letters

over the past few weeks, brandon and i have spent some time reliving our past. as mentioned before on this blog (specifically this post), brandon honored our country by serving four years in the Marine Corp. while dating, our relationship was tested over and over again, as we struggled with the distance and the reality of being separated by miles, oceans and wars.

brandon's first tour in iraq was in 2003 and our only means of communication was writing letters. we were old school:) there were no phones, no internet and no way of knowing where he was. or if he was okay. or even alive. looking back, i have no idea how i kept it together. i spent a lot of time with God during those months he was away and i truly believe that He gave me a peace that surpassed all understanding. brandon's mom, jenny, felt the same way. she said that she never once doubted that he wouldn't come home. we all rallied together and prayed and prayed and prayed and we are all thankful that God's plan was for brandon to come home safe. that prayer is a powerful tool:)

now that we have our own home, we have a little more space (and stability...no more moving!) to collect some items from our past. brandon had been keeping all things marine corp related in his mom's basement until this past weekend when she graciously handed them over (while silently thanking God for her basement back:)). there was a lot of nostalgia in the air as we looked through old uniforms, worn combat boots and pile after pile of training manuals. and last but not least, the letters. letters that still had remnants of dusty, dessert sand and smelled of musty, old library books. there was a pile of "family" letters and there was a pile of "maggie" letters. looking back at them brings back a lot of different feelings, but mostly an overwhelming feeling of thankfulness. thankful for keeping him safe, for sparing his life, for giving me peace.....so many feelings of thanks.

little by little, we are reading through them together. and boy is it an emotional roller coaster:) not many relationships live to see the end of a war, much less a marriage, so we have been feeling very blessed.

all letters were kept safe in this handy MRE bag

the "maggie" letters

a couple excerpts:

february 5, 2003
"....brandon, i need you to come home. i really, really need you to come home. so please don't break your promise to me and come back. i know it's all in the hands of God, and at times like these, i wish i could see into the future. but, unfortunately, i can't. i love you, think about me a lot, and most importantly, talk to God."

february 6, 2003 
"....never forget my love for you, brandon. someday we'll look back at all these letters and laugh. actually, i'll probably cry:) my love is flying to you on angel's wings....keep praying...."


february 11, 2003
".....i am so incredibly proud of you. and i'm not just saying that because you're gone and i'm your girlfriend. when i really think about what you're over there doing, i feel so lucky and proud to say that you are my boyfriend. i can honestly say that you are my hero. i love you.....be careful and come home to me soon...."


" For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

When life gives you meatballs, drink toilet water?

Sunday mornings can be somewhat hectic around here.  My husband plays on the worship team for church about every other week, so I am left to get our son ready for church all by my lonesome.  If you see me at church you can always count on the fact that I haven't washed my hair those mornings in an effort to get us out the door faster;)

Well, a few Sundays ago, we were rushing in a particularly scurried manner.  Jude needed a diaper change before we left, so I quickly put him down on the changing table and attempted to get the dirty job done.

As an important side-note: we recently started solids with him, so his "number 2's" have been a lot more firm.  Lovely, eh?

I took off the diaper in haste, thinking it was just pee-filled, when out came a wandering turd.  It was perfectly round and very large.  Since I had moved the diaper so quickly, my motion propelled the "meatball" out of the diaper and onto the changing table.  It quickly rolled across the table and back towards my baby's bottom (I guess it wanted to go back where it came from) like a soldier crawling to safety.  And landed right on his church clothes, only to leave a nice little skid-mark.

After staring at it in amazement, wondering how something so large, round and food-like (!) came out of my tiny son's bottom, I picked it up with the cloth diaper he was wearing and attempted to toss it in the toilet. On this particular morning, the "meatball" rolled right off the diaper (isn’t it obvious it was formed with an amazing ability to roll?) and fell into the toilet.  Success!  Oops, only except for the splash right afterward.  Care to guess what happened?  Water jumped out of the toilet and landed right on my upper lip.

Who doesn’t love fresh poo-water on their mouth in the morning?  I know I do, especially right before church.

To my pastor: "You don’t even want to know what organisms are living on my face this morning.”

To my husband: “Trust me Jared, you DO NOT want to kiss me this morning.”

Like I said before, I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to wash my face.  So in the end, the hand sanitizer had to suffice.  It works for everything- trust me!  Seriously though, have you ever tasted that stuff?? 

The whole way to church I thought of the song On Top of Spaghetti and how closely I could relate to the “I lost my poor meatball” part, except my kid didn’t sneeze, he pooped.  I could just picture his “meatball” rolling right out the door;)

So there’s a little look into my everyday life.  It’s fun, exciting and sometimes dirty.  But someone’s gotta do it and in this case, it’s me.  Thankfully I'm not alone and am blessed with ample amounts of help from my handsome husband Jared and the Ultimate Helper. Despite those sometimes messy moments, I wouldn’t trade my "dirty" job for the world.  

I hope that through this blog you can get to know me better and that my reality can bring a dose of laughter or encouragement to your life.  I am big on transparency and that’s how I will be here.  I am not perfect, my life’s not perfect and my husband and baby aren’t perfect but we have a lot of joy to share and hope you will come along on the ride with us.