100% down on a house

It is official My husband and I are homeowners! God has been way too good to us! Chris has voluntarily separated from the Air Force as of October 1, and God led our final PCS to Springfield, Missouri. The Lord really put it on my husband's heart to pay for a home in cash. I was at first resistant because I thought in our price range we would need a fixer upper. I am so glad we did not take out a mortgage! I love our new home so much. We found the home and 10 days later we closed and moved in! Paying with cash has some serious benefits, closing cost were only $400 ,we got 8% off the asking price, and we don't have to worry about forclosure ever! We even had enough left over in our house budget for brand new appliances!

Our reunion Story !

It is Thursday and I am Still busy thanking God for bringing Chris home from Afghanistan safe on Tuesday night! We were so excited for him to be coming home and arriving at an airport only an hour away from home. I bought Rachel a patriotic dress and hair bow, the boys wore red shirts and blue jeans, I bought a blue top, red head band and borrowed a white skirt from my sister. We made signs and brought American flags. We were ready. Camara charged, and left home 2 hours early. We got there and of course the plane had been delayed by about 2 hours. The staff at the USO was great we played in the play room, ate cup of noodles, girl scout cookies, and candy. It was getting close to his arrival and we got word that the plane had landed. We headed out to the terminal and I realized my camara was not working!!! Then Noah said he had to potty (too much Sunny D at the USO). I can just imagine what my face looked like at this point. First things first I went to take Noah to the potty back in the USO. Now onto my biggest problem no camara!!! I tried pulling the lens out with my teeth didn't work too well. I remembered passing by a very strange vending machine. It was a vending machine made by Best Buy and had nintendo video games, gps's, and of course camaras!! The problem was the cheapest camara in there was $179.99. I stood there for a minute and contemplated...Would I pay $179.99 for a picture of my children welcoming their daddy home from Afghanistan? My answer: priceless!! So I swiped my debit card and the camara came out of the shoot like a box of candy! I opened it up and put the battery in of course it didn't work b/c it was not charged. I began to scour the airport for an outlet I found one not too far from the terminal and charged it up. Then after much waiting and waiting about 20 people came out of the double doors at about 2-5 minutes apart before my husband came out. Then finally he came out. I saw him looking confused b/c Operation Welcome Home was there clapping and ringing bells and shaking hands with the service members as they came out. Very nice of them to do but I know my husband and he was not looking for any celebration from random patriots he wanted to see us =) So we walked over and exchanged kisses =) He is in Missouri now doing in processing stuff and then Lord willing he will be back here in Va in a few days!

Bouncing Back after Baby

I feel like I have been eternally pregnant here lately and my body does not know what normal is supposed to be. I have been pregnant and or breastfeeding non stop since June 2005. I know alot of ladies that have more children than me and even closer together so I am not conplaining or making an excuse here...I mean look at Michelle Duggar that lady has 20 kids I think and looks better than some people who never had any kids! When I got married I was about 145lbs. That is what I would say is normal. I am 5'6. After I had Christian I was about 165lbs. That felt a little uncomfortable to me and none of the weight ever came off only more came on. When Christian was 6 month old or so I got pregnant with Noah. Chris deployed when I was 7 months pregnant with Noah and I went to live with Charlotte and ate chocolate every day and would walk through the kitchen to use the bathroom everynight when I woke up to use the bathroom. I think I was close to 200lbs. After I had Noah I was holding steady at 176lbs. This weight also did not come off. I was going on walks doing tae bo eating home made meals with organic meats....Then I read a book called Gods Way to Ultimate Health by George Malkmus. It seems a bit crazy this guy ate only raw fruits and vegetables and juiced them as well for a year and healed his colon cancer. I thought I would give it a try. I lost 40lbs in 3 months and did put any back on until I got pregnant again. I was able to stay under 135lbs I couldn't believe it, I felt so much better and became more active. Joshua's pregnancy was pretty good I got to about 167lbs. After I had him it took about 9 months to loose the weight by just continuing with juicing and trying to add as many raw fruits and veggies in when ever possible and limiting animal products. Rachel's pregnancy was almost the same. She is 5 months old now and I have 10 more pounds to loose. Eating healthy is not a diet it is something that you must do to live a good life. On a typical day I will try and make carrot juice with something green in it too. Have oatmeal or cereal or yogurt and granola. Eat atleast one really big mega salad with spinach leaves. Eat some brown rice/quinoa some samon or lentils, and lots of fruits. There is always junk food around me. I cave in almost always, that is one area I really need to give over to the Lord I know sugar is terrible for your body. I feel like the apostle Paul when he said for the will is present with me but how to perform that whick is good I find not. Today we went to Trader Joes and I bought some chocolate covered almond clusters. I love Trader Joes' constant supply of organic produce but seriously think it would help if they got rid of all those good looking sweets! Lord willing I will be somewhere around 135 when Chris comes home in a few weeks!!!

Northern Virginia Driver Strikes at Last!

