Hooky...

Yep, we played hooky today.  I really didn't mean for us to end up that way, but we did.  First, we all packed up and went to the early morning Zumba class.  From there, I stopped at a couple of resale shops, looking for a couple of things for a friend.  Definitely found some- a pair of skechers brand flip flops (normally 20-25 bucks) for 1.99!  :P  AND they were the right size.  And cute, can't forget that!  I call it a win.  From there, we took Grandma out to eat at the local Chinese buffet, and went to the commissary, where I proceeded to come in at $15 UNDER my budget.  Woot! 
To top it all off, it was a beautiful sunny day (read- kids were outside all afternoon), I got my laundry folded and put away, figured out that the kids' clothes will fit into the suitcase I'm taking for them, got some other stuff packed up for when we leave, decluttered some things we are donating Sunday, bathed all three kids.... and balanced my checkbook.  Oh yeah, and I made cookies.. lol. 

Well.  Today was awesome, and I'm believing that tomorrow will be the same.  :) 

Dreaming...

I keep wishing all of a sudden that we weren't moving overseas.  It started a couple of months ago, right after Jon left.  I have been reading lots of different blogs, and found several that seem to be tugging at my heartstrings. 
I wish that I had gone on a mission trip when I was younger.  Check out http://www.wearethatfamily.com/ for details about her time in Africa recently with Compassion Bloggers.  You'll have to read last month's postings, I think. 

I wish that we were going to be living in the same spot for awhile, so that we could have a garden, and probably a dog, too.  The gardening part is more about wanting to eat healthy, fresh food, instead of processed junk.  The farmer's market in a nearby town opens this weekend, and I really want to go at least once before we leave.

I wish that we didn't have to uproot our kids anymore, but sadly, that comes with military life quite often.  Last week at the park, there was chocolate lab that came to visit.  She stayed right by me almost the whole time we were there, and when she wasn't next to me, she was sitting near one of the kids or babies.  Definitely makes me miss our dogs that we had.  But it won't really be a good option for us to get a dog until we know we are stabilized somewhere for more than a year. 

I want my life to be simple.  Once we arrive in Korea, I plan to seriously go through all of our things, and we will be getting rid of what we don't need, use or want.  Toys, clothes, household items, everything.  I don't want to break my back trying to constantly clean a house full of clutter.
The older I get, the more it seems that I am being just like my mom... lol.. who'd have thought that I would say that??  Last week, I heard myself telling Jacob that if he was going in the kitchen, to take his cup with him, so he wouldn't have to make two trips.  I'm trying to find a balance between buying things we need, versus things I THINK we need. 

This post is really all over the place.  Random thoughts that are going through my head.  If you're still reading, thanks.  Let me know what your wishes are.  Then tell me if you have a plan to make any of them a reality! :)

Woo and two hoos!!

I completely forgot to post this yesterday.  I had emailed the lady that was so helpful about the situation with our household goods on Sunday.  Yesterday, I received an email from a company informing me that the estimated time of arrival in country for our HHG will be 14 May!!  Yes!!  This means that the kids and I can fly over very, very soon.  In fact, if everything works out like my hubby's NCO says (who's with me on the skeptical side of this?), he should be going to housing and transportation in just a few hours.  Which should mean, hopefully, that we will have airline tickets and a set date by the end of this week.  Or at least that's what I'm praying for.  The realtor had called Jon that same day, to let him know that they had another top floor apartment that would be finished around the same time that he got out of the field.  So, since he is supposed to be done today, I'm hoping that he can get things settled with them, too. 

God is awesome!  He answers prayers, even if it isn't when or how you wanted it. 

In other news, I have found that 5 days of Zumba in a row isn't going to work.  I'm disappointed, but my kids come first.  Little J screamed his head off for about 30 minutes today, crawling around and looking for me each time Mom put him down.  So, I'm scaling back, and only going to the classes that I really like, and I will probably either do AbJam at home on the other two days, or half of the P90x Ab Extreme.  I don't think I've lost actual weight, but I can tell that the Zumba class is doing some good things for my legs.  :) 

That's about all I can think of, so more later.

