A Lifetime of Love

Mother’s Day began SDW9. I woke up to Titus standing next to my bed with a Christmas-themed gift bag full of stuff. He begged me to get up and as I did, I could hear the other kids upstairs with TJ. When they saw Titus downstairs and me following up behind him, they started scolding him for waking me because they weren’t “ready” for me to come up. When I walked upstairs I immediately noticed signs covering quite a bit of wall and furniture space, as well as the counters and doors. They were all uniquely different expressions of basically “Happy Mother’s Day.” Some were written as acrostics, some drawings, and some distinctly bore the words “Happy Mother’s Day.” I had to chuckle because my kids really know me- a lot of the signs made mention of my love of teaching and reading.           My older boys redid a flower bed for me. It had been ripped up years ago to get rid of the scraggly bushes that were trying to grow, but we had never replanted anything in ...

Phew! This week was hard for so many reasons, especially since we are coming off Spring Break, but the reason that stands out the most is simply me missing my "old" life- the life prior to social distancing and coronavirus- and the many things (and people) I took for granted.  I walked a lot this week, which was good because it gave me time to clear my head and focus on the beauty of the world around me. A really bad storm passed through parts of the city late Sunday night, and when I walked early Tuesday morning, the devastation seemed just as bad as it had the day before. But, there were so many beautiful parallels to what we, the world, are experiencing that it sort of took my breath away.  Huge trees were uprooted or even split and broken in half. Branches and leaves were everywhere, covering the roads and yards. Power lines were down and some parts of the city were without for several days. As I walked and saw the devastation, I also saw the flowers which continued t...

Last Friday was my 35th birthday. Although not a "milestone" birthday by any stretch of the imagination, I have been dreading it secretly because it means I'm closer to 40. For years I have been (jokingly) telling my kids I am 29....and the young ones still believe me because they simply don't know any better! Late Friday morning, a friend of mine picked up the boys so they could do some work around her horse pasture. Tristin-Grace went with them since she had the day off from school.  My friend keeps another little girl who is Tristin-Grace's age.  The girls met at Vacation Bible School last year and got together frequently over the summer.  Since school started, this has been their first opportunity to get together (the girl lives in a neighboring town and attends school in another district.  Their days off don't always coincide). I decided to take Teagan, Annie, Taryn, and Ruthie out to lunch for a treat since it was just us "girls." We rarely...

TJ and I celebrated our 14th anniversary last Wednesday. No, fourteen years is not going to break the record for having the longest marriage, and it's not considered a "milestone" year in any way. But, to me it's significant because we have worked really hard to make our marriage last. Not just last, but honor God and be a good example for our children in the process.       When we married, I was 20 years old. I had never met his family, and he had only met my family once. We had our families' blessings to get married, but it didn't come without many, many warnings of "Don't you think you're too young?" and "Don't you think you should wait a little while longer?" Speaking only for myself, I knew TJ was "the one" for me before we started dating. No, it was not "love at first sight" or anything like that.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.  TJ and I worked together while in the Air Force. He asked ...

I haven't posted in a while because the busyness of the holidays took over. Well, that's not exactly true. The boys did their Sandy Hook fundraiser that ended up being a huge hit! Someone notified the newspaper about it and that sparked more interest, resulting in them baking, cutting snowflakes, and me shopping for supplies. The final tally was 5 dozen banana-chocolate chip muffins, 12 loaves of Amish Friendship bread, 3 dozen cookies, and over 100 paper snowflake ornaments. They collected a total of $241.02 and mailed a cashier's check (donated to them by Family Trust Credit Union) on New Year's Day. They enjoyed every minute of their efforts, and I am so proud of them! Since then, we are back into the routine of school and such. I was able to get caught up on paperwork and am researching options for next year. I am considering doing year-round school simply to afford us more breaks throughout the year instead of all during the summer. The breaks would give the boys...

