Happy birthday to my little girl!

4 years ago today I had the most amazing little girl.  Though life threw her a few lemons she has made some spectacular lemonade!  Her personality warms my heart, I know that one day she will be an amazing wife and mother, or really anything she sets her mind to.
Yesterday she took her baby doll to the chiropractor with her, after our appointment she needed to go potty, I took her to the bathroom and there was a changing table sitting off to the side. She laid her baby carefully on the shelf of the changing table (she couldn't really reach the top), proceeded to go potty, and then announced that baby needed a diaper change.  She careful set baby off to the side of the shelf,  laid out baby's blanket nice and smooth, then put baby on it, lifted baby's legs and said "eww, that's yucky". She pretended very gently to wipe baby and replace her imaginary diaper, then she lifted baby off the shelf the way only a mother does to be sure the baby's head doesn't fall back, cover the doll with her other blanket, and announce that we were all done.
I can't tell you how excited I am to not only give Fia a cabbage patch kid for her birthday, but also to give her a nicer stroller and car seat for Christmas! 
Her mother skills are not all I love about her though. Fia has an awesome sense of fun, and her humor is so sarcastic but sweet at the same time.  Her laugh makes everyone smile, and though she has the determination of a bull dog, she also has the compassion of a dolphin.
4 years old! Gosh she is growing so fast!  I had no idea how quickly she would grow out of that sweet toddler look she held on to so well,  but she is a child now, no longer rounded like a baby, or uncoordinated like a toddler.  I am so in love with her!
Happy birthday to my big girl Fia!

Here come the holidays!

Oh how I love this time of year! And finally I am 'home for the holidays'. That makes it even better!
Four plus families that when I left had only just one child are now 2-3 children bigger. All of them though separated for a time are now back together. .. we are family. .The real kind. Not just by blood, which is generally how family is formed, but bonded by the blood of Jesus, transformed by the word of God, and united by years of friendship. 
I know my blood family is a little offended that I choose to live closer to this make shift family,  but I just know this is what my own family needs for growth and contentment. People that support their mama and daddy, people that speak the truth in love,  people that care, not because they are obligated to but because they want to.
Though we all have our differences and quirks we really do love each other, and that is important.  Some are more distant than we would like, some are more busy than we hope, some have different plans for their family than we do, but we love one another, truely deeply do.
I'm so glad to be home! I'm so happy to celebrate this holiday season with our family.   I pray you are all where you need to be for this holiday season as well.

School is in session

I have been too busy to blog much lately.  My intention was to build garden boxes, clean the yard, and begin to turn this house once again into a home, then also to turn around and do all the same for my friend who was arriving shortly after us.  Man was it a lot of hard work, and the work isn't nearly over, not for me and not for my friend.
I accomplished all of my goals but the building of my garden boxes. The wood I intended to use was so rotted out that it would never have made a good box, it never would have even held nails without splintering and falling apart. I can't afford the cost of new wood at this time either so the boxes will have to wait.
Today we start school again. We have had a nice long break, though I intended to continue having Caeden read during break I did not so he will be frustrated with that I think. He already has recognized that his best friend is reading without much difficulty and is sad that he doesn't think he can read at all. He said to me the other day "do you know what my secret to reading is?" He was trying to convince me that he can not read at all. "I just remember the words.
I should be honest with myself and admit that half if this statement is bad and the other very good.  The bad half is that when we read stories he does memorize the whole story and recite it as we work our way through it. The good is that because I force him to point at each word as he reads he sees the words as he says them and when we start a new book he quite often remember the words he used most in his last book. So he is, in spite of himself, learning to read.
We also do spelling words which he is required to read so we are reinforcing a lot of words as well, without a story context.
Today we start in slowly.  We have reading, math and spelling only. 20 mins. Of reading and math each. And writing out spelling words 5 times each.
I have a lot to prepare this morning so we can be done early enough to get to our chiropractor appointment.  So please have a beautiful day!
Samantha Mehaffey

Oh yeah... we made it here.