Love is...

Sleepy, gummy grins when the baby first wakes up. 
A little voice calling, "Mommy, I love you!".
A mischevious smirk and a giggle as he darts away, daring you to chase him.
Holding hands as you walk.
Talking long into the night, and still getting up early the next morning to call them back.

Two arms, spread wide and nailed to a tree. 

Happy Sunday.  I pray that God blesses all my friends reading this.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Zumba!

In case you couldn't tell, I think I'm hooked on Zumba!  I absolutely love this class.  I am only on my third class, but it has been a blast each time I've gone.  I think I'm going again tomorrow night, so long as Mom will watch the kids, at least...  :)  Basically, I found something that I can do without killing myself, its nearby, I have someone to watch the kids (thank you God, for that alone), and its not totally expensive.  Oh yeah, I should mention that its FUN, and its somewhere that I fit in. 

Now, I just need some prayer.  In the middle of class today, I was almost in tears, and I really couldn't even tell you why.  Although a big part of it was a piece of the routine that I wasn't comfortable doing, I could not shake it for a couple of minutes, and had to run to the bathroom to get control of myself.  I need the confidence in myself to keep going.  I KNOW all the reasons why I should take better care of the body God's given me.  I KNOW that I should be able to control the food that I eat.  I KNOW that I eat when I'm bored or stressed.  But that doesn't seem to be stopping me from indulging.  I have been alot more careful in recent weeks, but it seems like its a two-steps-forward, one-step-back kind of thing. 

And I'm ashamed to admit, but my temper hasn't been great.  Today I was extremely ashamed to admit that I was being selfish, spoiled and ridiculous, after I realized that I was snapping at my 8 month old son for crying while I was trying to watch my movie.  How dumb is that?  There was no excuse, no matter how stressed I was feeling due to things beyond my control, and partly due to how the other two kids were acting.  And I can't really believe that I'm posting this.  But maybe it will help someone realize that they aren't the only ones who struggle with their temper.  Or that you can be a Christian and still yell at your kids, spank their little butts when they need it, and cry because you failed miserably at keeping your own temper in check.  That's the good part about our God.  He knows we are gonna screw up.  That we are going to lose our cool and yell at our husbands, kids, friends, family or even strangers.  But He has already forgiven us. 
I have to choose, every day, to accept that love and grace, and try to let it pour out of me and into my family.  Its not easy, especially when part of your family is what seems like a million miles away. 

So tomorrow, when I have a cranky, teething baby that wants to be attached at the hip all day, or a 3 year old who pouts at anything and everything, and a 5 year old who doesn't want to do his schoolwork, I (hope) I will take a deep breath, pray really fast under my breath, and grab them all up for a hug.  Cause sometimes I think I need it more than they do!  And I'm not even going to think about what the Army can come up with for tomorrow!  :D

randomness

Whew!  We've been busy for the last few days, and a power outage caused all sorts of havoc with our internet access these last two days. 
Monday was a great day, we went to the playground to meet some friends, and spent about 3 hours in the sunshine!  Woot!  Then came home and the kids spent another hour or two outside in our dirt pile. 
Today we went to Fort Drum to drop off prescriptions for my Dad, and killed some time at the playground on base.  Met up with some interesting people, and one of them will be coming with us tomorrow as we go back to the playground from Monday. 

Got to talk to Jon this morning, and (insert praying on my knees figurine here) he said they are supposed to be out of the field on Thursday, unless they don't get finished.  then they are stuck til next Friday.  Boy, oh boy, I'm praying he gets out of the field sooner.  We still wouldn't be able to fly until at least May 14th, but there would be more time for him to locate a decent apartment before our stuff arrives. 

