His Grad Packet came!! And I'm proud of my progress!! :)

So, I finally got Tyler's graduation packet in the mail!!!! I was sooo excited! I had the letter with the directions/instruction on it that I have to present when I get there to get in. Cool beans huh?
So I made reservations for a cheap inn that's 1/2 mile away from the base and made reservations for a car, too. I am still waiting to hear if I can take him to AIT or not before I can purchase plane tickets. I'm not sure how to do it with military discounts for my daughters and I and one civi one for maybe my little brother and get us on the same flight and into seats next to each other. argh! Hopefully I can call someone to figure that nonsense out lol.
So I am really proud of myself! Satan, or to be more "politically correct", the Adversary, has been throwing some major curve-balls at me, and it's been through many different sources, and I have come out on top! The most hurtful ones that have thrown me for complete loops have been through people who THINK they are being helpful when in fact they are being extremely detrimental to my happiness and progress; they are completely not supportive yet do not see themselves as being such. Their demeaning, negative, berating comments to me have left me completely stunned and shocked and deeply hurt. They might as well gut me and stomp on my guts and call me the biggest loser that ever slimed across the earth because I don't act the way THEY think I should be, or at least they ASSUME I'm acting a certain way when I'm not. 
I know I'm not making much sense there. I'm trying to be as vague as possible so that I don't give away who these people are or exactly what they said to me. Let's just say that they've been listening to the wrong source and they really and truly believe they were listening to the good source, or the Spirit of God. They were not. And I know this. The Spirit has born witness to me of this and has blessed me with a huge amount of strength and perseverance and peace, and even a little numbness to get past these negative influences in my life. These experiences have been very painful and like a huge big neon sign saying "here are your TRUE friends that LOVE you unconditionally and have Christ-like love and compassion and charity for you, despite your weaknesses, and here are those who are not!". And also through this some of my very best friends have come forward! They have followed promptings from the Spirit which have lead them to help me in many different ways. These people have been friends, acquaintances, and relatives alike. Thank you so much for your angelic support! Your love, acceptance, and willingness to help and support me and my family has been a great blessing to us! I know God will bless you for your efforts!!
Anyway, so I'm proud of myself for doing as well as I have been considering everything we've been through lately. Sophie's badly broken foot, her hand being smashed (almost broke her fingers), my health problems that landed me in the ER and have been hard to deal with since, and more I cannot mention here.
I also have stuck strictly to my diet. I have not wavered one bit. No cheating at all!! I feel really good about myself because of this. I have found such inner strength that I forgot I had! I have lost about 40 lbs now altogether! Not bad huh? I've dropped 4 sizes! I work out twice a week at least, also.
I have been able to attend the Temple, go to church every week (even when I am sick), read the scriptures, pray, clean some of the house hahaha, take care of my beautiful daughters, and have been starting to organize some things that have needed attention for some time now.
I am so very grateful for all the many blessings that I have in my life!! I know that the Lord is blessing Tyler and I for our faithfulness throughout all the trials we have had to go through. We are still being tried, but our Heavenly Father has made our burdens seem light, and we can more clearly see blessings now than before. I am extremely grateful for a steady income, NO chance of Tyler losing his job! And for benefits we so greatly needed. I am grateful for this awesome opportunity that my family has to be our own family unit when we move to wherever the Lord (through the Army) takes us. 
This has been VERY hard. One of the absolute hardest things I have ever had to do! And I cry for my babies and my husband. But I know that the Lord is mindful of me and my family and that He is taking very good care of us! 
Speaking of sad things. Just two things I'll mention here about the girls.
Lacie cried for TEN MINUTES in school today while her class made Father's Day cards. She then sang for her a class a song about daddy that she made up. Her teacher said it was very sweet and touching. My poor little Lacie!! She can't forget saying goodbye to daddy in the hotel the last night we saw him. She can't get over that. But I'm very glad that she can cry about it. She feels much better afterwards.
Sophie got all dressed up today and came up to me and said "I am ready to go see daddy now. Let's go get in the airplane". She was ready to go! She got her shoes on that she said daddy said she could wear, got her coat, and went to the front door and opened it. Broke my heart!!! She then called grandma Pearson and told her that we are going to the airplane now to go see daddy. My poor little girls!
I try my best to keep a good attitude, a happy face, and not get depressed in front of the girls. I do very well at this I think. At least I give it my very best. I talk to the girls about what daddy is doing and that he loves them and misses them and wants to be with them so much, but he has to work so hard for us and I tell them that daddy is a real hero and is a real man and is a very good man and we are so lucky to have him to take such good care of us and that we'll see him soon. They tell people now that daddy is a good man and a hero. It's so cute!!
Okay, this is getting really long and it's now 2:45 am. I wish I could sleep at night! I need a new CPAP face mask and a new mattress!! LOL
Thanks to everyone for your love, help, prayers, support, compassion, encouragement, charity, and so forth! We need it and we appreciate it so much! Know that whatever efforts you make in our behalf you are blessed for! They do not go unnoticed!! Also, whatever you do for the "least of these" you've done it unto God. Don't forget that!
We love you!!!

