Is The Grass Really Greener On The Other Side?

Have you ever caught yourself thinking is the grass really greener on the other side? Today as I went on my run, I could not help but to reflect on all of the beautiful places God has so richly blessed us to live. Being married to a Marine, there have been many places we were told to go to that was not always our first choice, but would find ourselves moving there because we had written orders to be there. With every new place we'd go through the same motions. Finding new housing, looking up schools for our children, and learning to make new friends while trying not to forget about our old ones. All along encouraging one another that the sacrifices that we make as a family for our country are worth it and reminding our children and myself that my husband their daddy is a one of a kind Marine that we love and support through the good times and the bad times. Although some our stations were not our first pick, we have yet to be put somewhere that we just do not like. In fact, we fall in love all over again. Making moving to the next place so much more difficult. The day has finally come that our oldest child will now ask "why do we have to move, why can't daddy serve and then come back to us at this home?". " Why don't my friends have to move and their daddy leave for a long time?". " My life would be better if we were like some of my friends." We knew this day would come and I just gently remind her that the grass is not always greener on the side. Every family has there own struggles and joy and we have our own too. This is the place God has intended for us to be and because we serve him first, we follow where he leads our life. For us that means being a military family that has to move and be flexible.

Sounds good, right? Except at times I find myself questioning our place and having similar feelings. It gets old trying to make every new house a home, not knowing where we are going to retire, making new friends, will my girls get to graduate from the high school they start. Will my husband come home safely from each deployment. The list of questions could go and on, but then I stop and look around like this morning and I appreciate all of the things my God HAS provided me to see and do. The countless friends and memories we have from all over and the endless love that my man has for this great country. Then there is peace.

Some days I sit and dream about the other side of the grass and how it might be greener. We will have our retirement and benefits, our children will be grown, I will have the house that I have dreamed of from southern living, and the permancy of knowing this will be my last earthly resting place. However, in my heart, I know I will long for those days of being busy with my children, watching my husband fly home in an F/A-18, Having sleepovers with best girlfriends and their kids while our husbands were deployed, being able to go to any new base and immediately have a friend from the past, hearing my children's heart felt prayers for God to bring daddy home safely, the dog barking, bike bells ringing, children playing in the street and seeing God's beautiful creation from ocean to ocean, mountain to mountain.

So I ask again, when is the grass greener on the other side? My answer is, the grass is greener in the pastures in which you are living!

Bubbly Fun

Who does not love a nice warm bath. Well when you are 4 and 6 a large bath tub is an open invitation for a little swimming. Much to my reservation, I filled the tub up and let them at it. I reminded them to please not splash too much and what ever mess was made, they would clean-up. I sat there and watched my sweet little girls play, laugh, and sing until their little fingers got all wrinkled up. I thought about when was the last time they took a bath together and laughed so hard. It made me sad to think these little moments are coming very few and far between. My oldest is now becoming more private ( as she should be with maturing age), but I could not help but to think about how innocent they were and how their laughter filled the room. So tonight I took a moment and a snapshot of a little moment that would soon be fading!

The Real Divas

So last Friday night, I was elated to hear that my husband got us tickets to go see a Diva's concert here in San Diego, CA. When I think of Diva's some of the greatest women singers is who crosses my mine like Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, to just name a couple. So initially I was very excited to attend that is until we arrived, waited an hour to get through the line and when finally close enough to see the screen broadcasting the show, there stands half naked women shaking their top portions and mouth dropping men at their feet. The Divas for the night were new to me and my taste of music. I was not even sure who the host was at the time. I had to ask my husband who she is and what show was she from. As the music played and women flaunted themselves to our young servicemen, my heart just dropped. The idea behind these USO broadcasts are to boost moral and to help our servicemen and women get through tough times, battle, and times of distress and maybe for a short time, for the moment it works, but really is flaunting your body parts the best way to boost moral???? Surely, there must be another way. After hearing a familiar song and talking to some people around us we recognized, we decided it was time to go home and relieve the babysitter. All the way home, I just could not get this scene out of my head. I just kept reflecting on the times my husband has been "supported" by these USO concerts in the past and other husbands and young fathers that have been too. Honestly, to me these women are not the real Diva's of the military they are glamorized, overpaid, classless women. The real Divas are the women at home supporting their men in uniform while keeping the homefront a secure place for their man and loved ones to come home too. Many times they are silent Divas. They wear jeans and t-shirts, sweats and often carpool multiple children from various events. They pray diligently to keep their men safe from harm and from those who aim to do them harm. They often take the back seat to their men's many accomplishments while all along being the backbone to their success. Then for a brief moment I became angry at these women. How dare they flaunt themselves to our men in the most trying times of our country and call it in the name of moral! Especially while the true Divas are keeping cadence to their everyday lives at home. These men are not just servicemen, they are someone's husband, father, hero, and christian men who have taken an oath of office to uphold the highest standard of honor. Maybe to their lack of knowledge, women like these devalue our servicemen, their wives and families by taking their focus off the main goal and distracting them from the people who love them most.

