Emberly

Dear Jesus, please watch over Piper so I can have some time to myself today. Amen. 

Music player suggestions??

Please help.

I have these fond and happy memories as a kid of going on car trips to my grandparents' for the weekend and loading up my backpack of "car entertainment stuff" and throwing in my Walkman. (Anyone else?) 

I had a few tapes (initially)... and as I got older CDs became a thing. 

I put on my headphones and just went to my happy place listening to Psalty the Singing Song book and Point of Grace and Steven Curtis Chapman and Adventures in Odyssey and all kinds of other awesome kid music. I was in charge, and I felt kinda like I owned the world.

(I sound crazy.)

Or I'd sit in my room for hours on end, crafting, coloring, creating things while listening to tapes/CDs on my boom box. Gosh this makes me feel old. Can you even buy such a thing these days??

Anyway... I really want to recreate this for my music loving child. Her birthday is coming up and I would love to gift her with music. But I feel stumped. She'll be FOUR. It seems insane (and slightly less magical) to give her an iPod. But is this the way to go?? Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas? 

:)

Musically yours!

Emberly

She will be four this summer. {How did that happen?!}

Though she still has plenty of emotion, I can see it taming every day. There are more pleases and may I's and thanks yous and a general desire to please. 

She loves to wrestle with her daddy. She asks about him every hour or so while he's at work. 

She thinks doughnuts would be an appropriate breakfast food every day of the week even though she's maybe been allowed to have them 3 times in her life.

Crafting is this girl's job. She begs for quiet time because it means her sissy is asleep and she is allowed to create in peace. Scissors, glue, stickers, markers, and paint are this girl's love language.

She can talk circles around any adult. Don't believe me? Just tell her it is bedtime. "But my mommy and daddy don't ever make me go to bed. They let me stay up and it's because I'm so helpful. And how about tomorrow I go to bed instead? Tonight I think we should just watch a show. I'll even snuggle with you. Suddenly I'm starving. Did you even remember to feed me dinner? How about a bedtime snack? No, nothing you suggested sounds quite right... maybe we should just take a little trip to the grocery store..." 

She thinks Piper is an awesome puppy. This usually includes playing with her on her terms only, usually in a way that is mildly dangerous or taking away toys that she has suddenly found interesting.  But they occasionally have the sweetest sister moments where you catch her holding Piper's hand, reading her a story, or kissing her owies. 

She wants to help with everything in the whole wide world. And is getting much better at actually being a help. 

She never stops moving or making noise. 

She could live outside. 

She is so curious and has the wildest imagination of all time. 

She remembers everything. Everything. She has her daddy's photographic memory. If you miss even one WORD while reading a book she's heard once, she will correct you. Tonight Jordan said "carrots" instead of "carrot sticks" in a book and she corrected him. 

She is always singing. She loves music and if you teach her a new song she won't sing along, she will just say, "again" until she has it mastered. And then she will sing it like she's known it her whole life. 

She insists upon being the one to pray before meals every.single.time. It usually goes something like, "Jesus, thanks that I get to spend this day with mommy and daddy and Piper. Thanks for this food too. I love you. Amen." but occasionally has the most lovely glimpse of her heart and includes a "please help me to be kind to my sister" or "thanks for my grandmas and grandpas. I miss them" or "I felt happy when I got to play outside today. Thanks for grass and trees."  She is often wondering about where God is and what happens in heaven and is telling people that "Jesus is ALIVE!" 

She loves people. Jordan and I often wonder how such a social butterfly could come from two introverts. 

She's pretty wonderful.

Piper

She's almost two. When you ask her how old she is, she holds up one finger and says "free. like Emmy." 

When you ask her what her name is, she will give you some variation of "baby" or "Pipey" or "Pipey baby." 

Most everything needs to be done "like Emmy." And if you forget, she will remind you. 

She climbs on EVERYTHING. Every time I turn around she is on the table or dangling over the back of the couch or hanging off the edge of Emberly's bed. 

She eats just about everything, but is occasionally weirdly selective and won't eat pasta or something she usually loves. Last night she shared Jordan's sushi. 

She takes one gloriously long afternoon nap, usually resulting in needing to wake her after two hours so she will go to bed when her big sissy does at night. She sleeps from 7pm-7am or later like clockwork. 

Her paci is her favorite thing, and I'm fairly certain she is going to be the only 18 year old going off to college that still has one. It's entirely contained to her crib for naps and bedtime... but lately she asks to go in her crib just for a quick paci refresher and then she's ready to conquer the rest of the day. Oops. 

She's a ham. She thinks she's hilarious and is always laughing at something. 

