Where we are, where we are heading

Well, I'm just as quiet and buzzing with overwhelm as ever before. But I like this place.
It's good. My husband as soldier is even more fun/awesome looking/steady/strong than ever. Of course, I am so anxious to live with him again, to share all the funny little things of life. But it's mostly not as hard as I thought it would be and occasionally a million times more difficult than I ever thought it could be.
Our boy is magic. I feel like I rarely say good things about him. But he's sort of like a meteor or something. I'm never quite sure how to process, not sure how to express who he is to me, how much I love him. Only that I am so blessed to be his mama, that every day through my sheer helplessness I am drawn even closer to our Creator who truly is the only one able to empower me with the patience, judgment and wisdom required of the enormous job of parenting. Brady aside, he is the smartest, funniest, most passionate, and adorable person I have ever met.
Here is good. We are blessed beyond words by our accommodations right now. It's ridiculous. And that's the small part. Getting to know Maryl and Ernie even better has been so much good. When we decided on this arrangement, there were so many factors- but mostly I wanted to do what would make for the best transition for Edward, and they have shown him (and me!) such bottomless patience and love. And a realness I adore... a realness I will forever strive for. They live what they believe and they practice what they preach.
2 weeks from today- Lord willing- we will be in Phoenix, catching up with Alex and Maggie, acquainting ourselves with their 100 lb puppy, "Banksy". And spending October weekends visiting Brady in Ft. Huachuca, AZ with a trip to Portland in between.
Tomorrow we start work on Edward's Halloween costume- a pirate this year. Year 2.5 of preschool is good so far. I'm harboring some paranoia about a stomach virus that took out half the class today- praying that we are either spared or it hits and clears before the trip. I won't lie, I immediately ran to Jungle Jim's to stock up on probiotics.
I'm currently obsessed with Pinterest
And Brady called tonight to tell me that he is 99% sure (or at least as sure as you can be without having been given orders) that we are going to be stationed in Ft. Carson, CO. Part of me is thrilled- it's exciting, new, beautiful... apparently he is the envy of many classmates (who have been assigned to upstate NY- brrrrr and Kansas, snore....) and we even have friends who know the area well when we have a bazillion questions. But... there's the reality that we are not playing a game. I am still in a weird way, not really realizing that we are doing this. Really, really. It's just a business trip, a uniform, it still feels so far away, this military business. But it gets closer and closer. And I hear the sun just shines and shines there... and I know that we are being taken care of. Step by step, we're not alone, we don't have to figure it all out. We don't have to be anything more than be who we are today, He will work it out for our good. He is so, so good.

Army Family

Army Wife, Army Brat...
I never really saw those phrases in our future. But come May, B ships to Ft. Jackson, and an Army family we will be.
For more on this journey- go here.

My Husband is Torchering Me and My Kid is Brilliant

See... here's proof:


At least once a week, B has been making these huge milk and honey and butter loaves of bread. And if the smell of bread baking isn't bad enough, he makes french toast or grilled cheese at least once a day. I tried to sneak the recipe, but no such luck.



Long story for another day, but E has lost television and toy privileges. So there is A LOT of reading and crafting going on... which for the most part, he doesn't seem to miss TV and toys as much as we thought. We actually haven't given them back because he doesn't seem to care. Anyway. Coloring popsicle sticks was the big excitement on Saturday, but while I wandered off, E created this house, which I (perhaps being the teeniest bit biased) think is pretty fantastic.

And reporting on life in general- it very much feels like we are holding our breath. Like it has been a year of holding our breath. And then I will hear a song like this and find myself sobbing my face off on my home from work. And I know that nothing could be more true. Even when I have no idea what that means really, there is no better news than this.

Does that tree look like a face to you?

I will not lie. This is not where we expected to be, here and now. But who does? Life would be so creepy,boring and pointless if it all just went as planned. There is no formula. There are no guarantees... other than that pesky mortality rate. So, that's a struggle I'm still struggling with.
But.
I can honestly say, that never, ever have I felt more loved, more provided for, and with more to look forward to.
We are on the verge of a big decision. One we would prefer to put off until we felt more "grown up". But we've given our word, and so... we will be be praying extra hard for the next two days. The time is now, and we must give our word.
And... I can't even see a picture of a baby without getting all squashy and want-y. Yet another thing I never thought would happen. I expected logic to prevail. But in this realm, logic tucked its tail and hid under the bed long ago. I am looking at 4 months of insurance, anyone know a way to healthily gestate a baby in that amount of time? According to my research, I would need to become a hyena, a chinchilla or a tiger. hmmm....
We have been blessed with my job going full-time for the time being. Profuse apologies for my absence. When not working, I am trying to soak up all of the Brady and Edward that I can.
I hope that all who read this are doing well, and enjoying all the shameless beauty of Spring (allergies be damned!).
We really are bursting at the seams. And I pray for the same for you and yours.

PS- I can't find the best part of this quote, but this is still good: "A comfortable grape, a well watered, well fertilized grape grows into an easy ingredient of a lousy wine." - Jim Barrett, Bottle Shock. Highly recommend the movie if you want to feel good about people and their crazy dreams and learn a little bit about wine.

That's A Lot of Gravy

That's right, hospital food. Behold, Brady's first real meal since surgery for this rare and incredibly-painful-when-exacerbated quirk. And I cannot express how grateful I am for the friends and family that have pitched in with their time and prayers. It's a jolt when these things happen, but a sweet reminder what kind of support we have keeping us afloat.

The Good News for Today

Our very dear friend sailed through quadruple bypass surgery. Now bring that man some more morphine(and Demerol and whatever other magic beans science has thought up)! What an incredible blessing, this modern medicine.

And... far less miraculous, but good news no less- on November 3rd Barbara Kingsolver's first novel in 9 years will be released! This from Harper Collins:

In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities. You can read more about it here.

It sounds like a bit of a departure from her earthy themes of the past.
I have a tendency to get a hold of an author that I like and read everything, with Kingsolver, I was truly sad to reach the end of the list.

This news truly is cause for celebration.

The Girl Who Blogs About Goats (and Foxes and Mommies and George Clooney)

We went to a pumpkin patch... but didn't see the pumpkins. Instead, we fed goats. And did some other stuff, but the pictures weren't that great. I have an inordinate number of goats on this blog. No time to search them all out now, but I think I will be adding a goat label soon.
So, as I have mentioned in the past, there is not much even-keeled in me, this life. I love it or hate it, all or nothing, black or white. So my absence is also in part due to my diving headlong into the Events Manager position for a local (but part of a national) mothers' group. It's called Cincinnati Mommies. There are other mommies groups all over the country- and it's a pretty neat place. The idea is, you get to meet people on a forum and figure out if they are friend material, and then you also have many opportunities to meet up in person and make new real-life friends (as opposed to make believe internet friends).
If you are a mama looking for other mama friends and you are in Cincinnati- go to here, if you are elsewhere, go to here. It's for working mums as well as SAHMs- and even if you don't have time to come play, you can still get a lot of helpful q&a on the forums.
Back to goats. I was going somewhere. We also went to see Where the Wild Things Are. And while I'm not sure it was fair to have marketed it to children... it was a really great movie. One that takes a bit of chewing on, though. It was there that I saw a preview for another movie that I really must see- The Fantastic Mr. Fox (based on a Roald Dahl book). And George Clooney. And Jason Schwatzman. And, did I mention Wes Anderson directs? What could be better?
NOW... for the goats, the other movie I want to see is The Men Who Stare at Goats. George Clooney+Goats. See? There is a theme here.
Sort of...
Happy Tuesday, anyway :)