Runner Ups

I was only allowed to post 5 pictures for the I ♥ Faces weekly photo challenge, and it was hard to choose which were my faves! So here are the runner ups. Just wanted to share.

Hilarious Outtakes

I ♥ Faces is ending their year by featuring "Hilarious Outtakes". I've been excited about this post because I have SO MANY funny face pictures of Izaak. It was so hard to choose but I had to narrow it down to 5. So here they are! P.S. Be sure to check out my Runner Up pics!

#1 This is Izaak when he was just a few days old.

My mom was trying to burp him, but I thought
this "pose" was just hysterical.

#2 Here he is a few months old making this SURPRISE face!


#3 My husband was letting him lick the cake batter
off the beaters. It looks like he's saying, "Are you
sure you aren't going to tell mommy about this??"



#4 Izaak's daddy is a Marine and Izaak LOVES daddy!
I think he was trying to give me his best Devil Dog
face here. :)


#5 I had to save the best for last. My husband was
cleaning out our fridge a couple weeks ago and
Izaak decided he liked the Coors Light! This
picture is SO funny because it looks like he had
a little too much to drink!

Holiday Traditions

Bloomington, Indiana. My grandmother's kitchen. That's where my mom was sitting just a few minutes ago as I was talking to her on the phone. Her and my dad and the 3 puppies just got in yesterday after quite a long drive. She told me about the barbecue, baked beans, potato salad and jello they just finished up. And then of course, you have to top that off with a piece of Nana's homemade blackberry cobbler. Wow that sure brings back some good memories. Every year my parents, my brother and I would drive the 10 to 12 hours to my grandparents house to spend Christmas. My aunt, uncle and cousins were usually already there waiting for us, and we would all have a big meal. Chili or vegetable soup the first night, barbecue the next. Hehe. Nana's candy and fudge was always sitting out on the cabinet, calling to you to come take a nibble. The days leading up to Christmas would be full of excitement, seeing all of the family that you haven't seen since last year and hearing, "Oh my how you've grown!" The girls go shopping and to movies. The guys lay in the living room floor watching basketball games. Then finally...Christmas morning would come!! The tree always had an embarrassing number of presents under it but...oh how exciting it was!! Of course, my family was one of those take turns families, so the present un-wrapping always lasted a few hours. After we cleaned up, we would either get ready to go to my great Aunt Toot's house, or start preparing food at Nana's for the HUGE Christmas lunch! (They take turns every year). My very favorite food of the day, and I think everyone else in my family would agree, is Memaw's noodles! And then when I was real young, we would always end the day by going on a terrific hay ride through the woods pulled by Gene's tractor. It would be freezing but SO much fun! That night we would all crowd together in Memaw and Great Grandad's living room for more present opening. When they passed, that tradition kinda seemed to come to a close. And that's ok. Because I will always have those beautiful memories.

I never knew a Christmas not spent in Indiana until 2006, my first married Christmas. John was about to deploy to Iraq so we chose to spend that year with his family. I can't deny that I was a bit sad not to be having my traditions that Christmas. Then the next year I would have gladly spent Christmas day in a cell as long as John could have been with me. He was still deployed and not even my family's traditions could help make me feel better. But little did I know, the next year I was going to be 8 months pregnant and living in Okinawa, Japan! Obviously, we were unable to travel back for Christmas. It was so very strange to both of us spending the day just the 2 of us with only 10 or so presents under the tree. We hardly knew what to do with ourselves! Haha. We were unable to make it back again this Christmas, but we have a bouncing, high energy, almost 11 month old to share it with this year, and we are SO excited to see him with all of his MANY MANY presents that we've been collecting at the post office over the past month. For the first time last night, I wrote on a gift tag, "From Santa Clause". Boy was that a strange feeling! But I'm sure I'll be doing it for many years to come!

