Baby Birdies

The boys and I were noticing all the spring birds out and about. Jathan noticed how that some of the cardinals were bright red, and some were dingy red. I was explaining how that God made it that way so that if a preditor was going to notice one of them, that they would see the flashier one first, and that would give the mother time to get away, so that she could take care of the babies. :) I told him that God made it that way so that when cats or something kills birds, they won't kill a whole bunch of them at once time, by killing the mother. Jathan seemed to be taking that in, and thought that that was very interesting.

This morning, Jathan told me, "You know, Mama. I am not like a baby bird. I need my Mama AND my Daddy." I thought that that was too precious. Someone is really missing their Daddy. Tomorrow, buddy. :)

Moving~

We are getting ready to move up there with Jamie up in Alaska. He has been there for six weeks tomorrow morning, more than I ever thought I could live without him. I did live, but I never want to have to do that again. I will be so glad to be there with him, and at the same time, good-byes are hard. Good-bye to my family... I have parents, a sister and brother-in-law and a niece and nephew who will be so hard to say good-bye to, a Granny, and an Aunt. James has family here too, and I will miss the get-togethers and birthday parties, and taking Katie for a ride in my "black car." I will miss baby-sitting my niece and nephew, and being there watching them grow. I will miss my Mom's beef stew... the ultimate of all comfort foods. I will miss having the support when things get difficult... it is hard to give or recieve a hug over the phone. :( I will miss all of our friends here, and watching their children grow up, having someone to go out with for after-church-Sunday lunch.... on and on. I will miss Olive Garden, Cracker Barrel... I had Jamie check for me if they do have them up there, and he can't find them. I might be surprised though.. I did see where you can get some of Cracker Barrel's foods in the mail. :) :) They had the fried apples in a jar... all kinds of yummy things. I will miss having SEASONS here.... I like to decorate for fall, and I heard that they only have a two week fall there... I bet it would be hard to even find the leaves and pumpkins and things that we decorate with down here. I will miss things like that, but at the same time I am excited to experience all the new things, new friends, new church family, all of the new adventures that are waiting for us up there. :) I will so love being with Jamie, little things like hearing him snore me to sleep at night, smelling coffee in the morning (although I never drink it. :) Hearing his truck come home at the end of his work day (Although that will be different. We are leaving his old truck here, and we bought a different one up there, so the sounds will not be the same ever again. :( I will love making his favorite foods, holding his hand... so many things. I am going to try and keep in touch with our friends and family down here, so we can collect more and more friends along the way. :) That will make it easier to leave. :)

This will probably be my last post for a while... we are putting our computer in our car to ship, and it will be awhile before than we get that done, and I don't know if the library would let me blog or not... :) I will miss this, but I will be back and probably full of stories about our life up north. :)

~Trolls~

On the way to complete one of our very many things that we needed to do before our trip, Jared says out of the blue to me, "Mom, trolls are real. They are like little animals that live under bridges." :)

Best Buds

Jathan told Jared this morning that they were best friends....just like Dora and Boots. :()

Silly~

Jathan and Jared were talking yesterday about how that you have to be careful when you are on an airplane not to bring guns in your backpack because you might have to go to jail. :) Which brought on the conversation about all of the rats in prison. (They MUST have seen that on some show... I am not sure where they picked up that little bit of info. :) Jathan told me that he thought that the police men put them in the prison to scare the bad guys. :)

Jared's Pre-school Graduation

Jathan and Jared both have participated in the H.I.P.P.Y. (Home Instruction For Parents Of Preschool Youngsters.) preschool program. They have a 3, 4, and 5 year old program. For me, this was the perfect way for them to have preschool without having to be away. :) ( I am kind of jealous that way. ;) They both completed the full program, Jathan graduated last year, and this year was Jared's turn to graduate. He looked so cute walking down the aisle in cap and gown, and it made me so sad. He looked so grown-up and self-assured. *sniff*

They ask any of the past/present graduates if they would like to sing a song in their program. This year Jathan sang Hey Diddle Diddle, and Jared sang B.I.N.G.O. Last year Jared got all nervous singing his song, and asked me to come up there to help him sing the manners song. :) I was SO glad this year that he didn't require my assistance (as was the audience, I am sure. :)

It is so sad how fast children grow up, this last 5 years of Jared's life have just whizzed by. He will be a school kid this fall (in Kindergarten already. :( I just wish I could find some time to keep them little for just a little bit longer....

P.S. They gave each child a rose to give to their mothers just like they do in the high school graduation, and Jared was so proud to give me a rose. His Daddy had sent me flowers for Mother's Day from Alaska just that afternoon, and I think that he saw my reaction, and it made him kind of jealous. The roses were beautiful, but they were starting to wilt. By the time we got it home, it had only one petal left on it. :( Jared saw that and just snubbed and snubbed. :( It made ME cry. He was so proud of that flower, and he had it to give to me all by himself. It just melted my heart how sweet he was about it. I showed him where I kept a petal of every flower that his Daddy had ever given me, and I added a couple of the petals that had fallen off to the collection. It made him happy to see that I had added him to my sweetheart petal collection. He is so sweet, I hope that he always is that sensitive. :)

More Jared...

