My deepest gratitude...

Today is veteran's day.  A day our nation sets aside to honor those who have bravely served our country.  I think it is an honorable holiday, but for many people it just means a day off of work.  To me this is a tragedy.  I will admit that, up until 7 years ago, that person was me.  I knew soldiers had fought for us, and don't get me wrong, I was grateful to them for helping form this great country.  However, I had no idea just how much they had sacrificed until I became a soldier's wife.  Now every year Veteran's Day and Memorial Day, esp Memorial Day, brings a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes.  Nothing I can say or do will ever be enough to thank all the brave men and women that have served our country, either willingly or by the draft.  These men and women give up the freedom of the way of life most American's take for granted.  They go were they are told to go, they eat when they are told to eat, sleep when they are told to sleep.  They go without regular food or sleep if that is what they are asked to do.  They sacrifice time with the ones that they love without question.  They willingly accept long hours on cold ground, in less then favorable conditions all so that they can train and be ready if and when that call comes.  They will leave their families for long periods of time, missing many major milestones and events, because their country needs them.  Our modern day soldiers are blessed to have e-mail, phone and even video chat options now to stay in contact with their loved ones.  I can't even imagine how hard it was for the soldiers of WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, the Golf War and all the other conflicts that caused them to leave their families for months to years without being able to communicate and know what was going on back home.  These men and women, the soldiers of bygone eras and of the present day, they are truly my heroes.  I will go out of my way to thank a veteran.  And let me share this with you, there are many a veteran I have thanked who, even though they have been through the rough road of war, will choke up when a young person like me sincerely thanks them from the heart.  I have seen it over and over again as they realize their sacrifices are not forgotten and are truly appreciated.  I have also see the pain in a soldier's eye when someone who thinks they know better about war and misrepresents or disrespects what they have sacrificed so much to give.  So, whether or not you believe in war and whether or not you agree with all our military has asked these men and women to do, PLEASE take the time today, and every chance you get to thank our country's veterans.  We are fast losing our brave WWII veterans...you might be the last one to thank them...so take the time.  Take the time when you see some one wearing a Veteran hat to thank them.  If you see someone proudly wearing a military t-shirt, sweatshirt, or hat ask them what their connection is to that military branch.  Then tell them to thank that veteran who has touched their life, or if they have served themselves ask to shake their hand, look them in the eye and THANK THEM!  They have touched our lives, in so many unseen ways, the least we can do is briefly touch theirs in this little way.  So join me today and everyday in thanking our great veterans!  May God bless you each and every one, and today especially our brave veterans!

Little costumed creatures!!!

Well...it's been forever since I posted on here.  I had to prioritize for a while and cut back to keep my sanity.  Things are finally smoothing out a bit, so I'm taking a moment to post pictures of the girls in their Halloween costumes.
Some background on Miriam's costume...
She came home from school one day and announced she was going to be a witch.  Now we do Trick or Treating and the whole costume thing, but we use the God's Pumpkin story to help our kids think of God during the holiday.  Witches are a no go in our house, so I told Miriam no.  She got upset and started babbling about how she has to be a witch so she can scare her daddy.  To which I replied we will have to find something else to scare daddy with because we do not pretend to be witches in this house.  Later that night I relayed the story to Brad to which he replied, not scared of witches...only thing that would scare me is a spider.  Ever since Iraq and their nasty big, disgusting, freakish, abnormal, etc Camel Spiders (those are all Brad's words for them...and many others all uttered in complete abhorrence while shuttering) Brad cannot stand spiders, even little ones.  I am the spider slayer in this house!  Well of course Miriam just had to be...



A SPIDER!!!!!  I found the spider mask on-line and Miriam colored it in.  That mask gave Brad the heebie jeebies, so mission accomplished on scaring daddy!  However, she tired of the mask and at our Church's Trick-or-Trunk Halloween afternoon she had 6 more eyes painted on her face.  By the time I got the second picture above she had smeared three of them!  You can still kind of see them.


Now for our little Abigail...I spent so much time on figuring out how to make and making Miriam's costume that I got a little stumped on Abby.  Thankfully I had a friend come through and rescue me!  She offered me this cute little costume that Abby was THRILLED with.  She even kept telling people that she was a "Beah!"  As you can see she was one cute little bear!!! :)

So those are our Cute/Scary little costumed creatures.  This was Abby's first year of really trick-or-treating (meaning she actually understood and participated in what was going on) and let me tell you she LOVED it!  That night we pretty much only went to houses of people we knew and thus we would end up visiting a bit at each door.  Well, after about the third house this little gal would go to the door, grin oh so cute, mumble "tik-a-ee" and hightail it back to the wagon.  If we delayed too long at the door visiting she was back at our sides, tugging on our hands and saying "GO!" so she could move on to the next place and get more candy!!!!  And boy did our girls rake in the candy!  So, if any of you need a fix for your sweet tooth just let us know because at this rate we'll still be eating Halloween candy on the 4th of July! :)

Her new do!

As you might have noticed in Miriam's preschool graduation pics her hair is now quite short!  One of my friends cut it on Saturday.  It was just getting too long and knotting easily, which was causing mommy/daughter incidents when trying to even brush Miriam's hair, not to mention doing it up to keep it out of her face.  For those of you who haven't seen her in a while here are the before and after pics!

And now the school year is over...

I'm afraid life got the better of me this school year. I kept meeting myself coming and going all while trying to accomplish a to do list that just kept getting longer no matter how hard I worked to eliminate items on it!

Here we are now at the end of the school year. Miriam had her preschool graduation this past Sunday. Here are some pics of the grad, and if I can figure it out I will post the video of her getting her "diploma". :)