I don't know where we'll be next year, or the next, or the next. Being in the military, it's kinda hard to plan these things. I would like to think that I most certainly will be going back to Indiana to spend Christmas with my extended family once again and share our traditions with Izaak and my future kids. Of course I miss my family and our traditions at this time of year, but for now, I want to make sure that John and I start some of our own traditions that our kids, grandkids and maybe even great grandkids will always have fond memories of just like my Nana and Grandad did for us. I found this quote that I really liked and it really kinda fits my life right now, so I'll leave you with that. Merry Christmas everyone!! Be sure to make lots of good memories this year, wherever you are and whoever you're spending it with.

"Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag." ~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn

P.S. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures with me here in Japan of Christmas in the old days, but I will leave you with some much cuter pictures and my reason for looking forward to many more Christmases wherever they may be spent!

Pets Only

This week at I ♥ Faces, the theme is "Pets Only" (no people faces allowed). Well, since we moved to Japan, we had to leave our kitties behind and we only have fish here. So I decided to go with this cute little guy from the zoo. I LOVE elephants and think it would be super cool to have a pet elephant!

Sweet Dreams

I wasn't sure what picture I was going to choose for this week's theme at I ♥ Faces. I had to dig through some from several months ago and found this one that I love! Izaak was about 2 or 3 months old here and wearing the onesie I made him at my baby shower before he was born.

Video Post

This video was back in October. It's just taken me this long to post it! But it's so cute! I wanted the grandparents to see it!



And this video was taken today (on his 10 month birthday!)

I Heart Tooshies

Everyone loves a baby butt. I have so many pictures of Izaak's cute little hiney, but this is one of my most recent favorites. And hey, it has a puppy dog face too! Go on over to I ♥ Faces to check out more tooshies!

Sun Flare

This week's theme at I ♥ Faces is "Sun Flare". It made me think of my first real photo shoot a few months ago. This lovely couple were just weeks away from meeting their baby girl and they were SO much fun to shoot! We happened to catch the sunset that evening and I got this picture of M and E having fun being in love and laughing about their bundle on the way!

Autumn Beauty

This week at I ♥ Faces, the theme is Autumn Beauty. Well, living on a tropical island you don't get to see many trees covered in oranges, reds and yellows or children playing in piles of brilliantly colored leaves. Mostly there are palm trees and children playing in the sea. :) I do miss this season back home in North Carolina and look forward to seeing it again one day. So for this challenge, I chose to use a picture that had a fall color in it instead. I took this when Izaak was about 6 months old. It's one of my faves.

Big Red Balloon

I have been having so much fun entering the weekly photo contest over at I heart faces! If you haven't checked it out yet, you should! So this week's theme is balloons. Izaak, my 9 month old, has never been around balloons before until this morning. I had some red balloons so I tried blowing one up and seeing what his reaction was. He was mesmerized. And then I bomped him on the head with it which he thought was HYSTERICAL!! He and I played in the kitchen floor with this balloon, just laughing and laughing for about 15 minutes. I really had him going! He was even getting tears in his eyes! I wish somebody had been there to video tape us! Anyway, here he is with his big red balloon making a funny face!

Life According To Plan

I am a planner. I have always been a planner. Since I was a young girl, I have had my whole life planned out. My life was going to start at a Christian University. I was accepted to Harding. CHECK! I'm on my way! I was going to be a nurse. Well...ok that didn't exactly work out. But what to do now? Oh nevermind the career, I just want my MRS degree anyway! Find that one special guy that God has in store for me at Harding University. The one who wants to be an Orthodontist. Someone tall who likes basketball. The one who can stand in front of a huge crowd and give an elegant lesson from the pulpit when needed. The one who wants 3 kids just like me. The one who is outgoing so that I don't have to do all the talking all the time. Um...God? Where is Mr. Right Now? After 2 years with no guy and still no direction as to what I should be doing with my life...my family was pleading with me to go back to my first love. Nursing. I was only able to be persuaded by my family's VERY direct, in your face, loud, pushy, driven, smart, exchange student (my second brother) who finally had me convinced it was the right thing to do. OK OK I'll do it! So I packed up and left Harding....without the guy. :(

