Updates

Mmmm, Sooo full of emotions lately. 

On Thursday I did my Visiting Teaching, well half of it.... anyway, I got to have such a wonderful visit with Raquel, we always have such great conversation, and I alway leave feeling a resolve to do better at something.  Raquel is so great at giving  people sincere compliments, she is so kind.  I want to be more like that.  

 On Friday I got to go to the Ribbon outlet with Vanessa.  That was SUCH a fun day.
 who would have ever thought that buying ribbon could give you such a high.   It was so cheap I could hardly stand it.  I  enjoyed my chat time with vanessa as we drove out there and back.  It was fun to have the kids watch a movie all strapped in their seats while we gabbed for a few hours.

 It reminds me though that it won't be long before I am in Vanessa's shoes.  She has such a good attitude and is so strong through this, she is an example to me of how to make it.  I have spent a lot of time this week thinking about next year at this time.  In one year from now we will know where the Army will place us for the next 4 years of our life.  A little piece of me would love to join Nicole and Greg Jensen in Germany, but another part of me is scared to death to be alone there while he is at war.  A lot of me wants to stay here where I have my friends and network, but family is sooo far away from here, and houses are SO expensive!  I usually just tell myself that there is nothing that i can do about it, so stop thinking about it.  

Brent and I went out on Friday night and had a couples massage (Brent's first professional massage).  He loved it and was hooked right there.  His first comment after the masseuse left the room was "Man, I got you a good Christmas present!"  :-)  Funny guy.  

On Saturday Brent worked all day, and over night so the kids and I stayed home and cleaned and cleaned.  Saturday was an emotional day as well.  Saturday was the 3 year anniversary of the passing of Brent's mom.  Always a somewhat somber day, as is her birthday...  we call and receive calls from grandparents down to siblings, all checking on each other, reminiscing the good ol' days.  I miss her so much, and wish I could just call her, and chat, just for a few minutes.  I was thinking on Saturday how I used to call and complain to her about little things that Brent did that made me mad, and she would always apologize for him, and tell me that she thought she raised him better then that.  :-)  It was nice to have someone who would say such sweet things when I was mad at HER son, she could have been so defensive and she could have tried to justify his behavior, or work it out for us, but she never did.  She just told me how sorry she was, and too his fall for him, blaming it on how she raised him.  Now, looking back, I wonder if I hurt her feelings, if it made her sad when she did that.  She never seemed to be upset by it, my guess is, that as an experienced married woman she knew that it was just a young couple working out the kinks.  Often times I see or hear my children do things and I think of how much she would have loved to have seen them do this or that.

 Sleeping babies was something she loved.... well, children in general, she even liked them awake!  More then once I heard this woman squeal with delight "oh!  She's poopy, let me change her!"  She loved to have that child all to her self, even if it was with stinky pants.  She LOVED to rock her grandkids and I would pay just about anything for the chance to see her rock them again.  Some times i feel like she is around and just the other day Katie said, "Hooray, Hooray."  just like mom used to say to the kids, and I know that I don't say that.  It made me wonder if she was close by.  I miss our morning phone calls.  She used to work nights in the NICU and we would chat in the morning before she went to bed, I loved that.  And you know, she never ever ever told me she was too tired to talk, even if I accidently called her when she was sleeping during the post work days.  She would always say "No, Christie, don't feel bad, I always want to talk to you."  Gee, I miss her.   I talked to Grandma Davies (Shirley's Mom) and she and I decided that it should be like missionaries, we should be aloud a phone call on Christmas and Mothers Day!  It would make me so happy to hear her voice.  So Saturdays thoughts were locked up in Mom.

This Morning I got a phone call from my sweet friend Jeri, asking me to come and pick up the stuff for sharing time because she is going to the hospital.  She had been spotting and thought she better go in.  (for more details, I am sure she will blog about it)  Any who, then I spent my day worried about Jeri, and wondering if she and baby were okay. (Which they are, and also still together)  Jeri has been put on FULL bed rest, so that'll be fun for her, for about 2 days!  Then it will be a waiting game.  This whole thing has brought memories of the whirl wind that was Alex's birth, and all that it entailed.  The shock of realizing that this is it, we are having a baby WAY earlier then we thought!  And then the crazy crazy crazy, of running between the hospital and home while he was in the NICU.  We will pray for our baby girl to stay in her nice warm spot for a few more weeks till her timer is a little closer to popping.

Today our friends Felicity and Nathaniel came home from their 6 month trip to Germany, it was so fun to see them at Church, but even more fun to have them over for dinner. We have missed hanging out with them!  And we are so excited that they are back home. Again the thoughts of our service time have come back up as we chatted with them about Germany, and more wondering about what's next.  

I made Jen R.'s Cinnamon Rolls today, those brought about happy feelings as I LOVE the frosting.... MMMMMM.  They also brought on a bit of a tummy ache.  :-)  

My head hurts from all the emotions and thoughts, and I still need to make a grocery list for tomorrow.  We can't possibly go ONE MORE DAY with out milk!