20 Reasons I Love Being a Military Spouse

So while the cardboard boxes were still on the curb, I was sitting on my sofa setting up my wishlist for where we will move NEXT, a little less than two years from now. In the words of Jack Black on Jumangi, “I can’t even with this.”
And that’s why it’s important to have a list of why you love what you do…

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Day 2: Tackling Low Self Esteem with Truth and List Making

I’m no expert here, but I think the first step is realizing that this is a problem. It’s not a little problem. Living defeated is a BIG BAD DEAL when it’s stopping you from fulfilling your purpose.

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Disappointments and Limitations: Starting a New School in a New State

School started back yesterday.  This was an exciting event that I’d finished in high gloss and framed in my mind as a victorious day ushering in a new era for me. Without a single pre-schooler following me around I will have a spotless house, serve gourmet dinners, volunteer at their school, and run wild and free through grassy meadows. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! High expectations. I love to do that to myself. Three years ago, my heart began to give me […]

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The Real Army Wives Series: Merry Christmas To Iraq, 2003

***This post belongs to a series of posts detailing life as a 22-year-old military wife, back in the beginning of the War on Terrorism. To read it from the beginning, start here. To read the  chapter before this one, click here.*** Christmas arrived. I could ignore it in my sadness over not having Alan with me, or I could embrace it for the fact that it was still Christmas. Truthfully, it was not a sad time anymore. I had Elsie, Kayla, […]

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Why I Don’t Make New Year’s Resolutions

Happy 2018, friends!!!! I’m so excited to introduce y’all to my friend Amy Lloyd today. We met back in 2010, when we were living in Washington, D.C. Back then, Amy was busy with two little ones just as I was. Even then she was singing, which is her passion. But here’s a little known fact: Amy used to be a staffer on Capitol Hill. Her background is actually in writing. She was working on the Hill the day of 9/11…y’all […]

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Hey, Mom with the Messy House, It’s Okay. Be Thankful

Your house is the stable, and your kids are the oxen.

Here is a tiny peek into my own messy house: My coffee table is covered in children’s books, a box of Legos, my Bibles, a box of crayons, a sippy cup, and ALL the little Lego men that I swept out from under the couch this morning. There’s also a few preschool crafts and the remote control to the t.v. Then there’s the center piece, all buried in there. It’s supposed to be an ornate pedestal bowl of THREE ornamental […]

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New Friends, The Beefcake, & My Nemesis the Lawnmower

New Friends, The Beefcake, & My Nemesis the Lawnmower

One day in May, Alan called from Tikrit, Iraq, where he was serving with the 1/22 Infantry. When you only hear from your spouse every two weeks or so, and then only for short conversations, maybe 20 minutes at the longest, you cherish it. You cherish it so much you hang on their every word. Everything meant more. Everything. Alan called and gave me a general idea of who he was working with and not much about what they were […]

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Why I want to be just like my kindergartener when I grow up

Ya’ll. This boy! It’s like he’s good at everything I want to be good at. He leaves me with my mouth hanging wide open all the time. That little Daniel amazes me at every turn. I want to be just like him! Today I picked him up at school, and his teacher told me she thought he was getting sick. I waved it off. He’s still getting over this cold they had. “Mom,” he said, while he waited on the […]

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It was not a failure, though I thought it was at the time.

Failure stings when it’s something that means the world to you. It stings like getting stung by a HIVE OF BEES or 50 fire ants.

I set out to home school those two years with two objectives:

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Our Top 10 Stories from 2016: The Drama Year

Christmas is over, and boy, was it a good one. In the photo above, all 4 boys were watching the clock intently. Christmas truly is magical for children. I’m so thankful for a Christmas when my kids were healthy, we didn’t have to fly, there were no funerals to attend, and all went smoothly. Now on to the new year! 2016 was all about drama. Yep. Drama. I’m hoping 2017 will be more about persistence and less about big things […]

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