Friday, February 22, 2008

Home Sweet Home


It just dawned on me. Today marks the one year anniversary of moving into our home. Of course, this isn't a very accurate picture. Imagine the skies a dismal grey and the yard and driveway covered with an icy slush. The funny thing is, the weather conditions are exactly the same today as the day we moved in. I remember the movers weren't happy with us because the driveway was a frozen mess, but we had just signed for the house the day before after having driven across the country with three children (ages 3 and under, a cat, dog, and all the stuff we could cram into a van and sedan.) Not to mention on the trip we had visited the ER in Indianapolis with a sick 4 month old and had to do breathing treatments. Ah, the memories!
The move had come rather suddenly. We were notified at the beginning of January that we were to move here by February 21st, not even a month and a half notice. Thankfully the Army provides movers, but it was still a stretch moving with a newborn, a toddler and a pre-schooler. However, some dear friends of our watched the girls for a weekend (at the end of January) while hubby, baby and I flew out here to meet with our realtor. This was the last house we saw, and we loved it. Three weeks later we had signed the papers and the house was ours (thankfully the owners had already moved to Alaska, so we didn't have to wait for them to move out.) It's a good size for us- 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths- not too much space to clean, but my favorite part is a finished basement. I have my crafting stuff down there along with the majority of the kids' toys.
My other favorite part of the house (not to mention the windows which let in lots of natural light and the laminate wood floors in the dining room and basement- pergo-something or other, and tile floors in the kitchen and bathrooms) are our neighbors. They are very friendly and incredibly helpful. One of our neighbors sons mowed our grass this summer and they also shovel out the driveway. Knowing our situation they watch out for us and call if they haven't seen us in awhile. We are very blessed.
The other interesting tid-bit about our home is that many of the previous owners have moved from here to exotic locations (according to our neighbor who has been here 20 yrs.) We're either the 6th or 7th owners, and the people who previously lived here did, in fact, move to Alaska. There was another military family here with 3 kids who moved to Hawaii. It'll be interesting if the same remains true for us.
On a side note, my entries will remain few and far between as I finish up my 12 page paper and prepare for a 9+ hour drive with the kiddos next week. However, a week from today we will hopefully be in my hubby's lovin' arms for 3 weeks. I can hardly wait!!! I'm praying for clear weather on Wednesday as we take off!

Monday, February 11, 2008

To Laugh or To Cry

That is the question... Thank you for all the love from the "blogging world." I very much appreciate your support and your prayers. Today started off a little rough in that I woke up with what appears to be a sinus infection, but fortunately I had some left over meds from the last time I was sick and they kicked in with no side-effects. The kids seemed back to their "old selves," so I dropped my 4 year old off at Pre-K and got some grocery shopping done. However, when I went to pick her up, she had just started crying that her ear was hurting. She was very upset, which was unusual for her and thankfully I was able to get a doctor's appointment within an hour. Sure enough, she has an ear infection. That makes three ear infections in three weeks and hopefully the last of it.

Often times people who know about my current situation express admiration for my being able to do what I do. I feel I must set the record straight. This deployment, child-rearing, crisis-dealing, is not done on my own strength. I'm not that strong, and I give the total credit to God that I haven't already been "commited." The Bible says that God won't give us more than we can handle WITH His strength. The following verses have been great sources of comfort during these "challenging" times whether is an obstinate toddler, household full of sick kids, craziness of life or worries about the safetly of my husband or of family members.
"No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it." 1 Cor. 10:13 (The Message)
"Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday." Ps. 91:1-6 (NLT)

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Mommy and the No Good, Horrible, Very Bad Week(s)

The last two weeks havn't been nice for us. I'm tired enough that I can hardly remember the first week except that my son, D, had a double ear infection, and we had an ice storm. Then Super Bowl Sunday came. Although I do not watch football on a regular basis I had it on because it's something hubby and I would do if he were here (and I figured he might have stayed up late to watch it too- kind of like a long-distance date). After an amazing game (Go Giants!!!) I was excited about the prospects of an early bed-time when no more than 30 minutes after the game ended I heard D crying. I went in to check on him, and he had apparently gotten very sick. I will spare the gory details but will say that he required a full bath and new sheets. Not long after that I had to change the new sheets again, but fortunately the rest of the night he was fine.

Monday my 4 year old, H, had a bad sore throat so we skipped pre-K and ballet, and at the end of the day I did notice that the 3 year old, E, had an excess of sleep in her eyes. The next morning H woke up feeling better, but E had what appeared to be pink eye in both eyes. I got an appointment with the doctor and discovered that not only did she have pink eye, but she also had a bad ear infection which is what started the pink eye. I figured while I was there I would kill 3 birds with one stone and had him look at the other two. H was fine, but D's ear infection was much worse. We got stronger antibiotics prescribed and that was that.

Wednesday wasn't good at all. The girls woke me up in the middle of the night wanting to get in bed, and I was so tired I just let them. Quarter to 6 (in the morning) an alarm goes off. I have a bad history with our gas alarm (another over-long post) and it sent my heart into panic mode. However it only sounded once, but while I was up checking out what caused the alarm to sound, the electricity went off and stayed off. It would be one thing if I was used to dressing my children by candle-light and fixing coffee on the stove. However, although I had all of their clothing laid out and was up much earlier than intended, I still had a hard time getting out the door for school on time. Not to mention that I had to open the garage manually, and while I'm perfectly capable of doing so, the door does not stay open all the way, so I had to ask a very gracious neighbor to lend a hand. The lights eventually came back on and I went through the Starbuck's drive-through, but I couldn't get out of the funk that had started that morning. Plus, with all the unexpected illnesses I had to cram to get my assignment done for school, and the electricity kept threatening to go off.

On Thursday my husband asked why I was so grouchy, and I must admit that I just spewed off all my stresses and frustrations. Fortunately he just listened and didn't try to fix things and I felt better getting it off my chest. I even managed to get a few things done around the house since the kids were on the mend and no assignments were due. Friday was a slight return to normalcy, running errands and eating out with friends (all-be-it Chick-fil-A and the 15 month old HAD to throw his food in any direction.)

Saturday I had another unexpected awakening at 3 a.m. H entered my room and wanted to get in bed. She wasn't feeling well, so I let her and before I knew it, she was sick all over the place. Again, sparing the gory details, but I was up for several hours and am still looking for a way to get red Jello stains out of tan carpet. The rest of the day she wasn't much better, even slept for 3 hours in the afternoon and didn't eat at all. I stayed up late washing towels, sheets, clothing and couch slip-cover and got a few things scrubbed down in the house.

Today we stayed home, just to fully recover and the weather was really bad. Tonight it's getting BELOW 0*F with a windchill below -16. I've been able to reflect and rest today too. In spite of all the insanity, there is a silver lining. Dealing with sick children isn't easy especially without my hubby to help out, but we've had lots of uninterrupted together time lately since I haven't had to do my usual running-around. I've been able to cuddle and love on my little ones who are growing up so quickly. It may be miserably cold outside, but although it's less than clean, I have a warm, comfortable home. The recent tornadoes with such devistation put things into perspective for me. I also have friends who have called me just to make sure things are fine and to offer to get groceries. One even stopped by unexpectedly with soup, lasagne, bread, and salad. Plus, I just saw that school is delayed two hours tomorrow morning- YAY!! I hope that we return soon to normalcy- whatever that is...