Finding harmony in family, finance & military life

I have still not gotten used to technically being a "working mom", I still think of myself as a stay at home/home school mom, but it is true I have succumbed to the call of the working world. My official work title is Protestant Hospitality Coordinator. "What does that mean?" you may ask, well I will tell you! I have no idea what that title would mean in your average Protestant Church, I don't go to one bwahahaha, however for the Protestant Chapel on an Air Force base that title pretty much means I am a chef. I love my job! It is tough, too tough and I would not recommend it for just anyone, but for me it is perfect. I am contracted to work 13 hours every week and paid on salary so the extra 2-7 hours I work each week are considered volunteer hours... a new contract will be worked out no worries. Regardless of the crazy hours I still love my job. Onto the spaghetti! Every Wednesday night the Chapel hosts a free dinner for anyone on base who would like to come,...

To the mom who thinks she is doing it wrong, Trust me, you are! It does not matter if you are a first time mom, a mother of three, the mom going for number five, the quiver full mother of ten or perhaps fifteen with three sets of twins, you are doing it all wrong! Who only has one child? That's selfish! Why on earth did you have more then two? God only gave you two hands! Five is too many, ten you must be crazy and fifteen means your uterus must be the equivalent of a clown car. See, each one is clearly wrong. The mother who vaccinated her herd just pumped poison into their bodies, she is doing it wrong. The anti vac mom just put the entire preschool at risk, she is doing it wrong. The selective and delayed vaccinators, well it serves them right if they get the flu, they are doing it wrong. It doesn't matter how much research you do, the choices you make about vaccinations will be wrong. Each new case of measles, flu, Ebola, and autism spectrum disorder will someho...

The 18 year old me had a lot of big dreams, really big dreams. She had this plan all worked out in her head that she was going to join the Navy as a cook and some day rule the world. This naive young woman boarded a bus heading for Peach Tree City, Georgia from Baltimore, Maryland and by the Grace of God after sitting next to a real creep was rescued by an upstanding young man who had just been discharged from the Navy. She told him of her lofty dream, the one about being a Navy cook not the one about ruling the world, and he told her the facts about being in the Navy. The short story was that it sucked being a woman in the Navy and he encouraged her to look into the Air Force instead. Fast forward a few months and that is just what the 18 year old me did. However being a cook in the Air Force instead of in the Navy was not how my adventure went. I was home schooled which meant I enlisted Open General and was given whatever job the Air Force saw fit. I was too smart to go into Securi...

This morning I heard something that made me want to reach into the car radio and slap the girl talking through the speaker. The hot topic being discused had to do with the individuals of Seal Team Six speaking out about their mission. I tuned in somewhere in the middle but from what I gathered at that moment they were talking about the hardships endured by maybe Navy Seals or just deployed military in general. The young woman chimed in that "these guys" don't really have it as bad as we think and that many of them are deployed with roll out posture pedic beds. She suggested that since they are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in training they get hooked up out in the field and the military wouldn't just let them go on the way side ( be neglected). I may have snorted at that point. I later found out she is a military spouse, that really shocked me. I know everyone's deployment experience is different so maybe her husband is deployed with a nice bed to sleep...

Happy Veterans Day to all who serve and all who served before them! Everybody knows my husband serves, but few know that I too once served this great country as a Med Tech in the US Air Force. It was a short stint as motherhood proved to be a more appropriate calling for my life. Regardless of how many years I was in, it was certainly a life changing choice and I am very glad I did it. I am very thankful that my husband is actually home this Veterans Day! Usually he is gone or working, this year though he is recovering from a pretty intense ankle surgery. Not the greatest reason to be home but I will take whatever I can get. Most years in the past I have bundled the kids into the car and found all the local restaurants giving a free meal to veterans. This year we bundled up the kids to drive into town during the first real snow fall of the year for Brent's first follow up appointment after his surgery. The surgery went well but there was far more damage then originally thought ...

Hi! It's been awhile, a long while actually, over a full year has passed since I had the chance to catch my breath and write a blog. Let's see, I tapered off writing when I started my college journey... It was great! Honestly, I really enjoyed the challenge that going to college full time presented me with. No, I did not graduate and at the moment I have no plans to do so. I started college and then I started homeschooling and then we got orders. While I was enjoying the challenge I really struggled finding the balance between my school work and my kids. When we got orders to move I really had to double up on my college work to finish all of my classes by the end of February instead of the traditional mid to end of May. I did it, I did it well I held a 4.0 with no problem but I was burnt out and felt like I was failing at my biggest challenge being the MOM. I know plenty of moms who can do it all and they do it great I just couldn't. So while college was great and great f...

 I know it has been a long time since you all have heard from me, well no fear all is well in my world and I hope all is well in yours! I admit it has been crazy with recovering from Lyme disease, going to college full time online, breast reduction surgery and then we started homeschooling all five of our littles so you can see why I have not been posting. That does not mean I have not wanted to because I have just way to much going on to unclog the writers block or perhaps not enough to inspire it free.   The reason I am writing a post today is to share something big, really big, that we are getting ready to do. This month despite all of our normal chaos we have been led to host a huge fundraiser for a friend of ours who just happens to be as crazy as me right down to the house full of kids, hubby in the military and homeschooling to boot! What is the fund raiser for? Why to add to their family tree of course! You see she and her husband both felt the call to adopt a d...