"Having a Mary Heart..."

I have been attending the PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) on post for about a month now. The book we are covering is Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. I've known for quite some time that I tend to fill my plate with too many obligations. I'm the one who raises her hand if no one else does. You know the gal in college who had to have assignments and papers finished a day early...yep that was me too.

This book follows the New Testament story of Mary and Martha who have Jesus into their home. While Martha is rushing around preparing and keeping up with the needs of the guests Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to Him. And when Martha complains to Jesus, He tells her that Mary has made the right choice. Weaver's book is not about giving up our duties but about serving God while we do them. It also brings up that people who tend to be "Marthas" often take on not only their duties but others' as well. ....that's me. I always take on so much that I cannot find the joy in the things that I wanted to do in the first place. This book is greatly changing my everyday life and even the way I parent. I consider myself a fairly strict mother. I often forget the ages of my children and expect them to be perfectly....Martha like. I used to raise my voice a lot at my kids...mostly out of frustration and the thinking that if I yell they will know I am angry and they will stop whatever they are doing. I have learned that is not always the case. It also seems to encourage my kids to yell more. And since one of my duties is to be a good mother I have decided to have a "Mary heart" while doing so.

I have also always been one to try and keep a clean house. Not because I wanted to (Mary), but because I thought I was expected to ( more like Martha). Now I still do the same thing (mostly because a touch of OCD is also involved) but I WANT to do and I am happy to because I am serving God and my family.

This book is really great for all kinds but for those who feel overwhelmed with the busyness of everyday life and those who think think they "must do it all", Weaver's book is very inspirational. It's funny, an easy read, and for me has painted a clearer picture of how I should view my duties as a wife, mother, and child of God.

30 years? Huh? Really...nah.

So last week was it. I celebrated my...cough...gag...30th birthday ;). Since it is so close to Valentines Day we had to spread out the celebration over 2 weekends. My bday gift was to take the Bourbon trail in Kentucky. We started at the Chapeze House in Bardstown KY. http://www.chapezehouse.com/ Man oh man...if you go there plan to DRINK and EAT and EAT and EAT. My goodness the food was fantastic. The Colonel who runs the place has been on food network, the discovery channel, and has cooked with Paula Dean. Joe bought me his cookbook as we left. I am anxious to try some recipes!!
So tomorrow he is taking me to a chain restaurant called Ruth's Chris. http://www.ruthschris.com/We have never been to one, but I hear they are fantastic. I am dying for some lobster tail myself :)
The kids are as cute as ever. I finally got a prescription issue fixed for Joe and Katie, and Joe is finally sleeping better because of it. Joe also lost his second tooth. He was super proud! And luckily we didn't lose that one so the tooth fairy got to keep it ;). Garrett is still cute ole Garrett. He is such a home body and shy. We are trying to get him to stay with child care during some outings just because we feel he needs a little more social interaction. The boy loves his family..we can't be too upset about that. And Bug is stinkin cute as well. Still tiny as she fit in 6-9 month clothing. We don't give give the little stinker enough credit. We see her and assume she can do was a 9 month old does but no there really is a 16 month old mind just a ticking away. If she sees the boys get their jackets and shoes she will toddle over and get hers. You can also tell her to put something in the trash and she will or "close it" be it a door or the refrigerator and she will do that too. It really is precious.

In other news...we got another offer on the TN house. Joe and I are taking this very cautiously because we were burned last time with the back out 10 days before closing. But we are happy and grateful none the less. Hope everyone is staying warm!

Snow and tooth fairies!!!

So the past few weeks that we have lived here we've seen a fair amount of snow :) Been a lot of fun. We've made snow angels, snow forts, and have had several snowball fights. Little Joe LOVES the snow...would stay in it all day if I would let him. Garrett is kind of a middle man (no offence that he is the middle child). But he gets cold quickly and wants inside. He will go out there and play with a shovel or kick it around for a few minutes then he's done and would rather watch Joe from inside. Katie has gone outside but she hasn't actually touched the snow yet. That girl is happy as long as someone is loving on her...preferably her Mama LOL.

Another fairy that visited this week was the tooth fairy!!! I think I have been more excited for Joe to lose a tooth than he has. For months I've been asking him if they were loose...nope. Then boom he comes home one day from school and one is sitting sideways in his mouth. I thought Big Joe might like to pull it since he has missed so much of the kids with the deployments. But the kids and I went to the pharmacy and Joe says, "Mama I got it!" and I looked back to see a hole in his mouth! Unfortunately he also dropped it in the truck and a tiny tooth is hard to find in a big truck so the tooth fairy had to visit on the honor system ;). Joe was much more excited when he found a dollar under his pillow the next morning. And don't feel bad for Big Joe since he missed this event too....turns out the whole thing makes him a bit squeamish. Odd.....man who has seen a lot...and I mean A LOT in Iraq did not want to see Joe's missing tooth until the blood spot was gone and it looked like his normal gums. I guess when it's your kiddo it's different. Good thing he wasn't here for the majority of Little Joe's hospital stays and surgeries too then, huh.

So another exciting week in the Harrison home :) Big Joe is busy as usual with work. I have been making and selling a few diaper cakes and also found out one of my favorite e-store's owner is in Joe's unit!! Funny how those things work :). Hope everyone is staying warm!

Everything Changes

Wow..things just feel different. New town, new house, and even a new business!! Things are going well and busy as usual. I have been trying to get doctor appts done and paperwork to enroll Garrett and Katie in hourly care on post and paperwork done for Joe so he can play soccer this spring on post. We had a lot of snow here over the last week. The kids had a ball playing in it :) And I thought it was beautiful to watch.

