PJ Day and the latest news...

Today was pj day at Jack's preschool. He has been talking about this day all week long...who knew that being allowed to wear pj's to school would be so exciting??? He chose to wear lightning McQueen pj's (go figure) and has had them layed out all week. This morning when I woke him to get ready for school, he jumped straight out of the bed and gave me the biggest hug when I told him that he gets to wear the pj's. He was completely ready to go in record time. :) Jack enjoyed today so much and loved telling me all about the pj's his friends wore to school.

On a more serious note...Jack has worn glasses now for almost 2 years. He has had some problems that Jason and I have noticed since he was a baby, but were hopeful that he would "out grow" them. When he did not, we took him to an eye Dr. Well after nearly 2 years of the run around and our 3rd doctor we FINALLY have someone who recognizes how serious that the matter is and also recognizes how quickly we must act on this. Jack was diagnosed with a condition known as amblyopia...or "lazy eye" It has gotten really bad over the last few months and that is why I took him to someone who specializes in treating children with this condition. Like I said, I knew his "lazy eye" had become worse, but I was not prepared to hear just how bad. Turns out that because the eye has not been working and depending totally on the good eye, he has almost lost all vision in the "lazy eye" (I refuse to call it the bad eye, because it is going to improve) Jack only has limited side vision out of his "lazy eye". I was told that there is limited time left to correct this, but it can be done. SO what do we have to do??? For the next 3 months, Jackson must wear a patch over his good eye everyday for 8-10 hours. So pretty much the entire time Jackson is awake he must wear the patch. He has been such a trooper about it. Of course he complains about it a little but we have come up with an award system. Each day that he wears the patch for the amount of time required he gets a smiley face sticker on the chart. After 7 consecutive stickers, Jack gets to go to the store and choose a prize. That usually is motivation enough for him to keep it on. I thought the hard part was going to be making him wear the patch, but so far that has not been the case. Each day he chooses what super hero I draw on his patch (the patch is just plain tan) So glad he appreciates stick figures because I am not an artist :) The hard part is that Jack can not see since the good eye is covered up...therefore he is depending a lot on me. I do not mind that at all, but I feel so bad for him. As a mommy, I just want to take this on myself so that he does not have to suffer...sounds so much like the gospel huh? Jesus bore the pain of my sins so that I did not have to. I wish I could do that for my baby, but I can't. So I am asking my faithful blog readers to please pray for Jack. Please pray specifically for the "patching" to work and we can move on to the next step in correcting this condition. Thank you.

Now for the latest update:
Since my last post, Jason's ETA has changed, I believe, about 3 times. Go figure huh? We got new day/times today so I have adjusted my schedule once again. I just love being "flexible" ha ha.....Anyway, I do see the light of this long deployment tunnel. And soon I will be with my man :) I will keep you posted as I know more.


Jessica

The Hail Storm and an UPDATE....

look at all that hail...I did not mound that up like that either, that is how it was when I walked out the front door.




nickel size???




When you live in Alabama, you know there is going to be some strange and often wild weather. Well yesterday was no disappointer for us. We made it through 2 tornado warnings with nothing but hail...and I do mean A LOT of hail. When this was hitting the house I thought the roof was going to cave in (it did not) The kids and I hunkered down in the basement while Jack lectured us on the "dangerousness" of the storm. After the storm passed I grabbed the camera and ran outside to see if there was any damage. My neighbors were outside doing the same thing. Looks like we all made it without any damage...hard to tell though cause all the hail had not melted off the roof before it was dark. We had a good laugh though because the news reports said we received nickel size hail...I don't think I would describe it as nickel size...perhaps softball???? I posted a few pictures of it, but the pictures do not do it any justice. I did scoop some up in a bag and put it in the freezer though (thanks Jill for that idea). Looks like we should have a calm weather day today.

