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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas and an update...




"For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given..."
Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas everyone! In the midst of all the hustle and bustle of the season may we not loose site of the true meaning of Christmas.
Hug your families tight tonight and pray for those who are missing a loved one this holiday season.

Update: Jason has been gone almost a week now. (wow our 2 weeks flew by!) He arrived safely back to the sandbox and is re-adjusting (is that a word?). The kids have really missed their daddy, but are enjoying talking to him on the phone and computer. I have really been missing Jason too. This is such a hard time of the year to be without your husband. It really gives greater appreciation for the moments we get to talk on the phone. There is such an emptiness here-a quietness-since he left BUT I am trusting in the only One who can fill that void right now.

"And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me."
John 16:32

Merry Christmas!

Jessica

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Our 2 Weeks...


Jackson, Jason and Madeline riding the carosel at the mall.


Watching a football game...(no worries I have not converted to be a Bama fan it is just a red shirt.)


Jason and the kids watching football...Madeline had apparently gotten in to the snacks :)


Family photo op at my mom's birthday party.


Sweet kisses from my wonderful husband :)

The past 2 weeks have been absolutely wonderful! But of course they have flown by.
We have had so much fun watching football, christmas shopping, going to see Santa (ok maybe that was not so much fun), and today we were able to go to the park for a picnic (gotta love Alabama weather ~ 70 in Dec.) Unfortunately our time is winding down and I am trying so hard to be strong. Have I not already been through this before??? Why do I have to do this again??? How do we help the kids understand??? How do I drive my husband to the airport AGAIN and say BYE AGAIN? I know that we have only a few months to go and that we have already survived 10 months...so whats a few more months? Its a few more months of emptyiness, a few more months of loneliness, a few more months of missing out on the kids lives...it is so much.
Thank you so much all my friends out in "blog world" for your continuous prayers for my family. I ask that you join me in praying for my family. Please pray for our strength. Pray for the kids understanding. Pray for continued safety.

love you all

Jessica

Happy 50th Mom!


Mom blowing out her birthday candles (with a little assistance)


Jason and me at the birthday party.


Madeline and Meme (Madeline had such a good time with Meme's birthday balloon)


Jackson and Meme having a good time at the party.

Happy Birthday mom! We love you so much!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Our Christmas Day

We have had a fun past couple days here at the Crow house. We got to celebrate Christmas a little early since Jason will be leaving very soon and will not be here on Christmas Day. I wrote a letter to Santa asking if we could celebrate early so that Jason could enjoy it with us. Of course Santa agreed and made a special trip from the North Pole to our house this past weekend. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas Eve and Christmas day.


My honey and me :)


Santa brought Madeline a double jogging stroller...now she can be just like mommy :)


Jack got a light saber...when he ran to see what Santa brought the first thing out of his mouth was "Santa's been here, where did he leave my light saber?" I am so glad that Santa brought one...


Jack asked for one of these so he can be just like his daddy.


Madeline and Olivia...the Olivia stories remind us so much of our Madeline


Jackson and his soldier


Our little pirate drummer :)


Santa should have just brought Madeline boxes. She had more fun in the boxes than with anything else.


Madeline is fixing up some breakfast for her babies Eunice and Carli.


Jason seeing what Santa brought him.


Madeline got a tri-cycle

After all the presents were opened, Jason and I prepared a big meal. It was great. We all stayed in our pj's all day and watched Christmas movies. I am so thankful we were able to have this time together.
I am also very thankful for a program called Heroes at Home. This is a program through Sears that provides families of deployed soldiers a gift card (funded through donations by customers) to use at Sears stores. We were one of the families selected to receive a gift card. This card has been such a blessing to us and we are so thankful for this program and the generous donations by those customers.

I am going to try and update again in the next few days before Jason leaves so be sure to check back in :)

Jessica

Saturday, December 13, 2008

OH Happy Day!!

