The blog has moved!

I have officially moved the blog for a number of reasons, the first being the decrease in the amount of time it takes to upload pictures. The new blog will also enable Mark to be able to see the children's images larger without having to double click on them. There will still be a link to this blog in the left-hand column of the new blog. Thanks for stopping by and helping to support us during this time!

http://www.letterstodaddy.wordpress.com

A day off

Guess what? I took the day off with the younger three and I am glad I did! We had fun just being together and not needing to rush anywhere. Enjoy! Click on to see larger!





little chipmunk cheeks and did you notice the pants? She's such a peanut, they kept on falling down! Do they even make belts for 1 yr olds? :)








I'm going to have this one printed up, does anyone want to give their two cents on which is better, black and white or color?




This is what happens when I try and get them to pose :)

Family Support Day

We attended the family support day for the families of the 432nd. I could have never anticipated how much it would help our family. I was amazed at how the children opened up and at how in one day they went from feeling somewhat resentful to proud! Proud of you and what you are doing and proud of their part in it. It was really the first time that they were raised up for what they are sacrificing, it was the first time they were told thank you. The most touching part for me was when we were watching a slideshow of the soldiers from the 432nd. Everytime a picture of you would come up C would shout with glee and a huge smile on her face "DADDY!!" Near the end of the slideshow there was a picture of your departure that I had not seen before. It was a picture of you hugging M goodbye. The look on your face says it all. A couple of minutes after the picture was shown M came up to me sobbing. It had touched him deeply because he wants more than anything to have his Dad hold him. Two of the leaders of the group saw him with me and told him it was o.k. to cry, that everyone understood that here. It was just the way he said it, with tears in his eyes and so much compassion, that meant so much. M did cry, he did not feel embarrassed, and that was so important for us to not feel alone. When we got into the car after the day was done, M said it was one of the best days of his life! The girs likewise were very happy about having gone and thanked me for taking them. I want to thank Chris Schoeder and Amy Lauder and the people from Operation Military Kids for all that you did for us, you will never know just how much it helped.

And here is a little clip from the day, P is the baby with the ball in the beginning.

For some reason it won't link it but if you copy and paste it and put it in the address bar it does work, sorry!

http://myfoxwisconsin.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=6458812&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Super blogging!

That is what I am going to have to do to get you up to speed on what has been happening around here lately! First things first though, and that would mean thank yous! First to start we had a yummy meal of fried chicken with all of the fixings brought by Cathy Carpenter. She came quite a ways to bring us our meal and it was deeply appreciated on this day as I was having some issues with A and P that were keeping me quite busy. After that Michelle Croegert brought us a very kid-friendly meal that we all enjoyed! I was grateful to hear the cheers about all that she brought! Thank you Michelle for bringing us Joe's meal every week too, you are a dear! On Mother's Day I was treated to a meal of brats and fixings, from Ted and Mary Kanavas, it was a real treat! Thank you so much! I know that was a busy weekend for you and I appreciate you taking time for us to make a meal and bring it over!

Then I must let you know about the generosity of our nearby church Holy Apostles. I have been so touched by all of their efforts towards our family... The fifth grade class had a bake sale to raise money for our family. With the money they raised they brought over 12 (yes 12!!!) meals from Dinners by Design. This food is not only healthy and like homemade, it tastes so good. We have loved everything we have tried! What a great thing to just pull out a meal on those days when you don't know what to fix that night. We really have enjoyed every meal so far. I truly am humbled by their efforts to help us...

If that was not enough, on the same day some of the Holy Apostle's girl scouts and their mother's came over to weed and clean the yard. It REALLY needed it!! I certainly have not had the time to keep up on the yard maintenance. When I came home, it looked like a whole new yard! They even planted flowers which I can look out at when I have my coffee in the morning on the brown chair. Later that night your father mowed the lawn and well, it just looked beautiful when it was done!

Thank you to everyone for your continued help! Now as was promised, I am going to post some pictures of thing blooming in the yard like you had hoped. I will continue to get them as they bloom.

The cherry blossoms


The sour cherry tree


Wine Lilac


What I did to the strawberry patch

Feeling creative...

Maybe it's the change in the season, maybe it's just feeling better on the whole, but I am feeling creative! I love it when my mind is thinking of all sorts of scenes I could capture, it is truly a joy! Amazingly the children seemed somewhat in the mood to have their picture taken, it has been a while for them, or maybe they are excited knowing you will be seeing them. Before I continue on, I want to let you know of a couple of people who have brought us meals.

