Christmas Tour of Our Home

I know I missed a couple of days, but I'm going to try to do a December Daily. We'll see how it goes!

Here is our Christmas tree all decked out in red, white, and blue.

Heath and I had only been dating a couple of months before we had our "first" Christmas together. We had separate apartments and of course when it came to decorating for Christmas, my apartment was covered from floor to ceiling. Heath's, not so much. I finally convinced him to buy a tree and decorations. The tree had to "represent" him so he bought cop and patriotic ornaments. I remember the night we bought it and set it up and how much I appreciated his willingness to pretend to get into the Christmas spirit for me.

Setting up the tree this year brought back all of the wonderful memories of our "first" Christmas together and Christmases after that. Memories are wonderful...

I miss and love you Heath! Looking forward to making more wonderful Christmas memories next year when our family is together.

You Know You're a Guard Wife When...

1. You walk into the post office every week with Flat Rate box or boxes and it costs $11.39 to ship each box.
2. The custom labels are filled out before entering the post office.
3. Your eyes swell listening to "I'm Proud to be an American".
4. You're able to switch radio stations one minute before the news airs.
5. You have no idea what's going on in the world around you because you avoid the news at all costs.
6. The "big" problems to some people, seem so small to you. And you know in the picture of life... it'll be okay.
7. It's emotional to set up your Christmas Tree. You know Christmas won't be the same without your husband.
8. The people at the post office know you by name and know the address you're sending your packages to because you are there every week.
9. You look for the little things to smile or laugh about.
10. You wake up each morning and thank God for giving you another opportunity to be the best citizen you can. Afterall, you are free because of the brave men and women that fight for our freedom. The least you can do is respect our country and the people that live in it.

Grrrrrrrr!

Today, as I tried to defend our new music teacher, I got told that I need to find a place for my child to be the night of the concert... "You have places where she could go" is what was said. He's absolutely right. My family would be more than willing to take her for the night. Why should they? It's a kids concert. Why can't she come and enjoy the Christmas music? How dare you tell me I can't be with my child especially when this is not time I'm getting paid for? I'm sick of not being with her. I had to find a place for her 2 nights because of conferences. With that being sad, I started to cry. Grrr. I was informed I shouldn't be emotional. That set me over the top! I was done.
So, tonight, I sit here with tears flowing down my cheeks. I'm so angry. Angry at the man who thinks it's okay to tell someone that they can't be emotional. Yup. Because this is the man who has had a spouse off in another country fighting for our freedom, been a single parent, and spent the holidays alone. Psssshaaaa! Not! I hope his turkey gets burnt!

My New Roommate

Hi! Meet Mr. Dust Bunny. Rather cute isn't he? I happen to think so. He's my new roommate. He sleeps in my room or in the living room. It just depends on his mood. He's really made himself at home living with Braelyn and I. I just hope he leaves before Heath returns or it could ugly!

Answers

Lately, I've had plenty of time to ponder. Ponder on the past, present, and future. When thinking about the present and the week that is filled with "thankful" thoughts, I began to thank God for giving me a job that I love, enjoy, blah, blah, blah... and then my ah ha moment struck! Awhile back I wrote a blog asking questions... I didn't know the answer to most of them (obviously, or I wouldn't have written them). But in this ah ha moment, I felt God's presence and he gave me the answers to my questions...
Braelyn was our unexpected blessing because He knew I needed her to get through this deployment. He knew I needed some kind of joy, sense of love because my husband would be unavailable to do that for the time being. God knew I would need to be closer to my family during this time, so I was forced to choose between my job or child and I chose our child. That opened the door to the DR school district. Working there ables me to stop by Grandma and Grandpa's, parents', aunt's or uncle's homes to hear words of encouragement and to feel loved. I drive back and forth each and every day to live by people who care so deeply for our family.
After receiving these answers I began to think of a saying, "All things happen for a reason". We may not know the reason after a day or two, but in time, we will get our answers.

His Power

"If you would have told me years ago we would go through this, I would have thought I would go crazy, I couldn't do it. But once we were in it, then the strength that was not of us was given to us. It wasn't about having a postitive attitude. It was about purifying my heart so God could be present and allow myself to believe in His power."

I can do this!

The Two People I Love the Most

I love, love, LOVE these two people.