It's been one heck of a ride...

To start off I wrote this as quickly as my memories and thoughts came out, so it might not make sense in some places but do I ever make sense?...

Well here I sit, in our hotel room at the end staring down a new beginning. From west coast to east coast, infantry life to air wing support life, non-deployable station to facing a deployment in less than 3 months. Drastic differences to process in my mind, life,soul. The trip from Washington was amazing. Fall was a fantastic time to travel. Their honestly wasn't much from Billing, MT to Tulsa, OK, just God's great creation for me to see. Amazing countryside, rock formations and "Sue" the T-rex. Denver was a really interesting town, lots of creative architecture. Also the Denver Mint was a really unique experience. Pennies where being created during our tour, all shinny and new being shoveled along on belts, dumping into bags and hauled off into the American world... to much of the enjoyment of little children to purchase penny candies with, splurging their allowance. Though Sam didn't think it was all that fantastic and was irritated being trapped indoors the whole time. Stopping in Wichita, KS to see the zoo was a nice break from constant car rides and sitting on our butts. Though we only went for an hour, we got to see some awesome animals. Sam loved the Rhinos while I fell in love with the Giraffes and Charles fell in love with the .... um well the idea of going. Hahaha. I'm not sure what he enjoyed as far as the animals, but know he loved being out of the car as much as any of us.  An enjoyable visit to Charles' sister he hasn't seen since he was 5 proved enjoyable and nice. To receive a family warm welcome was a relief compared to the much rehearsed and well practiced strangers welcome from the hotel front desk. A home cooked meal was more than could be asked for after days of restaurant food cooked w/o any love. It just doesn't taste the same.  As the images of the Oklahoma Charles painted in my head from his childhood memories where replaced with a much more beautiful wooded Oklahoma seen through my own eyes I enjoyed my stay and found a great beauty in that country. After being separated for such a long time it was so nice to spend this much time together as a family, making up for time already lost, and trying to push some time in that is soon to escape us in the near future. Another day found us near Branson, Missouri (which we latter found out is apparently now the country music capitol) to visit an old friend from our days in 29 Palms. A very enjoyable 2 day visit with an un-successful hunting trip was some of the most enjoyable days for me. Also extremely beautiful country with gentle rolling hills. Our next stop was Memphis, Tn. Both of us are agreeably saying this was the best and our favorite. The vibe of the city was pulsating with friendliness and warm greetings, good food and music and a sure to be had fun time. Finding a good beer from out of a window from the street was a great start, followed by a horse carriage ride of downtown Memphis. Seeing such historic places was inspiring and I was in awe as our guide proceeded to tell me that during the civil war people would purchase tickets to picnic in the park (which we where riding through at the time) and watch the war unfold bellow them as they ate away. We found delicious Memphis style BBQ at BB Kings. Good music, food and drink is a sure fire way for my husband and I to have a good time (along with our little baby boy). Once the band started my fantastic husband asked me to dance. Stupidly and shyly, I declined him as no one else was dancing. Later I found that in my husbands ever romantic mind, "I figured every woman would want the honor to be the first to dance." Oh did I feel like an ass for declining him after he said that. I hate turning down such a romantic gesture... lesson learned.  My most exciting part of the trip was to see a friend of mine in Odenville, Al. AMAZING country their! Beautiful trees, amazing mountains (small though they where) and wonderful visiting. After that it was a drive through Georgia. Oh, P.S..... Atlanta has crazy drivers. Speaking of crazy drivers, No.1 craziness was Mississippi, No.2 Atlanta and No.3 Kansas. Now, Kansas wasn't bad drivers, they where just all slow, driving on average 10 MPH bellow the speed limit.  The rest of the drive was just trying to get to Jacksonville, NC. We safely arrived on the 16th. We chose to stay at Holiday Inn for our trips. Most of which where decent hotels however most all of them forgot to place a crib in our room, even when I called and double checked on the crib. Once in Jacksonville we stayed 1 night at the Suburban which by appearances was the nicest hotel. Once we got into the nity gritty though it proved to be the worst. Our non smoking room was drenched in the smell of smoke. The bathroom refuse container held a dirty tampon and diaper. We complained about both, which nothing was done about. Now we are at the Lejeune Inn (which if we want the Marine Corps to pay for it we have to stay in) and it isn't so bad. If the price where $20 it would be much better. The room in conected to another by a small thin metal door. This door allows the transfer of sound like the folks in the next room where sitting right next to you. It's extremely easy to hear every word, argument, or personal affairs in the wee hours of the morning. Staff is friendly though. We have explored the town a bit and believe we all will enjoy it here. Samuel is doing GREAT not being stuck in a car all day, though when we have to get in it to go anywhere he dreads the ride... I imagine the poor guy doesn't know how long the ride will be and is scared of being stuck in it for a week and a half again. I have already been introduced to some of the new units command. Charles picked up to SGT while on leave, and was pinned yesterday. After the ceremony 2 Marines from his command approached me with a friendly smile and warm handshake, stating that even with a wiggle worm toddler in tow I should have attempted to pin Charles. This greatly took me back as the Marine Corps I have known until this point us families are 'to be seen and not heard'. Yes, some commands have been a little more "pro-family" than others but I have never experienced this level of warm reception.  I have a strong feeling we are going to enjoy the non-infantry lifestyle. Making a promise to myself and ourselves, we are getting involved with this duty and fast. Already attending a meeting with family readiness team and determining to be a FRA I am doing well so far on our promise. Today we attended a church. We are so bad about taking years to settle down and plant flowers where we live, afraid to never see them bloom. We have prayed together as a family, and purposed together as a family to not wait this one out. It doesn't matter if a deployment is coming or not, we are diving in head first where God directs us. Planting our gardens despite the fact we may never see the fruit, we know that it will still bloom and the effect in our lives will be great change and growth. As we enter the church it had a great family sense of acceptance and family. This would be the saddest church service I have ever attended so far. A Marine had recently passed in Afghanistan this week, leaving behind a family of young children and a wife. The service was held in his honor. The family was their and when the presentation of pictures played, the wifes sobs pierced my heart. I cried. I cried for her and the grief, the pain, the unimaginable she must be going through. I cried for myself, as greedy as it may be I cried thinking about being in her position. I cried for the strength the has to let Jesus lift her up, amazed to have the strength to face the support that surround her in her church family. Sounds so strange... the strength to face the support. I find at a time when I hurt the most, I want to be left alone to hurt but know that is not what is good and not what God calls out of me and the church body to do. All this, to remind my own selfish greedy mind that I have been living in a secret hiding place. A place where I can ignore the deaths that surround my husbands line of work. A place I have been hiding for 3 years. A non-deployable place, my safe haven for our family. As it is soon to come crashing down, I must come to terms with emotions that have been locked up inside my mind and are now being cracked open and new ones now that my brain is hard wired in mommy mode. Oh how much harder this is when your child is involved. It hurts so bad knowing my child will forget his father all over again, just as he started to remember him. Samuel will be 2 and a half when Charles comes back. I know so so so many others have gone before me and have found the strength. I know in Jesus Christ that I to will find the strength and I pray it comes day by day. Every day he answers those prayers....

