Kentucky Update

Our computer is in KY right now, along with my photo downloading stuff, so no pictures until we get settled (it's too bad, 'cuz I've got some great 4th of July ones! They'll just have to be put up later).
Jordan is in Seattle right now, seeing my sister and nephew, visiting friends, and getting ready to load up the truck today. Please be praying for him for the next few days - he has a long drive ahead of him!
He got in the house on Wednesday, and said everything looks great! It's older, but clean and bright wth some new floors and fresh (white) paint. We didn't want to paint much because we'd just have to paint it back when we move, but he went and got a pretty olive-y green and painted the livingroom. We figured that one room would have the most impact.
The house is at the end of a cul-de-sac, with a fenced in yard and woods behind. Yay! I can't wait to see what it all looks like and get settled in.
Jordan is coming back to KY on Wed. (hopefully!) and is going to get things set up as much as he can. Then the girls and I fly in on Friday!
We will be there exactly 4 weeks from my due date (not a lot of time to get settled and set with a midwife, but we'll get there.) I'm glad this is baby #3 and I feel like I know my way around the whole birth process a little more. (Not that I'm looking forward to it, but at least it doesn't make me too nervous :).

A Glimpse of Juliana, on Her Birthday

I have been jolted out of my non-blogging funk by a very important event: my baby turned 4 years old today!



Juliana Grace, what can I say about you on your birthday?

This last weekend we were in a situation with a lot of people you had never met before, and it gave me a chance to view you from a stranger's perspective. As your mom, I feel like I know you inside and out but it was fun to take a step back and see what other people see.

Here's what I saw: At first glance, of course, there's how beautiful you are. Really and truly beautiful. From the huge, blue, dark-lashed eyes that remind me of something in a Disney movie, to the mass of curly hair that refuses to be tamed, to your sweet mouth with so much personality lurking in the little smirk. You are lovely, little girl. Timeless.

But once that stranger gets up off the floor (from becoming a puddle upon meeting you), they might not get a lot in the way of social niceties. In fact, the chances are pretty good that you will ignore them completely when they first try to talk to you. We have been working on this, and it is improving, but your Daddy has also cautioned me not to push you to hard. He has known since you were tiny that one of your gifts is discernment. And how that plays out as a 3 (or 4) yr old is that you hang back at first - check people out for a while, sniff the air a little bit. And I am learning that this is a good thing. We will continue to work on basic politeness :), but I am starting to appreciate your insight into people and situations. Keep being who you are, baby.

After the initial checking out, (if you have decided you like this stranger), you usually are ready to play. Silliness is one of your main connecting points. If someone is willing to be goofy or do slapstick for you, or even belly laugh at your antics, they are in. We'll have to rent some "Three Stooges" soon - they are right up your alley.

And once the goofy-connection has been made, any new aquaintence would probably find themselves in some sort of make-believe. You have a fantastic imagination, little girl. And what makes it fun is that you have a matching vocabulary to express those imaginings. You could be a writer if you wanted to. Long car trips or hours alone in the back yard are no problem for you - you just get lost in imaginings and create whole worlds around you. I love, love, LOVE this about you!

After watching you for awhile, Juli, I was struck by your honesty and genuineness. Sometimes it comes across a little harsh. You don't pretend to like people before you've decided you do. You don't give courtesy laughs. You don't answer with the most acceptable answer. You are very much like your dad that way. But the wonderful flip side of that is when you do like someone, it is a whole-hearted liking. When you laugh with someone it is usually a belly-laugh. And you answer with heartfelt honesty. There is no wondering if you mean what you say.

All in all, do you want to know what I left this little experiment with? I like you, Juliana! Sometimes I have a hard time understanding you, but you are worth the work.

Four years ago today, you made me a mommy. And our journey together in walking that out has been one of the most rewarding and fun journeys of my life. I am honestly impatient to see you develop and grow and become the person you were made to be. And at the same time, I desperately want you to stay little and keep these days forever.

I love you so much, sweet girl. You are so very precious to me.
Happy Birthday!

Our House, Is a Very Fine House (I think :)

Jordan is in KY "preparing a place for us".

And getting totally hooked up in the housing dept!

We decided that for us right now, it would be best to live on post. (The gates at Ft. Campbell are really crowded, so if we're off post Jordan couldn't come home for lunch and it would add a commute to his day. We're jealous of his time right now! Plus, we are really needing to get connected in quickly - hopefully being on post will help with that. Plus, Jordan will probably be deployed early next year, and either the girls and I will move closer to family or we'll appreciate the security of being on post.)

Anyway, it wasn't looking good. The wait list for housing is 6-8 months. For some reason Jordan didn't get assigned a detail his first morning so they let him go run errands. He went straight to the housing office and decided to go ahead and start the process. He "just happened" to be there at the right time to get bumped ahead on the list for a 4-bedroom house that the people had just moved out of two days before! It took a couple days to finish everything, but yesterday he got a confirmation call that he can move in July 1st! Yay!

