A little bit of everything

The last two days have been a nice distraction. Melanie has been coming over with Eli and hanging out. We've been cooking together and just having fun. It's nice not being alone all the time! Jacob loves watching Eli play on the floor.

Jacob is still having a rough time. I can't figure out if he's teething, missing Matt or both. I just know that our afternoons and evenings are rough. Please be praying for that if you think of it!

I finally got around to some much needed errands and cleaning today. It's a nice feeling! I also received several cards and a birthday present from my mom in the mail. I've had a headache for two days now (I think from lack of sleep), so it was nice to have some positive things today!

On another note, I got an email from my Dad last night. My grandma's husband of 10 years has been having some health issues for a few months now. It just started with a general cold that he couldn't fight. Next thing you know he has fluid in his lungs and is having several tests ran. They haven't been proactive in treating or diagnosing him so I guess I figured it was nothing. I was wrong! :( I don't remember the exact term for what he has, but they have only given him a little time left to live. They have planned a trip to the beach in May and are hoping that he is still around and well to take that trip. Please be in prayer for them and the family during this time.

I'm still numb to the hole thing. My grandpa died 2 months before I was born and my grandma married Al ten years ago. I have never thought of Al as my grandpa, but I have always loved him as family. He has been so good to my grandma and made her so happy during their time together. I truly can't imagine being told my husband is dying. How do you handle that? How do you spend your last days? What do those conversations look like? How do you mentally prepare to bury a second husband? So many questions run through my mind. I've never dealt with death before, and I don't really know how I'll handle it. The one thing I do know is this...Al does know Jesus and soon will be out of pain and sitting by His side! How amazing is that? Can you imagine knowing that in a few weeks/months you will be sitting with our King? Another thought I can't wrap my mind around. It seems so surreal. I did talk to my grandma today and she said, "God has given us a wonderful 10 years together, and I thank Him for that. He is good!" What an amazing woman of the Lord! I hope that if one day I'm told my husband is dying that can truly be my heart. With all that being said, please be praying for everyone during this time. I really dread having to deal with this for the first time without Matt. It will be hard, but I will be down there and with family!

Single Parenting...

Boy oh boy was today a day! You know those days where you can't wait for your husband to get home so you can pass over the kiddo say, "here ya go!" and leave! TODAY WAS THAT DAY! One problem...that requires your husband coming home. grrrr Jacob is definitely having a hard time with Matt being gone! He did fine this morning, but wouldn't sleep for his afternoon nap and the rest of the day was a mess! For the sanity of both of us I decided to get out of the house and go to the mall. That was okay for a bit, but he eventually got tired. Thankfully, my friend Melanie met me at the mall and Jacob calmed down for a bit. Her husband is deployed as well and we both had identical problems today! It was nice to be able to vent and walk around for a bit! We had dinner plans with some other army wives tonight, obviously that wasn't possible with two cranky kids. So we ended up at Round Table Pizza in the mall. (where we got an extra free pizza out of the deal!) After I came home, played with Jacob for a while, gave him a bottle and now he's in bed! I truly thank the Lord that I don't have a kid who is characterized by this! I know that this is him having a hard time with change. So if you think about it, Please pray for an extra amount of grace for both Jacob and I right now!

On a side note: Matt texted me tonight and is in Afghanistan. He is in classes all day and that is as much as I know about him! Praise the Lord for safe travels!

Well, I'm off to utilize this time and get some cleaning done (another thing that has to change...can't wait for Matt to get home to do it!).

Matt deploying and Jacob

(On our way to drop matt off)

As many of you know Matt left yesterday for Afghanistan for 12-15 months. This time seemed harder and easier than last. Easier because I have an amazing son to help keep me side tracked. Harder because I had to watch Matt say goodbye to Jacob while he had no clue what was going on. He has been looking for daddy all day and doesn't understand why he hasn't come home(the pic on the left). It breaks my heart! He was a good boy all day until about 5:30. Around the time he expected to see Matt. At that point he fell apart and the rest of the evening was horrible! Jacob is not characterized by tantrums! We've had one in his first year of life. UNTIL TODAY! Oh my word, the whole evening he fell apart if he didn't get his way. I've decided to give him a few days of grace because he is not characterized by this and there is big change! However, I so hope this doesn't continue, I hate spanking him!

On another note, Matt made a dvd of himself reading several books to Jacob. I played it today for him and he LOVED IT! He stared at the tv the whole time with a huge smile! We watched Matt read some Clifford story about farm animals. If any of you know Jacob he loves animal sounds! So the rest of the day if he saw an animal in a book, on the fridge, on tv he would attempt to imitate the sound! He can't talk, but he has the voice inflections down! It was so cute!

I was able to talk to Matt today. He is very tired and is in Krgyzstan (sp?) now. He has no clue how long he'll be there. Sometime between today and Friday they will tell him to get on the plane and from there he will head to Afghanistan where he will be stationed. Please keep Matt and all his soldiers in your prayers this year! I will do my best to keep you all posted on how he is doing and where and what he's up to!

Attempting the blog world...any advice???

Okay...so with all the moving around we do I get lots of questions. This will be my attempt to keep people updated on our life and so forth. I've never been good at this so no guarantees! However, with that being said, does anyone have any helpful advice on how these things work