After talking to my husband about the event, I finally decided to go to bed. Then today, I wake up and read an article about how the Diva's host offended the crowd by making comments about Sarah Palin's daughter and maybe that was true and good for those who stood up for another vulnerable woman in the media, but I wanted to say what about how they offended military servicemen and their families. If these women really want to become Divas come walk a mile in a military spouses shoes. Hear their babies cry for their daddy when night time comes and he is not there to tuck them in. What about those spouses who have lost their loved ones and are now struggling to put the pieces all together after losing everything. To be a real Diva you have to be the quiet, yet supportive woman that is not afraid to step up to the plate when your man is gone to keep things running smoothly. You have to give graciously and understand there won't ever be enough money, but a house not full of things, but full of love. So girls put your clothes back and on and stop shaking what God has given you and come help and boost real moral and that starts at the homefront, not your pants!!!!

Memories in Music

So today we have all been greeted by the cold weather with sickness. So me and my two girls have been cuddled up all day inside the house watching a marathon of Christmas movies. For those of you who know me, I am not a huge t.v. person so the accomplishment of watching 5 full movies today is a big deal. So after our fifth movie, I decided to download some new music for my ipod. I have quite different taste in all sorts of music. So I started with some christmas tunes because I am one of those annoying people that start listening to it before Halloween. Then I moved in to some christian gospel and finished with classic artists like George Jones.

He (George Jones) is a favorite for our family and as I played the songs, a flood of childhood memories came to my mind. Now mind you, my mama loves George Jones, but did not have a love of various music like me and my daddy. So as the song of his played, all I could think about was me and my daddy riding in his old yellow ford pick-up truck on the way to ball practice (back when he was my coach) and him singing some of these songs to and from practice. He was a smoker then, so I could almost remember smelling the smoke in the truck and hearing his voice sing the lyrics to the songs. For those of you who know me, I love to talk, but during these times, I would just sing along. Trust me if you would ask either one of us we were as good as any other person singing at the Grand Ole Opry. So our singing would be loud and confident for all to hear. No matter how bad the day was or what was going on, the singing would take over and for those brief moments things were happy and stress free.

I always get amazed at the power of music. The words you sing, hear, and the rhythms that can make any still bottom move are so powerful. Maybe it is because I am a mother, woman, or wife, but it is not uncommon for me to be emotional while riding in a car and hearing various music. One minute I am laughing. The next minute, I am crying. My kids often look at me like you are really losing it now mom, but for me it is those moments my day becomes carefree and my soul searching begins.

I hope my children reflect on the music memories they have with me whether it is us dancing together in the kitchen, our songs of praise in worship service, singing in the shower, or singing while driving in the car. That music is really about life and depending on what note you are on, it will continue to move you.

"Mama, I didn't know you could throw like that."

So the other day I picked the kids up from school and we walked home. It was a half day and usually I dread those days because the time lapse just seems to drag on and on. Especially when you are home with two children by yourself. This day though things were a little different.

As we dropped off one of Grace's friends at her house, I noticed another girl on our street out throwing the ball with her brother. Now her mom and I have talked several times about her daughter and all of the skills and talent that she has (which honestly, she is pretty good) in softball. Knowing that I use to play in high school and that I got a college softball scholarship we often talk about the sport and keeping her young daughter focused on her dreams. She is a young 12 year old girl with a lot of talent and this day I decided to take the time to watch her throw the ball. Seeing her brother keep dropping every ball thrown to him, really started to pain me. So I asked if I could catch and throw with her. By this time, my children took a seat on the curb and began watching us throw the ball around. Now mind you it has been a while since I have caught a ball or even thrown one, so naturally I dropped the ball the first time it was thrown at me. Like all good athletes do, I blamed it on the glare of the sun and repositioned ourselves to keep throwing. ;) So as we began throwing a flood of memories came back to me. The many days of practicing my favorite game, the friends that I made over the years of playing, and some of my best games all flashed in my mind as I threw the ball. At the time I could of sworn I smelled the fresh cut grass off the ball field, the orange dirt and chalk that lined the bases. With all these memories in my mind, time just floated and before I knew it we ended up throwing for about 20 minutes.

