2015 Reading Log

I love to read...LOVE to read. As a momma of 2 small kiddos I rarely had time to read and when I did I was too tired to comprehend what I was reading. Now that the youngest is 3 and enjoying independent playtime and now that both kids are old enough to really help with the daily chores and pick up after themselves I'm not as tired and have found more time to read again. While I was spending the last 6 years getting the kids to this point I made a huge list of books I wanted to read. So, I am going to read them. Not all of them obviously but I would like to take several off the list.

I did write the list out in my journal but I only plan to record the ones I have actually read.

I'm excited to look back and see the progress I've made. Here goes nothing :)

Illinois bucket list

As an Army family we move ALL the time and this gives us a great opportunity to explore and learn new places but the fact is we're not on vacation. By that I mean we are living life in these new places...school, work, life. All those things get in the way and we get so into a routine we leave each place wishing we had gotten out more. I still regret not visiting more places in CA. It's so easy to get in the mind set of knowing we have time but before we know it orders are up and we are moving again.

While we were living in the hotel waiting on our house I took to Pinterest looking for all things St. Louis, MO, IL. I created a rough bucket list. The picture above is the first draft and we have been adding to it but I wanted a place to list, and a place to link blogs back to, what we have done while we are stationed here. Accountability, memories, a list for others...who knows what this will become but we have a pretty big list going so we better get going!

First days in IL

This post is a total hodge podge of randomness. But that is what the first few days in a new place often are. In the case of moving to IL we lived in a hotel for a week and a half, we were just coming out of a year long deployment and had Jason's parents with us. So things were random...no schedules, no routine, no commitments, no school or work...but a great chance to reconnect with each other and explore out new town.


We got to IL March 19 and had to take J's parents to the airport in St Louis, which is maybe 30 minutes from where we are living, on the 22nd. We didn't stop in St. Louis and look at anything but we did get a chance to see some of the major landmarks (Busch Stadium, the Arch).

                               

On the way back from the airport I got a text from a great family, the Harts, we were stationed with in CA, they were passing through our area on their home to KS. It was so great to see them and visit with familiar faces. Duh we went to Chick-Fil-A! We may not be in the south anymore but we are all southerners and we all know southerners love our CFA!

 

 And how awesome that we were able to see them before their big move to Germany...I love the military and how it has allowed us to have friends everywhere we go!

 

We are so excited to be in a new place with so much to explore and people to meet. Here's to new adventures!

Hot yoga?!?!

I love being healthy but I don't LOVE to workout and I don't LOVE to eat healthy...confession of the day, there you have it. I deep down wish I could watch trashy TV all day while eating junk and still have a strong body and healthy lifestyle.

I tried out a few classes when we lived in GA and found that I really like the class atmosphere and the accountability that comes with it. I wasn't sure what kind of classes I would find in IL and I didn't know how the childcare situation would work without the family being so close.  

A few weeks ago there was a great Groupon for a year memberhip to the Hot Yoga studio here in town, 73% off! So J offered it up for Mother's Day/ our Anniversary. I'll be honest, again, that I was terrified of trying Hot Yoga so I sat on the groupon for a week or so gaining the courage to cash it in.

But today I tried HOT YOGA and I LOVED it!! I haven't loved a class or workout like this since ballet boot camp! I am a reasearcher by nature and so I looked on Pinterest, Facebook, Google for advise or anything on what to expect. Everything I read said to hydrate a ton, eat small meals and nothing within 2 hours of the workout and to wear as little as you feel comfortable wearing. So I drank, a ton. I ate small meals and stopped at 3 and wore a light tank and yoga shorts. While some we're wearing MUCH less that's as little as I could handle or felt was appropriate! 

So now that I have had my first class and had some time to come off the "high" of the workout I have a few observations:

1. It is hot. I am from the south I was raised in 98*\80% humidity but I have never pushed my body that way in that kind of heat. I kept thinking, man it is really hot in here and somehow I made it through. 