It's a cute little 1/2 brick house at the end of a dead-end street in a quiet area. There's several parks, a water-play area and a starbucks all within a couple blocks (hello?!) And a yard! And enough rooms! (We have done a lot of tiny-apartment living, so neither of my babies have had a room or a crib until they were like 6 months. They mostly slept in the living room! This baby will have a room.) Jordan can't even see inside until the first so I have no idea what it looks like, but the floorplan is great.

To be honest, I'm totally overwhelmed with the idea of moving to a town I've never seen, into a house I've never seen, knowing no one.

But at least now we know what town we're moving to, we have a house to move into, and I'll be with my favorite person soon.

Graduation and Orders

Jordan's Graduation was great. It was fun to see him up there in uniform. We were so proud of him! Jordan's dad, Terry, got to be there. It was so good to see him! The girls loved having some time with Grandpa, and Jordan was so glad to have his dad there to see him graduate.

So happy to be together!

And, big news: after lots of waiting, Jordan finally got his orders the day before graduation. We are headed to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky!

Jordan will be part of the 101st, which is an Air Assault unit. (They repel out of helicopters) He's pretty excited about that :)

Neither of us ever considered living in KY, so this came a little out of the blue, but surprisingly we both feel really good about it.

Jordan is heading down there tomorrow to start looking for housing. We're thinking that we'd like to be on post for now, but we'll see what's available.

The girls and I probably won't go down until next month - we'll let Daddy move all our stuff and get it set up for us first :) But, it looks like I'll be having this baby in Kentucky, so I'm checking out midwives in that area. I hope I'll be able to get connected with a good practice quickly.

It's kind of funny - all 5 members of our family will have been born in completely different states. Jordan in FL, me in IL, Juli in NY, Gabby in WA and now this one in KY. We're a diverse bunch!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us - please keep it up! Pray for Jordan - he finished his training and promptly got really sick (of course - you can only push your body like that for so long). He is on an antibiotic now and starting to feel better. He has to start the drive down to KY tomorrow, so he needs to be feeling up to par. Also, please pray for favor in the housing department, for everything to go smoothly with the move, and grace as we do another couple weeks apart.

This really is a crazy life we've chosen.

A Good Life

Every couple days I will sit down to write on here. And then delete it.

I want to keep up with this blog. I want to remember this time in our life and document it for our kids. I want to share what I'm living with people who care.

But these past couple weeks have been hard. I'm sick of having my husband gone, I'm frustrated with all the uncertainty, I'm tired and my body's hurting.

And as much as I want to be real on this blog, that isn't how I want to remember this period in our life.

Even though I struggle with frustration and loneliness, I want to remember the rest of the story.

I want to remember countless sunny days that Juli has spent in the "park" that Nana and Papa have in their back yard; picking dandelions, jumping and imagining. And wandering around the yard in a pink dress-up dress and her black winter boots. Or a tu-tu and Converse.

I want to remember Gabby learning to crawl, making a new best friend in my parent's dog, and stealing the hearts of every member of my family. To remember her new words and new teeth.

And her new-found love of a good sandbox.

I want to remember the good talks with my siblings. The kind that only happen when you're living in the same house. What amazing people they are!

And I want to remember the love that my parents have shown to us. Opening their home and making light of the inconveniences, cherishing the time with their grandkids. And doing their best to be sensitive - helping when needed but letting us be our own family too.

I want to remember that we made a good life even missing Jordan so badly. Because even though the hard feelings are true, this is more true.

We're headed down to GA today for Jordan's graduation. Yay! We still don't know much about what's next, but we're going to enjoy the days that we have with him.

Congratulations, Baby!

Two Down, One to Go

It's a bittersweet day. Gabby is really done nursing.

Once we got about to the 1 year mark I started letting her take the lead and ask for it when she wanted to nurse. I figured that if it was important to her, we could keep it up for awhile. Slowly but surely, she stopped asking. And it has been 3 days of no nursing at all.

On one hand, I'm really glad. This gives me a couple months' break before I have to start again. Plus, my body was showing signs that it just wasn't keeping up with all the demands. It needed a break!

But still, I'm hanging on to every moment of Gabrielle being my baby. I won't be able to call her "the baby" in just a couple months. And I know that all of the sudden she will look so big once little sister is here. It seems like she didn't get to be "the baby" for long. And quitting nursing just seems to solidify that even more.

Sweet Gabrielle - no matter how many I have, you'll always be my baby!

Honor Hill

Update: I FINALLY heard from Jordan 4 days later! Someone on his squad did something stupid and so they all got their phones taken away. I was going a little crazy!
Jordan made it through the FTX and was proud of himself. And now he's really done! Graduation is June 5th, and between now and then he basically just cleans things and recovers. Thank you all who prayed for him!

Everyone, please be praying for Jordan today!
He has spent the last 5 days on a Field Training Exercise (also called FTX. It is living outdoors, battle simulation, land navigation . . . sounds like camping meets a live video game to me :)
Today they finish the FTX with a 12 mile ruck march (marching with all their gear in a heavy pack on their back). This march is one of the things Jordan was kind of dreading. Rucking is hard, and 12 miles is long. But, after he hikes up Honor Hill at the end of the march, he is done! His training is officially complete at that point and he made it.
Please pray for strength and health for Jordan today - freedom from injury and encouragement too!
I'll update as soon as I hear from him again. Thanks everyone!