A review of some of my favorite mommy/baby related things

What are the products I love when it comes to being a mom?

First things first, if you aren't a baby wearer you should be because in reality most moms are. We are constantly toting a baby on our hip, in our arms. A baby sling makes that task so much easier.  Baby wearing has been linked to calmer happier babies with better sleep patterns. Maya Wrap is one of my favorite's.






Second thing I love is Teething Bling by Smart Mom Jewelry Fun, fashionable jewlery that is safe and ment for your LO to teeth on.








This next one almost comes above my love of baby slings, but not quite. gDiapers are my diapering choice. I am passionate about them. I always knew I wanted to use cloth, my mother did and I grew up using them on my sisters. I don't understand how parent's can't afford to use cloth. Plastic diapers are so expensive. I live on a budget, and this just seemed like the economical choice. Plus I enjoy striving to be green where I can. I started off with a more traditional cloth diapering method then a friend introduced me to gDiapers.  They combine the best of both cloth and disposable diapering. You can use either their biodegradable/flushable/compost-able insert option or a cloth insert option.  Well I could write a whole blog about these diapers alone (and will) but I need to move on.



Fourth are Robeez shoes. These are perfect for new walkers. They have different stages of shoes for every stage of early walkers.  Fun, fashionable and a flexible sole I have found these to be perfect for my little guy.






 BabyLegs are a fun way to make diaper changes fast and easy. I have found that many of their colors pair perfectly with the colors of the gDiapers. I can easily make a fast outfit with a pair of these, a diaper and a shirt to match. I always keep a pair in the diaper bag for accidents, or if it gets a little chilly out. Perfect for protecting little legs, and arms when their older.





Last but not least is The Baby Book by Dr. Sears. This thing is the Bible on babies. The closest thing I have found to an instruction manual. I have referenced to this book so many times, it is truly a life saver. This is by far my most favorite gift I have received and the No.1 thing I recommend to moms or dads to be. Out of all the baby things we own, this book gets the most use next to the diapers. This couple co-authors the book, with their children (who also are pediatricians) writing advice every so often. A family of pediatricians give lots of real world experience advice from both their practice and their own personal parenting endeavors. True 'makes sense' advice that feels right to follow as a parent.

Well their are many more things that I adore and love but those will wait till a later time. Hope you enjoyed my list.

I'm terrible at this.

Okay, so I know that a time with very limited internet access may not have been the wisest choice to start my blog back up but you can't blame me for trying. It's been a while.... I would like for these blogs things to be at least once a week, working up to every day. So, what do I plan to make my blog into? Well a place where I can share a piece of my mind, my family, my world. I plan on posting what my favorite things are, some recipes. Ways I TRY to be green. I'm sure many posts are to come about my experience with the east coast in North Carolina. I've made a few friends on Facebook and reading their posts about it flooding so much from the severe weather and hurricanes that they have to worry about sharks, snakes AND crocodiles in their front yard at the same time is making me sooooo excited to be living over their soon.  Well, I'm in a park and Samuel wants a nap. So short and brief this blog must be. Coming this weekend, I think a list of my favorite mom/baby things is to come.

Blogging again

Well so many people I know have decided to start a blog, inspiring me to start mine again. I have been blogging on and off again since 2005... a love/hate affair. I got into some serious blogging as a form of therapy while going through fertility treatments. Thankfully, they where a success and lead to our wonderful son which as many a mommie know lead to less time for me. Well, he's growing into an amazing toddler now (hard for me to admit he's not a baby anymore) which is leaving me with a bit more free time. So, along with facebook and their array of applications I'm finding more time to blog again. So here it is, the resurection of my blog. Though it may be a brand new one I very well may bring over the old so you can see where I have come from, where I planned on going and how much has changed. I also suppose this has something to do with starting fertility treatments again, though that can wait for a latter blog. Just wanted to say, Hello world! My name is Heaven and I'm blogging again.