And we're off...

So tomorrow morning we leave on our big trip. I have no idea what's in store for me but I hope my directions are good and I don't get a flat tire! The van is packed, the car top carrier is stuffed to the gills with baby stuff for our new niece Faith. So my first trip mis-hap has already happened. Our good friend Tim came over to help me get the car top carrier on the car. He admitted that he had never put one on before, neither had I. But it didn't look too complicated. Tim asked me a couple times if I thought we had the front in the right place. I was sure we did. We got it all strapped down and I was left to fill it. After I had it totally stuffed I kept looking at it...there was a definite slope in the back and I thought it made more sense for the slope to be in the front; aerodynamics, right? It was really starting to bother me and I decided that I needed to turn it around. So I undid the straps and turned it. It actually wasn't that difficult and I'm glad I got it right. I could just picture some guy passing me on the highway laughing because I had my car top carrier on backwards. It would really give Michigan a bad name (we have Michigan plates and Detroit Tigers logos on front and back of the van). Anyway, I think I have mastered the carrier! I just really hope it doesn't fall off while I'm driving!!!
Well I'm off to bed gotta be ready for the adventure of a life time: over 5,000 miles with four kids, no husband, a 10 year old mini van and a car top carrier. YIKERS!

Marshmellow break

Packing for myself and four children to be gone for a month and a half is a daunting task. So daunting that I have been putting it off but now I can't put it off anymore because tomorrow I have to pack up the car and Saturday morning we are off on our road trip. So I've been working tonight but now I'm taking a break and I decided to eat some marsh mellows. As some of you may know I've been somewhat addicted to marsh mellows for a while now. I keep telling myself that I'm not going to buy anymore but then when I'm at the store I can't help myself. Oh well.
I guess I better get back to it now that I got my sugar/marsh mellow fix! :)

The many hair styles of MY MAN

My man's hair has changed many times over the years. It's funny to me because mine is pretty much the same as it was in college (maybe that's not a good thing). There have been requests to see his curly hair and once I started looking for pictures I couldn't resist putting a few up so you can all see my sweetie in the early years. :)
Okay so you can't see his hair in this one but it's so cute I just had to put it in. Such a baby face!


Here's my hottie at a New Year's Eve party. At midnight he and another guy went out into the street without their shirts on and CRUSHED. This is a manly activity which involves two young men grabbing each others hands and squeezing as hard as they can. They must also make very manly growling noises at the same time. They "Crush" until one can no longer take it. This was a common practice among our InterVarsity friends of the male persuasion. Also in this photo he's showing off his tattoo, which he only allowed himself to get because he memorized the book of James. His purpose was to use it as an evangelism tool. Oh, and I took the picture because I really liked all those muscles!!! :) I was so caught up with the muscles I almost forgot about his hair...can you see how long and curly it was?



After the long curly look he decided he wanted to have dreads. This was my least favorite of his do's. He had a friend of ours put his hair in little braids and was hoping that they would become dreadlocks. It was a stage I guess. He was really into the bands P.O.D, Project 87, Zao and other Christian heavy metal groups. One time during this stage we were in a grocery store in Grand Rapids and he kept walking up to African American people asking them, "What's the best way to grow dreads?" I was mortified but the people he was asking didn't seem to take offense and advised him what to do. I was happy when this stage was done...so greasy and nasty!


So after the dreads he went back to curls. This picture was taken the day after we got engaged. We were at the beach in South Haven, MI with our InterVarsity buds. Notice I'm showing off the ring!


I think Bob got tired of taking care of his hair and his next do was a buzz. Of course this is the easiest of all his many styles and the one that he sports now.



This last picture was taken a year or so after we got married . As you can see Bob is no longer sporting the long hair and he's no longer sporting the buzz but he has grown the bushiest beard ever (be sure to click on this one to get the full "beefy beard" view)! He's such a crazy kid...always keeping me on my toes.

So I'm wondering...which one do you like best?