Fast forward about a year. Living at home with mom and dad. Working girl. Student. No friends. Depressed. Did I make the wrong decision to leave Harding? I miss everything about it. My life is NOT going as planned. Bored one night. Need someone to talk to. Join a Christian dating site on line just for the heck of it. Don't want a boyfriend. Don't want to get married anymore. Definitely don't want to meet someone on the internet! (Can you imagine how you'd answer that question later on when someone asks, "So how did y'all meet?" Embarrassing!!) Just need some company. Weeks of weirdos. Get on to cancel my subscription. This is stupid. Someone sends me a message and wants to chat. A 19 year old (I was 21 at the time)....5'7" (my height.)......US Marine....BAHAHA! No thanks kid! Under age, under height, devil dog. ....6 months later that kid put a ring on my finger.



7 months later we said "I do".


8 months later I kissed him goodbye and put him on a bus headed for Iraq, not knowing if I would ever see him again.


13 months later I was throwing my arms around him welcoming him home!!

4 months later, I showed him the stick with the 2 pink lines and told him he was going to be a daddy!

6 months later my Marine moves me across the world to JAPAN where we will be for the next several years.
3 months later I give birth to our little boy.


9 months later I'm writing this with tears streaming down my face because my life HAS NOT GONE ACCORDING TO PLAN!! And I now thank God for that Every. Single. Day. My life could not be more wonderful!

My Marine is my hero; my prince charming. He's not the tall basketball player I had always dreamed about. He's not the outgoing man who likes to speak in front of a crowd. He wants more than 3 kids! And he doesn't get payed hundreds of thousands to fix teeth. But instead he gets the honor and privilege to serve God while serving his country every day. And he is a WONDERFUL husband and father who loves me and our baby boy so much!

My son is my world. He is the most beautiful, wonderful thing I've ever been apart of and I cannot imagine my life without him.
I live on a gorgeous, tropical island with the most wonderful Japanese people. I'm surrounded by friends that God has sent to me. I have an awesome church family. I AM SO BLESSED! Is my life perfect? Of course not. Life is not a bed of roses, as they say. And for that I am thankful. It helps me to strive for perfect which of course will only be found in Heaven with Jesus. Did I get that nursing degree? No. But who knows? Maybe I will go back to school one day. Right now I'm working 24/7 as a mommy. THE most important job I could ever have! Is being a mommy exhausting and hard work? YOU BET! And I only have 1 so far! Does my marriage have struggles? Absolutely. What marriage doesn't? But we work through our problems when they arise which only brings us closer together. Do I get really frustrated sometimes because being in the military means you have no idea what you'll be doing or where you'll be going the next 15 years?! Haha, yes! But I'm so happy that I'm not "settled" in the place I will live forever at the age of 25! I get to explore, make new friends, have several homes to decorate, and teach my children the importance of being grounded in faith instead of having roots in one place. And yeah, I worry sometimes that John will be re-deployed several times during the remainder of his career. But I know that God will be with him and with me and our children and everything will be OK. So now I want to leave you with a challenge. Have you taken a step back and looked at your life recently? Can you see how God worked in it even when it wasn't according to your plan? Are you allowing him to shape and mold you into the person he wants you to be now? You may be in a rut. Been there done that. And usually it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But just know that God is doing something wonderful. Let him. And try not to fight him. Just wait. Pray that you will have patience and that he will teach you something valuable. There is something so much more beautiful that God has in store for you. Or maybe he has already given you the beautiful and you have just been too busy being upset that it's not YOUR plan. I hope that you can sit down with a warm cup of humility and gratitude and take a few minutes to thank God for what he has blessed you with, for the challenges he has put in front of you, for the way he is growing you, for the person he is making you, and for the future he has planned for you.

