Another month gone...

Today is the last day of February, yay! Each and every month I can mark off of the calendar is a month closer to my husband being home, and life being "normal" again. Besides that, I hate winter and Jan/Feb are the worst months of the year for me. I used to include March in that equation, but since my son was born in March, it's not such a terrible month any longer. His birthday is in 6 days! Which leads me to a funny story... Matt is a health nut, and an exercise junky. He doesn't like to eat any sweets.

Well, yesterday I am at the store, shopping for groceries and I am peering at the cake selection. I happened to be on my cell phone with Rich, and I asked him what kind of cake I should buy buddy for his birthday. Well, we used to be able to buy him carrot cake, because we convinced him that it was healthy because it had carrots in it. Sometime in the past year, he has figured out that is not the case (darn!!) so I am back to square one. So I couldn't decide on what to do, finally I told Rich that I was going to buy Matt a relish tray, and stick a candle in the middle of it. When I mentioned that to Matt last night, he giggled and told me that a cheesecake would be an acceptable alternative. So I guess we are going to do that. Goofy kid!! He's a great guy, my son. All of my kids are great, really. We have been very blessed. I just cannot believe how grown up they are getting. Iwas sitting here at the computer the other day and he walked past me, I couldn't believe how TALL he was.

I am doing ok at the moment. Last night the left side of my chest was hurting very badly, I was in tears. I seem to be feeling better today, just a dull ache. I am more than ready for this bronchitis to leave. "Ok, you have made my life miserable long enough, you can go now."

Hope everyone has a great weekend, I am going to try and follow Dr's orders and get some rest. TTFN!

I wish...

I wish that I wasn't so cynical, that I could believe, even occasionally that people are good, honest and virtuous.

I wish that my circle of trust could include more people, but having seen the dark side of human nature, I don't think that is possible.

I wish that people could think more of others rather than themselves.

I wish that negativity and fear mongering wasn't so much a part of daily life in the US of A.

I wish that you could speak your mind, without being concerned that someone won't like what you have to say, even if they need to hear it.

I wish that people would take responsibility for their actions, good or bad, rather than using a barrage of excuses to justify it, when nothing can justify it.

I don't want to say "why me"

Just got back from the Dr's office (again!) and guess what? Yours truly has developed a fabulous case of bronchitis, double lung. Yay for me, and my GREAT immune system. Do I sound cynical? Truly, I am lucky because I caught it early. 10 days of antibiotics should do the trick. But in the mean time, yuck! The coughing is miserable and my entire chest hurts. When I called Rich to tell him, bless his heart, he sounded frustrated to the Nth degree. It seems like my immune system just likes to give out on me, on a regular basis. I catch viruses that I come in contact with, and viruses that anyone in my family comes in contact with. I am a virus magnet.

I don't want to ask why me though. The reason, I remember the story of Job and what happened to him when he asked God, "why me." Instead, I prefer to believe that we all have crosses to bear, and this is mine. I will just take my pills, and be thankful.

In other news, it looks like Rich is pretty well assured of his next duty station. We are going back to PA. The Lehigh Valley this time, which is great. It's so pretty up there, and I love the Pocono's. Besides that, the fact that Rich's best friend Tim is only about 30 miles away! That will make both of them happy.
It's so awesome to discuss the future, our future beyond this dratted deployment and to start looking at life afterwards when our family is back together.

That's all for today, need to try and grab a nap. Dr's orders!

8 weeks tomorrow....

I have not been feeling well, at all, the past few days. Yesterday I had a fever and a terrible cough, today, just head congestion. I really think a lot of this is allergies. I seem to be a year round allergy sufferer anymore, and I have terrible sinus problems too.

Everything is about the same with Rich. He is still getting his hiney trained off... And they are still anxious to leave for Iraq, because life is so crappy there at Ft Dix. In a few weeks, he will be coming home for a few days and I am greatly looking forward to that. It's mixed emotions though, I am thrilled that he is coming home, but again, the goodbyes get more and more difficult each time. The good news is that once he gets in country and settled in, I will have much more contact with him than I do now. He will leave for the dirty sandbox of the middle east a few days after he leaves Ohio. :-(

The kids are doing well. Matt has started weight training for football season and that seems to bring him quite a bit of joy. The girls are chugging along, waiting for their Dad to get here, and Grandpa too. I am really glad that my Dad will be home soon, one of the main reasons I decided to come back here was to spend time with him and he has been gone since a few days after I arrived.

That's it for now, catch ya'll in a few days.

7 Weeks

I have not seen my beloved husband in 7 weeks... That is just incredible, and I might add, incredibly sad. In some ways, the time seems to be going by quickly, and in others, it is dragging along. I miss him so much, and I am super excited about seeing him next month. I just want to get this deployment over with.

We are having a 4 day weekend, and it's been nice so far. I took the kids to COSI today, in Columbus. (Center Of Science and Industry) It's a place I loved when I was a kid, and they seemed to enjoy it too. Tonight I am catching up on the laundry, Matt is watching the NBA all star game, and the girls are doing?? Something. Not feeling so great, I think I may have some sort of infection because my throat is sore, and the glands in my neck are swollen. I hope I don't have strep again. Grrr that would really stink! I am hoping and praying that God keeps me healthy until at least my Dad gets home. It would be very difficult to be ill when no one is here to take the kids to school, cook their dinner etc.