I ordered a few things from Family Christian Bookstores, and was soooo excited when they got here two days ago!  I had read pieces of The Message Bible back at Hood, during a Bible study at the Hohner's house, and was pretty interested.  So, I found a parallel Bible, NIV with Message, and that was my big purchase.  I ordered some veggietales (a movie and a worship CD, which Cait LOVES), and the One Year of Dinner Table Devotions.  CAn't wait til we can start reading that each night with Daddy.  We would do it here, but lately we have been having dinner at completely different times, and to be honest, I completely forget about it.  Not to mention my Dad hates it when people have books at the table.  :P 

For those of my readers who pray, I would ask that you keep my nieces and brother in prayer.  They are in a difficult situation, and need God's will to be done in their lives. 

In other random news- we have our Emergency Fund completed!  (For those of you who may not have read all the way back, I am taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University).  So yeah us!  On to step two, which is to start the debt snowball.  (Already done, I applied an extra amount of $ to a debt this last payday, and am calculating that it will take 11 months at this current rate in order to pay it completely off.  But that's only if we don't pay anything more towards it, and I am hoping that we can.  Once we get settled overseas, I have even thought of watching one or two kids.  Maybe.  I dunno.  I'm sure I'll post more on that later. 
Ooh, and the big thing I am excited for is that I tried out a /Zumba class and LOVED it!!  It is a great mix of dance and exercise, and I like it even more than the Turbo Jam that I have purchased.  I will be going to classes 3 times a week, and my second class is tomorrow night- yeah!

Up next on the blog list will probably be 20 wishes.  I am trying to coordinate and plan my blogs ahead of time, so that I at least have a clue what I'm going to talk about before I sit down to write.  :)  Happy reading, ya'll!

Down on the farm

Last Tuesday, we were privileged to be able to visit a local farm owned by some friends from church.  Lewis and Deb from Kiffer Farms were generous enough to let me (and the kids!) follow them around for an afternoon, so we could see what goes on on a dairy farm. 

I love this sign.  Just had to take a picture of it!

We started off by petting the older calves that were out in the field, waiting for dinner time. 

(There was a picture of me, too, but I get to choose what to put on here)!

We went to the dairy shed next, where around 60 ladies were waiting to be cleaned and milked.

Behind the rows are where the calves are, and at the back of the shed is where the barn cat has its litter.  I think that was Caitlynn's favorite part, aside from the sink.  :)

A 5 day old baby.  They can get pretty excited, so it was hard to keep the kids quiet around them, because they were dancing all around and flailing tails and hooves.  The kids thought they were dancing. We got to see how they pull milk from the tank into huge bottles, which are then heated up in a sink full of hot water until they are warm enough to feed.  We helped them carry it out, and before we were finished going down half the line, the first babies were finished!  They drink a gallon a day! 

Caitlynn helped Deb wash the bottles and nipples after feeding time, and ended up spending the rest of the time playing in the sink with bubbles!  She was soaked, but happy.

One of the younger calves turned out to be getting sick, it was noticed because she didn't finish her second bottle.  We got to see how calves get meds, and learned that when cows get sick, their ears get cold.  Also, their hair stands on end, kind of like when humans get goosebumps. 

Cait taking Jacob for a walk on the mule.

We had a great afternoon, and ended up staying way past dinnertime, because I kept asking questions.  The cows go on a 60 day break after they calve, in order to rest. 

Did you know that some cows can give up to 50 pounds of milk in just one milking?? 

Can we say OUCH?

We also tasted the milk, which was awesome.  I thought that it would taste kind of funny, but its almost exactly like vitamin d milk, just a little more creamy.  Jacob liked it, but Cait was in a mood, and didn't taste it. 

Every day since we visited, Cait asks if we can go to the red barn farm.. lol  They just had a litter of puppies on Friday, so I can definitely see another visit coming soon. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing the farm through our eyes!