Jared was telling me the other day that what we needed was a "re-bible." (revival) :) Amen, Brother Jared. :)

~First Celebrity with Swine Flu~

AND WE ALL KNOW WHO THE CARRIER IS


I got this today in an email from my sister-in-law Melinda and loved it. :)

~Jared's Wisdom~

Yesterday on the way to church I was explaining to the boys the route that we are going to be taking on our flight to Alaska. (Fayettville Ar. to Minneapolis MN to Seattle WA to Fairbanks AK.) When I told him our first flight will land in Minneapolis, Jared replied thoughtfully, "Hmmm. That must be where they eat alot of apples." :) (Many-Apple-is.) :)

Craziness!!!!!!!!!!

As part of getting ready for our move, I went today and went scouting the area thrift stores for second-hand luggage. We have decided to move via airplane :) (saving the seven day drive.) So, we were going to need alot more luggage than we have. Jamie took two when he went, and he still has them up there, so I was needing to get at least 5 full size suitcases, and three carry-ons. Wow!!!! I am so glad the boys' muscles are growing, so they were able to help me get them loaded. We will DEFINITELY be getting one of those wheely-carts to use at the airport until we check them in. :) I still can't believe it is happening... it seems so unreal. And now I have a smorgasbord of wild seventies style luggage to call my own. :)

~Reflections~

Thanks to my friend Crystal for this beautiful picture taken right before Christmas '09. It summed up our "walk" so well, I thought that this would be the perfect choice for a picture. :)

This last year has been so different, breaking my "cookie-cutter" life. I hadn't realized before how idealic my life really was. :) This past year, I went through a car wreck that came very close to taking my life, if it wasn't for the Lord's mercy upon me. I can't imagine what life would be like right now, it it wasn't for His grace. If things had been just a little bit different...if I had swerved, and spun the car to where it would have hit on the boys' side....if I hadn't gotten so far off the road when he hit me... if, if, if. I am just so thankful that God was looking out for me. I really don't view myself all that great of a driver, so I figure that God sent angels to push my car over, to keep from getting killed. In all of that, I still broke my foot in three places, had to wear a walking boot for 5 months waiting on it to heal, and still doing therapy to undo the damage that occured.... moved from our big 4 bedroom house, to a much smaller house, trying to unpack everything, (still haven't. :) Having work so iffy around here that James went out of state to find work, living this past almost month without him, to finding out that we are going to be moving up there the 22nd. I still feel like the merry-go-round that we have been on is still shaking us up, and I will be glad when I get settled down. I have been sorting through all of our belongings, trying to decide what is most important to take on the plane. We have been married 9 years, and I started collecting things while we were dating, planning on marriage... (to be honest, even before that. My Granny helped alot with my "hope-chest".) We have lived in 5 different places since we have been married, each one a little bit bigger and better until this last move. :) We have had two children, alot of hobbies, saving up for the "future", a coupon addiction :), a business out of our home, friends that we so generous to us to keep giving us gifts, a sweet husband that made sure that I had all the "girly" things, (foot spas, parafin treatment machines, manicure sets that buff, sand, ect., massagers, ect.), so our home is VERY full. I am looking around now thinking of all that will have to be done before we can move. We are going to be going on a plane, and not making the 7 day trip in the car, so we are really limited to what we can bring. Everything I pick up, I am reminded of some story behind it, when we bought it, what we were doing when we found it, which birthday/holiday it was when we recieved it, ect. Looking back on it, we have had such a happy life. Our children have never had to do without anything, as evidenced in their toy boxes, closets full of clothes and massive amounts of school equipment. We have furniture that feels like home to us, that you can plop down to a good movie together, blankets to keep us warm and cozy, just about any kind of kitchen gadget that you can think of to make entertaining fun, books to keep us busy when it is rainy outside, playground equipment right outside our door for the boys to spend hours staying busy and active with....life has been so good. :) I guess not to many people have the opportunity to evaluate their situation as I have had, either people keep their things forever, or they get rid of it a little at a time when something better comes along, or they loose it all at once where a fire or some other catastrophy happens, and sweeps it all away before they have a chance to say good-bye. My sister and brother have both been through that, and I can't imagine that feeling. :( This way, I am able to reflect on all the good times that we have shared, when we were newlyweds, when our children were babies, toddlers, and pre-schoolers. Now we are going to start over, in a house that I have never lived in just like it was when I got married and returned from our honeymoon, we are starting over where we have two school-age children, (will have this fall anyway when Jared starts Kindergarten.) Yes, life has been sweet, and I wonder what kind of experiences we will experience together in this next nine years...

~My hero~

Jared says when he goes running off through the house, "I'm off to the rescue!" It must be fun to be a little boy and think that you could save the world. :)

A Beatrix breakfast...

Jathan asked me this morning if he could have "fruit cottontail" for breakfast!