Judy Bloom brought us a wonderful meal of chicken bake which I was told is one of their favorites, well I can see why!! It was yummy and I will be asking for the recipe. I have really been enjoying some new recipes this year that I will be trying on you when you come home. Sandi Schimel likewise brought a wonderful meal of Italian meatloaf that everyone loved! Who would have thought to put cheese in the meat, but that made it so yummy! (Doesn't cheese make everything better?) Thank you so much ladies for helping our family out!

Now I know you are waiting to see pictures of things blooming around the yard, I promise I will post those tomorrow. A couple of these pictures were taken last week when it was a lot colder. I am amazed to see the amount of growth when I look back at the pictures compared to now. Hope you enjoy, because we sure did!






















This is the best picture I could get of P today!


I just wanted you to see the new "crocs" P has that she is so proud of!


Here a couple from last week, note A's outfit! He was helping Mom with the yard work, notice him wearing your gloves :)

Lost tooth!

M looks so different since losing his last tooth! Had to give you a close-up view!

A very happy memory!

Our favorite family memories are from this cabin that my grandfather built, we will get there again my dear!

Settling in

I am not as good at blogging as I thought I would be. When I first thought of blogging, I had envisioned myself recording all of the important moments of each day, so you would not miss a thing. It was going to be my way of keeping you in our lives, the best way I can. In the beginning of this deployment there was maybe a little bit of a high, awestruck that we were actually doing this, and making it just fine. It was a sense of victory. I am to a point where that has quickly worn off and has been replaced with the aching sense of our loss. Loss you say? Yes, temporary thank goodness, but a loss. Your absence is felt so keenly and it no longer feels like you are just away for a while from us. Your absence feels like a gaping hole in our lives. I know you are lonely on your end too, maybe that just makes it harder. And so I don't blog as often, because it is difficult to express what I am feeling and going through and yet it is impossible to act like everything is "normal". I am always afraid I will do *THIS*! Unloading! I am so good at it! I sometimes wish I could be the type of person that rides through the storms of life with a steadfast gaze straight ahead, focused on the journey's end. Instead, the rockiness disturbs my very being and does not let me rest inside. I have been watching the news and seeing the reports of the many mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone where you live. It brings me to a place I don't often have to go, a place where you dare to hope for the best outcome possible, and at the same time you fear the worst. A constant struggle to want to control your destiny and then offering that up to His plan in trust. A place where I offer you and your life completely to God. And so my faithful blog readers, we ask for your continued prayers for strength, peace and perserverance.

I do want to take the time to thank all of the wonderful people who continue to show their support and love for us, your care means so much to us! Starting with Famous Dave's restaurant in Waukesha, what a treat it was to come and eat for free! That is something my children rarely do (eat out!)and so they were very excited! It was good to meet a neighbor Beth Von Rueden who provided a meal for us, so yummy! She motivated me to start walking again after hearing she is training for a race!

Noelle Tessmer provided a delicious meal the night I went out with friends and that was a huge help! Noelle, I appreciate you taking the time especially when you must have been so busy with the preparations for the expectation of your newest little one! The children enjoyed the meal and I was so grateful I did not have to prepare anything before going out! Thank you Noelle, I hope to meet you someday! Jean Pritchard sent a delicious meal we thought tasted like breakfast burritos (which we love) and so all was pleased with that, thank you so much Jean!

Our faithful neighbors the Schoepkes came through for us again to watch the children so I could accept an award for Mark that was a distance away. I came back to their place to find all five children (I had taken P) asleep on the floor. They told me to go home and rest and upon their advice I even slept in and had a good cup of coffee while I read the newspaper, ALL TO MYSELF! Well, o.k. I did have P, but when your downsizing from 6 to 1 it felt pretty darn close to being completely alone! :) A huge thank you to Ellen Schlosser for helping me out with an outfit for the event and watching the children so I could run numerous errands again, ALONE! This time completely alone!:) Signing off with just a couple of pics from around the house..

Here is the new kitchen set we got for the two girl's birthday's, they love it!

Things are warming up!!

Or should I say they were. Yesterday it was in the 70's and today was in the 40's-50's, tomorrow there may even be snow! UGHH! Oh well, I appreciate just being able to get out more and take a couple of walks, just breathing fresh air is nice! I know you are not seeing a whole lot of green out where you are so I took a couple of pictures of things around the yard that are blooming. I love watching the new growth come out of the old, it is such a perfect art!

The woods looked fantastic this spring!






A leaf bud on the lilac bush, this week it already opened and is covered with leaves

At Play

I took a couple of the children enjoying the outdoors today!

Having so much fun with the neighbors











I know she looks ridiculous, but here she is calling out to everybody that they had better come and get her. She will not walk on the grass yet, so funny!


Bernadette to the rescue!






While the others were outside J was in practicing, she promises I will be able to get some more shots of her soon!