Happy Valentine's Day, Baby

I am sitting here this morning, missing you so much. And I am just reminiscing about the past, our past and all of the laughter, the tears, the good times and bad. 16 years together, since we were just kids, really. I still believe that the day I met you was the luckiest day of my life, no matter how unconventional it may have seemed at the time.
I love you, I will love you forever RB.

The lyrics of this song, are my Valentine to you!


Firehouse -
I Live My Life For You Lyrics
Y'know you're everything to me and I could never see the two of us apart
And you know I give myself to you and no matter what you do I promise you my heart
I've built my world around you and I want you to know I need you like I've never needed anyone before
Chorus:I live my life for youI want to be by your side in everything that you do And if there's only one thing you can believe is true I live my life for you
I dedicate my life to you, you know that I would die for you
But our love would last forever And I will always be with you and there is nothing we can't do
As long as we're together I just can't live without you and I want you to know I need you like I've never needed anyone before

Unbloggish

I am not sure if that is a real word, but that is how I have felt lately. I am not really in a bad mood and nothing particularly terrible has happened, but I am just weary.

I find myself missing the east coast quite a bit, which is bizarre. I think it's mostly the driving, being on the Jersey roads or the PA turnpike around Philly is an enthralling adventure each and everytime. However, I think that it's dangerous for me, when I try to use Philly driving manuevers on the small streets here in central Ohio. They care about the speed limit here, for example. In Philly 65=80, but here 65=65. You can see the potential problems there, and I am quite certain that Geico would not be happy with me!

I miss my best friend, Jen and her kids. We talk on the phone, but it's not the same.

Most of all, I miss my husband-- so much. He has been gone for 6 1/2 weeks now and it seems like an eternity. I guess we have about 48 weeks left now. Blah! We will see him for a few days next month, and I am pretty excited about that, except for the fact that it's another goodbye and each goodbye hurts more than the one before.

That's about it from me today, I'll try to be more regular with the blogs in the coming weeks, but no promises.

Quandry

If you had information that could be very important to someone you love very, very much- would you tell them? Even if it meant possibly alienating the very person who you are trying to protect?

Is it worth it- to do what you know is right, even if it causes you incredible pain in the future?

WWYD?

Growing Up

My baby boy, Matthew Ryan, will be 15 years old next month.
15!!

I cannot even believe it, and as people like to remind me, by the time Rich gets home from Iraq, he will be nearly 16. Nearly a man.
There are two things that cross my mind when I think of his age, the first is that I cannot believe it- the days that he would crawl up on my lap to watch Barney, or kneel with me so we could say bedtime prayers just don't seem so long ago. Kisses and hugs, dirty hands and fascinating bugs. Sigh, it really was just yesterday wasn't it?
The second thing I think of is that I cannot believe he old I must be to have a child in his mid teens. I was a fairly young mom (21) and that is the excuse I use when people ask me my kids' age.

To be fair, ALL 3 of my kids are growing up. Meg will be 14 in a few months and then Hannah, my real "baby" will soon be 11.

I am going to my corner to whimper a bit...

Groundhog Greetings

Still have the head cold, and am not feeling very great, but I am trying to get better and not be a couch potato. Taking my decongestants and echinacea and vitamin c. I am going to run Matt to the Y here in a bit and the girls and I will go to the library, and Meg wants to go to get some comfy pants. Then we will pick Matt up, and probably have movie night. I have 3 movies from Blockbuster online that we need to watch. We are going to get some cleaning done today, as well. I have been so out of it the past month, time to get back to life.

My diet, 10 days in I have lost about 6 pounds. I was actually a bit lower for a day or so, but I think it was related to the amount of water I drank that day. Still, 6 pounds in 10 days is pretty darn good. My pants fit again, yay!

Rich is doing ok, but he is strained. Lots of things going on that I cannot really talk about here. I miss him terribly, as always. I am greatly looking forward to next month when he can come home for a few days.

Oh yeah, and the groundhog saw his shadow this morning. 6 more weeks of winter. Blah! Oh well, it seems like it's always winter until April, regardless of what the groundhog says.

TTFN!

A Story That Must Be Shared

Since I have posted in the past several days about how my own personal faith has been restored, I wanted to share with you a blog that I have come across in the past several weeks.
The story of a wonderful family, with a miracle unfolding in their lives.

www.confessionsofaCFhusband.com

Their story has touched my heart in so many ways, and helped me along in my own journey. Meghann (my 13 year old daughter) has been following their blog, and exclaims every day "Mom, this is proof that God exists and still performs miracles."

God Bless You, Nate, Tricia and Baby Gwyneth!

I feel like crap!

Well, it looks as though I have caught the fabulous cold that is making it's rounds in this house. Only mine has seemingly settled in my head.
I have to get the kids in a few minutes, and when I get back I am going to put on my jammies and veg, maybe even get a nap.
Due to a "winter storm" school was delayed 2 hours today, so I am all discombobulated.
Catch ya all sometime in the next few days!