Dad's 30 Year Air Force Retirment

I cannot let my Dad's retirement ceremony go by without posting about it! Back in May, (just 1 week before we got our foster baby girl) my parents flew me, Tyler, and Wyatt out to Georgia for my Dad's 30 year retirement ceremony from the Air Force. I am so thankful... this was an occasion not to be missed. The Air Force had to kick my dad out.. he was the highest rank (Chief Master Sergeant) and had the maximum years of service. He loves his Air Force and his country. The Air Force took him ALL OVER the world with assignments/trainings in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Alabama, South Dakota, Georgia, and Germany. He served in deployments to Guam, Qatar, Korea, and Afghanistan. And anyone who knows my dad knows that he didn't just serve our country, but he positively impacted so many people along the way. I could not be more proud of him =) And how could I not also mention my mom.... the most amazing, incredible, strong, devoted military wife there has ever been! (And they are also celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this month too!) I love you both =)

Pictures from the ceremony...

The guest book table 

 

 The food

 

The table with alllllll his memorabilia

 

My mom and her 3 sisters! All 3 of them flew down from Minnesota. I was able to see aunts, uncles, and cousins that I hadn't seen in a few years!

 

Dad and one of my cousins, RP

 

Our family =)

 

My dad with his parents, also from Minnesota

 

Dad was presented with so many awesome gifts

 

Me and "little" bro

 

Dad and brothers... we still have Air Force in the family! =)

 

I also have tons of video footage from all the speeches that were given. It could not have been more awesome and my dad could not have been more deserving. Funny thing is.... he's not completely done with the Air Force! Mom, Dad, and Chan are all settled in their new home in North Carolina where my dad will be teaching Air Force Junior ROTC at a public high school! He has just over 100 cadets (high schoolers) in the program and he is going to be AWESOME in his 2nd career =) Love you Dad!

Where in the world....

?!?!

 I promise I am not finished blogging! Popping in for a quick update and then hope to be back to post some pictures from our summer so far!

We received our first foster placement, a 4 month old baby girl, on May 30th. I am not able to post her face or name publicly. Originally, I was going to post updates on her case/the process of fostering but now that we are in the middle of it I don't feel comfortable doing that publicly either. So I am setting up another blog that will be by invite only. I have a lot of friends who are supporting us so much on this journey, but it is so hard to update friends and family every time something new comes in. But I will post detailed updates on the private blog so ya'll can just check that if you don't hear from me otherwise. =)

It took Wyatt awhile to adjust to not having my full attention every second of the day! And he still has his "moments." After a month now, we are in our new groove though as a family of 4 so things are getting back to "normal" feeling now.

I plan on posting pictures from my Dad's 30 year retirement from the Air Force, our trip to North Texas for a wedding, my family's trip out, and a 2 year old update on Wyatt!
Happy Summer!
(I will be sending invites out to family and the friends I know of for the foster blog. Not sure who reads this blog anymore, but if you want the link let me know ;) )

Wyatt's World

It's been a LONG time since I've done a "Wyatt's World" post! Wyatt's latest LOVE is, believe it or not, COOKING! Cooking or baking... anything that has to do with different size bowls, different size spoons, food, and mixing and stirring! He just loves it. He "helps" me to cook almost every meal, which makes for some interesting times in the kitchen. And if I don't need his "help" ;) sometimes I let him make his own creation. All throughout the day he asks me if we can cook, LOL. I hope he actually hangs on to his love of the kitchen!!
So we made muffins not to long ago and he was in his spot and ready to help. I decided to set up the video camera so you can get a glimpse of him in action. I also LOVE this video because he just doesn't stop talking. And he is mostly repeating everything I say =)

Helping make eggs...

 

His first cookie batter!

 

Some of his own creations

 

 

 

 

 

Some of these pictures go back to February, so he is going 2 months strong on this activity. I hope I have a life long helper in the kitchen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter 2013

We had an awesome, awesome Easter Sunday! Our church service was an amazing time of celebrating that Jesus is ALIVE! Our Easter tradition after church is to head to Fredericksburg for the day. And it also happened to be Tyler's mom's birthday so we were able to celebrate with her too! The Easter bunny visits Grandma's house, so the egg hunt was ready to go =) And Wyatt had such a blast! (I have to say that we went to the big easter egg hunt on Saturday at our church.... And that was not quite Wyatt's style! He was so antsy to go get the eggs but we had to wait until it was time, and then when it was time he threw himself on the grass and had a nice 2 year old tantrum, haha... there were just to many people and to much going on) So anyways, a hunt all by himself was right up his alley....