She can say anything she wants, and if you don't understand what she is asking for she will show you or give you clues until you get it. 

If you ask her a question she answers, "I no no" every.single.time. 

Though she's not into cuddling at bedtime, she likes to "pretend" she's my baby and let's me snuggle and rock her. It's maybe my favorite. 

Mother's Day

Today was lovely.  

Jordan let me sleep in.

The girls brought me breakfast in bed and then crawled in and ate what they brought me. 

They sang me Happy Birthday several times (because there's no Mother's Day song).

We picked up food car-side to go for lunch. 

We ate cupcakes.

I napped for an hour and a half.

Jordan folded and put away the four loads of laundry I washed yesterday and never quite got around to finishing.

I made my mama's meatballs and gravy for dinner and they turned out for the first time in my life. 

We played outside most of the afternoon. 

My busy little "no cuddles, no books, just put me in bed" Piper let me read her books AND snuggle her at bedtime tonight.

Emberly didn't throw a bedtime tantrum and was giggling and shouting "I love you" when I tucked her in tonight.

I got a new sewing pattern. 

We went for a family walk (with girls in the stroller... the best kind).

Jordan washed all of the dishes from the whole day. 

And I took a bath. 

Could it get any better than that? 

I vote no.

#wobbemastakenewmexico

We are in New Mexico.  

In a house.

It has a king bed and windows and a kitchen that is not in the same room we sleep in.  

And the girls are sleeping in their own rooms.

And there's even a backyard.  

It's all kind of wonderful.

Jordan goes back to work tomorrow and we are officially on our last leg of this training.  

4 months left.

I feel like 4 months is long.  So so long.  

But praying it will go quickly.

...

I have so many things floating around my brain and I can't seem 

to figure out how to get them out today.

So that's all I've got.

:)

 

    

Far from home...

It's a chilly Friday.  Of a week filled with sickness, hellos and goodbyes of visiting family, a zoo visit, home school preschool, and the 10th day in our new temporary house in Texas.

My brain feels frazzled.  Like it is going in a million directions.  And I don't know how to "zone in" on anything.

We leave Texas in TWO weeks. 

And to be honest, the adrenaline of living away from home has officially worn off.  (Actually, it did awhile ago... but I've been pretending it was there as long as I could...) 

So 10 days ago we packed up all of our stuff and decided that we just could not handle one more day in a one bedroom hotel room.  We lasted a little over 4 months.  So we moved to a 3 bedroom town home just on the other side of base.  And it was entirely worth it.  The girls aren't constantly fighting.  We are all sleeping.  We don't have to cringe every time someone wiggles at night.  Jordan and I aren't sleeping on a pull-out couch in the kitchen.  We actually have a dining room table. 

The one problem is that they don't have any availability for us on the 6th and 7th of February, so we will need to pack up all of our stuff again, move back into a one bedroom, and then move into the three bedroom again.  We are just praying and praying that something will become available and we don't have to move.  When we made this decision, we decided that even if nothing changes, it would still be worth it.  But I'm starting to question.  Let's just say it is improving my prayer life.

So anyway, we have 2 weeks left in Texas.  And I'm starting to get this whole Air Force wife thing.  It is so conflicting.  I feel like I love it here in lots of ways.  We have made this our home.  We have made friends.  We have a church family.  We've developed a schedule.  But I'm yearning for "home."  Our real home.  The place where we have a kitchen mixer, and a bed that only we sleep in, and a stool for the bathroom, and towels that don't get bleached every day, and a 9x13 pan that doesn't flake off on the bottom...

It seems only natural that I'm thinking about home more because everything is coming to a close here.  Except we aren't going home.  We are starting over again.  Where we will need to find a new grocery store and library and church and park and friends...

And we will.  Because we have this great God who never changes even when everything around us does.  And goes with us every step of the way.  And tells us our identity is not in our stuff.  Or location.  And provides help and support and everything we need and more even when family isn't nearby.  And blesses us in the process with growth and communication in our little family of four.  And reminds us that we are all ultimately searching for home. 

It's a good reminder really, that this earth is not our home.  Our citizenship is in heaven.  With Jesus.  (Philippians 3).  And until we are with Him, we will always feel like we are searching.  Looking for something that isn't there.  One more thing we need to make our lives easier or make us feel happier.  When you recognize it for what it is, it really makes what we are going through no different than what you are going through.

And that's what I'm thinking about this gloomy Friday (while my kids are watching Daniel Tiger... one of them I just realized doesn't have any clothes on... and the other has been hiccup-ing for the entire episode).

Time to make supper.  If you made it this far in my ramblings, you must be a true friend.  That's all.