Life has been busy, to say the least. My time is spent caring for my children, my husband, & my household. Interwoven in there was a visit from my mom and a week off of work for TJ. Some of the tasks that TJ & I have managed to accomplish in the past 3 weeks include: - sorting through the boys' clothes to pack away or donate - sorting through Taryn's clothes to determine what she needs - unpacking boxes leftover from when we moved (over 18 months ago!) and sorting through the items - donating bags of adult and children's clothing, toys, blankets, and "stuff" to Tender Hearts - hanging pictures in the kids' bedrooms - transitioning Annie from a crib to a twin bed and moving the crib into T.G.'s room for Taryn to use Simply put, I have been busy purging and organizing my house. My goal is to go through each room and closet in an attempt to declutter and maximize space. My anxiety level was pretty high because of the disarray the house was in...

For us, 2011 was a year of learning… Thomas (9) learned to serve others by volunteering to gather and take out the garbage at a local pregnancy center.   He reports for duty every Monday and greatly enjoys the work! He also learned the value of a dollar as he worked for several neighbors and friends doing yard work and house/pet sitting this past spring and summer to earn money for art camp. Thomas is continuing to work and save his money as he plans to go with our church’s youth group to The Wilds Christian Camp in the mountains of North Carolina for one week this upcoming summer. We are excited about how the Lord will work in his life, especially while at camp. Tanner (6 ½) is learning to read in school. It has been fun to witness him read words on his own as we drive around town. He has also begun to read more books to his younger sisters, which is a great help to me! This summer and fall, Tanner learned to operate the lawn mower and leaf blower. If you know Tanner well, you...

As I've shared before, money is extremely tight as we prepare for the arrival of baby #6, upkeep and maintenance on the house, and feeding/caring for a large family. I have been trying to refinish some of the dressers we already have but we still needed a dresser for Taryn (baby #6). I was just going to make space down in my bedroom for her clothes until we had the money to buy something. Imagine my delight as we were driving home from Th's football banquet and passed a house where a woman was standing outside, removing knobs from a wooden dresser. TJ noticed her and mentioned to me that, for some reason, he thought she was going to be getting rid of it. We turned the van around and drove past again, and sure enough, she was carrying a drawer to the curb. We stopped and inquired about the dresser's fate, and she happily gave it to us. It is a solid wood dresser with lots of potential. I can't wait to muster up the energy to strip the paint and refinish it. ...

A couple of weeks ago, TJ and I took the kids to the Carolina’s Aviation Museum.   The museum recently acquired the US Airways jet “The Miracle on the Hudson: Flight 1549.”   We had a fun morning of looking at airplanes up close, followed by lunch at the Charlotte airport overlook where the kids were able to witness the busyness of the flightline.   It was a beautiful day spent as a family! Standing next to a main gear strut. TJ & the kids at the back of a cargo plane. Annie in the tire that was once on the space shuttle. The boys watching the documentary about the landing on the Hudson. They were enthralled by it! "The Miracle on the Hudson" Contents that were recovered from the Hudson. The cans of soda were still sealed, which is amazing to me considering the impact of the crash. Other side of the plane. Ready for our picnic at the airport overlook.

I'm sure everyone who's old enough to remember the events of September 11, 2001 can describe vividly the details of the day and how it's forever changed our nation. I am no exception... TJ and I were living in California at the time. He was still in the Air Force, and I worked as an Administrative Assistant at the Regional Office of Marshalls Department Store. TJ woke up first, showered, and turned on the TV to watch the news as he ironed his uniform. I awoke to TJ telling me that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center, and I remember watching the TV while trying to process everything. Keep in mind, living in CA, we were 3 hours behind the East Coast so the first plane hit at 5:46am PT. We continued watching the news coverage, and like many, were horrified as we watched the second plane hit on live TV. Even to this day, as I watch the news footage, I still find myself thinking it looks more like a scene from a movie than reality. We both readied ourselves for work a...

