To Blog Or Not To Blog

I had a friend say the other day that she didn't think she wanted to start a blog because it seemed like people only talked about all the wonderful things going on in their lives. It sounded like she was essentially saying that people are not "real" in the blog world.

At first I was pretty offended and and started naming all the blogs I know of that were begun (or became popular) because of someone being very sick or because they have been unable to conceive a child or because of some other difficult situation. Although I could name several, I then started thinking of my own blog. Do I ever mention difficult times? Mmm, yes. Do I talk about the hardships of my life? I think so. But, do I shy away from being completely "real" about some things? Probably so. I am currently doing the Beth Moore Bible Study, "Esther". In this week's video she makes a statement that I've been thinking about alot. I don't remember the exact wording so I am not going to quote her, but she talks about the fact that in order for the Lord to completely reveal your destiny and use you to fulfill it, He needs your transparency.

I have always struggled with complete transparency (guess because of that pride thing) so I am going to really give it a go here.

To be completely transparent....the past several weeks been some of the most difficult in my life. I think I've cried every day over the last month or so (although crying is not so far from the "norm" for me, you know...once a month or so, crying on a daily basis is very much unusual). Sometimes it's over things that I know are breaking God's heart and sometimes over silly self-pity. Sometimes over Satan's lies I see affecting not just a person or a couple, but a family and sometimes just because I'm tired. Sometimes because I really miss my family and friends and sometimes because Riley is fussy. So, life is not all peachy right now!

BUT, in all of this, I have felt the Lord at work, maybe more than ever before. I feel Him near. I hear Him whispering truth. I see Him making good come out of some things that are not good at all. And He reminds me that He is bigger than all of this!!

And so this post is not completely void of pics, here are some things that remind me of God's love and goodness AND the fact that He IS bigger than all of our messiness (and from time to time, if I were to be completely transparent, it helps to be reminded).

beautiful sunsets

watching my niece and nephews jam out with Rock Band

my son riding a four-wheeler for the first time with cousins and Gaga

looking at old photos (I just love this picture!)

laughing with my family

AND going for walks with my husband and son (we do this just about daily)

My Hottie Husband who Hovers in Helicopters

Preface to my post: Since we moved to Jacksonville, the realities of military life have really been hitting home. The Jacksonville area is home to at least 4 military bases (maybe all Marine bases), so pretty much every 3 of 4 men/boys you see are in the military. It really gives you a sense of pride about their service and sacrifice for our country. In addition to that, at least weekly, we see signs along the main road in front of the huge Marine base (Camp Lejeune) welcoming dads, husbands, brothers, and sons home from war. I get teary eyed every time I see them. While I was at the post office on base this week, there was a lady picking up a few packages. The post office worker looked at me with tears in her eyes and said "Her husband was one of the guys killed by a man in the Army earlier this summer. She is picking up his things that have been shipped back from overseas." (you can read about the story here) Needless to say, I walked back out to my car, with tears streaming down my face. I just can't imagine. And then yesterday, our neighbor, who we have quickly become friends with, just left for his 7th deployment. He just returned in March from a deployment and now left again. His wife and children are now dealing with the thoughts of another Christmas with him away from home. These are the events that have somewhat led me to this post. It has just made me really think about and remember what the Lord has done to get us here. And in thinking about that, He reminds me that somehow, even if we can't see it, He "causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him (God) and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28

I am sure that all of you who are reading this are extremely proud of your husbands (if you are married- and if you are not yet, you will be this proud one day when you are). Know that I am not trying to say mine is better than any other, but I just want to brag on him a little today. Just to give you a little background, he joined the Marines as a reservist shortly after 9/11 happened. He was at a place in life in which he didn't really know what he wanted to "do", but knew that he wanted to "do" something of significance. So, while he was still in college, he decided to enlist. Only months after bootcamp, he got the call that his unit was deploying. He spent over 6 months in Iraq and in that time endured many hardships (being stung by a scorpion, getting dysentery and the obvious one... fighting in a war-just to name a few). While there, the Lord started laying on his heart the desire to fly helicopters. He said that in the midst of the scariest moments, he would hear the helicopter coming to get them, and relief would flood his soul. He wanted to be able to do that for others one day.

He felt like it was the Lord putting this on his heart, but really wasn't positive because it would be a very difficult journey to become a pilot. The first step being to take and pass a very hard test. His superiors told him not to be too upset if he didn't pass it the first time because it was very hard and once he took it the first time, he would be better able to prepare for the next attempt. Well, his assurance that this was indeed the Lord, was when he passed the test the first time (he likes to add that he is not the best test taker, so it was definitely a God thing). One obstacle down, flight school to go! I knew he would do great in flight school, but isn't it like Satan to continue to throw doubts in your (his) mind about not having the ability to get through it. And you know the cool part is that alone, no, he probably wouldn't have had the ability, knowledge, wisdom, to get through it, but because it was the Lord's plan for his life, he graduated from flight school a few months ago.

So here we are now, in Jacksonville, NC, where he is learning to fly the CH-53. This is the specific type of helicopter he will be flying for the Marines. The road is still marked with bumps (like the fact that he is gone alot and really hates being away from us), but we know it is all for the glory of God! **this is a picture of the CH-53...the largest helicopter in the Marine Corps

One day, Edmond's plan (we think God's too), is for him to use his skills as a pilot to fly supplies back and forth to missionaries. This has been in his heart since before I even met him. I just can't wait to see all that God has in store for my precious husband. I know that he will be used in big and mighty ways!

