Home

Mark came home yesterday!! I was so happy to see him. I know he wasn't gone very long and he was away doing God's work but gosh I missed him so much! He stopped at my office and we had lunch together before he went home and crashed. On his way here he made a stop at a florist. He is the one gone for a few days and he brought me flowers. I love him so much.

I know this time apart was absolutely nothing in comparison to the time our men and women in the service spend away from home and their families. My soon to be sister-in-law spent an entire year apart from her husband (very early into their marriage) while he served in the Middle East. I know this was difficult for her, which makes me feel guilty for whining about Mark being gone for 3 days. She is such a strong woman, I admire and love her so much.

Hero

Day 2 of Mark being in New York for Hurricane Irene. He was made the "strike team leader", in charge of 8 trucks.Today he went to Queens and evacuated a hospital, which took several hours of planning in meetings with FDNY and a few hours to actuallyaccomplish their mission. Now he is headed back to an Air Force Base in Newburg, NY, where hopefully they will be able to catch a few hours of sleep.

By tomorrow morning the hurricane should be reaching New York. I have never watched the weather so close in my life. It is hard being away from him (we have never been apart for long in the 2 1/2 years we've been together) with limited communication but I am so proud of him and what he is doing.

Deployed

Mark was deployed today to New York to help with evacuation efforts and search and rescue due to Hurricane Irene creeping her way up the eastern coast.

I'm not going to lie, I cried when he called me and told me. I felt so dumb!! It's not like he is going to war. Thank God people I work with know I am just an emotional person. I left work so I could come home and tell him goodbye.

Again, I am not going to lie, I started missing him as soon as he got into his truck to go back to the station.

Pathetic? I don't think so. He will be gone for up to 10 days, we have never been apart for any significant amount of time before.

As I sit here blogging and watching the reports on The Weather Channel, I pray for him and the other medics who have been deployed for their safe return.

Negative Nancy

I was told today I am a Negative Nancy.

Ouch.

That kind of hurt, this is not how I want to be known. I know with my frequent and unexplainable frustrations lately I haven't exactly been Suzy Sunshine, but to be known as and told that I'm negative more often than not...it shook me.

I spent several years in a relationship with someone who verbally beat me down. I never seemed to be smart enough, thin enough, social enough, make enough money. The relationship turned into a marriage that resulted in a divorce. I thank God daily for putting me in the loving and supportive relationship and soon-to-be marriage I am in now.

After I left him and going through some ups and downs, it really made me start to think about some things, like how I want to be known as, the type of person I want to be, how I want to live my life.

I want to be the best mommy, wife, friend I can be. I want to raise my children to be respectable adults. I want to be supportive of my husband and take care of him. I want to be the type of friend or family that every one in my life knows they can come to for anything, and know I will always be there for them.

I want to do things without complaint. I don't want to be known as a complainer, or as said earlier, a "Negative Nancy". I need to work on this.

I need to smile and laugh more and I want to make people smile and laugh. I want to have the ability to turn someones bad day into a good one.

I want to inspire people.

I want to have a beautiful soul.

I have some changes to make. Project Self-Improvement has officially begun.

We Owned The Night - Lady Antebellum

I just LOVE their music...

This is their new one that just came out on the radio.

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR6uS7-08vs&feature=related

Tuesday Funk

Ever have one of those days your emotions suddenly whip out of control and you cry at the drop of a hat (with absolutely no rhyme or reason), or feel like you can't seem to say or do anything right? One of those days where even your favorite candy bar, that usually makes everything all better, just doesn't do the trick?

Ok, maybe I'm projecting here... and hoping for reassurance I am not the only one.

It is definitely one of those days today. I don't know what it is. Today is one of those days I wish I could sit in a room and let it all out so I can move on with my day. I don't get this sort of an outlet so I discovered reading quotes helps. My favorite website is http://holliesquotes.com. It even says on there "Quotes get you through the days you think no one knows what you're going through."

I couldn't have stated it better myself.

Church Camp

Yesterday I sent my baby off to church camp for four days. This is his first time and boy was he excited! He hauled his suitcase out to the front door an hour before we even left the house. I, however, have been a ball of nerves. In an effort to hide my anxiety, I fed his excitement by yelling out in the car all the way to church - "Where are we going??" Parker: CHURCH CAMP!!! and we both yelled and cheered.

The time leading up to taking him to church was packed with fun little Parker-isms, which I always love sharing.

Parker-ism #1: We picked up McDonald's breakfast on our way. Special morning, special breakfast. In the drive-thru line Parker rolled his window down and yelled out to anyone who would listen, "I'm going to church camp!" After McDonalds we stopped at CVS to purchase a poncho. He seized the opportunity to tell the guy at the cash register that he is going to church camp and got his first Bible the night before. I LOVE his enthusiasm and excitement for this!!

Parker-ism #2:

Parker: Mom, did you like Power Rangers when you were younger?

Me: No.

Parker: Do you like them now?

Me: No.

Parker: Really?? Why?

Me: I don't like the fighting.

Parker: Well, it's just pretend.

Me: I know. But I think that's more of a boy thing. Girls don't really like that sort of thing.
Parker: Well, maybe you just aren't looking at the detail. There's alot of detail and even though it's pretend, the detail makes it look real.

Oh my goodness....Who am I talking to??? LOL I love conversations like this with him. He never ceases to surprise me with the things he says sometimes. I just love that kid, I can't wait until he comes home and tells me all about his camp adventures!

