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Girlfriends
Ah vacation … what is meant to be a great time to get away can be so very stressful. Especially those hours leading up to a trip. Packing the van for a family trip is my personal hell. Setting the expectation that my husband will help me when I want him to help me always leaves me… disappointed, frustrated, misunderstood. To say my husband works hard is an understatement. That I get. Let’s put it this way, vacation is scheduled to start today (like at 0800) and he is at work. There was nothing he could do about that fact. I have accepted that because flexibility is the name of the…
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Awkward! Junior High Time to Step Forward
Junior High School… a wonderfully awkward time of life! Who are these kids? Adults… no. Little kids… no. On any given day they act like either one… or give an hour and they are flipping the switches and are both. This was the first time in my life that I moved: changed school districts, changed me! I walked into the new school literally a head taller than any other girl and had that raw feeling of ”who in the world am I?” Clueless. Tonight in our Junior High Youth Group we are going to be talking about a timeline. Gaging where they were, where they are going and perhaps…
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Finances and the Heart
We all have demons in our lives. I mean in the real sense, not the scary fictional movie kind. Some of Satan’s army nips at our friendships, mauls at our self-worth, whisper about our inabilities. Some challenge things that we know, claw at our most trusted relationships, sneer at our self-esteem. When it comes to tearing a man down we don’t do it all on our own! This all was running through my mind this morning as we sat in church. The sermon was on money, trust, priorities. Let me tell you about this demon in my life. He scratches at my happiness, bites (with big gruesome teeth) at my marriage, makes…
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Financial Fitness in 2012
Welcome to a new year, military-families! We have so much ahead of us to look forward to: family time to spend, PCSs to plan, houses to buy, vacations to save for, retirements to plan for, new babies for some and others are sending our babies off to college (Yes, I would fall into that category). 2012 is going to be a great year!Did you make any New Years Resolutions, or I would rather call Personal Goals? How is that going? My big one this year is to get my home more organized. You can read more about that journey and steps I am taking on our blog ‘Our Letters to…
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Happy Birthday, Kiddo
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11Dad and Josh: Makes me smile 18 years ago a boy was born. He would forever change my life, influencing the mother that I am today, yesterday and tomorrow. He’s a brother! (and he will be again and again)Joshua, Josh, Kiddo. What an amazing young-man he has come to be. A stellar student, a strong athlete, a friend to many, a rock in a sea of turmoil. To say I am a proud mom would be an understatement. I…
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Memorial Day Weekend Revisited: A Story in Pictures
Wow! What a fantastic weekend. We had dinner with neighbors, a barbecue with friends, went to another party with more neighbors and then Memorial Day we marched in a parade, visited a few cemeteries and then had lunch at the VFW. No, the garden didn’t get ’tilled as planned after the major thunderstorm on Saturday night; yes, the air-condition did get turned on Monday night after reaching 90 degrees that day; and yes, the Kocsis Crew needs to officially restock the band-aid box after my 6 year old fell multiple times on his knees. But all in all it was a weekend to be remembered. Neighbors! We are so blessed…
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Mentorship in Marriage
39 years ago today, I wasn’t but a sparkle in my mom’s eye as she walked down the aisle in her beautiful white dress on her dad’s arm. Her focus, my dad, her future! My future. My children’s future. I have been blessed. Since that wedding day the Lt. and Mrs. became Mom and Dad to three children, me and my two younger brothers. They took their family where the military sent them, far from their own families. They relied on each other, friends around them and the grace of God. Their three children grew up, got married and had children. Dad has retired from the Air Force after thirty-years…
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Happy 10 Year Anniversary!
Hubs and I celebrated 10 years of marriage this past week. Ten years! That seems huge to me, in this age of short term relationships, marriages falling apart, rampant-divorce. I can’t wait till we hit our 20 year anniversary and then our 30th, 40th, 50th but for now I can’t help but look back at the past ten and smile. 10 Random Facts: Hubs and I danced to Susan Ashton’s Spinning Like A Wheel “This is good, and this is strong. So hold to me and I’ll belong to you.” Great lyrics to an unknown love song. Hubs and I met at our mutual friends’ wedding in October of 1996. We didn’t…
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Staying Healthy: Time for Us
An intimate relationship is one of life’s greatest pleasures. But it also takes planning and work. We all need to make being together a priority. Otherwise, life takes over and the relationship with your spouse takes the back-burner. I ran across a blog-post this morning that I would highly recommend reading from Warren Baldwin, titled “Marriage: The Difficult Years“ While we often look at the similarities we share with the person we love, the differences cry out for recognition. Our bodies, communication, and emotional/mental processing are different. We both crave intimate connection with our spouses, but experience it differently; one uses communication to bond, the other to convey information; one looks for…
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Deployment and Finances
Deployment … Changing of the Guard … Total upheaval … “Change” doesn’t even begin to describe what deployment was for my family. I was juggling so many balls while my husband was gone for a year that they could have put me in the circus… (or possibly the funny farm?) One of those proverbial balls: Finances. The family budget and bill paying are somethings that my husband does for the family, and he does it well! Bills are paid on time, the budget is allocated correctly, and interest-payments are kept to a minimum. So what was one of my major stresses in the months before and after he left? How…