Penny Pincher Pictures

As most of you know, our family is living on one income right now so that I can stay at home with our precious son. Although it is very much worth it, it has been an adjustment learning how to budget our money and for me to have self-control when I see the cutest little boy outfit that I think Riley just has to have. In looking for ways to "pinch pennies", I was inspired by my friend Michelle to do my own photo shoot for Riley's 9 month pictures. It was an adventure and lots of tears were shed (I accidently crushed his foot at one point...not really, but it felt like it, I'm sure), but here are just a few of the results. I cropped most of them before ordering and didn't order any big ones yet because I want to see how the 4x6 pics turn out first. Anyway, I thought I'd share. Please know that I know that I am no where close to being a professional photographer!!! This was just a way for us to cut corners!!

Our Recent Trip to Louisiana

I have been needing to do a post about our trip for awhile now and just keep putting it off. So, now is the time. About a month ago Riley and I decided that we needed to make a trip home to see our Prestridge family. My family has been going through somewhat of a valley lately and I just really felt the need to be home with them. This was Riley's first time in an airplane. I was pretty nervous about how it would go (2 flights out to Louisiana), but he did great. He loves looking at people so he was very entertained during our flights. He seemed to especially like the flight attendants...go figure!! I didn't take any pictures because I really had my hands full with him, a stroller and a backpack that served as my purse and his diaper bag. Maybe next time I will try.

Anyway, while we were home we had lots of fun adventures (most you will see pictures of below). I decided that I wanted to take each of of niece/nephews for their own "special day" with me and Riley. They each were given choices as to what we could do. Karleigh chose to go to Key's Park and get sno-cones. Clark chose to go to the play area at the mall and get cookies. And, well, for Brody (since he's 3), I decided for him that we would go to a McDonald's with a play area and have breakfast. They each were so good with Riley and just love him so much. I didn't bring a camera to each even, but did take pics of the kids before we left.

(This was the kind of picture I got with a 3 year old and a 9 month old...oh well!)

We also celebrated my dad's 63rd birthday while we were there. It was a alot of fun to be there for the party!!! Mom actually got his age right this year (one year we celebrated his b-day at the beach and she bought the wrong numbers/candles for his birthday cake)!

And towards the end of the week, one of my best friends, Michelle and her little girl, Hadley, drove all the way from Baton Rouge for a visit. It really meant so much to me for them to make the trip. We had fun visiting and playing in the pool.

I also had some good visit time with friends and family....my sister, my brother-in-law Alan, Missy (she has sat behind our family in church for years and also does wonderful pedicures/manicures), my grandmother, my cousin Sonya and her mom Aunt Donna, my cousin Dan and his wife Stacy, my Uncle David and Aunt Mary, my great aunts (Aunt Lolus and Aunt Mildred) and my cousin Laurie. We were there for about 10 days so we were able to get to all of these visits.

The flights home (back to NC) were not quite as uneventful, but we made it. I am going to try not to remember those and just focus on the "good" flights. All in all, we had a wonderful trip and enjoyed all of our family time!!! My mom is just amazing and continues to be such a rock!! Looks like we may be going home again in about a month. Edmond will probably have some training in Pennsylvania for about 2 weeks. I know that I need to be ok with staying by myself, but I'm just not yet.

Show Us Your Life- Honeymoon Pics

I've never done this before, but decided to participate in Kelly's Korner "Show us your Life" blog hop. This week is wedding reception /honeymoon pics. Well, I don't have any reception pics on my computer, but I just (this week) put our honeymoon pics on here so I thought this was a good time to join in the fun!

We went to Jamaica and stayed at a Couples resort...Sans Souci. It was the most amazing trip!! I can't say enough great things about it. We loved the fact that we didn't have to bring our wallet/purse with us anywhere because it was all-inclusive. While there we enjoyed lots of good eating, beach time, couples massages, good eating, snorkeling, playing at the pool, reading a good book and did I mention lots of eating!!! Here are some pics...hope you enjoy!

9 months....I can't believe it!

Our little rowdy Riley turned 9 months old on Saturday. I honestly just can't believe it!! The past 9 months have literally flown by. I can hardly even remember him as an infant!! So here are a few pics to see how much he has changed!

And here he is at his 9 month birthday party (we didn't do presents this time...you should be proud of me) that we had for him while we were visiting family in Pineville last week (I will post about that later).

Here is what our little man is up to these days:

- He is crawling all over the place (even into the kitchen cabinets).

- He loves to be outside, especially when we take our evening walks.

- He is a people-person all the way....when we go out on our errands, he will look at and talk to everyone we see. And of course they talk back to him!

- He pulls up on everything from his crib to the living room furniture.

- He opens his mouth to give you big kisses when he sees you pucker up.

- He has his first tooth just about to fully break the skin.

- He loves popsicles. His daddy likes to treat him with this a little too often!

- He makes us think we are the funniest people in the world with all of

his laughing.

- He will reach up to feel the fabrics in his touch/feel books.

- His favorite toys to play with are remote controls, kitchen utensils,

and boxes from the toys we try to get him to play with.

- His favorite word/sound is "dadada". Of course his daddy is thrilled!

- He loves dogs...especially Buddy (my parents' dog).

- He will often "sing" along with is Praise Baby CD's/DVD's.

Here is one more picture of our 9 month old boy! This may be my

favorite pic yet...he's a chunker, huh!!! Thank you Jesus for blessing us with this gift from You. Please guide us in raising him to love and serve You with all of his heart!

Our NC Home

Here are a few pics of our "new to us" North Carolina home. This is the first time Edmond and I have lived in a house together. We are really excited about all the space we have and about having a backyard (even though it is way bigger than we need). You'll notice that I only took pics of a few places inside and that is because it tends to be somewhat messy most of the time and I didn't want you to see my mess. Enjoy the pics.