Happy Anniversary to Us!

It's been three years since Karl and I said our vows: three long years and three very short years all the same. We will have to wait until his deployment is over to celebrate together, but I will celebrate today anyway because he is my husband, and I am the most blessed woman in the world because of him. I am a cheeseball, I know, but I am a happy cheeseball! Below is the poem that I wrote for Karl and put in his anniversary present. He still hadn't received it as of this morning, but since he can't read this blog where he is, it will still be a surprise when it arrives there. (Don't spill the beans!)



THREE YEARS

One-thousand ninety-five days have now passed
Since the one when I pledged you my life.
And each day I feel more amazed than the last
By the blessing of being your wife.

The love that we share is a gift from above;
There is no other way to explain it.
Only our God could construct such a love,
For this world could not ever contain it.

The first time we met, it was part of His plan
Spun long before we ever knew.
My heartaches were mended as only God can,
By the precious and dear gift of you.

Each moment together affirms that our love
Is more than most people will know.
The strength of our marriage, most only dream of.
As we weather the storms, watch love grow.

We are blessed by our children, some near and some far,
And the joy of their love and their laughter.
We are a family, wherever we are,
Today and from here everafter.

I treasure this gift which is more than I dreamed
When I prayed; for I waited so long.
How could I have known how much more He would give?
A true love, a soul mate, my heart’s song.

Too much fun

Garin and I ran errands all morning and grabbed lunch at Sonic on the way home. As you can see, he didn't have the energy to finish his food before taking a nap. It was all just too much.

TGFB

Thank God For Benadryl! Garin and I both woke up yesterday having allergy fits: sneezing, watery eyes, runny and itchy noses. I took Claritin but couldn't find anything for an 18-month-old for allergies. I gave him decongestant, but it just didn't touch it. After another crabby, miserable morning for him, I called a friend who has an allergy child. The doctor told her that you can give Benadryl at a dose of 0.5ml per pound of weight. So off we went to buy some Children's Benadryl. The very first dose made a HUGE difference in his comfort level and demeanor. The nose has almost completely stopped running, and he is acting like my baby again! Anyway, thanks Kim! I felt so guilty about taking Claritin when he couldn't have any that I skipped it this morning to suffer with him.

And more good news...We each got a letter from the State of DE, Division of Family Services, stating that we had passed our FBI and SBI background checks, which are required by the Federal Child Protection and Safety Act in order to be a foster or adoptive parent! Of course, we weren't worried that there would be a problem, but now we have the proof that they need, so it puts us one step closer in our faith journey as we work to adopt D and K.

I was in a bowling tournament today and placed fourth on the women's side. There was a small monetary award, but my scores were more exciting than the payout. I had a 163, 177, 135 and 159! That is a 159 average!!! I'm rather pleased about that.

Hope you've all enjoyed a day as beautiful as we have! Have a great weekend!

TGIF!

It's funny how we grow to appreciate some days of the week more than others because they symbolize relaxation, freedom, family time, etc. It seems that mindset lingers even in the desert, where there is no such thing as a weekend because there are no days off. There is a Friday ritual among Karl and his new buddies on the base where he is deployed. Instead of going back to their bunks to sleep (or in Karl's case, to work on his Masters' classes) after work, they change out of flightsuits and into PT uniforms (basically Air Force P.E. uniforms), which are much cooler in the sweltering heat. Then they meet up to talk, laugh, talk about home and relax. I get the impression that it's the one time of the week when Karl feels normal, and that makes my Friday happier just for knowing it. I've been hearing about these fellas for almost three months, and I was tickled to open my email this morning and discover that he FINALLY sent photos! I thought you all might like to see him and his friends too. (The guy in the picture with Karl is also from here and also a devoted family man who is very homesick. Sounds like he and Karl have really looked out for each other over there.)

Update: I had to crop and reattach the photos for two security-related reasons: One, the file names of the photos had the guys' names. I didn't realize that those file names came up when you clicked on the photos in the blog. Two, our camera is way too good! When enlarged, the military ID's on some of the guys were totally readable....WAY too much info. Not that I think any of you would misuse the information, but this is out there for everyone to see if they can find it. It might not be that big of an issue, but I'd rather err on the side of safety for our men in uniform! :o)

The New House

One evening this week, Garin and I took a walk over to the construction site to get new pictures of our house in progress. Here they are! In the first photo, our house is dead center. In the second, our house is the one just to the right of the house that is being blocked by the truck in the picture.
Karl is doing well today, and so are we! After a week, okay weeks, of meetings and obligations, starting tomorrow I will have a number of free days. The ones that aren't free are at least not overbooked. There is hope!

The Week in Review

This much I know: God is present in the details! I can't begin to tell you about all the little moments this week when I realized how perfect God's timing is, but how it is! I realized it again today when I thought of the timeliness of Karl's deployment. I mean, obviously, it makes my life more difficult right now, but in the grand scheme of things it is perfect timing, especially in regard to the adoption.

Garin had his 18-month checkup this week. He's grown 3.5 inches in just over 5 months! I knew he had been holding out on us. I guess he was saving his growth spurt, so he can surprise Daddy in October with how big he's gotten. Three shots this time, but thankfully there was no fever to speak of!

