This morning I left my five children with my amazing mama and headed to Florida. The boys were delighted to be staying with Nana and Papa, and even our leech (Travis) was excited to go! The boys are thrilled that daddy is coming home, and they've been talking non stop about all the things that they want to do when daddy comes home. I didn't even kiss Emma good bye since I knew that she would just wail to come with me. (No worries, I gave her lots of kisses this morning!) This is the first time I've left Emma overnight, so this is a big deal for me. Hopefully, she will sleep through the night while at my parents house! :)
Roger says that the weather is beautiful in Florida, so I'm looking forward to at least a few hours of not needing a jacket! (And it's supposed to snow in Wisconsin on Friday night, so this is a good time to go!)
I don't fly commercially very often, but people watching is always fun. :) Every airport brings a wide variety of people. Those dressed for work wearing business attire and dress clothes. Next is the casual dresser, the person who is usually wearing jeans, sweater, and boots. Following that is the under dressed traveler, who is the one who looks like they were running late; and they threw on sweatpants and running shoes. And last but certainly not least, as there were a lot of this type of traveler, is the "Slumber party" traveler. This is the travelers who literally looks like they crawled out of bed, didn't bother to change clothes, and came to the airport.
My flights were on time and uneventful, which is the way I prefer them to be! :) It was a long day of traveling, but it was good to see Roger waiting for me at the airport. He said that he had thought about getting me some flowers, but since we would be traveling back to Wisconsin, the flowers would be crushed. Instead, he treated me to a special surprise of a new running jacket. He knew that it would be something I would use and enjoy, and I love the fact that he thought of something that I would like.
It's about a two hour drive from the Orlando airport to Sebastian, Florida, where Roger has been staying. We ate a quick supper at Chick fila, but then headed directly back. Roger wanted to introduce me to the family that graciously allowed him to live in their house across the street. (They have a house across the street that their in laws live in during some of the winter months, and they allowed Roger to stay there.) This family was such a blessing to our family and such an encouragement to Roger, I am so thankful that God used them to encourage our family.
Roger and I have been talking pretty much non stop the last few days. I'm extremely thankful that my parents were willing to take all our kids for a few days, so that we could have this time to be together. Roger and I have discussed everything under the sun...his needs, my needs, our dreams, our visions for the future, our children, our church, our involvement in our church, our pasts, our families, our fears, our frustrations, and our moving forward together...it was a lot of talking! :)
On Friday morning, we slept in until 8am...awesome! We picked up the house, started the laundry, then left to spend some time on the beach before we headed North. Roger and I had a very deep and intense conversation about where our relationship and marriage was headed and where we wanted it to go. I realized that I hadn't been as understanding as I should've been about his emotions, feelings, and needs.
We had a beautiful walk on the Florida beach, where Roger surprised me by proposing again! The diamond in my wedding ring fell out months ago, and we haven't been able to replace it. I've been wearing a costume jewelry ring on my left hand, and I haven't even complained. :) However, Roger has felt bad that I don't have an official ring. Unbeknownst to me, he's been saving his change, extra one dollar bills, and some money from his plasma account...way back in May! It's a beautifully simple ring, but since Roger says that I am simply beautiful, I love it completely! I love it because Roger picked it out, put thought into it, and figured out a way to buy it...I'm very proud of him!
As all everything does, our time in Florida is over. We packed our bags, stopped a fruit stand to buy grapefruit, and headed north. We left Florida about 1:00 pm., and it was sunny and warm. By the time we stopped, south of Atlanta, the temperature was already down to fifty degrees. Roger was about frozen, and he was only going to colder weather! :) We had a great time together at the hotel...with no children! We exercised together, ate a leisurely dinner together, stayed up late, and talked...a lot!
We where on the road again by 7:00am. We knew that we had lots of miles before reaching Wisconsin, so we better drive hard! It was a long day in a little car with uncomfortable seats...but it was a good day. We discussed everything under the sun...favorite colors, favorite foods, favorite places to visit...everything! It may seem like simple details, but people change over the months, and we needed to get to know each other again. It was wonderful!
