Happy Birthday take 2

My son and my daughter were born a day apart, so its another day of birthday celebration around here.... and wishin there was a daddy here to celebrate these special days with us.

Happy Birthday

My Sweet Micah boy, my littlest babe.... my little peanut. I cannot believe today you are 9 years old. You were my miracle babe. Happy Birthday....

half my heart.... and all my flatbrats

are on the other side of the globe. But. no worries you can make your very own flat brats to send to your deployed loved one by following this handy dandy link and your very own photo and voila! your deployed service member does not have to be alone. And it is certain to boost troop morale as they all get a smile from your flatbrat crew. Make sure your service member has fun with it, and takes pictures of all of the flat brat adventures....

The Race

quietly waiting.
I can hear myself breathing.
The race begins soon.
The beads of sweat drop off my brow.
As the sun rises another day will dawn.
Another day to wait. and watch. and cling to...
before the big day.

God has chosen this race for me to run.
I cannot do it without Jesus CHrist at the center.
My race will influence others for Christ.
How it will influence them will be determined by how I run the race.
It is a marathon. not a sprint.
I will need to be consistant.
It may be filled with obstacles.
opposition.
perhaps even forces we cannot see.
that WILL try and steal my Joy
and God's glory.
I need to remember in order to win the race.
I can not drop out of it.

so for now.
I will hit my knees
and pray
because the Lord alone
will be the One to give me strength
to endure.

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

I am sometimes accused of being to passionate about some topics.

Be advised. This is one of them.

OpSec (operational security)

as you may have guessed we have rounded a corner on this upcoming deployment. Our days seem to draw a little shorter as reality seems to hit us.

and yet.

I think this one issue is key in having our military come home safe and sound. There are a lot of well meaning wives, girlfriends, mothers, fathers, sisters, aunts, etc that talk about priveledged information online, over the phone, in our facebook status, through emails...

we need to be so very careful!

here are a few rules I plan to follow...

DON’T USE YOUR SERVICE MEMBER’S REAL NAME
Don’t discuss current or future destinations/ ports of call/deployment bases .
Don’t discuss current or future operations or missions.
Don’t discuss current or future dates and times of exercises or missions.
Don’t discuss readiness issues and numbers.
Don’t discuss specific training equipment.
Don’t discuss people’s names and operations.
Don’t speculate about current or future operations.
Don’t spread rumors about current, future, or past operations or movements.
Don’t assume the enemy is not trying to collect information on you; he/she is.
Don't relay any type of sensitive information over electronic media
Don't assume your family members understand OPSEC guidelines! Go over them with them before your servicemember deploys!!

With all that said- I will be blogging about the deployment. But not what he is going through. I will not post issues of morale. I will not be sharing specifically where he is heading. I assumed other members in my family understood this and I was proven wrong. ANyhoo...

stepping down....
please understand this issue truely can be the straw that breaks the camels back and is very important to me

Deployment

It's coming soon. The day when I will wave goodbye to my husband and scoop six tearful children put them in my car and begin a 7 month deployment journey.
but.
not
yet.
right now, I am praying for time to stand still for just a teenie bit longer before those dreaded moments arrive. for now we are trying to simply enjoy life and forget what lurks around the bend.

Happy 6th Birthday Ki

He certainly isn't the little baby boy I held in my arms with a deployed Marine halfway around the globe on his birthday anymore... but he is such an amazing sweet spirited kid that always brings joy to my heart. He is still young enough to give his mama sweet hugs and kisses. Today we celebrate his 6th birthday. My sweet Kiahboy.