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Category Archives: daddy

my veteran

daddy, holiday, military November 11, 2014 Leave a comment

When Chris returned from his last deployment, a friend of ours came to photograph the reunion at the airport. It had been six months since the kids had seen him, Jonah didn’t really remember him since he was a little over a year when he left. These pictures of Parker are the ones that really stood out to me. While Theodore, Katie and Foster had run to Chris and bear hugged him, Parker clung behind me and Chris had to convince him to come and give him a hug. He was 3 and a half years old, so 6 months without Chris had seemed like a lifetime.

My husband recently celebrated his 15th year in the Air National Guard. He’s deployed out of country several times and had many weeks and countless weekends away from us and from his extended family. He’s missed birthdays and holidays and graduations. But I don’t think it’s the big things that are the hardest on the men and women who have to be separated from their homes and families, from their jobs and churches, from their own world, I think it’s the little things.

Daddies (and mommies) are supposed to be there when their children go to bed, when they get sick or when they win a board game, when they finally get that book read or that puzzle built. They are supposed to be there for skinned knees and hurt feelings, for when little guys are brave enough to ride without training wheels and can write their name without help.

Daddies aren’t supposed to have to convince their little boys that it’s safe to come and give them a hug.

So to all the veterans out there who have missed the little things for days, months or even years. Thank you so much for ALL that you sacrifice.

spring 2014

daddy, field trip, Foster, gratitude, holiday, homeschooling, Jonah, Katie, memories, motherhood, Parker, potty-training, priorities, siblings, sports, Theodore, Toddlers August 18, 2014 Leave a comment

family day at the airbase 2013

daddy, Foster, Jonah, Katie, military, Parker, Theodore September 17, 2013 Leave a comment

dove huntin’ 2013

daddy, Foster, hunting, Jonah, Katie, Parker, Theodore September 17, 2013 Leave a comment

That little guy didn’t go…but hopefully next year!

first day of school 2013-2014

daddy, Foster, homeschooling, Jonah, Katie, Parker, Theodore August 28, 2013 Comments: 2

Jonah Amos (1 year 23 months old)

Parker Elijah (4 years old)

Theodore Reece (6 years old)

Katie Belle (7 years 10 months old)

Foster Owen (9 years 6 months old)

Christopher Brent (33 years old, but still 4 years younger than me.)

reunited (and it feels so good)

daddy, Foster, gratitude, Jonah, Katie, memories, Parker, Theodore, vacation July 23, 2013 1 Comment

Yesterday Chris went back to work at his “real” job. That’s what we call Daddy’s civilian job. After he returned from 190 ish days out of the country, we desperately needed that time to adjust to being a family again.

Deployments effect everyone in the family differently. Each of the kids, Chris and I are all getting used to being together again. If your family has never gone through a long separation you could have the false impression that when you are together again it’s all celebration and fun. Most of the time though, the emotions are fluctuating and range from elation to confusion to frustration to joy.

What I feel, what my kids feel more than anything is relief and security. A family is meant to be together, separation for any reason feels chaotic and insecure.

I don’t have nearly enough pictures taken to chronicle the past month’s fun. I haven’t been grabbing my camera as often, or blogging. Hopefully, now that we are getting back to “normal” I’ll be able to spend time on those things.

a little boy’s sacrifice

daddy, military, Theodore June 12, 2013 Comments: 3

Theodore came to me late tonight. He was upset, crying. He looked at me with those big, blue eyes full of tears and said “Daddy didn’t get to see my last baseball game.”

I held him and we talked.

“Why did he have to go?” he asked me and I told him in a way he could understand.

He told me he understood. He said that he knew that Daddy was helping the Air Force to protect us.

“That’s important,” he said “because somebody has to protect us.”

top ten things I miss about my husband

daddy, marriage, Top Ten Tuesday January 22, 2013 Comments: 2

Deployments are hard. They are hard on the soldier, the spouse and the kids.