Power of Prayer

A quick little story about my morning. It's ok if you're reading this and thinking "what a geek, this isn't such a big deal..." I know this isn't life altering or earth shattering, but I still thought it was cool and had to share :)

This morning on my way to work I had to stop at McDonalds for coffee (we ran out at home and going without just isn't an option). As I was waiting in line in the drive-thru, there was a girl having problems starting her car. She tried over and over again, each time the smell of gasoline strong, and each time it just wouldn't kick. I felt so bad for her, she looked stressed and she clearly had somewhere to be as she had a trailer hooked to the back. I found myself wishing I had some mechanical skills, but the best I could think to offer was to give it a break or she would 'flood' the engine. This isn't very helpful so instead I just prayed....I asked God to please help this girl and to let her car start. Give it a kick, a quick breath of life, whatever it would take. Within 3 minutes of my prayer I looked up in time to see her driving out of the parking lot.

I always know the power of prayer is strong, but this morning I was able to actually witness it. How cool is that??

Friends

I had to borrow this from Nikki's blog (Love, Heels and Little Black Dresses) today, it seemed so fitting with how I've been feeling lately.

People and things tend to change over time. It always reminds me of an email I have seen a few times - Friends are a season, a reason or a lifetime. Sometimes they come into our lives for a reason, to fulfill a specific need we may have, or to teach us a lesson. Some are only meant to be in our lives for a short amount of time. Some come into our lives for a lifetime. They are there through thick and thin. I personally, am a lifer. I tend to become attached easily. I usually joke I'm like a stray cat. Feed me once I you will never get rid me.

I value and treasure the friends I have, even if I only get to 'keep' them for a short amount of time. However I always hope they will be 'lifers' as well.

Thanks for the post Nik...and thanks for being one of my treasures! <3

Tuesday Thoughts...

Here's what I'm loving today:

1. Mark - he spoils me beyond what I deserve.

2. My boys
3. Praying - I've been doing a lot of this lately for friends, family and myself.

4. Blogging - I love reading other blogs! I love the humor and inspiration. I would have been up most of the night last night reading if I hadn't forced myself to bed.

5. Wedding stuff - every day my brain is in 100 different directions with wedding stuff!

6. Chicken Avacado Wraps - YUM!!

7. My friend Cessli Hahn - today is her birthday! I just love her, she is such a fun-loving sweetheart.

8. My two beautiful future sisters-in-law Nikki and Billie. I am so lucky and blessed to have these girls in my life.

9. Kenny Chesney - We are going to his concert next weekend...I can't wait!!

What are you loving today?

10 Tips for a Mindful Home

I was reading someone else's blog when I stumbledacross her Pinterest. I was invited by Nikki to join a few weeks ago and I haven't had a chance to do it yet. I don't totally know what exactly it is about just yet, but I was looking at this blogger's Pinterest and thought I would share this:Some of these tips seemed so simple yet so invaluable.

The blogger this 'belongs' to is http://storyofmylifetheblog.blogspot.com/ She is just one of the several blogs I read daily for a little dose of humor and inspiration.

Valpo/Chicago Weekend

On Friday Mark and the boys and I headed down to Valparaiso, IN to visit his step sister Nikki and her boyfriend Matt.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to take the train into Chicago to go to Shedd Aquarium. We couldn't believe how long the line was when we got there! Thank goodness for Camden and his stroller, we were sent around back into a much shorter line. We had a really great time!

After the Aquarium they took us to this place for the most AMAZING Chicago famous deep dish pizza ever! I'm not even going to ATTEMPT to spell the name of it. Just take my word for it, it was delicious!!!

Sunday we went to their church, GracePoint. Nikki is always talking about it so I was VERY excited to check it out! Even though Camden didn't last but 10 minutes in the nursery, it was a great service with a great message. We really enjoyed it!

After church we waited out a rain storm and headed to the beach on Lake Michigan. We spent 2 awesome hours there.
It was such an awesome weekend. I know it's hard for them to make it to Michigan as often as they'd like, so I am hoping to start making more trips down their way.

Shoes = Friday Obsessions

This particular Friday is so hard for me to stay focused. I am leaving work early and we are hitting the road to Indiana to see my soon to be sister-in-law. I can't wait! This will be the blog post for Monday.

Today I started thinking about shoes. Not just any shoes, but what shoes am I going to wear for my wedding?? It actually started off with looking at jewelry on http://www.theknot.com/ for my sister's wedding. The necklaces are pretty pricey through them so my attention was immediately diverted to shoes. It snowballed from there...

With having a beach wedding, "traditional" wedding shoes don't apply here. I LOVE heels, and let me tell you, I have found some adorable ones! But they just won't work in the sand. Here are some I found and liked (in no particular order):

My love of shoes would keep me looking ALL DAY. I am such an indecisive person I don't know how I am going to decide!

Birthday Boy

I am so behind on so many things!

Parker's birthday was Sunday, I can't believe he is 7 already! It hardly seems possible I have a 7 year old.

When he woke up Sunday morning the first words out of his mouth were "I'm 7!!" I told him not until 11:18 am (it is my right as a mommy to hold on to the very last second!). Don't you know that little boy practically watched the clock all morning, and at 11:24am he loudly proclaimed "Ok, NOW I'm 7!!!!"

His birthday party went fairly well. Seeing as we were having his party on his actual birthday, which he also shares with Harry Potter, and in light of the release of the last movie, the theme was Harry Potter. I hit quite a few unexpected bumps in the party planning road but overall it went well and he had a great day.

Happy Birthday to my little man....I am so blessed to have such a great little boy to be a mommy to.