Just makes me laugh

Blood, sweat and tears

Okay I didn't actually cry over this cupboard but I was close a few times. There was a little blood and definitely sweat! This is my homeschool supply cupboard and I was all excited to get it up and organized. But Monday night when I put it together I went wrong somewhere and it was lopsided. I got to the final step of putting on the doors and they wouldn't go on right because the unit was leaning a little to the left. I was really bummed out. At that point it was really late and so I left it. Last night I went back at it with gutso! I had to remove the cardboard backing, which is attached with a ton of nails (this is where the blood came in). I had to pry them out with a screw driver and scraped myself a few times. Then I went back and re-did all the steps. When I got it back together the moment of truth came...putting the doors on. TA-DA they fit right!!! I was so excited I was jumping around cheering for myself! It was a good moment, knowing that I was able to fix it myself. Yeah me! Then I just had to start filling it with all my homeschool goodies.
The greatest part was that this morning I showed the kids where all their art and craft supplies will be stored. They loved it and they spent all morning writing on the new white boards, painting, stringing beads and more. It was totally fabulous! I love it when I have a plan and I carry it out and it is successful. :)
So the homeschool room isn't totally finished. I still want to get alphabet cards to hang on the wall and I got a set of sight words that I want to use to make a "word wall" and I keep thinking that we really should have a little American flag in the room so we can say the pledge every morning (do you think I'm crazy?). Oh well, I think it's fun and the kids like it too! :)

ICU

I received a call this evening from James, Bob's youngest brother. He had to take his wife Julie to the ER this morning with a severe migraine. They gave her drugs to sedate her and later this afternoon they were getting ready to discharge her when she had a seizure. Half hour later she had another one. They diagnosed her with postpartum eclampsia. She is stablized now but in the intensive care unit for observation. Baby Faith (not even a week old) is doing well. They have increased her feedings and all the tests they have done on her have had positive results. Please keep Julie, James and Faith in your prayers. Thank you.

D - Day

Deployment day that is. Yesterday afternoon Bob's travel plans got changed so instead of leaving tomorrow morning he left this morning. We had a good day yesterday and got to spend a lot of time together playing, swimming, riding bikes, and hitting baseballs. We gave Bob his father's day gifts early. Abigail made a t-shirt for him with her foot prints on it and we made a pillow case with our picture on it so daddy could see our faces the last thing every night before he goes to bed and we'd be the first faces he sees every morning. He liked both gifts very much. After we got the kids to bed he had lots of last minute stuff to do. Still had a few things to stuff into his bags and then we could hardly get them closed. In fact one bag was so stuffed that a hole ripped in one of the seams. I had to do a stitch job from the outside because we didn't dare unzip it and have to close it again. I decided that the bag would be named Frankenstein because the stitch job was pretty rough looking. I just hope it holds up. I ended up going to bed around 1 am but Bob stayed up most of the night. This morning he was up at 5:20 getting ready to be picked up. At 5:45 he went in and kissed the kids. Then it was time to say goodbye to me. How does one say goodbye for such a long time? The words of course seem like they are not enough and it was hard to even get words out anyway. It's a very lonely feeling to see your husband drive away but the Lord brought to my mind several verses that I've been thinking about all day.
Nehemiah 8:10b "...the joy of the Lord is your strength."
Isaiah 40:31 "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
Psalm 121
"I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore."
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

I'm so thankful for the many, many people who are praying for our family and who have promised to support and encourage us throughout this challenging time for our family.
--"My times are in Your hand" Psalm 31:15a

Welcome to the family!

We are happy to announce that our extended family just got bigger! Bob's younger brother James and his wife Julie were REALLY surprised on Wednesday when Julie's water broke. They rushed to the hospital and Faith Marie was born at 10:05 pm. The surprise was that Faith wasn't supposed to make her grand entrance until August, she was 7 1/2 weeks early. She is in the NICU but she is breathing on her own and all her organs seem to be working properly. Faith weighed 4 lbs 6 oz and was 16.9 inches long. Julie is doing as well as a mommy can be when she has to go home without her baby. And James is busting his buttons with pride! :)
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Psalm 127:3

That's a No-No

Anyone who cares even a little bit about baseball should know that last night history was made. The Detroit Tiger's young pitcher, Justin Verlander, threw a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers. The last time a Tiger pitcher threw a no hitter was in 1984 and it's only been done 6 times in the 107 years the franchise has been in existence. Needless to say there was one really excited Tiger fan in our house last night and we ended up going out for ice cream to celebrate the historical moment. GO TIGERS!