The top ten things I miss about my husband are:

His smiles. Plural. Because you know the one you love has so many different smiles. The smile for the kids when he is eating pretend cake. The smile for me when he says “dinner was great, really.” The genuine smile later when he says “well, it could have used a little more seasoning.” The smile of desire. The smile of teasing. The little smile that gives away his white lie.
His support. No marriage is perfect. No mate without blame or error. He may not always show it but when I need it, I know I have his support.
His sour attitude. Believe it or not, I miss being able to tease him out of a bad mood. I miss being able help him laugh it off. I miss being able to annoy him until he’s irritated at me instead of the situation that has him down.
His sincerity. I miss his intensity when it comes to things that matter. God, me, his children.
His strength. I can look at pictures of us when we were first dating and I remember those thoughts I had. Thoughts about how strong and tall he was. Eleven years later I know I was right, about his physical strength and his emotional strength. No hug feels like his.
His spiritual leadership. I don’t expect my husband to pave a walkway from me to God. To me that is not what spiritual leadership is. He leads by example, whether it’s raw honesty about spiritual struggles or sharing of joys and triumphs, he shows me his relationship with God is real.
His speaking to our kids. There are times when listening to Foster and his daddy talk about something is like watching a head-on collision. Neither of them are explaining well and neither are understanding the other. Most of the time, though, my husband delivers information to the kids in a way I never would have thought! He can remember and tell them all kind of facts from history, science, math or religion.
His spanking our kids! For some reason (he doesn’t have to give spankings very often) just the thought of one from daddy is enough to straighten you right up. However, saying “we’ll see what daddy has to say about it when he gets home at 5:30” is much more intimidating than “we’ll see what daddy has to say when he gets home from halfway across the world in 144 days.”
His sense of humor. You know how they say that after two people are together for so long they start to look alike? I think that’s true with their sense of humor, too. My husband is my buddy, we like to laugh together. We like to laugh at our kids, our families, sitcoms and ourselves. I just miss laughing with him.
His sharing. When you’re married you share just about everything. I miss sharing the bed with him. I miss sharing stories from our day. I miss sharing our burdens and dreams and hopes. We have email and Skype but it’s not the same. I miss the kind of sharing that happens when you sit with a cup of coffee or drive down the road together.

This post is linked up with Top Ten Tuesday.

Weekly Wrap-Up: Jan. 6 – 12

daddy, Jonah, Katie, Theodore January 12, 2013 1 Comment

We’ve had a full week! Keeping ourselves busy helps us deal with the big empty space in our family!

First, we baked some cupcakes to send to Daddy with our new cupcake maker. (Thanks Aunt Diane!)

I’m sure they won’t look like this when they get there, but the kids wanted to try it.

We just finished our second week back doing our school work and one of the biggest challenges is this little daredevil!

But he’s so stinking cute, it’s hard to stay frustrated for too long.

In addition to school work we had friends come over on Monday, a trip to the park with friends on Tuesday, gymnastics and church on Wednesday. Thursday, Foster had chess club and Cub Scouts and Katie had American Heritage Girls. Then I got to go out to eat with a friend! Friday we finished up school for the week, then dropped off Katie and Theodore for sleepovers. Katie stayed all night but Theodore ended up needing to come home, sad and scared at 10:30 pm. It’s really tough being 5.

It’s chaos but I’m thankful for it. Sometimes, though, I have to stop and contemplate the beauty of something God created so I can remember that he is here with me in the thick of it.

Go check out what kind of week some other cool bloggers have had here.

farewell 2012

daddy, Foster, GSMNP, holiday, Jonah, Katie, Parker, Theodore January 1, 2013 Comments: 3

I decided I would do something with the kids today that Chris would’ve wanted to do if he was here. So after a productive morning of school work, lunch and rest time, we headed to the GSMNP!

Our goal was to see snow (even from a distance) and wildlife. Well, that was mine, Foster, Katie and Theodore’s goal. Parker’s goal was to shoot and kill a snow monster and a sea monster.

We did see snow! Way up yonder! And we counted 66 deer. The best being the big buck that Foster took pictures of. He said it was an 8 pointer. I let him get out of the van and walk in close, he was so excited.

Foster chattered the whole time about his daddy. All the kids did, mentioning all the trips before when we had seen another big buck or the bear we had seen or all the turkey. It was a wonderful way to have them have a little daddy time today, without really being with daddy.

We picked up pizza on the way home and I had asked everyone to say “farewell 2012” before getting in bed. Mostly they just ignored me or didn’t cooperate. I know the day is soon coming when I hear “Mom you’re such a dork!” on a daily basis. For now though, I just threaten them to get them to let me take their picture. Especially that big one, he really doesn’t like his picture taken anymore.