12

12 years; we have been going at this "thing", called marriage, for 12 wonderful years! Our anniversary was back in July, so I'm a little late on this post; but, I have been one busy gal!

I love my husband and I love what we have together. He's still the one I dream of, he's still the one that makes my heart skip a beat, he's still the one that I want to spend forever with...he's still, and always will be the one. I'm sorry if that was mushy, but that's how I feel!!

There are a few things I can say about a marriage: you must make time for each other and you must work on it everyday...and I do mean everyday! Love each other like there's no tomorrow, and never, never let the sun go down without working out a dispute. Be each other's biggest supporter and do your best to put the other's needs before your own. I believe that's what makes our "thing" work...

Grand Slam Vacay Part 1

Well, well, well! It has been a month since I last blogged and I have so much fun stuff to share with yall!

So, Greg was in Norfolk, Virgina for 10 weeks, going to school...an Air Force course, of course! He flew back here over the Memorial Day weekend, so that we could all drive back to VA, and stay with him the last few weeks of his class. We were able to get a furnished apartment on base and I figured we could find some fun while he was in school...I had no idea we would find as much FUN as we did :)

After the 890 mile trip, we passed a Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, which was only about 45 minutes from our final destination. I said, "why not?!" Greg agreed and that was the beginning of our fun! The kids had fun and so did we, it was a nice way to end 890 miles! The best part might have been the fire alarms at 3:00 a.m. and the evacuation, just kidding!

After arriving in Norfolk, Greg went to school and we (me and the kids) played! Greg would come home around 3:00 and we would all play then! It was really a nice break for all of us, and good family time. Here are some of the things we did:

This was a little Korea reunion...one of the great things about the military! Laura (in the middle) was in the area house hunting and Amanda (on the right) had joined her husband at the same course G was at. So we got together at none other than, Chuck E Cheese, because we all love that place so much...actually, we knew we could catch up and the kids could play! I have to give a shout out to Facebook...that's the way we knew about each other being in the area!!

Amanda's boys, my three and one of Laura's three children. Why, oh why are group shots so difficult?!

We were 10 minutes from Oceanview Beach...you know I went there, every day! The water is calm and the waves are like ripples, the kids has so much fun and were able to play in the water without being knocked down, so relaxing and peaceful...I miss it!

My baby J chillaxin

Jordan perfecting his sand castles

While Daddy was at school, he was also enjoying some time on the golf course. Once we got there, he spent time teaching the kiddos some skillz and they now have their own clubs :)

We went to Busch Gardens and had a fun day; we stayed until the park closed!!

Jordan begged for a glow sword, which he was so thrilled to get and Jannah got a light-up pacifier...what a perfect ending to a perfect day!

Oh my! The best Mediterranean/Greek food ever!! Greg and I had a date (thanks to Amanda and then we returned the favor to her and her hubby). We went to Azars, sat on the patio, soaked up some alone time and ate a delicious meal.

My cousin, who is a young 21 is stationed at Norfolk Naval Station. They came over for lunch one day and we hung out. Jannah just loved her little boy, Caleb.

Amanda was my beach buddy. We went several days and we had so much fun, the kids enjoyed each other and played so well together...so glad we were able to spend some time together...miss ya, girl!

Jamison, Parker, Trevor, Jordan and Jannah; from youngest to oldest. Jamison and Parker were babies (like 6 weeks old) when we met in Korea. Man, time is flying!

Stay tuned, I have LOTS more to post, and I will be back before a month!

Here, There & Everywhere!

Here, there and everywhere is exactly where we've been :) October proved to be busy and full of fun times. I can NOT believe it's November and that Christmas is around the corner! Mama came out for a whole 10 days! The kiddos didn't know she was coming and they were p-r-e-t-t-y surprised when she and I picked them up from school. We had a whole lot of fun while she was here :) Come back soon, please?!?!

We enjoyed a day at Eckert's with Mama; that's our punkin' patch and place to go for fall festivities...love that place :)

We went to the zoo; by the way, Jordan said that Gamma looks most like an otter...haha!

Greg and I had a date night, free of charge-thanks to Gamma :)

Three days after Mama left, I left too! Greg was Mr. Mom for a whole 5 days!!! I headed out to Spokane Washington to visit my friend, Michele. We met 10 years ago when we were stationed at Fairchild AFB together; they still live there and it was my turn to go see her. She has come to me several times throughout the years; and finally, I had the opportunity to do a little traveling. I should give a huge "shout out" to my dearest for taking off work and taking care of our three J's! He did wonderful, as I knew he would! I really didn't know what to do with myself; it was a strange and unfamiliar thing to only take care of me. Don't worry, I did figure it out :) Michele took great care of me and we had so much fun together. Thank you Michele! We shopped, and ate, and shopped, and talked, and watched movies until the wee hours of the mornings, and talked and shopped and ate, and laughed and well, then we shopped some more. Are you getting the picture?!?!? It was grrreat!

We had Sunday brunch at Chaps (a restaraunt that was recently featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives). This might be my very newest fav place...it was very unique, shabby chic, eclectic and very good to the palette! You should give it a try, if you're in the Spokane area, anytime soon...

Lauren (Michele's daughter) and I at Chaps...miss you girls!