Hello all my bloggy friends! So sorry that it has been a while since my last post. Jason made it home safely last week and we have truely been enjoying our time together! I have wanted to update so many times over the past week, but we have had modem issues which meant no internet. It has been a headache, but after a week and 4 calls to the phone company we FINALLY got everything fixed and now we are back up :) But anyway, enough about that. :) Jason has been home for a little over a week. The kids have not let him out of their site for one second. They want him to do everything for them (which is fine by me) ;-) We have ventured out a few times...you know Jason had to check out the new Bass Pro Shop and of course take the kids to the toy stores (brave soul). Even though it is a week late, I wanted to share with everyone our Happy Day from last week. Enjoy the pictures and the video. Just remember to pause the music player at the bottom of the blog before you watch the video. I am going to go ahead and apologize in advance for the video. I am the operator so it is very shakey and all you can hear is my squealing ;-) It is not a very long video because I decided I could not tape any longer (I need to get in on all the hugs too) I will post more soon of some of our adventures and of our Christmas (today is our Christmas Eve) We had just arrived at the Atlanta airport. There was a great USO section set up to stand in while waiting on soldiers to arrive. The kids loved standing there holding up their signs. Ok, who I am kidding...the kids were throwing the signs while the adults went chasing after them :) My sweet friend Kim also got to travel to Atlanta to pick up her husband, Eric. We were so glad our husbands were able to travel together. The Welcome Home Crew....Jason's parents took the kids and I to the airport. We were so glad they were able to go! The moment finally arrived! We waited for over an hour, but I promise it felt like we were only there 10 minutes (weird, I know) The volunteers at the USO desk kept us updated the whole time. They literally gave us moment by moment updates. It was great to know exactly where Jason was. I can still remember the excitement I felt down in the pit of my tummy just to know that my husband was in the same building I was in. I get chills just thinking about it. My family is complete :) Of course this picture was taken after we were able to regain composure. As soon as we saw Jason coming up the escalator Jason's mom and I start this high pitch squealing (which you can hear on the video) We just kept saying over and over to the kids "It's daddy, it's really daddy" Both kids had this deer caught in headlights look on their faces...it was priceless. Madeline and Jackson both went right to him and would not let go of him. The joy I felt at that moment to see my children with their daddy again is just indescribable. I just love this picture of Jackson walking with Jason to the baggage claim. Once he got hold of his daddy, Jackson did not let go. At one point Jason picked Jackson up and carried him to the baggage claim. While Jason was carrying Jackson, Jackson turned to Jason and said..."Daddy, I have wet in my eyes" How sweet is that! I still tear up just thinking about my little boy saying that. Those of you who know Jackson, know that he is very shy and does not say much at all. Jackson was so excited to see his daddy that he talked for 4 hours straight! I mean non-stop. Noone could get a word in at all. And if he ran out of something to talk about he would start describing the weather outside or the color of cars. Just too sweet!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Little Elves...

Yesterday "little elves" showed up at the house ready to transform it in time for the BIG ARRIVAL (and by big arrival I do not mean the guy in red suit, nope its for the guy who wears camo and combat boots) I told them my vision and away they went to work. In no time at all everything was done! Even the outside decorations! I have truely dreaded getting all the decorations out and going thru everything on my own, but because of these wonderful "little elves" I did not have to do it alone. I am so grateful for my loving church family who have taken care of us during the past 10 months! Thank you mom for helping me choose my decor and Thank you "little elves" for giving so freely of your time and helping me prepare for the big day! I honestly could not have done it without you guys!!!

Below are just a few pictures of the decorations. The "little elves" worked so hard and did such a great job :)


Mantle in the living room.


Tree in the living room.


Ornament I made for the patriotic tree using Jason's picture :)


Ornament I made for the patriotic tree using the kid's picture :)


Patriotic tree in the basement.


The "little elves" who transformed my house!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

It's Party Time!!!!

We had a great time at Madeline's birthday party this afternoon. Thanks to my mom for securing "our spot" in the birthday jungle. (who would have known that 3 parties would have been going on at the same time as ours) Madeline got lots of fun stuff (including zebra print boots to match the zebra theme we had going). Enjoy some of the pictures of the fun. Be sure to pause the music player at the bottom of the blog before watching the video. (just an fyi...grab a tissue before you watch)

Happy 2nd Birthday Madeline!


our sweet little Madeline


Madeline's dedication


Madeline getting sweet kisses from her daddy ~ 3 months





Madeline starting to walk at 9 months :)


Miss 1 yr old!











Happy Birthday Madeline! (her favorite breakfast...pancakes and sausage)


I can not believe my little girl is already 2!!! What a fun 2 years she has already given us..wonder what else is in store?? :)
We will have the birthday party this afternoon so check back soon for the party post :)