Well within the first few hours of being here in Northern Virginia we noticed that there was a bit of an impatient spirit haunting the roads. I think someone beeped at us at least once a day to tell us to pick up the pace. Parking lots are a fight for the best spot and people will run you over with your baby in your arms to make sure they get the best spot even though they are young and healthy with no kids and could have parked a little further away. I was just saying to myself I cannot believe we have been here for almost a year without some one crashing into us. I spoke too soon because after leaving Target with some friends I came back to my car to find a note on it. The note explained how sorry someone was for their accident of scraping the side of my car. As I was buckling the kids in the lady pulled up next to me and gave me her insurance info and kept asking about someone calling the police on her after she hit the van. God must have been watching out for us because all of my friends were in the store with me when it happened. I don't know if she would have been so kind as to leave her info if someone hadn't stopped and written her license plates down. Well anyway, I remained calm and was not even upset really. I figured I should go ahead and get it fixed as my friends advised incase we wanted to resell it oneday. So I went ahead and had it fixed, I got to ride around in a 2011 mini van for a few days, they cleaned and waxed the car and the car looks better than it did when I dropped it off! Plus they gave me a $50 check for the scratch on the black rubber part on the side of the van that you can't even notice! God is in control of every situation and I am thankful no one was hurt and everything worked out the way it did =)

Adventures on Craigslist

So, I know it seems like we just moved and it is almost time to move .......again. We have moved 10 times in 6 years...yes that is right 10 times...No I am not exagerating in the least. Move #1We moved from Lackland AFB to a one bedroom in Las Vegas #2then moved to a 2 bedroom since I was pregnant with Christian, #3 then moved to Charlotte's house during Chris deployment to Quatar #4 then moved to a condo in North Las Vegas #5 then moved to base housing at Whiteman AFB #6 then moved to a townhouse off base in Warrensburg, Missouri, #7 then moved to Norfolk with my sister while Chris was going to Iraq, #8 then moved to Hampton VA with my sister while Chris was still gone, #9 then moved to Base housing again in Missouri, #10 then we moved here to Springfield, Virginia. Phew makes me tired just thinking about all those moves.....Anyway, I am trying again to declutter the house in preparation for yet another move and make some cash in the process to beef up our savings in preparation for Chris' upcoming career change........which we are still not sure of what that will be. I found a good amount of stuff not needed anymore......Chris gave me some pretty high value stuff to sell...His old google phone and weights were big ticket items and so far this month we have made $259 on craigslist. I have met some interesting people and got to hand out some gospel tracts to some people in need of a savior =) So it really is an all around win win win situation posting things on craigslist : Decluttering, making money, and sharing the gospel!

He's Here......He's Gone....

My how the time goes by. Chris came home for 16 days and has already been gone for 3 days.So thankful that he was able to hold his little girl at last. I am so thankful for the time that the Lord gave us to be together; without Chris having to go to work, and nothing to worry about but how we were going to spend time together for the day. So thankful for how God has kept him safe while he was in Afghanistan and how God has kept me sane in 8 months away from him with 4 kids. We made so many memories in the short time he was here, we went out to eat ....alot, went to the movies, Chuck e Cheese, a birthday day party, threw Christian and Joshua a birthday party, had lunch at the Pastors house, went on a run together, and most importantly studied God's word and prayed together. I miss him terribly but have to admit I actually only cried for about 2 seconds when we dropped him off at the airport. I was able to hold it together knowing there were some people starring at us......and that his deployment is 3/4 of the way done and that God is in Control. God uses Chris' deployments for some serious character and strength building for me, and I have seen my sisters get saved at our awesome church her in Virginia. For that I am thankful for his deployment.

She's Here! (Rachel Anne Logan's Birth Story)

It all started on Wednesday February 9th around 5:30am, I was woken up by an all too familiar feeling of water leaking. I stood up and went to the bathroom and sure enough it was amniotic fluid coming out in small gushes. Most people would probably think it is time to go to the hospital. I was thinking at this time....sure wish I would have paid $4,000 and got that homebirth midwife. Why ? Well the last two children decided to arrive into this world 17 hours and 2.5 days after my water broke. I made the mistake of going to the hospital right after my water broke and the whole time I was harrassed about getting pitocin from about 30 minutes after getting to the hospial and not making any "progress" (cervex dialating). Then they want to hook you up to the fetal monitor and get mad at you when you move and the monitor moves out of place. These monitors are the worst at picking up contractions for me anyway they are seldom accurate and just annoying! Then they want to "help" you along with some pitocin. Oh how they tell you pitocin is just so natural and something your body makes anyway and has no side effects. Well I happen to believe pitocin has some serious side effects on mom and baby. Then they want to start pumping antibiotics into your bloodstream in case of infection. Then they cut your meals off and tell you not to eat anything but crushed ice and broth. When you refuse their "help" then they are offended and start telling you that you and the baby are going to die if you don't do "something" (take their drugs). Knowing all this, I decided to stay home til any painful contractions started. Nothing happened for the first day and I went to bed and woke up the next day...still nothing. My friend from church brought over an electric breast pump to help my body make some oxytocin. I used this took a nap and then used it again after the nap. My body did start making contractions after the pump and then didn't stop. I needed to shower first and make dinner. Then my sisters came over and needed help on their homework. I realized I could not finish dinner or help them on their homework and so I took my shower and got the bags ready for the hospital. My mom met us at my house and my sister drove my van and followed my friend from church to the hospital. It was rush hour so we didn't get on the highway and it took about a half hour to get to the hospital, I walked up to labor and delivery and went to the exam room, I was 10 centimeters dialated already and then they wheel chaired me over to the labor and delivery room. Rachel was born about 5 minutes later. Her cord was around her neck twice and she was purple when they handed her to me. This accompanied with the nurse yapping in my ear about why I should have been at the hospital as soon as my water broke caused my blood pressure to go up a little but other than that everything went very well =)Praise God for a Natural Drug Free childbirth =)