Well our drive with the kids and a 36 foot 5th wheel was amazingly smooth.  We arrived on time and in good shape if not a little dirty from no baths or showers on the road.
A few things happened that I hadn't thought out well,  and had little control over. First I got a head cold. ..yuck. no one else got it though so we managed quite well.  But then dear old aunt Flo decided it was a good idea to join us on the trip.  I won't explain any deeper but suffice it to say that she wasn't welcome. I also forgot to call the gas company before leaving and since it was the weekend while we traveled I never was able to set up an appointment to get it turned on. Fortunately our friends in Oklahoma allowed us to shower at their home.
We initially illegally parked the 5th wheel at our house blocking the driveway mailbox and the entire yard, after unloading most of its contents we found a storage facility to park it at. 
A major mishap happened in delivering the 5th wheel to its new home. A gorgeous Victorian mansion was sitting to the left side of the road and very out of place considering the buildings surrounding it, I was busy ogling it when I realized that our destination was actually coming up quickly to the right. I slowed, but Patrick saw the same gorgeous house and didn't see me slowing. I realized moments too late that he was not able to stop and slammed on the gas,  the effect only barely helped.  The heavy 5th wheel drove the truck forward despite Patrick's effort to stop it and the end result is that I spent a week looking for a new car. The children are all safe as are Patrick and I, even Boomer was ok.
I love my new car! It is an 03 honda pilot. I might have preferred to purchase one a little newer but Hondas don't run too cheap.  The kids fit wonderfully in the 2nd row but there is a 3rd row should I need it!
Aside from wrecked cars we have had a number of other adventures, the latest is a stomach bug,  doesn't seem to last long but it's a doozy.  This comes at the same time that we realized that our fridge wasn't working properly and we had to defrost it for 48 hours. Before you draw conclusions about the fridge and our tummies it seems to be coming like a virus, we didn't all get sick at the same time. It started with Fia,  then the boys both got it. Fia is fine now and Micah is also on the mend, however Caeden is taking a while to get through it and I now have it, but so far Patrick seems unfazed (at least now).
We also have a lack of storage for things like home school supplies. .. but it's coming along. 
We still need to find a washer and dryer, and I still have some garden boxes to build.  I had planned to make them out of the old fencing but it is too far gone to be useful.  So I'm searching for used wood in other places.
So many goals!  I also have started some diy projects.  The first us the hall bathroom. ..had I not been bombarded with sickness this week the first project of the room would be finished. .. but it will take some time. I can't wait to show you what I'm doing!

Leaving on a jet plane

No I'm not going to hop a plane out of here but I am leaving today. We all are! Today we embark on a new yet familiar journey. 
In March of 2006 I helped my best friend move across the country to be with her military husband.  It felt a bit exciting and a bit like a punch in the gut. It was supposed to be me marrying a man of adventure and living in military housing. I don't know why but I always thought I would live in a shabby 70's built military house at the end of a dead end street.
I was so happy for her but had shut off my dreams of motherhood to both celebrate her marriage and help her move, and beyond that to preserve myself and begin whatever it was God had decided was better for me than motherhood and marriage to a military man.
And then as we pulled up to the parking lot not one but two men got out of my friends husband's vehicle.  True to my promise to God I barely looked at the 2nd man. I did not notice the way he looked at me, I didn't notice how handsome he was, I didn't notice anything but the fact that he was there and I would have to offer to let him ride with me on base so that my friend could ride with her husband in his two seated car.
Fast forward to June of the same year and not only do I see this man, but I am moving into an apartment in Oklahoma City to be near him (and out of my parents house).  I will clarify that we did not live together.
Fast forward again to April 2007 and I am traveling with him to Michigan where my family is and celebrating our marriage vows. His family came to of course, we just had the wedding in Michigan to save too many people from traveling (his family is spread over several states and mine only lived in a small portion of Michigan so it made sense.
Ever since we have called Oklahoma home. We had to leave when the military sent us to San Diego, California but have wanted to return ever since.
We have had a few chances but usually Patrick goes to prepare for us to follow and for one reason or another it doesn't happen.  Today however nothing is stopping us!
Who would have thought so much could change in so short a time?  In 2006 I was pretty much at the bottom of the barrel so to speak.  Giving up all my dreams. Turning them over to a heavenly father who I knew would care for me.  And now 2014 is almost gone and I have done it again only with a husband and three children. ..and both times God has pulled through and provided exactly what I had always wanted but given over to his capable hands!