Halloween Dress Up

This week at I ♥ Faces the theme is Halloween Dress Up. This is my very first Halloween as a mommy and I was so excited to find Izaak's first Halloween costume! Being overseas on a very tiny island with only the PX to shop at, there aren't many choices. So I scoured the internet to find the perfect 1st costume for my baby boy. It was a hard decision but I just fell in love with this sweet dragon costume! It's going to be a little warm for him to wear Saturday seeing as how it's still in the 80's here on Okinawa, but he will be the cutest little stifling hot dragon on the whole island!! :)

He was checking out his cool new dragon claws!

Little man is getting big!

Z discovered that he could go in the kitchen with his walker AND that he could open mommy's drawers!!



My little grumpy head.



He's a stander now!

EXCITED!!

Well I have a couple of friends who have been entering a photo contest every week and I've decided to join in the fun! So this week over at I ♥ Faces, the theme is EXCITED! I immediately thought of this picture that I took of Izaak a few weeks ago. He was watching his daddy play the Play Station and wanted to join in on the fun so bad! So daddy gave him his very own controller and he was so excited he couldn't contain himself!!

Labor Day Weekend

Well I know this is from 2 weekends ago, but I'm just getting around to posting about it. And I've been working for DAYS on this one post. I tried to upload a video from the beach and it just wouldn't work. John's stupid computer keeps erasing all the pics I've put up here. I'm really frustrated right about now! Haha! Anyway, we had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! It's always so much fun when John has a 96! (For those of you non-military, a 96 is a 4 day holiday). He got Sat, Sun, Mon and Tue off.

So on Friday night we went out to a great restaurant called Four Seasons.
It's Teppanyaki style and this one uses TONS of garlic! Mmmm.

Izaak looks like he has a noodle or something in his mouth.
I have no idea what that is! Haha. But he is
intently watching that cook.


On Saturday we went to Kadena Marina. It's pretty much just a beach. But it was very nice. John went "fishing" with some of our friends. By fishing I mean, they bought equipment so they could go catch their own fish, crabs, snails and coral for their salt water tanks. I'm pretty sure that's illegal but they say it isn't. Ah well. My friend M and I stayed under a pavilion so our little boys wouldn't get too much sun. It was hot! You know what's amazing...it is now SEPTEMBER, I live on a TROPICAL ISLAND and do I have a tan?? NO!! This is the first summer probably ever in my life that I haven't gotten a tan. You know what that makes me? A mom to a little one! :) And of course I wouldn't change it. But I do miss my glowing summer skin.





Sunday of course was church, commissary, and relax day.

Monday we finally made it to Okinawa World! I've been wanting to go there forever. It was ok. We had to rush through part of it because we had to get back home at a certain time. It had some of the Okinawan culture like the glass blowing, sake brewing, tropical fruit tasting type stuff. There was a also a neat cave we got to walk through. I think we were kinda exhausted because we got lost and it took us almost 3 HOURS to find the place! Then it only took an hour to get home once we knew where we were going. Hehe. Here are some pics from that day.

They had a Habu Snake show
(Habu's are prevalent in Okinawa)


Here are John and Izaak in the cave




Izaak loved sharing daddy's mango ice cream!


Mrs. and Mr. Shisa :)


Blown glass store


Making Habu Sake


On Tuesday evening we went to American village with the S family (the same friends we went to Okinawa World with) for some delicious Thai food! This was mine and John's first experience with Thai food and it was a good one!!

Pretty wall mural

Overlooking American Village

A lot of the menus here have pictures showing you each dish.
It's kinda neat but not always appetizing.
I have no idea how to pronounce the name of this dish
but it was something with pork and it was DELISH!

This is Thai milk tea. With enough sugar syrup it was
pretty good!


What a GREAT weekend we had and now I can't wait for
the next 96!!