And now for the UPDATE:
I received "the" phone call yesterday :) Jason gave me his ETA and I booked my hotel room. So not too much longer and I get to go get my man !!! :)
Because of this being a public blog I am not going to put the dates on here. I am sure you can all understand that :)
I will keep you posted though so keep checking back in!

love to all,

Jessica

1 year

Today marks 1 year since this deployment began. One year ago today, I watched my husband get up in the very wee hours of the morning and put on his ACU's and combat boots. I watched him place his remaining unpacked gear in his duffel bag and load it in the back of the car. I remember waking the kids up and placing them in their car seats. I can still remember their sleepy little eyes and the look of complete confusion even though we had been trying our best to prepare them for that moment (but honestly how do you prepare a 3 yr old and 14 month old for something like this?) I don't remember much about the drive to the airport except that there was a lot of silence and quite a few tears. I remember telling myself over and over "you have to be strong" and "don't cry" I had to continue telling myself that because there were 2 sets of eyes on me that I had to remain strong for. I remember how hard the airport was, mostly because of the publicness of it. I felt as if everyone was watching us...I mean it is quite obvious what is going on when a large group of uniformed soldiers are standing around with duffel bags and families who look like they could fall apart at any moment. I remember that final hug...I remember that I did not want to let go, but I had to. It was time to send my man off. I remember watching Jason go through the security check. I remember squatting down next to Jackson with my arms around him as he yelled as loud as he could "Bye daddy, I love you" It was so hard to hear Jackson say that, I can only imagine how hard that must have been for his daddy to hear. I remember watching Jason walk down that long hallway until we could no longer see him. I remember standing at the window as we waited for the plane to take off. Then it did. The plane was gone. I can still remember the very raw emotions of the first few days and weeks. Amazing how after a year, it still seems so fresh to me. One day I plan to blog about that, but not today.
Over this past year a lot has happened. There has been a lot of tears, a lot of praying, some laughter, we have played, I have worked, I have chased kids, put together countless numbers of care packages, written many a letter, and spent endless hours waiting by the phone and computer for that moment when my man would call. I have placed yellow ribbons in the yard and on the car. I have handled countless obstacles (from cars to computers) Sat with sick babies and babies who were worried and could not sleep. I have had to be strong when there were days I did not want to get out of bed, BUT I did. I did it only by the grace of God, because there were days when I did not have it in me.
We are finally in the home stretch of our "storm" I can not believe I can finally type that. There have been days when all seems as a blur and I did not know how we were going to get to this point. BUT I do know, I know that my strength comes from Christ. The same God who said He would never leave me nor forsake me has been with us every step of the way during this deployment.
So...yes, the home stretch :) Being in the home stretch brings a whole new set of emotions and lots of questions (you know questions like "when is Jason coming home") So I will try my best (with the limited information I have) to answer...
Do I have a date yet? The answer is NO. We have lots of projected dates, but nothing certain at this point in time. I do not expect to have that information until about a week before the arrival. So I sit in limbo and try to wait patiently for that phone call with the date. Then I step it in to high gear and make travel plans to go get my man!
Well I guess I have rambled long enough...Thank you my faithful bloggy friends for the prayers and the sweet comments you always leave me. It is such an encouragement to me to read your comments :) Enjoy the pictures of the kids. To mark the occasion I had some tees made for them...they say "My daddy defends the USA, what does your daddy do?" I could not resist them :)

love to all,

Jessica

They got her!!!

Carlton, Aimee, and Lily


This beautiful little girl has already captured my heart, I can only imagine what she has done to her momma and daddy.

My sweet friends FINALLY had their "Gothcha Day" To read about that moment, see the pictures, and watch the videos, please link over to Aimee's travel blog (link on the right) ***Grab a tissue, I promise you will need it
Please continue to pray for this family as they begin the transition as forever family.

Jessica

Guess who is going to see Jimmy Buffett??? Thats right...Jason and me!!!

The Star Student

Jackson is the "Star Student" this week at his school. He has been so excited all week to go t0 school. As the "star student" he gets to be the line leader, pass out napkins at snack time, among other fun duties :) Jackson also gets to bring a snack to class to represent the letter they are learning for the week. This weeks letter is "O" So we chose oreos (one of my personal faves with a big glass of milk) (sorry Kadle, the octopus hot dogs were a great idea, but I just don't have the time)


Here is Jack with his letter "O" snack. You can just see the excitement in his face :)


As the "star student" Jack took several pictures of himself to school to hang on the wall.

Aimee's Shower

This past weekend I had the joy of helping host a shower for my sweet friend Aimee who is on her way (TODAY!) to China to get her daughter, Lily. The shower was so wonderful and that precious child received more clothes than I have ever seen before.
Below are a few pictures...


Table set up at the shower...there was so much yummy food


Aimee and me


Kadle, me, and Aimee


The big sis Hannah Grace and me


The adorable bags I had made for Lily and Madeline

Please be in prayer for this family as they are on their way today to China. You can follow the journey as Aimee will be blogging the whole time they are there (just click on the link to Aimee's travel blog on the right)

Jessica