3 extra kids for the day

I have my friend’s three sweet girls with me today.  We became friends through our Foster Parent support group and she is kind of my hero.  She’s an awesome mom and foster mama!  Two of her girls were adopted from foster care.  All of her girls are wonderful and we just love having them around!  We ate pancakes this morning for breakfast with fresh fruit and whipped cream.  We swam in the pool for hours, jumped on the trampoline, and I made homemade slushies.  At lunch we ran out of bread and went through two packages of lunch meat.  It was great!  I love having a house full!  Seven kids at the house today and feeling blessed!  We are still waiting on our precious boy that we know God will send us when he needs us most.  We just don’t know when.  For now, I will enjoy today with extra giggles and fun!  Three extra kids for the day is awesome!  

A soldier’s last trip home.

There is something about a tragedy that brings people together. I haven’t talked to so many Army friends in one day in a long time. We all reconnected again today talking about our fellow soldier and his family. We talked about memories and times together and made sure we all knew how much each of us meant to each other. Many of us have husbands and sons currently still over there in Afghanistan and we all shared our fears and our hopes that nobody else will have to die before this whole deployment is over! Our friend made the ultimate sacrifice and he will never be forgotten!

My friend’s brave soldier will be making his last trip home very soon and some of our friends currently serving in Afghanistan will be with him for different parts of that journey. He will be honored and remembered. They will carry him out of a country so filled with hate and war. It warms my heart that he will NOT be alone for this last ride home.

Wordless Wednesday: Easter 2014 Memories

Girl’s Night Out

With six days left until I am a “geographical single” mother of five for a year, I took the opportunity to have one last Girl’s Night out with a group of friends.  We went to a yummy restaurant and saw a HILARIOUS movie called, “Moms’ Night Out.”  I laughed so hard that tears streamed down my face and we all talked and talked for the entire five hours that we were together!  Coming home and returning to my precious family with five sleeping babies and one very tired husband, I realized how very blessed I really am!  These ladies, these friends, these sisters in Christ are the ones who are going to be my support network during the next year of my life.

Years ago, before my husband’s first deployment to Iraq, we had just moved to a new military base.  We were thousands of miles away from family and the only home that I had ever known.  Today, life is so different!  I am in a place that I call home.  I am where I belong.  I am where people know my name and know my family.  Before my husband’s first deployment I had weeks to “find” friends before he deployed.  I had weeks to find at least one person whose phone number I could have in case of an emergency.  Weeks is not a very long time and I was fortunate enough that I did meet and become friends with another Army wife who would eventually become one of the best friends that I have ever had.  This time around I don’t have to worry about “finding friends.”  I already have friends here.  Not just friends, but real friends, true sisters in Christ.  I have people who I can call in the middle of the night when I have an emergency.  I have a support network and for that I am so grateful!  

So, as we prepare for this most difficult time of separation for our family, I am not afraid.  My God will be by my side and so will my sisters, my blessed sisters in Christ!