My Soldier Is Home!

I know this post is a little late, but Rich IS HOME!!! We are so glad to have him home! Jeremiah is SOOO glad to see his Daddy everyday now! He cries if Rich goes outside and everything, is 'Daddy! Daddy!'. It's amazing how much you really count on your husband to help with things. While Rich was gone I did everything around the house AND take care of Jeremiah! (You stay-at-home Moms know what I mean!) But I must say that the hardest part of it all was not being able to pick up the phone and talk to Rich whenever I needed him. I would have gladly followed in that life, but God has other plans for our family! God brought Rich home to fulfill his other dream of drawing houses, and let me just say not just any house, we're talking 14,000 square feet, 1/2 million dollar (or more) houses like on Lake Norman!!!! God has blessed Rich with an amazing talent of drawing houses, and Rich is very excited to get back into this again! So, Rich has been job hunting since the day he got home, what a guy! We are both trusting that the Lord will bring him the job that is right for him. We have seen God's Mighty Hand over us the past couple of months, so we have no doubt that God will provide the right job for Rich! Please pray with us that a job will be found quickly!

"Bacon!"

Ok! So here's the "Bacon" story! When Rich came home at Christmas, he brought home this reindeer stuffed animal. Rich said that his Drill Sergeant gave them to anyone who had children, so that they could give it to them. So, below is the picture of Rich giving it to Jeremiah. Jeremiah, by all means would rather have a truck, so this reindeer quickly made it into the pile of toys to be played with later.

So, the story just doesn't end there!! Ever since Rich has gone back to Basic, Jeremiah has resurfaced this reindeer! He has been carrying it around with him, to and fro (I think only because Daddy gave it to him and he misses his Daddy! Most of his stuffed animals don't get this much attention!) So, this reindeer has graduated to being in the crib with him at night, now normally any animal that is in the crib when I lay him down at night ends up on the floor by morning, probably before I finish closing the door! So, in amazement the other morning, the reindeer was still in the crib! Before I picked him up he ran to get the reindeer and was saying 'Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!" LOL!!! My child has named his reindeer Bacon!! I have no idea where he got that from, but it's just too funny!! So, we have a new member of the family so kindly named, Bacon!

This is Jeremiah and 'Bacon' watching the movie Cars (Thanks Grammy & Granddaddy!! It's his favorite movie!).

Now, as you can see 'Bacon' goes where Jeremiah goes now (even breakfast)! They are buds!! This is new for me because this is Jeremiah's first 'lovey'! Hopefully this stuffed animal will last a little while!

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength.
A very pleasent help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved,
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations made and uproar, the kingdoms tottered;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has wrought desolations in the earth;
He makes the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
"Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
-Psalm 46

I came acoss verse 10 ('cease striving and know that I am God') in an old journal from my college days. It was actually a verse that someone else had put in there. How encouraging! When I looked up the verse, I couldn't help but read the entire chapter! According to my study Bible the theme of this chapter is: 'God is always there to help, providing refuge, security and peace. God's power is complete and His ultimate victory is certain. He will not fail to rescue those who love Him.' WOW!! How powerful is that!! AMAZING!! As some of you may or may not know, Rich is being medically discharged from the Army for some heart reasons. This is a time of uncertainty in our lives. But how awesome to think that we (Rich, Jeremiah, and I) are right where God wants us! We don't know nor understand why God has brought this upon our family, but what we do know is that God will provide!! Isn't it just amazing how God comforts us! A random thought to open this journal, and look where God took me! Straight to His Word!!!!!!! If that's not comfort in time of need, I don't know what is! Please continue to keep us in your prayers, as I'm sure you are. A specifc prayer: for God to provide a job for Rich, and for patience and guidence with my child! Remember that we need to stop striving and trying ourselves for things to work out, but stop and know the He IS God and to let His Spirit comfort us! God is in control!

Remember This?!

Ok, so please tell me that someone else out there remembers these huge-o cell phones! HAHAHA!!! I'm not kidding, this is no joke, that phone is REAL!!! It was one of the first flip cell phones from back in the day....yeah....at least 13 years ago!!! When my cousins were here over Christmas/New Years some how we got on the conversation of cell phones. I remembered that my Mom had an old one in the kitchen drawer! So I pulled it out! My 14 year old cousin Michele just cracked up! I don't know that she had ever really seen one in real life! So, in our funniness we decided to take pictures of the old 80's phone along side the 2000's phone! AMAZING how the times have changed in only a few short years!

Ok, so here's the funny part! Michele was laughing so hard she almost couldn't take the picture! The 80's phone almost didn't fit in the picture once it was all folded out! The picture below is my cousin Jay acting as if he was talking on the huge-o cell phone!! haha!

