Get in the Zone

Gabe is gone. It has been quite easy to do the big things: eat, run errands, etc. It is the little things which become nearly unbearable: taking out the laundry he loaded, putting away the quesadilla maker that he last used (I always tell him to put the dang thing away), listening to a radio program he loves... But I have been doing well. This is not my first rodeo; I know what to expect and how to cope. I know now that everything really truly

Our Life In Pencil

I have not wanted to write an update until things were absolutely certain, but I am afraid that our life thus far has proven to us that nothing is ever certain until after it happens. Since I do not want to be typing up this blog the day after my husband leaves (foggy and exhausted minds do not often produce coherent sentences) I will do it now with the disclaimer that it could all fall through and I will appear to be lying should someone read

Mema

Katie "Mema" Simpson

Sept. 14, 1910 - June 30, 2009

My great-grandmother on my father's side. I have only a few memories with her (all of them very special to me), but I know that she loved her family very much and that she is very much loved by her family. She was always a sincere joy to be around at family gatherings and I look forward to being with her in Heaven someday - THE family gathering. I feel so blessed to be a descendant of her, my Gramdaddy, my father... All, as far as I can tell, amazing people.

A Night of Retrospect

The pendant I wore almost every day while Gabe was deployed.
St. Michael, Patron Saint of Paratroopers

Gabe is camping tonight with the youth group. It is the first night in a very long time that we have spent apart. Driving up to Mt. Madonna I felt faintly a familiar anxiety over the short separation. What would be a trivial weekend event for most couples was a reminder to us of where we have been.

Missing Carolina

Let's see...
I miss the way the air smelled in Aberdeen. I miss my forest. I miss hearing bombs go off at random times and shaking the house. I miss having dear friends over for tri-tip. I miss going to the Walkers' house. I miss watching Samson play with Charlie and Angus. I miss hanging out at Beth's while Gabe was at work. I miss walking around downtown Southern Pines. I miss the rude customer service (but only slightly). I miss being an Army wife. I miss having lazy days with Sam. I miss the

Quote by C.S. Lewis

Just a Drop of Monterey... and Less than that of God's Love

The other day Gabe and I were made aware of a job fair in Monterey. So of course he wanted to go. I thought, "I have not been to Monterey for a while, maybe after the fair we can go to Cannery Row or something," and decided to accompony him.

A Different Kind of Anniversary

On March 16, 2008 Gabe came back from a 15 month deployment to Afghanistan. After an excruciating separation we finally became whole again. Little did we know that our battle wasn't over. We have fought - hard - for this marriage during the past 2 years. During the deployment and for a long while after we seemed to find ourselves trying to hurtle obstacle after obstacle. It was exhausting. I thought the hard part

Love is a Battlefield

Gabe and I are doing this Fireproof small group study. If you haven't seen the movie you should go rent it right away. No matter what your marital status it is a fantastic movie that speaks volumes to any heart.


Anyway we are on week one of a 6 week study about marriage and it has me thinking about things. When a

Valentine's Day 2009

Another special day! Gabe and I have not had a Valentine's Day together in 2 years and the one we did have together (which was the only in our 5 year relationship) was rather sad as he worked all day. So this year was especially importat to us. Gabe had a test to take for the CHP in the morning (which gave me time to clean and get pretty) and he returned with those roses and my favorite beverage from Starbucks (my man knows me)! It was so

Inauguration Day

Something I made with various photos I found online and
don't know where to credit... Sorry. 

Election day was exciting. For the first time our country elected a member of an ethnic minority as its President. I look forward to one day telling our children and our grandchildren that we were there, that we took part in history. Neither Gabe or I voted for Barack Obama (if you're curious we voted for Chuck Baldwin), but I cannot deny that I was proud

But Wait! There's more....

Gabe and I have a home! Well, we have an apartment which we will quickly make our home. We have been extremely grateful to the God who provides; grateful to the God who would not allow us to be homeless during this transition and put people in our lives to help us, but now we are overjoyed at the prospect of starting our life here in California. We have honestly no complaints. Even though it has been sort of a limbo kind of world for us since we left North Carolina in October (really longer than that because we had no idea when or if we

Some things I've learned from Samson

Happy New Year's

Gabe and I were reminiscing a little bit... We were talking about our first few months of marriage - how little we had and how even when all of our stuff got there we still didn't have much. And yet, without anything, we were happy. Even talking about it now we were laughing and smiling and hugging.


It got me thinking about our past New Year's...