Big Joe has started teaching his new class which also means I take over the FRG (family readiness group). So now I have about 45 women that I have to help prepare to become commanders' wives. Crazy..I know. Well then I also decided to create a home business of making diaper cakes and other baby items. I have already been able to get a local store to sell them, plus I have an internet store (http://www.bottomsupdiapercakes.webs.com/ if you wanna check it out) and I have signed up for a consignment sale to sell them at. And considering the business has only been up and running about 10 days thingare are going really well! Not really sure why life has gone into hyper drive right now, but I kinda like it :).

Bug has also taken big steps lately...literally! our baby girl is starting to walk. She looks so cute as she can still wear most of her 3-6 month clothing but she is 15 months old. So it's this tiny cute blond bundle toddling around. When she thinks too hard about walking she gets nervous and sits to crawl, but sometime we catch her talking 10-15 steps at a time! Soooo cute.

Welcoming the New :)

A lot has been different in our family lately. First of all, we did not spend Christmas with extended family as we usually do. We decided because we were pinching pennies to keep up with paying for two houses we would stay low key. We attended a Christmas Eve service at a local church, had Christmas morning at the new house and then drove to my Dad's in Tennessee and stayed 2 nights with him. I was really surprised how happy I felt the whole time after my initial disappointment of not seeing more family.

I finally feel settled in the new house. I unpacked and organized feverishly for about 10 days and got it all done. Little Joe seems to enjoy his new school and I am learning my way around town and post.

Big Joe had also been having a lot of work done on the old house. We had a new floor put in the kitchen and hall....which I wish we had had the money to do when we moved there. It's really pretty. And he also had the house repainted...which became a huge argument, but we survived. Then after the stress and worry and lots of prayer about the house in Tennessee...things started to spark. A couple of people came to look at it and were pretty interested...then we got an offer :):):):)!!! And last night, New Year's Eve, things were finally settled and offers were accepted!!!

So it's been busy, surprising, and nice. And even though I am terribly sad to leave my hometown, family, friends, church, beautiful house and barn I am learning that I can be happy just about anywhere as long as my little clan in together :). Our futures are still bright with dreams of country live again but we are welcoming new homes, towns, friends, and much more along the way. :)

Here are some pics of the new house and Christmas :)the new kitchen...one of my two fav rooms in the new place :)

the playroom downstairs...my other fav room which is already put to good use as you can see :)
The boys running in Christmas morning (living room)

Dad and Bug sharing some pecan pie...Dad had to get another piece she ate so much :)
My Dad playing with Nerf guns with the boys...I think he had a little too much fun :)

three kids+three dogs+one horse+trailer trouble=chaos

Well goodbye TN...you will always be home to me. The kids and I moved up to Ft Knox on Saturday. Needless to say the move to Tennessee seemed much easier. Part of that I am sure is because I only had one child at the time. Now with three kids boy oh boy...this is taking way more effort than I thought. Our first stress came with the horse trailer. Joe had moved some of our stuff using it the week before. He had planned on bringing it back and we would take off from the old house Saturday morning. We he called saying the lights weren't working, so he couldn't bring the trailer. I was of course upset because we had to leave the horse until we could fix the lights. Luckily Sunday morning Joe was able to fix them and we returned to Tennessee and got Gunner up here as well.
Then came all of the normal move stuff. Unloading the truck, trying to find my Christmas cards in the sea of boxes so I could get them mailed at a decent time, getting Joe into a new school....you know...mess.
Now of course one of the toilets has broken, we locked ourselves out of the house in 20 degree weather, the kids aren't sleeping well because things are different....again just chaos.
But I have learned a few things. I am so grateful for kind neighbors. I am grateful to be with my husband and not worry about when he is leaving. I am grateful to go to a function on post and I actually know someone. And finally I have learned when you move from the country to the city you need curtains!!! In TN we had blinds and in the bedrooms we had them closed 50% of the time for sleep purposes but the rest of the time I had them open. No one was around..didn't matter if we wanted to have a naked party ;). In the city...yea you need curtains. I feel like I am dodging bullets in the morning to get dressed. hehehe oh well if that's my biggest issue with the house right now not so bad huh?
Still no offers on the TN home. Please say a prayer that it sells or rents....it's causing financial and emotional strain on us.

It is done!!

After 481 days Big Joe returned home last week!!! The kids and I were all super excited. Of course there was a delay with his flight but he made it safely. It was so nice to have him even for a few short days...because he has already reported to Fort Knox :(. Crazy, I know, but he is coming home on weekends and is trying to get as many long weekends as he can. Joe has even managed to fix the escaping donkey situation. He has been working on the mower that needs to be torched and shot but hasbn't had much luck yet.

We went to the pumpkin patch as a family and to the Fall Festival at church and had an awesome time. We got a last minute phone call from a pastor asking if we could bring the horse for pony rides so he went as well. We were so busy I didn't get a chance to take pictures...so I have to dress my kids up this week sometime and take some more.

The kids are super busy....and giving me heart attacks. Instead of a donkey escaping Garrett wandered away from home today while I changed a dirty diaper of Katie's. Scariest 20 minutes of my life. Thankfully, a neighbor found him in the woods with her kids and brought him back to his hysterical mother who just got off the phone with the police. I feel like mother of the year, but was quickly reminded of when my parents left me at church as a child and my uncle who wandered off and fell asleep in a hay trailer and was "missing" for several hours. I just hope we never experience anything like that again.

Other than these "activities" we are getting ready for the move. Still no offers on the house, but Joe has found us a rental at Knox since the on post housing is full....til 2012! We are heading to Gatlinberg this weekend for a family getaway and I am beyond excited about it!!! I'll be sure to post some pics :)