I had a plan that, during the summer while on break from homeschooling and taxiing my kids around from place to place, I would: organize and file all of Th's schoolwork from last year sort through toys and prepare them for consignment/donation strip and refinish Th's school desk strip and refinish T.G.'s bedroom furniture (which includes a double headboard/footboard, dresser, night table, desk, and chair) sand and refinish Teagan's bed swap out & pack away the kids' clothes for the next size up unpack and sort through the pile of boxes in my dining room and bedroom that are leftover from our move (you know, over a year ago!) Items on my list that actually were completed: none Items on my list that are partially completed: Th's schoolwork from last year is organized but not yet filed Th's school desk is stripped and I'm in the process of painting it I had high expectations and am a little disappointed that I didn't completely f...

I have an opportunity to share all that I've learned about couponing by teaching a mini-class to a group of friends of mine in the MOMS Club. Although I am by no means an expert (I've only been doing this for about 2 months myself), I am excited about this opportunity because 1) it's a way for me to help others be good stewards with the money they have and 2) we can support and encourage each other in our attempts to save money. Couponing, for me, is a way to contribute to my family financially without having to "work" outside of the home. I use the word "work" loosely because couponing does require time and effort in order to be successful, but so does everything. =) It's not a good feeling to always be spending money that I didn't earn, even if TJ and I are married. I'm not trying to start a debate about the fact that when we married, he agreed to take care of me, etc. I'm just saying that when I worked and had an income, spending mon...

It's almost time for me to have the baby's anatomy ultrasound, meaning soon we'll know what we're having. The problem- we don't have names picked out because we can't agree! I guess it's a good thing we still have 5 more months to reach a compromise. =) Here are the names I like (all for a boy): Tucker Tate Tobyn Townsend Here are the names TJ likes: Timothy (boy) Taryn (girl) If you have ideas or suggestions of 'T' names, please share them. As you can tell, I am open to pretty much anything that is unique and not traditional. TJ, on the other hand, prefers more traditional, common names (which is why my kids have "normal" middle names. :)  Thanks!

I had the opportunity to attend a Ladie's Retreat at the Wilds  last weekend with ladies from my church. This was only my second time being able to go, and I had so much fun just laughing and sharing with friends. It was a nice reminder of how blessed I am to be able to have such encouraging, supportive friends in the women from my church. I hope I was just as much of an encouragement to them as they were to me. My pastor's wife, Gretchen, was the speaker for the weekend. She taught about having "intentional faith." My favorite quote from her for the weekend was personally very challenging to me. She asked us, "Are you a practical atheist (meaning we say we have faith in God that He will work in our best interest, even in difficult times, but our actions don't match what we say) or are you practicing intentional faith?" I know for me and some of the circumstances I've experienced, I have (wrongly!) doubted God and His goodness towards me. It was re...

This past week I was once again reminded of the love of God for His children as I was blessed by acts of kindness almost every day. Before I share how I was blessed, let me begin with the why I believe I was blessed . A few days after Christmas I found out that I am again having problems with my thyroid. In the past, my thyroid levels have been too low. However, now they are too high. My doctor was concerned about 1) the elevated levels and 2) the fact that I went from one extreme to the other. I was put on medication to help even out the numbers but as a result, I am plagued by constant fatigue. Add to it that Annie still wakes throughout the night; I am feeling exhausted and unrested most of the day! Until the medication gets adjusted correctly, I will battle this fatigue. I have to go have blood drawn every 2 months until the medication is at the correct dosage. I go back again at the end of February for my next lab work. Any mom will agree it’s difficult to care for kids when she...

2010 has been a year marked by significant changes! On March 10 th we welcomed the newest member of our family, Taylor Ann. She was born almost 3 weeks early and has been a blessing since before her arrival. Now 9 months old, she is becoming more mobile and independent as she loves to explore her surroundings! She adores her siblings and is quite content to watch them play. At the end of May we moved into a larger house. The house is almost double the square footage of our old house, and is closer to the university where TJ works as the manager of the User Support and telephone call-center. It sits on a half-acre of land and is a long-awaited answer to prayer. We all have room to “spread out” but yet we enjoy the benefits of being closer to town. It is an older home that needs some updating, but we are slowly painting rooms and making it our own. Probably the best part of moving is our neighbors- over the months we’ve been here we have become closer with them and they are a blessing t...