We had a blast at story time on Tuesday at library. Garin loves music! Of course that shouldn't surprise anyone; it's in his genes. He is keeping me on my toes these days, climbing on everything. His laugh is always at the ready these days. All I have to do is look at him just right, and he cackles with delight. I enjoy him so much, but I look forward to October when I can do the hand-off to Daddy now and then and make a meal (or even just take a shower) without interruption.

Matt is getting back into the swing of things with school. They are having band practice and cross country practice daily. He is registered for classes, and they'll start in another week. Of course, the kids are all reconnecting after a summer of mission trips and vacations, and they are reinstating their Saturday afternoon hang-out at Perks (think Friends....Central Perk).

After a hiatus from the praise team, I'm going to be helping with music for the service at the new satellite location in Dover, starting in September. Should be fun! It will be great to get back into it with only one service per week. It was just so hard on Garin to be at church for five hours on Sunday morning.

Other than that, I'm just getting ready for my first real OSC Board meeting as President on Thursday and trying to get finished up with my Hermeneutics and Music papers and my Greek and Music tests, so I can stop stressing out about school for a little while. I guess I'll take Greek II next semester, but I think with all the other things going on I had better take just one class.

Well it's time to bury my nose in my Greek textbook again. Happy weekend to all of you!

Oh, the excitement!

We're moving right along at a rapid pace here. So much to get done and never enough hours in the day, but life is good! I'm finding it difficult to work on school, OSC, move preparations, adoption, keeping up with Garin and still find time for blogging. My apologies to those of you who have shown concern that we might have fallen off the face of the earth, and my thanks to you for caring enough to check!

This week has been a hodge-podge of multiple meetings and doctors' appointments, and the time I have left goes to Garin or school work. Although last night I gave myself an assignment-free evening, put Garin to bed, popped some popcorn and watched "The Holiday" on pay-per-view. I really needed and enjoyed that! I ADORED the movie, but there is something about a good love story that makes you think about your own. When the movie ended, I just wanted a big hug and kiss from my husband, and I was a little bit sad.

I've turned in three papers so far this week and am feeling good about getting it all done. I'm still terrified of my next Greek test and am praying that my brain will hold all of this information at least long enough for me to finish the semester.

It's been hotter than Hades (okay, a slight exaggeration) here for the last week or so, with temps in the mid to high 90's, and the East Coast humidity is alive and well. I'm so thankful our A/C was fixed last week, but that leads me to this week's mini-crisis: my brand-new dryer isn't working, so I'm trying to get someone to come fix it. It's still under warranty, but the two repair shops that Whirlpool authorizes aren't answering the phone or returning my calls yet. Hopefully I'll hear from them soon, as I really don't have time to sit at the laundromat.

I got some good news/bad news today from housing. I ran into the housing administrator this morning and asked her how things were going. She said that the construction schedule has been pushed back, and she has to send out new letters to everyone with new move dates. On one hand, it's good news for me because I don't have to rush home the day after my class reunion to be here for movers on Monday. It's bad news because it gives me less time to get our new house in order before Karl gets home. I really don't want him to come home to chaos. He deserves a chance to rest and enjoy his family rather than unpacking. Plus, it will rush us to prepare for the home study visits that should happen the following week.

This is where I just give it to God and know He is in control, as there is not a thing I can do about it!

I'll try to better about posting more often, so don't give up on me!

Stress

So here's the rundown on what I'm doing and what's happening:

Deployment
Adoption
3 College Courses
OSC President
Moving again on Sept. 24
Being Mom and Dad
Maintain Household
Various Other Stuff

Now I'm not looking for pity or a pat on the back here, but I wanted to give some indication of the craziness of my life these days. These things are really all great blessings in my life, and I will not complain about a single thing.....okay, so I'm not loving the deployment thing, but this deployment is shorter and easier than most.

I was starting to feel like I might lose my mind earlier in the week, so I made a list of every single thing I could think of that needed to be done (except daily things like meals, laundry and housework) between now and Karl's return. Then I put them in order of importance/chronology and put each one on a specific day in my calendar. Now my days are all full of tasks on the calendar, but it finally feels manageable. I can handle doing 7 things a day and feel like I've accomplished something this way. Before, I was flailing about trying to knock things off a list so long I couldn't process it all and feeling like I was never getting anywhere.

Isn't it funny how perspective can completely change the way you see something? And it can also completely change your attitude toward it. Thank goodness!!!

Matt's doing great. Karl's great, too, except for some homesickness. Garin is picking up new words all the time and is all over the place.

Garin and I went out for a crab dinner tonight at the Officers' Club with my next-door neighbor, Julie, whose husband is also deployed right now, and her daughter Cadence. It was nice to get dressed and go out for dinner!

Saturday will be devoted to homework, laundry and my little boy. Sunday morning is worship, and Julie and Cadence are coming over for supper that night.

I hate to be so short and sweet, but I wanted to update before I fall asleep on the computer. Have a great weekend everyone!