2. It is crucial to SIP water during the workout not chug but sip.

3. My laundry will increase....those are some sweaty clothes!!

4. I felt amazing after and coconut water was the best thing I have ever tasted in that moment. Plus a Rehydrate of course! (Advocare never disappoints) 

5. I actually love that there is no talking in the studio. After being with a 3 year old all day and then a 6 year old after school, the silence was amazing.

So that was first experience and I am super excited to get back in there! I highly recommend it, but at the same time know your limits and workout accordingly- it is hot, it is intense but it was really fun!

Getting closer

I can't believe we have less than 40 days until this crazy year is over and less than 50 days until the big move up north. In the words of a fellow Army wife, "the Army is often times a catch 22". I am as excited to get on the road to our new adventure as I am sad and anxious to leave our current home, mostly because it also happens to actually be my real home.

When I moved home I thought I would get some awesome family time in but I didn't expect to find  the support system in friends that I met since moving here in January. I thought I might reconnect with old friends but the truth is I met some amazing people that will never know how they truly helped me and the kids get through our time here. And the best part is I will have the opportunity to see them again.

Every time we leave a duty station we all hug and say "see you later" or "it's a small Army, we'll be together again". And in some cases that has happened and thanks to technology we are able to follow each other around the world. But here in GA the people I have met may actually still be here when I come back to visit my parents. Clayton says all the time that he misses CA but what he misses is the people and I am always saying that I miss Fort Hood because in my memories my best friends are there, in reality non of them are there, we are scattered all over the world. But these friends will be here in GA where we remember them and here to welcome us when we visit.

The fast friends I make through the Army are great and I make them fast because I never really know how long I will be with those friends. Here is GA I made friends fast because that's my routine in a new place, but I should have given a warning. My Army friends are sad when we move on but we knew it was coming from the first hello. Here I made an inner circle and now I have to say goodbye and I feel guilty that they were not prepared for what it meant to have relationships with Army nomads.

I have been marking days on the countdown since the day his boots hit ground over there and the number is getting smaller and smaller, which also means I am getting closer and closer to saying goodbye to my life in GA. So while I want to watch the calendar and mark the days because I am SO over not having my husband, I need to be taking every opportunity to spend time with my friends and family. The Army Catch 22.

Can Turkeys get Bronchitis??

Life during the holiday season can become so hectic that I feel like we celebrate the day and  move on. This year is no different. We flew through Halloween, I mean I was making C's costume the morning of his schools vocabulary parade! As Thanksgiving was fast approaching I realized that the kids have no idea why we celebrate Thanksgiving day at all. So what does one do when they want to teach their 5 and 2 year old the meaning of Thanksgiving...go to Amazon, Pinterest and Target of course!

I found so many cute ideas and books that were simple enough lil C would take something away from it and yet interesting enough to catch big C's attention. This is a huge problem with several things right now.

I found this book when searching on Amazon. Michelle Medlock Adams writes a whole series of board books that explain holidays to little ones with from a biblical perspective. Lil C loves it and we have read it every night since she opened it.

                                           

Big C is reading now so I wanted a "chapter book". I struggled to find a level one reader but I think this one will last us a few years! He has read most of it a little at a time each night this week. And I was so impressed at how much he already knew as we read. Apparently he is learning at school :)

 

 

I found this really cute worksheet on Pinterest.

 

 

I have been working on colors pretty hard core with lil C lately so she really had fun with this...and I'm sure she ate a few along the way!

 

I'm really not sure who had more fun with this Little People set, me or the kids. I may have played with it more than they did! I also got a great deal on it so that's a bonus.

                                         

                                                        

Clayton's class invited parents to school to see the cutest play ever!! My little man played the pilgrim minister in search of freedom. After the play we helped the class make a special snack of cute little turkeys.

          

                                           

                                           

Thanksgiving dinner would not be complete without handprint placemats!