One of my friends, Katie, had told me that after her husband came back from deployment, things had changed. She suggested lots of time together, with understanding that people change. It was some of the best advice I've been given. Instead of expecting everything to go back exactly the way things were, we worked through our changes, strengthened our relationship, and worked on building our relationship on solid ground.
We arrived back in Wisconsin on Sunday morning. We picked up the kids from my parents about 1:00 pm. The boys and Emma where delighted to see us...so were my parents! :) Actually they said the children did very, very well, but the kids just tired them out...tell me about it!! :) We had lunch at my parents house, and I wish I had taken a picture of the table. Chandler and Wyatt sat next to Roger and Travis sat on Roger's lap. It was a crowded table that was one sided! :) We didn't stay long since the boys where anxious to spend time with Roger. It was a short afternoon since we had church in the evening, but it was a great time of fun together as a family. I love listening to the boys talk to Roger about everything under the sun. I enjoyed sitting in church together as a family. The boys were a little antsy, but one of the things Roger and I talked about was him helping me with what I've been working on with the boys. So Roger had a few minutes of taking care of some discipline issues with one of the boys, but we are a work in progress!
Monday, November 3, 2014
It was a very full day with lots of adjustments in our family. One thing for sure, life will be an adjustment! Wyatt and Travis were up by 5:30 just to talk to Roger! We were a little earlier going out the door for school, but it's going to take a bit of time to figure out who does what between Roger and I.
After school, the two little boys and Emma took a nap. The older boys played outside, and Roger has been hard at work on getting his aviation work in order. The housework is behind, the laundry is piling up, and the bathroom should be cleaned. But know what? It can all wait for tomorrow, because for today I'm going to soak of these moments with my family, and drink coffee with my man!
I received an unexpected surprise in my mailbox today. It was a package from a friend from years ago. Although we've stayed in touch some, we don't communicate regularly. However, Leah sent me the sweetest note and a gift of a beautiful necklace and a pair of earrings. It was such an unexpected surprise, and it just made the icing on my cake today!
We had our annual Bible conference at church this week, so tonight was another night of the conference. We had some friends that stayed in a hotel for the conference and the kids and I were able to go swimming. The kids had a great time, and Roger was able to have the house to himself to work on his studying. It's always a challenge to find nursery workers outside of the usual services, so I worked the nursery during the service. Although I wouldn't have minded sitting with the family, it was a great nursery hour with a great friend...so I have no complaints!
Please pray for us as we try to adjust to a schedule for our family. Roger has certain things that he must finish, so pray that the rest of us will be understanding of his time. It's easy for me to get back into wanting Roger to help with this, or do this for one of the kids, etc., but this time his first priority must be to get this training done....no training, no job!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Trying to adjust to a routine when you don't know what the routine is supposed to be is difficult to say the least! I've been enjoying having Roger home, but since his schedule is kinda crazy right now with flying, studying, flying, and studying, it's difficult to balance everything out.
Today was a busy day since we had school, of course, and I cleaned house for someone, and we had our last night of the Bible conference at church. All that meant no time left for cleaning, organizing, and helping Roger put away the stuff from Florida. However, all the kids look fairly clean, everyone had something to eat today, and the last time I checked the house fairy didn't exists so it will all be waiting patiently for me tomorrow!
We ended up spending part of the afternoon with some friends at the EAA museum, and then having dinner with them before the Bible Conference. Needless to say, by the time the service was over, we had some children that needed to go to bed immediately! Ever since the time change, the two youngest boys have been getting up early! Combining a no nap day, along with lots of activity, was a recipe for disaster, but we loaded everyone in the car before that could surface! :) Roger had to carry three of the five kids in and put them in their beds, but that is much easier for him than me! :)
Hopefully the boys will sleep in a little longer tomorrow!
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