Getting really excited

What is more exciting than a vacation?  Going home!
I have not been on vacation for the last five years, more like on a spiritual journey.  God has brought me through loneliness, PTSD, a c-section, a miscarriage, several moves, making new friends,  having a home birth, and many other things, some stressful and some joyous. 
I am closer now to God than ever before.  He didn't need to prove himself to me,  but he has. Over and over again.
And now after 5 years I am going home! 

I have been dreaming of the things that need doing once we arrive.  And I would like to share my ideas.
1. In Oscoda I learned that gardening can be fun and I enjoyed the fruit of my labors. We have a bunch of old fence pieces our Tennant said he would dispose of and never did, so I decided to build a garden box. A really big one. And prepare for spring now while cleaning up the back yard.
2. The 2nd bedroom needs a coat of paint and I am going to start readying it to be a boys bedroom.  Caeden wants it to be dragon themed.
3. Currently we have no beds for the children to sleep on, for a few weeks we will give them their mattresses from the 5th wheel and then a friend has offered us their guest bed, and Caeden and Fia will share that while Patrick and I make them some bunk beds that convert to two twin beds. Once they are finished I will put one in Sapphira's room and one in the boys room and move Micah in with Caeden in his pack 'n play until he is big enough for a big boy bed, at which point I will build a canopy bed for Fia.
4. Begin collecting used furniture that will fit the style and size of our home si we can return the things borrowed from our friends.
5. When we bought our home there was a large tree stump in the front yard. It was ugly and I wondered how we could get rid of it, but then it started to grow.  I tended it the first year we lived there trimming back the branches that stretched towards the house but leaving those that stretched toward God. Today it is a giant tree but only a little taller than the house. So I am going to tend to its branches some more. There are also some bushes in front of the house that Patrick and I have always thought were not right. So I plan to remove them and make some flower boxes to put in their place.
Overall I plan to beautify my home and make it a haven. There are other things we plan to do as well,  like replace the roof, but that isn't something I personally can do so it isn't detailed here.
I can't wait to get started on these projects!

Taking the challenge

Women living well has set about challenging women to take control over themselves and the atmosphere of their home and I have been joining in, not on the scale I would like to be but I am indeed doing it.
The first challenge was to light a candle every day and let that remind me to stay in prayer.  Keeping my thoughts close to God and communicating with him through out the day has certainly helped me keep my cool a bit better. Especially when I have not been sleeping well and tend to loose it more easily.
Today she has posted the second challenge.  Soft music. I find this one to be very difficult. ..If lighting a candle in a 5th wheel wasn't hard (I had to make sure it could be set somewhere it wouldn't burn the whole house down and there isn't anywhere that my kids can't get to it and blow it out because who doesn't like to blow out candles? But this second one has the potential to either help or severely hinder my peace. I have what is called cookie bite hearing loss and background noise can incredibly irritating to me,  and my space is rather small so all noises are wrapped up in a tight space here.
I'm going to try it though because I certainly need peace. I have it about so many things but peace towards the children I have been failing at. And bless their hearts Caeden and Sapphira have both recently received Jesus in their hearts (expect to read about that soon...) but Caeden has been displaying signs of a volatile temper and I know it is because his mother has done so poorly holding hers lately.
Apparently I'm up for the day now, though I wish I could sleep some more. Micah has woken up. Good morning world.
Join in with me in the fall challenges at http://womenlivingwell.org/?p=16567
I look forward to hearing from you about how you are doing.