(You know how it's weird hearing your own voice on video.. yeah, that's how I feel about this one, LOL)

 

 This picture makes me laugh... he was SO serious, lol

 

 He loved opening them all up

 

 He especially loved the ones that "crushed" and had "sprinkles"

 

He was saying, "RAIN!" =)

 

And this picture just makes my heart HAPPY...

 

 

 

Wyatt has been in a major anti-camera stage for a few months now. It has been impossible to get pictures of him (and with him), which is the main reason I also haven't blogged near as much! lol I have very few pictures since he turned 2. We figured we'd give it a try and I am SO happy to have a good (recent) family picture again =) Maybe he is coming out of his anti-camera phase!

 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend celebrating!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Greatest Story of All Time

As we are quickly approaching Easter Sunday and in the midst of Holy Week, I wanted to take some time to write through my thought processes on the Greatest Story of all time. We just finished a sermon series at our church called "News Flash! Getting the Sacred Story Straight." Pastor Tucker went through the Who, What, Where, When, and Why of the gospel message. And it wasn't a deep theological series, but it was about how we, who claim to be Christ followers, are called to share the good news to the whole around us and about being prepared to give an answer for the HOPE that we have in eternity! We are constantly bombarded with news all around us, but there is only 1 message that truly matters, one story that has the power to transform lives, bring healing, and give hope. And it is this......

Our world today is not what God intended it to be. When He created the earth and the entire universe, it was perfect. It was flawless, holy, and good, peaceful and right. All of creation was a testimony to the power and grandeur of God.
 But once Satan (an angel who rebelled against God) tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God, and they did.... Sin entered our world. Not only did sin enter into the fabric of our entire being, but it has literally broken the universe itself. The entire creation is under a curse. The bible says, "the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." (Romans 8:22) As a result, we live in a fallen, sinful, broken, evil world. We see the effects of sin all around us.. death, sickness, pain, and suffering.

Because our God is perfect, holy, and without sin.. we, who are stained by sin, are separated from God. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) There is nothing we can do to bridge the gap between ourselves and God. And this is where the GOOD NEWS comes in....

The most amazing story of all time that has forever changed the course of history... God came down to us in the form of man, Jesus, fully human yet fully God, who lived a perfect life without sin! He sent Jesus as the Messiah, Savior of the world. And he died the most awful death on a cross as God laid on him the sins of ALL mankind, the sins of the entire human race, past, present, and future. His dead body was buried in a tomb. And 3 days later when a few women went to visit his tomb, they found his body was missing. An angel appeared to them telling them that Jesus is alive, He has risen! I love the stories recorded in the bible of Jesus appearing to people after He had risen!
When Jesus rose from the dead, God conquered DEATH, SIN, AND the DEVIL for eternity! He made a way for humankind to be restored into fellowship with Himself once again. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are reconciled to God and all who believe in Him are guaranteed eternal life! Romans 3:22 says "This righteousness from God comes through FAITH in Jesus Christ to ALL who believe.. for ALL are justified FREELY by his GRACE through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."!

So yes, we currently live in a broken and fallen world... Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) THIS is the HOPE that believers have! 1 John 3:9 says "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) God promises that He is returning for a second time to create a NEW heaven and earth and restore all of creation to how He intended it to be. He is coming again to do away with sin and suffering once and for all! But, He is waiting. He wants ALL people to believe in the atoning work of Jesus and receive eternal life in heaven. What an amazing GIFT, that we do not have to do anything but to accept it.
And THAT is the greatest story of all time! THAT is what we celebrate this Easter Sunday!

I've been listening to this song today, and plan to listen to it all week, "The Scandal of Grace."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpsjgdLRf7E
Grace, what have you done?
Murdered for me on that cross
Accused in absence of wrong
My sin washed away in your blood

Too much to make sense of it all
I know that your love breaks my fall
The scandal of grace, you died in my place
So my soul will live

... The grace and love of our God is hard for us to wrap our minds around! It is like a "scandal" that someone took OUR place for the punishment of sin and we receive the free GIFT! That is just like our God =) Happy Easter!

Family Pics

My family was here 2 months ago, but I just have to post some of my favorite pictures before I move them over to the hard drive! It was just Mom and Chandler... Dad wasn't able to make it this time.



Reading with Uncle Chan

 

 At the park

Chan making his protein shake.. pump it up! ;) 

 

 Playing with Grandma

Geocaching

 

 Webcamming with Dad!

 



 Out for frozen yogurt, yummmm

 

 Climbing around

 

At the museum

 

Chan's puppet show freaked Wyatt out, LOL

 

This boy loooves reading

 

And he loooves his Uncle Chan! Climbing on him while he was trying to rest, hehe

 

Already counting down until they'll be back out to San Antonio! This time with Dad too! 4 months to go =)