And unfortunately that's where our Thanksgiving celebration week ended. The kids and I went down to South Georgia to celebrate with my in laws but the Friday before Thanksgiving Clayton started feeling bad. By the time Thanksgiving came around the whole family, North and South Georgia, were horribly sick with some type of respiratory infection. Fever, chills, coughing, nausea etc. I took one bite of Turkey and went back to bed :( Hopefully December holds much better health!   

Where to next...Page 23 visions

Our church (Bethlehem Church) is reading Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick in small groups for the fall semester. The book focuses on the prayer Joshua called out to the Lord to let the sun stand still over Gibeon. He asked The Lord to make the day longer so that he could lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. As the sun went down the battle was unfinished, the remaining enemy was to slip away unless he had more day light. (Joshua 10:12)

The author Steven Furtick talks about a book which he says was the first Christian book he willfully read, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. On page 23 of  Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Steven reads "I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show himself mightily on our behalf" . That quote lead to the idea of having a Page 23 vision, a mission or vision that makes you ask Lord to make your sun stand still, the quote lead to reading out with audacious faith. Asking outside of the day to day prayers, God wants us to ask for the big things. He finds it insulting if we do not ask for help in reaching what WE believe is the impossible...He can make the sun stand still, we just have to ask.

Throughout the course of my small group J and I had been in the process of selection for our next assignment in the Army. There are always so many variables that go into making that decision. Yes there are times the Army just says this is where you are going and that's that. This time we were given a preference list and asked to rank them in order. Before "the list" came out I had offered up a thought to my small group that I might want to placed in a position that I could offer some guidance to the girlfriends/new wives of incoming soldiers. I wrote this idea on page 35 of my copy of Sun Stand Still. The thing is, I had ladies I looked up to as I came into this life and I could not have done it without them but when J was still in college there were not very many wives that were currently in today's Army. They had not been in the deployment cycles like we are in now and they had not experienced life in a war time Army. My point is I would love to be that wife to offer up the nitty gritty of this crazy life. I announced that I might have found my "page 23 vision".

The day I said this out loud to my group J called and said the preference list had come out. The list was full of ACRC slots (meaning an active duty personnel working with the reserves) and ROTC positions at random non-military schools. Neither option was appealing to us but we listed them and returned it. We both wanted an ROTC position but for different reasons, my page 23 vision and it's just something J has wanted to do, but we wanted a big name military school not Boise State! No offense to anyone reading that went to Boise :)  We were looking at it all wrong. Sometimes the unexpected places, the not so obvious places, are the places that need people who want what you have. But the list had gone in and our top choice was Ft. Jackson, SC chosen because it was close to home.

After meeting with my small group again and continuing this study it became more and more obvious to me that I really desired to be stationed at a college. I was making lists of ways to help these cadets and events we could host. I reached out to other spouses that were in cadet command. I can honestly say I was a little sad thinking about getting an ACRC slot.

Fast forward a few weeks...2 hours before J was scheduled to return to Kuwait he received his assignment. Ft Jackson, SC but with duty in Camp Atterbury, IN...um not what we wanted and not what we thought we were getting when we asked for SC. So J called his branch manager and asked if there was any way we could get a different assignment, if there was anything left on the list or anything new since the list had been released. Guess what?? The only assignment they had to offer was a teaching position with the ROTC at Southern Illinois University.

In order to get the position J's name had to be placed in "a hat" and go through a selection process that can take up to 60 days. Not even a month later J got the word that he was selected. We are moving to Illinois in March. Whoa God

Let's recap...
-I said I wanted to minister/advise new/soon to be Army wives
-J gets a list that has ROTC positions on it, we ignore those options
-We get what we wanted attached to something we didn't want, we questioned and were offered ROTC yet again
-We get ROTC

I can not for one second ignore what is happening here and the orchestration that God has performed.

I am so excited about this upcoming assignment. I have prayed since September for this opportunity and now that God has given me the chance to act on my wants I am feeling every emotion possible. I refuse to let the fear of letting myself down, letting those cadets and their partners down, letting God down to deter me from doing the best I can with this. I am praying daily that God gives me the words, the ideas and the courage to make this happen.