It's been a while

We've been busy this last week. Bob took Friday off and we went to the zoo. Saturday we had a t-ball game and Bob and I went out on our big "last date" before he leaves...although we still don't know when he'll be leaving (FRUSTRATING!!!). We started off at the casino. We've never been there before and Bob thought we could check it out. We had $16 cash and we were on our last dollar and Bob hit the jackpot. He won $33!!! We doubled our money and decided to quit while we were ahead. I honestly don't understand how people can sit there for hours on end feeding their money into machines. Our second stop was El Pinto, a very nice restaurant with wonderful atmosphere. We enjoyed our dinner on the patio and then we were off to the Isotopes game. We paid for $5 seating on the grass but of course Bob had no intention of sitting on the grass. He went right back to the section behind home plate and our pal Carlos, who let us sit there with the kids just a few nights before, told us to come back in the 3rd inning. We did and he took us to the front row directly behind home plate (the VERY front row!). That's MY MAN!

For many days now we've been anxiously awaiting news of when Bob will leave...not that we're in a rush for him to go but it's hard not knowing; we feel like we're in limbo. He's on leave until we get word, so at least we get to spend the days together doing fun things. We may hear something today but then again we've been saying that since Memorial Day. It's all about the paperwork, UGH. Actually another reason to get him there sooner rather than later is so that he can get home for Christmas!!! At this point I'm not holding my breath for anything. It's definitely one of those "hurry up and wait" situations.

Fire and Water

Today was quite a day! We had swimming lessons this morning and the kids did great! Chloe didn't cry at all this time. She got right in the water and did all the activities! I was so proud of her; she was pretty proud too. :) Abigail and Joshua did really well too.

Then at lunch time we went to the base fire station with a group called "Hearts Apart". It's a support group for families who have someone deployed. Even though Bob hasn't left yet they told us we could come and start getting to know other people who are in our same situation. The kids loved playing on the fire truck and seeing where the firemen hang out when they are waiting for a call. We even got to eat lunch in the chow hall afterwards! We will definitely attend more of these group activities.

Bob works his magic

Last night we went to a special ball game at the AAA stadium. It was called the All American game; supposedly the best high school players from around the country. We got the tickets free and there was a fire works show afterwards so we thought we'd take the kiddos. It's the only game we'll get to go to as a family this year. As an aside I have to tell you that whenever Bob goes to a ball game he somehow works it so that he gets free parking and a fabulous seat. He just talks people into letting him sit wherever he wants and it almost always works. Well this game was no exception. He walked right up to the section directly behind home plate and started talking to the guy. I saw the guy shaking his head no but Bob is a persistent one and kept talking to him. Then he got out his wallet and flashed his military ID. Then the guy waved us all in. I didn't ask what he told the man but I'm guessing he mentioned that he's about to deploy and wanted a special experience with the family. That's my guy, always workin' it! The seats were great and we had fun. At one point a kid came up to bat and his name was Bobby Buckner. I leaned over and told Joshua that it was a good thing his name wasn't Billy Buckner. The man sitting behind us who just so happened to work for one of the biggest agents in baseball told me not to say that too loud because the kid was Billy Buckner's son and Billy was sitting just two rows up on the other side of the aisle. CRAZY.
The fireworks show was worth the wait and none of the kids cried. The only downer was that the concession lines were crazy long so we didn't get cotton candy or dippin' dots but overall it was great night of family fun!

She's not a water baby

Today we started swim lessons and this year Chloe is able to participate. I knew it was going to be a challenge with her because she doesn't even like the bath most of the time. I just knew she was going to cry, and she did. But by the end of the time she was kicking her feet and letting her teacher swim around with her playing "Motor Boat, motor boat". Hopefully there won't be tears tomorrow but I'm not counting on it. Abigail and Joshua did great! Hopefully by the end of this class they'll be able to float by themselves. It's all about baby steps.

Welcome friend!

Well friends, we have another member of our circle. Katie is now reporting the "Great Adventures" of her family on a blog. Check it out!