So, can't you just picture it. Here we are back in 1987, driving down the road (well for me, I'd be in the back seat watching my Mom) talking on the cell phone, thinking we are just 'all that' because we now have a 'flip phone' and not one of those 'bag phones'!! Yes! I said 'bag phones'! Hopefully I'm not the only one out there that remembers those! And, sadly (and hilarious) to admit my family had one of those too!!! So, I can hear you asking, 'Why does your Mom still have that phone?!' Well my answer to you would be, only for us to take it out every couple of years and reminisce about the 'good 'ol times'! And just think, one day our children will be doing the same thing, we will have kept what we thought was the coolest cell phone (and what we consider small, too), and they will have a pen for a phone!! Ok, so again I quote Larry the cable guy: "I don't care who you are, that's funny!"

Worlds Worst Blogger!!

I have come to realize that I am the Worlds Worst Blogger!! I had all these great intentions of updating the blog everyday! HAHAHA!!! I laugh at myself because it's been almost a month since my last post!!! Maybe I'm not cut out for this blogging thing! But, fear not my fellow blog readers, I will press on update our blog!!

So many things have happened in a month! Wow, how times flies!! My hubby came home for Christmas and that was by far the BEST Christmas present an Army wife could ever ask for!! It was such a blessing to have him home! Jeremiah sure enjoyed seeing his Daddy! We had a great Christmas! My Dad's side of the family always gets together for a family Christmas Reunion (we usually call it the 'Roost Christmas' because of the family last name-Cocking,it means rooster-and my grandparents used to have a mountain home but recently sold it because the family has outgrown it!!), and this year it was in Charlotte! My Dad is one of four boys, so you can imagine the fun and chaos that goes on when all the brothers and their families get together! This is pretty much the only time of year that we get to see that side of the family, so it was great to have Rich here so that he could see the family too!

I will leave you with a couple of pictures from the past month. Enjoy!

Here is the picture of my grandparents and the four boys. Left to right: Matthew, Marty (my Dad), Karen, Jack, Mark and Mike.

This is at my parents house when all the family was there. There was a bunch of us playing games in the kitchen and Jeremiah kept getting into trouble in the living room so we locked him in the kitchen with us! He kept looking under the gate and standing on his tippy-toes to see down the hall and kept talking to those he could see! It was too cute!

Look at my handsome men! That's all I can say about this picture! :)

My Mom got her grands this little car for Christmas! It's not battery powered, it's like a 'Flinstone' car! The boys (Jeremiah and my nephew, Sammy) loved it! My Mom didn't realize that it had to be put together, so my Dad and brother had to put it together. On the box I think it said something like, "Only 67 pieces"!!!!! Yeah!!!! "I don't care who you are, that's funny!!!" (quoting Larry the cable guy).

3 MORE DAYS!!!!

ONLY 3 MORE DAYS!!!! On Thursday I will be picking up my hubby at the airport! Isn't that exciting! Yesterday on the way to Church Jeremiah was in the back seat pointing out the window and saying, "Daddy! Daddy!" and then he started blowing him kisses! Too cute! I guess he thought that we were going to pick up Daddy! Everytime we get in the car he does that now! Do you think he's ready to see his Daddy?! Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of watching my nephew, Sammy, while his parents went to the Panthers game! That was fun, and sure was a handful! Kudos to you Mom's of two or more!! Sammy is 14 months and Jeremiah is 18 months! They had so much fun playing together! Jeremiah woke up this morning saying, "Where's Mammy?" (That's how he says Sammy's name! haha!) and was looking around the living room for him! Think he had fun! Here's a picture of them, the few moments that they were actually still and watching Curious George, their favorite! That only lasted about 5 minutes! Notice Sammy is holding a Curious George doll!

Call my from my Soldier!

Today has been ok. But the past few weeks have been quite stressful, as I haven't heard from my hubby. Until today!! YEAH!!! He's doing fine, just keep him in your prayers, as I know you are. He's got a lot going on right now. It was wonderful to hear his voice again, as it was about 2 weeks since I've spoken with him. Talk about hard ladies, not being able to have any, other than letters that take a week to get to you, contact with your hubby. Today also marks the one week till I get to hug his neck!!! How exciting!!!! I don't need and/or want anything else for Christmas! Just my hubby! That's all!! Jeremiah got to talk to his Daddy today too!! It was so cute! His eyes just lit up and he grabbed the phone and started walking around just jibber-jabbering away at his Daddy!! After I got off the phone he was walking around saying, "I did, Daddy!!!" I would ask him if he got to talk to his Daddy, and that was his response! Too cute!! I don't know who's more excited to see him, me or Jeremiah! It will be the best time ever! We will definitely cherish each moment together! Rich being gone has opened my eyes to lots of things, one thing being that all those times we would have a disagreement or argument, seem so small and insignificant. And seem so pointless as to why we would even get upset at each other. I definitely have a better view of our marriage and how it's so important to rely on God to provide for us! This experience thus far has opened my eyes to really rely on the Army of One! All I can say is that God has shown His Hand in Mighty ways since Rich has been gone. All my thanks and praise goes to Him, as He will never let His children down. Yes, it's been hard, but only brought me closer to the Lord. What a wonderful Savior we have! :) Continue to pray for Rich as he only has one more week left until he comes home!! We thank you so much for your prayers, as they are evident in our lives everyday!