Has it really been 6 years???

6 years have come and gone.

I'm glad to report that in 6 years, I have grown up.
The struggles are still real, still everyday, still annoying.
But I've grown up.
I've gotten better at balancing my time, my energy, my family.

In 6 years, we've moved.
From Pomeroy, OH to Middleport, OH.
From Middleport, OH to Eglin AFB, Florida,
From Eglin AFB, Florida to Dayton, Ohio.

We've shifted from being a civilian family to a military family.
Bob has graduated from OU and is an officer in the Air Force.
So by default I am a military spouse, and our kids are now military brats.
He's working on his masters degree.

We've added to our family.
Not in the way I imagined.
Once in 2012 and again in 2014.
Sid came from Petwelfare on Eglin AFB.
Dox came from a different shelter.

Mike has grown.
Not only taller, but stronger.
Everyday he learns something new, and although the struggles are still the same, they are somehow not as major as they once where.
He underwent a major hip surgery in 2013.
He underwent a major shunt surgery in 2015.
He will undergo a major leg surgery in 2016.
He takes dance and loves it.

Greg has grown.
He has also gotten taller and stronger.
He has a quick wit about him, and is experimenting with jokes.
He is going into 5ht grade and has the best laugh.
He is tender hearted, and strong willed.
I wouldn't have him any other way.

A lot has changed in 6 years.

Good bye grandma...

Yesterday evening, I recieved the call that I knew was coming but wasn't ready to hear. My grandmother passed away. She was 80 + years old, and had lived through a lot. She was in Holland as a little girl when it was occupied by the Germans. She never did like the sound of sirens. She went back to the "old" country a number of years ago, and was saddened by the way things had changed. Where her childhood home was there is now a highway. She had a younger brother that she hardly ever talked about. Recently, I asked her if her parents ever tried to have another child after him, and she laughed at the question. "Na," she said, "my parents where trying to get a head in the world." But there was a ting of sadness that I heard in her voice, and saw in her eyes. She really was all alone these past few years. She took a boat to America, but her sweetheart, my granpa Jake was one of the first to fly from Holland to America. He had his nose broken by a German when he was a young man, for no other reason than the fact that the German could do it, and he couldn't fight back. (Not if he wanted to live anyway.) He never liked Germans after that. When she got to America she changed her name to Dorothy. In the "old country" it was spelled Dorjty. Or something close to that. There where moments in my life I really disliked her, but there where moments in my life that I looked to her for advice, and she helped me become the woman that I am today. Good bye Grandma Dorjty.

Genealogy

Welcome to a new direction for me.

Matt. 1:1-25

Vs. 5 "Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,"

No where else in that chapter is the phrase "by ___" used. This is interesting. What did these women do to merit getting in the genealogy of Jesus Christ? Who where they? In the modern study of genealogy, both the maternal (mother) and paternal (father) are researched, and listed. But not then? Hum.....

Lord, I pray all who read this will realize that it is my jouney I wish for you to lead. I pray for my family, that you will direct their paths. Amen