After returning the glove and walking away with my children I began thinking about choices I made and how I left the game behind me and chose a new path for me. Over the years I have thought about these choices and if it was a good one or not. But as I held my little ones hand we began walking home, she looks at me says "mama I did not know you could throw a ball like that" and I said well softball is a game I love and enjoy playing and played for many years, but now I have you and I enjoy spending my extra time with you, sister and daddy. Then she smiled real big and said " but you could teach me" and my heart beamed. Never have I been the type of parent to push my interests on my kids, so I was thrilled to hear she had an interest. I told her I would be proud to teach her anything about the sport and what I knew about it if she wanted me too. It was that moment that all of my past doubts slipped away because I now know it was the BEST choice I ever made.

So for that day, I had a glimpse of my past and the reassurance that I could still throw a ball as good as the next girl, but what mattered most is what I have learned from the game itself and the future that I have with my children and being able to pass those things on to them.

Look, My Boots Are Awesome

So today I went shopping with my four year old. As many mothers know, this could only end in two ways a really bad way or a really good way. Our purpose for going out was to buy new cowgirl boots for everyone to wear in our upcoming family photo shoot on Saturday. Since my oldest already had a pair thanks to her GiGi, the only two needing them were me and my sweet Caroline. So off we went on our little adventure. The first stopping place was Target. Since we were on a time crunch we made a straight line right to the shoe department and there we saw a row of little cowgirl boots in 3 colors brown, black, and pink. To my surprise Caroline did not immediately jump to which ones caught her eye. She carefully screened the sizes and announced to me and anyone else listening that she wore a size 8 and proceeded to choose her color based on her size. I thought this to be pretty intuitive to just be four, but we proceeded forward. Finally the choice came and she picked the pink ones. Of course, you may think, but truly the girl's favorite color is purple. So pink is not always too popular with her. She slipped those little boots on and said they would do and lets buy them. I agreed and happy with the short trip we grabbed a few more things and headed out to our next destination. At Boot World, is where I found my perfect cowgirl boots. Honestly, I have not had a pair of shoes that I thought I looked that good in in a very long time. I picked them up tried them and really studied them and with the new found confidence, I decided to pay for them. Caroline agreed they were perfect. So again, another fast shopping purchase and we were out the door. The last stop we made was to a Walmart and then we went to lunch with some friends and home. Mind you all the way to and from these stores Miss Caroline held on to her little boots in her lap.

As we got home, she was very eager to empty out all of our purchases in the middle of the floor. We had quite a few things out and she zeroed right in to finding the scissors and cutting off her tags on her boots. Once she got those off, the boots went right on her little feet. She walked down the hallway and back and proudly announced "mama my boots look awesome!". Her face lit up the whole foyer and all I could see were those sweet dimples shining through. Truly she was tickled pink. Then she says " mama put your boots on". I thought about it and decided to do it. Then she said " mama now your looking awesome in your boots". And for that moment I felt like I looked awesome and that made me smile. Then the two of us made our way around with our fancy little boots before deciding to put them away until picture day.

As I put away the things from today I could not help but to reflect on her little smile and compliment. It has been a long time since I twirled around with my kids and played dress-up. But for a brief moment today she made me feel like a cowgirl /princess and I knew I was awesome in my four year olds eyes and that is all that truly matters.

Welcome Sunny California

Our time in Kansas is now over and we have moved to a new place. San Diego, California. Who knew that after 8 years of being away from here we would be back, but this time with more than before. We are missing our friends we made in Kansas, especially the ones left behind, but we are looking forward to the many more we have to make here. On our way out across the country we got to take in many states and all they had to offer. So many beautiful places and so little time to see the sights, but we were up for the challenge. We saw mountains, lakes, snow, desserts, oceans and many more wonderful things. While touring these areas it got me really thinking about God's creation.It was just an amazing reminder to me all of these amazing things were created by God for me to have and the responsibility we have to care for them.

While moving is stressful, especially with two kids, a dog and driving across the country. It was nice to take that break and reflect on things that are really important.