“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.” Psalm 36:7
We are so thankful for Jeremy’s safe return and God’s faithfulness to each of us during the separation. It ended up being just over 8 months with training included and just a little over 6 months not counting training. . . a LONG time for us!
Here is a short video of our reunion from Tuesday evening. It was so sweet! Adjustments are going very well, though we are still sort of in family hibernation (phones turned off and going out to visit people) as we enjoy having our daddy and husband home.
Our next fun event we are looking forward to is the arrival of our little man. I am now working toward 38 weeks, and have had some good preparatory contractions, so it will be exciting to soon see our little guy in person! My brother David and his new wife Katelyn are traveling to be with us for his arrival. We are looking forward to some fun times with them!
A million thanks to all of you as you have prayed for us, encouraged us, called us, written us and loved us in so many ways during this time. We are blessed to have each of you in our lives!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Beautiful reunion! Please join me (This is Mary – I’m posting for Adina tonight) in praising the Lord for reuniting this beautiful family!!! I will post some more photos tomorrow morning!
2 Peter 3:10-13 says:
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
It is with great anticipation that I wait for my husband to return, and long for it. As I process everything that has happened and is happening as this deployment comes to an end, I am convicted about my longing for my Savior’s return. . .do I plan for it, ache for it, clean house (spiritually) for it. . .am I willing to spend (or part with) money in preparation for it, talk about it as the first thing off my tongue to people who ask me how I’m doing? Do I lay awake at night wondering what it will be like to see Him face to face? Do my children sense that the day of my Bridegroom’s return is something that is thrilling to me, that I can hardly wait to experience? Do they know that life will never be the same when He comes back, because I have told them of the things we will do with Him when he returns?
Just for comparison, here’s a picture taken of us about 8 months ago before Jeremy left for training and Iraq. Lord-willing, soon we will new family picture to post here!
We went out today and the children requested “HATS!” so I got them each one out and we ran to the grocery store to get one thing (can you believe we actually walked out with ONLY that one thing?) I had to take a picture of them before we left. . .the puppets were a gift to the children from one of Risa’s friends who came this summer to visit her, we named the boy (that Elijah’s holding) Enoch and the girl is “the girl Enoch” that Merry is holding. They didn’t go into the store with us, they had a nap to take in the car (or so Mommy says.)
Also had to include another picture of Elijah’s “guys” that he was playing with the other day during quiet time. He asked for the camera to take a picture of them all lined up on the bench. Notice the random mixture of Indians, Noah, animals and the obvious matching couple on the far left.
Jeremy’s return has been delayed. . .please pray for God to provide a way for him to return as soon as possible, and in time for the baby to be born. And also that we can be content in this circumstance as it is not exactly as we had hoped or planned for!
Filed under: Deployment
Though this separation has been hard, I have continually been shown God’s grace, mercy and rich blessings in the most unusual ways. Sometimes they are spiritual blessings, sometimes they are physical blessings. Today was no exception. I have been trying to get a little touchup paint for some scuffs and scratches on the walls as I prepare for Jeremy’s return. Our black chairs somehow ALWAYS end up against the wall, and leave their irremovable marks there.
After multiple calls over the last few weeks to the housing, maintanence and contracters office to at least find out the name of the paint so I could get a little can, I finally talked with the housing manager today. He took my information and about two hours later, a PAINT CREW showed up at my door to paint my walls themselves!! 20 minutes later the walls in my house with the worst marks were perfectly white and I had a little disposible container of the paint for any other scuffs or marks I found later or were on other walls.
Talk about God providing and blessing beyond what I could ever ask or imagine!! I’m still in shock!
Last night as Elijah and I put Merry to bed:
“Goodnight Merry, I love you,” I tell her as I kissed her on the hand (she loves this and sometimes will hold out her second hand so it doesn’t miss out on a kiss! Elijah runs around the side of her toddler bed and kisses her on her hair, “Goodnight Merry,” running out the door to his room.
“I lub you Yiyah (Elijah)” she says.
“Awww, Elijah, did you hear her, she said she loves you!” He pops his head back into her bedroom,
“I love you too, Mimi.” Both go back to their sippy cups contentedly.
These are the moments that make me ABSOLUTELY sure that Mommyhood is the best career this side of heaven!
Filed under: Friends, Pictures | Tags: MOPS charleston, MOPS Charleston AFB, MOPS SC, MOPS west ashley, Mother's of preschoolers, Mothers of preschoolers charleston
We have been a part of MOPS (Mother’s of Preschoolers) now for the second year, hosted by our church and the children LOVE going, and have so much fun and I get a chance to visit with other moms and enjoy mommy debrief time. I gave the program leaders for Elijah and Merry’s class my camera and told them to have fun with it. . .and here is the results with a few additional pictures of life around the house as well.
Merry is on the right in the back in the aqua shirt
Elijah is on the far back left in the red shirt
This picture of Elijah and Merry together makes me wonder if they were having a little time out. . .but very funny if the teachers sat them together like that, and I wonder if they would take a picture of a time out too?? I’ll just have to ask! The last picture of course is Merry and Josiah Coronado, Josiah playing it cool.
Aunt Tammy’s last day in town before she headed to Iraq. She is one of Jeremy’s replacements (for his group) and took some hugs from each of us to give to him. She came over to see us and I asked her if she wanted to play playdough with Elijah and Merry. She did, and they worked so hard and this was the result of over an hour or so of play (talk about attention span!!) Elijah looks so serious, like he had just completed a major project. If you read this Tammy, we love and miss you and are praying for you!
Elijah’s “friends” as he calls them, all lined up. I find them lined up all over the house, on the couch, watching a movie with him, here, doing who knows what. . .he asked me to take a picture of him and his friends, so here it is!
I intended to take a picture of his new haircut for Jeremy to see, but he had this fun crown on that he made at MOPS, and I loved his eyes in this picture, that I had to include it.
Praise the Lord, my brother David is now married to Katelyn! Here are a few photos of them and a link to his website which has almost 200 photos of the wedding. To see them all, click on the “wedding photos” in the list of photo uploads.
Katelyn wore our mother’s wedding dress, which was absolutely amazing! She is the only one who has so far been tiny enough to fit it! She is a beautiful woman inside and out. . .a rare find, and I tell David to never forget that as long as he lives! I am so happy to have another sister added to our family, we love you very much already, Katelyn!
Filed under: Pregnancy
For those who have asked, here’s the link to our. . .
