I'm Alive:)

As you can see I finally have made time to get Britts graduation pictures uploaded. June 6th has came and went...and we all survived!

My parents had a nice relaxing visit, my Dad did end up spraining his ankle, at the stadium for Britt's Grad. So he spent the last couple of days on Brittany's crutches. But it was good having them here.

Soon after my parents left, we jumped right into our yearly Vacation Bible School preparations...even Rick went all out:) We had 76 volunteers and 99 children.
It was an amazing time of fellowship where God was lifted up. Forty-five children gave their lives to Christ on Thursday evening!

Unfortunately half way through the week this icky virus started sweeping through. My whole family ended up with it...except Brittany of course because she was not risking missing her trip to Virginia. We had it so bad we did not get dressed all of 4th of July weekend....we just showered and put clean pj's on:)

Next came Brittany's Grad/Birthday party..yes she turned 18 on me...and yes there were more tears:) But we had a nice party at the pool and she enjoyed herself. She left the next day for Virginia to spend time with her other family.....The Browns:)

Zachary has also started playing Flag football. He is pretty good and spends most of his time trying to convince us to let him play tackle....the jury is still out on that one! So we spend our Sunday afternoons at the football field:)

Becca is anxiously awaiting the beginning of her freshman year, and enjoying dance and cheerleading.

Joshua is still going to football practice everyday and his diligence has paid off, he will be playing first string wide receiver....this has me a little nervous, but I will leave him in God's hands.

I have a new job...I just have no idea when I will start:) I will be a Training Curriculum Specialist for the Army at one of their CDC's. I am really excited. I love training and mentoring...and now I will be getting paid to do it all day long:) I will miss PATCH and the staff there but I am grateful for the opportunity God is giving me to use the gifts and talents He has given me!

Drum roll pleassssseeeeeee....Wednesday Rick will re-enlist and then check off the boat, drive back to subase and check in at SUBPAC. I will tell you that this past three years of sea duty have been the longest of my life and when I say I thank God that we made it through them I say it with all sincerity and a multitude of gratitude!

Thankfully, the raise I get from my new position will make up for the fond farewell to sea pay and sub pay...plus around another 10k a year.I am thankful I serve a God of addition and multiplication instead of subtraction and division!

Finally, I am registered for school....I start my Masters in Educational Psychology on Sept 9th, Britt starts her classes on Sept 8 and Rick the first week of October:)

I believe that I am also going to write a devotional book for mom's....let me rephrase that for "real moms." You know who you are....you don't wear an apron....probably don't even own one, you ask God for strength to deal with your children more than once a day.....and you really want a devotion that will deal with the real issues of motherhood...like who are these aliens people keep referring to as my children?

This devotional will hopefully be step one ...ok the blog was step one, step two in my writing career...its all about taking baby steps!

Catching up...AGAIN!!!

Ok, since I haven't blogged since Britt's graduation I reallllyyyy need to catch up!

Let's start with me forgetting my parents at the airport!!! Well, I didn't really forget them...I just didn't think they were coming in on Wednesday....we all thought they were coming in on Thursday, including my brother who made the reservations for them.

So here it is Wednesday evening and I am finishing up some last minute details, like cleaning my bathroom, and washing the sheets for the bed my parents are going to sleep in...when the phone rings and its my dad. I ask him where he is and he tells me, "The airport." So I ask, "Daddy why are you at the airport at midnight? Your plane does not leave until 8am?" He replies, " I am at the Honolulu Airport!" Ooooppppppssss!!! So I instruct my children to finish all the jobs I hadn't and jumped into the truck to go get my parents. I was bummed because I though they were flying in on Thursday evening, so I had just decided to work until they got there, so I had to go to work the next day. They just chilled out at home!

Then came the mad dash to pick Rick up because the boat did a personal transfer and he was coming in late Friday afternoon. he had just enough time to rush home shower, change and head out the door...to Alycea's graduation. It was beautiful and I pretty much cried from the time we got in the car until I went to bed that night.

The next day saw us running around for lei's and other items for the graduation ceremony, painting the windows on the truck, and juggling all those people into the cars.....

I will stop here because Britt's graduation deserves a post all of its own.....so stay tuned...I'll be back by this weekend!

I Don't Think I Can Do This....

I can't breathe...I can't do this.

How am I suppose to sit in the stands and listen to them call her name next Saturday, listing all her accomplishments, and watch her walk across the stage and accept her diploma? How am I suppose to sit there and watch her?

I remember like it was yesterday....searching for the right school for her, teaching her to write her name, shopping for her first school back pack, first lunch box.....dressing her for the first day of school.... I remember 9 years later laying in my bed crying and praying about her starting public high school....and now I have blinked and it is over...she will graduate.

The past couple of months...well actually since OJ and Darius (get back to Darius in a minute) graduated last year Britt has been able to take me to levels of frustration that have mostly (smile) kept the unbreathable moments that I have experienced this week at bay. The lack of energy put into applying for scholarships, her dogged determination to decline the full ride scholarship, the lack of mathematical abilities when considering her future...and lets not even go into the 7 months it has taken her to get her room clean.

But today as I am planning out what I have to do this week to get ready for my parents arrival and the graduation I can no longer put off the onslaught of emotions that I am feeling...what really doesn't help is that Rick is not here to hold me through it.

Darius....yes...he is not helping me any either....you see he is going into the Air Force and I have to say good bye to him tomorrow.....so if you pass me on the street and I am crying uncontrollably anytime in the next two weeks....you will know why!

AHAHAHAHAH Attack of the CheerQueen

OK....friends...those of you who have been following along for a while know that I have not been particularly fond of cheerleaders...since high school....and that both of my daughters are cheerleaders....and that I call Britt's the CheerQueen.

Well I thought the cheerness would come down several notches when Britt graduated from high school and was no longer on the cheer squad. However, she has just accepted a job as an assistant Cheerleading coach for her old high school..so the cheerness will continue on....

Superfriend.....

I have been listening to the Mary Mary Mary The Sound CD and there is a song that has really ministered to me on there. Superfriend. It talks about how friends will always let you down...well....lets face it because we are human:) But there is one friend who will never let you down and He has already paid the price for your freedom....that's what I call a SUPERFRIEND.

I want to clarify that some of our friends don't let us down on purpose...because real friends don't do it as a conscious thought...and sometime they don't even know they have done it. You may realllllyyyyy need a friend, so you call them up...and maybe themselves are having a bad day...so when they respond to you they are responding from their current position or funk....without thinking that you may reallllyyyy need them right then. This doesn't make them a bad friend....it makes them human.

So this is what happened to me this week. I got some news that I didn't want to hear ....news I was hoping would be other than it was and there are few people outside of my husband I would have shared the news with. So I called one and for whatever reason she was funky and busy so I just told her to call me when she had a chance....then I cried and talked to Jesus all the way home in rush hour traffic.

So here's the deal.....and I am not saying we should have low standards concerning our friends or that we should expect the worse from them. But when they don't meet the friendship need for that moment we need to remember that our friends here on earth are human and have bad days. We need to remember that we have a friend that is better than anyone here on earth...one who has given more than humanly possible...