Time for a marriage retreat

Tomorrow Bob and I leave for our long awaited get-away. We're headed to Phoenix...all by ourselves!!! Our wonderful friends Chad and Jill will be taking care of the kids for us (this is their 3rd time) and we'll be enjoying some fun in the sun together. :) I'm guessing we'll have lots to tell about from our trip and the adventures with Beek kiddos here at home.

New beginnings and Grand Finales

Today on a whim I decided to take Chloe's training wheels off. We walked down to the street and she hopped on and started riding all by herself! We're so proud of her!!! Now she just has to figure out how to get on and get started on her own.
-AND-
Since Bob came home I've been taking a cake decorating class. Tonight was my Grand Finale and I'm so pleased with how my cake came out. Joshua assisted on the pansy making and tomorrow we'll all enjoy eating it! While Bob was gone I had an epiphany...I would really love to go to pastry school and some day have my own business. You may think I've been watching too much "Ace of Cakes" but I really think this is what I want to do. Maybe I can start out in a bakery and get some more skills without going to school. We'll see what the future brings. For now I'm happy taking classes at Hobby Lobby. Oh and for people who live near-by I'm taking orders for practice. :)

Attacked by a spoon

On Friday morning we had some excitement. Joshua decided to use his spoon as a catapult, testing how far a piece of cereal would fly. The only problem was that when he hit the end of the spoon to make the cereal fly across the room the spoon came up and hit him in the eye. We thought he'd be okay but after several hours it wasn't looking or feeling any better. However, I happened to break off part of a tooth and needed to go to the dentist and just after that our neighbor called and asked if we could watch her two kiddos because she needed to go to the hospital because her baby (due in May) hadn't been moving all day and she was concerned, and Abigail had her school Spring Musical that night...so going to urgent care was just not going to happen. We were still hoping that his eye would look better on Saturday, but it didn't. We had t-ball team pictures at 7:50 am, then we went out to IHOP for breakfast while we waited for Urgent Care to open at 10 am. Joshua did indeed have a scratch on his eye but the doctor said it was small and should heal just fine. The best part was that he got to wear a patch on his eye for the rest of the day and be a pirate! We'll follow up in a few days with a vision test to make sure his vision wasn't affected. Just another typical day in the life of the Beeks!
Oh and my neighbor's baby is fine and Abigail did a fabulous job in the Spring Musical!

Get your tissues

If you'd like to see the video of Bob's homecoming please check out More Water
Thanks again Mr. J for making this awesome DVD for us! It truly is priceless.

Welcome Home Daddy

Bob arrived home safely this afternoon! The kids ran to him screaming and I just started crying. I think the lady standing next to me thought I was hyperventilating. It was so awesome. Our friend OJ came with us to the gate and got the whole thing on video so we'll post that soon. :) Thanks OJ. And then there was a huge group of co-workers, friends and our church family waiting for us outside of security. It was fabulous! The kids have so much to show him and don't want to leave his side. Joshua just kept saying, "daddy, I love you." Words can't describe how happy we are to be back together again!

The kids had a big surprise for daddy when we got home. This morning they cut confetti and we put it on the top of the fan and when Bob stood under it we turned it on and the confetti went flying. Everyone cheered it was our version of a hero's ticker tape parade! Praise God, our hero is home safe!

The End

My dear husband is now back in the United States and tomorrow he'll be home. Knowing that his arrival is almost here has caused me to think back on this adventure. I remember vividly the day he left but it feels like so long ago. And even our cross country trek seems to have happened years ago. Time plays tricks on you I'm convinced. 10 months is really not that long, in the scope of life. But this 10 months has felt like for-e-ver! I've certainly learned a lot about myself during this time. It's really humbling because there have been many times when people tell me how patient I am or what a good job I'm doing. But really, this experience has showed me that I am extremely impatient and I how often I don't do a good job. It's those times when no one else is around and everything starts getting out of control and then I just lose it. There have been many, many times that I have had to apologize to the children because I have totally lost my self control and yelled and treated them unkindly. And probably a lot more times that I acted that way and didn't ask for forgiveness. I have failed them everyday. I didn't keep up with family worship, scripture memory or catechism the way I promised Bob I would. And it's really hard when I tell people that I've failed in all these ways, and more, and they tell me that it's okay because of the situation but really it's not okay. There's no excuse....
And yet I do find comfort in the fact that there is more grace in Christ than sin in me.
I'm just so thankful that tomorrow Bob will be back and I won't be on my own any more. Being by myself has shown me the importance of Bob's leadership in our family. He works hard to keep us on track spiritually and his presence has a great influence on the attitudes and behaviors that I see in myself and the children. Not to mention he's just fun to have around. :)
One thing that has meant so much to me during these 10 months has been our church family here and our extended church family. The people here have loved on us in a way that blows my mind. They have served us and helped us and encouraged us and hugged us and just gotten us through this. Our families and friends across the country have been praying for us the entire time and we are thankful for that. When the kids and I were traveling over the summer, every single place we stopped people told us that they were praying for us and that was such a blessing to me. We saw an amazing picture of the Church, one that will stay with me forever. It was our brothers and sisters in Christ who watched over me and the children when my husband was not here to do it. I can't help but think of the hymn "Blest Be The Tie That Binds".

It's getting late and my mind is on overload and I'm not even sure if what I wrote makes any sense or if it's just a hodge podge of the ramblings of tired mommy who is just so ready for her husband to be home. Oh well, I typed too much to just delete it now. I hope it makes sense in the morning.

"Fire up Daughtry, Baby...

...cause I'm coming home!". That's what Bob said to me on the phone a few hours before he left Afghanistan. On Thursday he'll be back on US soil and on Friday he'll be HOME. We're all a little on the giddy side here and the days, hours, minutes just can't go by fast enough. I've been thinking a lot about what I've learned over these last 10 months. I'll try to put my thoughts together on that soon. For now I've got a meal to deliver, dinner to make, potty training to do and so much more. :)