Navy Ball

I was Cinderella for the night! It was so much FUN, I'm ready to do it again :) Greg is an executive officer to a Navy Captain; he invited us to attend the Navy ball, and well, it was kinda hard to say no! We decided we would go and I quickly got excited about getting all fancied up. Jannah went with me to find a dress, she and I enjoyed our little girl's outing. Jannah and Jordan thought we looked so nice last night and couldn't believe how fancy I looked; they were so cute about it! They all wanted to touch my hair...I couldn't believe my hair either. It's been 13 years since I've had an updo! We went to the Ballpark Hilton in St. Louis for the occasion, it really was nice and the food was delicious! Al Hrabosky was the guest speaker, anyone know who he is? I do now! He pitched for the Cardinals, Braves and Dodgers; he was nicknamed the "Mad Hungarian". It was a great night and I think that I may have to talk the Lt. Col into taking me to another one...one of these days :)

not so Wordless Wednesday

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE this man? Well, I sure do...and I love him a lot. There are actually no words to describe how much I love him and how my love for him has gotten stronger, deeper, and unstoppable over the last couple of weeks...one benefit of a trial is being brought closer together...

Rosetta Stone...bye, bye

Dear Rosetta,

Thank you so much for all of the time you have consumed. My husband is finally finished with you! He is now, the proud new owner of some Russian lingo! He has given you around 50 plus hours (I think that's a very low estimate) on top of his more than crazy and consuming job that starts around 4:00 am every day. You have been heavy on his mind, but not any more! I can't wait to see him and talk to him at night, after the kids are in bed...he's mine now!!!!

Hit the road Rosetta, and don't you come back, no more, no more, no more!

I'm very proud of you darling! I think the US Air Force is lucky to have you!

*Greg had to complete this for some military education requirements...I think Spanish would have been easier, but he's such an over achiever!

10 Years Ago...

I married the man of my dreams. Little did I know, I would love him stronger and deeper today than I did back then. Oh, I loved him 10 years ago, in fact I was smitten with him, I really thought he was perfect! The beautiful thing about it is that I know now he's not perfect (neither am I), but I love him just as he is. I'm amazed every day at our relationship and how God has made our marriage so strong and how He has taught us how to love each other in a selfless manner.

Here's our love story: Greg was stationed at Moody AFB in Valdosta Georgia back in 1997-1999. While there, he attended the church that my family attended (the same one I grew up in). We were both in the college/singles singles group, and were around each other in a group setting all the time. As time passed, I found that I was drawn to him. He was a godly man, one who trusted God and followed him; he was a kind and generous man; he was a leader and very compassionate. To top it off, I thought he was a hottie! We started spending more time together, but we we were still just friends. In October of 1998, I started praying that God might have a future for Greg and I, or that he would take away the feelings for him that had found their way into my heart. As a couple of months passed, I was sure that he was the one for me; but Greg had obviously not gotten that message! In February of 99, Greg shared with me that in June, he would be moving to Spokane Washington. I was so sad, I was starting to believe that nothing was going to happen, and I would have to settle for a friendship with the man that I wanted to marry. I was falling for him more and more. I wanted to believe that he was falling for me to, due to the amount of time we were spending together, even though we were just friends! In April, after being at Greg's house, with some other friends, he called me as I was heading home; it wasn't uncommon, we talked all the time. After being on the phone for a few minutes, he said he wanted to ask me to pray about something. I said okay. The words that came out of his mouth shocked me....he said we should pray about what the Lord might have for US. Us, he really used that word. I told him of course I would pray; little did we know, for the last 6 or so months, we had separately been seeking God's plan and praying for wisdom concerning us. So, the next weekend, we had our first date. Finally, it was just he and I; it was a great night, and I must say that I KNEW he was the one for me. From then on, we were together every day, and we spent a lot of time talking about us and our desires for the future. Four weeks after Greg asked me to pray about our future, he proposed to me; my answer was YES! We dated for a short time, but we both knew the outcome, because we had already been friends for a year and we had been praying about it long before Greg had mentioned it to me. Greg has always said his big hang up was our age difference...he's 11 1/2 years older than me...that seemed like a lot when he was 32 and me 20 (our ages when we married). In June, Greg left GA to go to Washington, he would be stationed at Fairchild AFB in Spokane. While he was getting settled, I was planning the wedding and counting down the days until I would see him again. On July 24th, 1999 we said I do; I thought our wedding day was perfect and beautiful. Greg surprised me with a cruise to the Bahamas for our honeymoon, after a one night stay in a bed and breakfast in St. Augustine that I had always thought was a romantic place. Eight days after we married, we made the move to Spokane WA. Greg had already been living there, so he had our first home set up for us. I think the best thing for us is that we were in a new place, just the two of us. We learned to rely on each other and establish a friendship that has turned into best friends with one another.

Thank you to my dear husband for 10 sweet years, I love you more than words can say, and look forward to growing old with you. Thank you for your commitment to me and our family, you are my knight in shining armor.

Love and Respect

Our church hosted a semi formal banquet at the Young Chon Hotel, in Songtan. That's the area right outside the base. It was a kick off for the new marriage series, Love and Respect that we started last week. There were many photo ops, but being the prepared one that I am, my battery was low and I only got one picture...sigh! At any rate, we had a nice time, and here are the two pictures from the event, thanks to Linda for the one of Greg and I!

myself and Liz

VBS Pictures

These are just some pictures I took at church. We have one more Sunday for VBS, which is wrapped up with a trip to Everland. Jannah and Jordan are learning a verse each week, and Jannah sings her VBS songs every day.

This is Jordan with Mr. Sam and Ms. Anna; they are faithful teachers of the 2 & 3 year olds every Sunday. Jordan likes them a lot, he's always excited to go see them.

Check out these two clowns. It was clown day at VBS. This was my clown costume when I was a little girl. My Mama still had it, so she mailed it to Jannah to wear....she looks just like me!

9 Years Ago...

9 years ago.....I married the man of my dreams

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are made of the same." Emily Bronte