Nag's Head in the winter

Joshua, my little scout.

Our good friends, Kevin and Kim Hadley, invited us up to the beach at Nag's Head, North Carolina for a week after Christmas. They'd rented a gigantic house and said they had room for us. It was incredibly generous of them and we had a wonderful time. Kevin's parents and sister, Laura and her husband, Adam came too. Adam is also an old West Point friend.
The boys even had their own room. After sharing a room with the boys for more than a week, it was luxurious to have our own space. The house was actually on the beach, had a pool table, sauna, jacuzzi, tons of porches, and even an elevator. All we really utilized was the kitchen, though. It was a great time to spend with friends, and with each other. The Hadleys are the kind of friends that I can hang out with for a long time and not get sick of, because they have good boundaries. Sometimes Kevin Hadley is a bit mystifying because of the way he grunts a hello as you pass on the stairs. But once I learned that was his way of being friendly, I realized how relaxing it can be to not have to converse all of the time.
We visited a park with some really great sand dunes. The kids (and men) crawled all over them. Unfortunately, it was frigid that day. We only got about 45 minutes of sand-body-surfing in before Joshua started crying from the frostbite that was sure to come if we stayed out any longer. I didn't actually do any body surfing, but Kevin did, and Caleb loved climbing. My favorite part was that the park was so big, the boys could just walk/run forever without my being right behind them. There was no water for them to drown in, no cars to hit them.
I seriously love watching my boys play with their Dada.

*You can click on the pictures to enlarge them, and see all the details.*

Caleb, with Dada's gloves.

Kevin ran ahead, then jumped out and scared little Joshua, but not for too long. He laughed, although not has heartily as Caleb.

Kevin Hadley with his oldest, Jessie, and their good dog, Lady.

Don't know if you can see this, but Caleb is holding on to Kevin's leg as he makes an ascent.


Caleb and Kevin run-skipping down a dune.

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Out of the blue

Out of the blue, while I was tying his shoes, Caleb looks up and says:
"God is my son, and He loves me."
Me: "Wait, what? Are you God's Son?"
Caleb: "Oh yeah, I am God's Son, and He loves me."
So I amazed at the things he "gets." It's so encouraging to hear your 2 year old speak Truth.
I am just praying he doesn't "get" all the bad stuff I put out too. My temper and impatience. Usually with the dog, but sometimes with the boys. It just sounds so bad when he repeats or copies me later in the day. Is that what I really sound like? Man, I need help. I make a thousand pacts with myself to keep a cool head, to not expect them to act like adults, to give them grace. And then Caleb deliberately spits out his bite of dinner and Joshua pours a bowl of peas in my lap. As I go to correct the toddler, the baby performs acrobatic stunts in his highchair and somehow ends up standing on his tray. How the chair stays upright, I don't know. Put baby back in chair, look back over to toddler, he's fed all of his food to the dog, and there is no more to give him. It's hard not yell, and hard not to whine at him. So I guess I need to start praying about anger again. It always flares when Kevin's gone.

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The Bergs

New pics on my other blog: http://www.kristentothphotography.blogspot.com/
The Bergs are OCF friends and they just had a baby boy. I was priviliged to spend some time with their new family before he deploys.

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Christmas pictures, almost a month later

Christmas Pictures from Mom's house, with cousins Knox and Ashton
the whole, crazy fam

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Third

I've heard that the third deployment is the hardest. A girl can hold so much in for a so long, and then, the sheer force of emotion being withheld forces its way out. Maybe it's that. Maybe it's because I know what I'm in for. Maybe it's because of all that Kevin will miss with the boys. Maybe it's because I know that he will be in life-threatening situations (I fooled myself into thinking that he was relatively safe the last two times). Maybe it's because he's only been home for a total of 11 weeks since he got home from the last deployment. Maybe it's because he makes me so happy, and when he plays with, trains, or teaches the boys I can't help but smile. Or because I love him so much and have never been more secure in his love for me. I guess it's all of that. But this one is going to be hard.
And it's almost here.
I was listening to my favorite old-school worship cd- Enter the Worship Circle- that Kevin dug up. It is so hard to sing some of those songs-
"I will not forget You are my God, my King
And with a thankful heart I bring my offering
And my sacrifice is not what You can give
But what I alone can give to you
A grateful heart I give,
A thankful prayer I pray..."
The hardest thing in the world to do right now- have a grateful heart. But I am trying, because it's the one thing I can give to God. So I give God the little piece of my heart that is grateful, asking Him to guard me from bitterness or hardness of heart. Especially towards Him.
It's not good to blog while crying. My judgement is failing. Is this too much information? Oh well. Transparency is good, right?

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Christmas Cookies

Christmas Cookies at Meaw's house were mostly about the sprinkles. At least for Caleb.

(Meaw is what the grand kids call my mother. I know, and so does she. It's weird.)

I think this shot below is right before I took the boys to the dentist. Nice.

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Joshua's first trip to the dentist

While we were home over Christmas, we got to visit Augusta's favorite children's dentist, Dr. Andy Chandler, who just happens to be my dad. This was Caleb's second visit and it went much like the first, a little fearful crying, but not that bad. I expected much worse from Joshua, who is not one for people taking him out of his Mama's arms.
But I should have known, since Joshua loves brushing his teeth so much that he made up his own sign for it, that he'd love the dentist. Here's a pic of Joshua asking Dad for a toothbrush using his sign. He just sat there like a little doll in Dad's lap while Dad looked around in his mouth. Low and behold, the drooler has 6 teeth coming in at once. That would explain the constant leaking coming from his mouth. The boy goes through several shirts and bibs a day, and that's not even counting the messy ones from mealtime.
Dad was great with Joshua, of course, it is his job. But my favorite part was Joshua trying on Dad's coolio glasses.I also loved that Kevin was there to share in this first. He's been able to see a lot of Joshua's firsts, actually. Praise God for these well-timed 6 months he's had close to home.

After Caleb's turn it was time to go, but when I told Joshua, "Let's Go!" He turned away from me with a snarl and continued playing with the x-ray machine in the corner. He actually cried when we carried him out of there. What a funny boy.

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