we would be living on base in base housing, and I would be around other
Marine Wives. I was excited to move, I was excited about living on base, and I
was excited about the ministry that was possible with being around other Marine
Wives.
Needless
to say the events of Saturday changed all of those things that I had set in my
mind. And I do not like when my plans get rearranged or changed! God keeps
trying to teach me that I can’t make my own plans before His are fully laid out
but I keep doing it. Most of the reasons that I am struggling are selfish
reasons! I wanted to move (it was exciting to me), and I wanted to be in a
house on base (more room and decorating potential), and I was excited about all
the amenities on base (swimming pool, gym, etc), and mostly I was excited about
being around other Marine/military wives – being able to be a support system to
other women and to be around other women who were going through similar
experiences, other women who understand the military life. I am slowly but
surely realizing that these things are all still possibilities, it’s all just
on a different timeline now. We will probably still move but not for 4 years,
we’ll be able to work something out with the gym at the base here, and there
are going to be other wives that I can connect with – especially when the unit
deploys next spring. God is teaching me
that His timing is different than mine, but usually it’s better. He is also
teaching me that I can’t plan things out in my mind because He is the one in
control. I am still fully confident in Mike and his decisions and I am trusting
that God is leading him and leading our family.
We
have not come to the end of this road yet and it’s going to be a long and bumpy
one, but God is good and sovereign and I trust Him! I still have my own issues
to work through and it’s all still a work in progress in my heart but this is
where God’s taken me so far!
There
are still unanswered questions I’m sure so please feel free to contact me if
you want more details!
