So much for those plans..

27 years ago today, atop a beautiful mountain, MWC proposed and in a millisecond or less, I answered with a resounding YES!

We had a life plan all mapped out.  A life plan which did NOT involve his being an MWC or in the military.  I thought I was signing up for a reasonably calm, serene life married to a professional businessman with our 3 children (He'll tell you it was 2, but anyone who knows his memory will take my side on this!) within a few hours drive of our families.

Boy was that life plan thrown out..in a hurry too...less than 6 months after our wedding, our plans turned completely upside down and we were planning to run off 3000 miles from home to grad school for him to change careers.

3000 miles wasn't so bad. It would only be for 5 years and then we'd head back and pick up our life plan where we left off, living a few hours from our families, and start our family of 3 children. The only change would be instead being the wife of a businessman, I'd now be the wife of an MWC.

Again, our life plan and God's life plan were not the same.  While in grad school we got a head start on those 3 children and had 2, and we decided MWC should do his internship with the USAF.  It would only be 4 years and then we'd head back home living a few hours from our families and get on with a reasonably, calm serene life.

Well, we know how THAT 4 year plan worked out and how close we now live to our families.

So by now, I'm sure you get the picture.  I did not get the life I was expecting when I said YES on top of that mountain.

I got way better than I ever dreamed.

Kids say the darnedest things..

Sunshine:  Mommy, why did you tell me I was adopted.

Me: Because you were adopted.  Why?

Sunshine:  Well, I didn't want you to. I wanted  you to wait until I was ten and surprise me!

The perks (and perils) of 2 for the price of one

Shortly after arriving here, I broke my glasses.  Even a year or two ago, that would not have been much of an issue, however, I am now at the age, where they are necessary if I wish to read anything.    So when I went to get a new RX and to replace the glasses and saw the "get your 2nd pair of glasses free" banner, I thought to myself, "Great, now I can have one pair for home and one to keep in my purse."

It was great in theory.  Reality has not been as I'd imagined.  Reality is that now I have 1 pair of glasses at home that I consistently misplace, and a 2nd pair of glasses that should be in my purse but are currently on my face....again...because the house pair have gone AWOL....again.

I always say "Look on the bright side!".  My family now has double the fun playing The Find Mom's Glasses Game.

She's growing up!

Still shining brightly, our little Miss Sunshine is now 8 years old.

A Father and a son...and their faith in one another

It is no secret that raising Frog has been quite an adventure. (just ask the newly expectant first time parents who we traumatized with Froggie stories recently)  Raising such an intelligent, confident, promising, strong-willed young man took nerves of steel and calloused knees. His great potential was evident at an early age, but it took much prayer and hard work to guide it and help him realize it himself and to pursue it.  I would be lying if I said, we never despaired and we never feared for his future.  However, I can honestly say we never thought for a moment that he couldn't succeed at anything he pursued,  if he would only choose the right path and set his mind to it.  We are so thankful that he did just that and is on the path that he is on.  It was our desire to be obedient to the Lord in our parenting and that faith in Frog that gave us the stamina and courage we needed in raising this remarkable young man.

However, we have also learned that is not just parents that have faith in the success of their children, but children can have that faith right back.  Frog is such a child.  One year ago, when MWC's promotion board was to meet, Frog hung signs up all over the house (one which stayed up until the day we moved out of the house) congratulating his father on his promotion.  While the rest contemplated other options for a future at his current rank, Frog knew without a doubt, that his father would get that promotion.  Being "passed over" as they call it in military lingo, was not even an option in his mind.  MWC never voiced it, but I strongly suspect, it was Frog's faith in him that helped him keep hope alive during those long months as we awaited the results of his promotion board.

So it was extra precious to me recently that on the official date of MWC's promotion, we were with Frog observing him living his dream: father and son, both airman in the world's greatest Air Force, celebrating together.

Out of my league

I'm very proud of MWC and his sense of duty, hard work and integrity.  I also marvel at God's blessings poured upon us and the worldly honor he has bestowed on MWC.   MWC has been officially promoted and is now at the highest rank he can obtain in the USAF.  It was a promotion he was told he'd never make and he didn't actively pursue.  He didn't ask for the *right* jobs, he didn't make the right sacrifices.  He set his mind to serving the Lord, and balancing serving in the military while raising a large family.  Yet the Lord kept putting opportunities in his path, and that path lead to this promotion.

I confess I didn't want this promotion.  I wanted retirement. I wanted out.  I confess I selfishly prayed that he would not get it.  Yet, as I shared a while ago, the Lord was merciful to me in changing my heart when it came time for us to hear the news and I truly wanted this promotion because MWC wanted it, and I wanted him to be happy.

Well now he has officially "pinned on".  Its odd to see that rank on his shoulders.  Its odd to see the extra respect and level of responsibility that goes with it.  He had to explain to me how things are different now for him from a military point of view.  I didn't get it.

To me, MWC is still the man I love. The man who still takes too long in the bathroom, snores at night if he isn't wearing his Breathe-Right strips, and still forgets to pick things up for me on base if he doesn't write it down (or more likely call his office and leave himself a message on voicemail).

And I'm still me.  I'm still the slightly overweight, increasingly forgetful, happy to be home with my children mom, who doesn't really know how to behave as the wife of  "one of those guys."  I've got a new world opened up to me socially now and feel new expectations placed upon me.  I feel I should be classier, more sophisticated, more worthy of reflecting my husband's new rank.  But I'm not, I'm still me.

And I wonder, why do I put these expectations on myself? Why do I tell myself I'm out of my league?  Why do I listen to Satan's lies that I have to be a certain someone or be a certain way because my husband happens to have a certain rank on his shoulders.  It is the cross that dictates how I should live my life, not a set of wings perched on my husbands uniform.  It is the cross that gives me my worth and my importance and it is the One who died for me ON that cross that I should reflect, not the rank ON my husband.

It is that cross, not the wings, that MWC has kept his eyes on all these years as he's gone about his daily duties.  I am thankful for the godly example my dear husband has been to me, and I shall endeavor to follow that example.

English as a foreign language

Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language is how the saying goes. (who to attribute it to is open to interpretation..Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde are among the possibilities.)

Having lived here now for over 2 months, I have to say I agree.

This morning at church, I caught myself ready to give the same wrong answer to the same question...again...but caught myself in the nick of time.

The question that threw me?   

How did you find it?

Google, of course, was my initial thought and then I remembered that I was not talking to an American but a British couple so I quickly swallowed my incorrect answer and replied.

Lovely, I like it here very much.

Another embarrassing moment averted, until tomorrow when some other "English" phrase throws me yet again.