Married To A Hero

So what would you do if you were married to a hero?
Well, I don't know what you would do but I know what I would do.

My husband has this hero mentality. He's a true hero at heart. If there were such things as Super Heroes then he would certainly be one.

I noticed this quality in him when we first started to "hang-out" together before we got engaged or married. I was having an especially hard day and all my friends had left my apartment and I was left home alone crying in my room. I finally got over myself and decided to go outside for some fresh air when I opened the back/side door and there sat my future husband on the step waiting for me. I was totally take off-guard. He'd never seen me cry before first of all, but the fact that he'd stayed behind for me instead of running off with all our 20 or so friends really impressed me, and quite frankly, surprised the heck out of me. Nobody had ever done that for me before (besides my own mother lol). He stood up and turned around and looked me in the eyes, saw that I had been crying which I had attempted to hide unsuccessfully and took me in his arms and just held me. It was the best feeling I'd had in a very long time to know that he cared for me that much. That's when I knew he was "my type". I love the hero types!

After we'd been married not even a year we welcomed our first baby into our lives. Instead of doing what comes so naturally to many men and run off to work or to hang out with buddies he instead stayed home with me for an entire week, changing baby Lacie's diapers, making me food, cleaning the dishes and laundry, and holding me when my post-partum depression kicked in. He was, again, my hero.

About one year later or so we were walking in the parking lot towards the big ol' Walmart when we noticed an elderly woman in one of those motorized shopping carts struggle to get out of her cart and to her car. She had a basket full of groceries besides this and we had no idea how she planned on getting those into her car when she herself could not even walk. Without hesitation my dear husband rushed to her aid. He took her elbow in one hand and held onto her other hand, helping her into her car. Then she popped the trunk and he unloaded all of the groceries into her trunk, shut it, and waved her a goodbye. "I wish there were more young men like you!" she called after him. We did too.

He's done this exact type of things countless times since then. I've lost count, now. It seems that we see people needing help all the time and very rarely do we see anybody rushing, or even moseying over to help them. It's disappointing to say the least.

Being the hero-type that Tyler is, he wanted to serve our community so he tried for the Police Academy and the Sheriff's Department. He, unfortunately for one reason or another couldn't or didn't make it. But he didn't quit there. He was bound and determined to be a hero.
He decided he wanted to be a nurse or doctor or EMT so he took medical classes at a college, acing his way through them because of course they come naturally to him. He then took an EMT course and got certified.
He's always looking out for opportunities to help somebody. We've stopped many times when there's been an accident to help those involved and he's wished he's had a medical kit with him in the trunk.

Now, my dear hero, is going beyond what even I expected him to do. He's enlisted in the U.S. Army to be Active Duty. He wants to serve our country; fight for freedom and the constitution.

What better heroes are there out there than those that give up their very lives to fight for our freedoms and our families, our land, and our lives?

So, what would you do if you were married to a hero like I am?
Well, here's what I do.
I pray to my Heavenly Father every day, thanking him for sending me my hero to be my husband and the father of my children. I give him kisses and hugs, thanking him every day for what he does for us, and I love him with all my heart and do my very best every day to make him happy in return.
I mean, really, there's no way to repay a hero what he/she deserves after all that they do and sacrifice, is there?

I love being married to a hero! I can always count on being taken care of no matter what and I know my children are the luckiest kids around to have such a man in their lives.

Thank you, Tyler, for being my hero, and now the hero to millions!

Reminiscing

So tonight I wen to the store to buy my grandmother-in-law's birthday card and while I was there, all alone just like I wanted, I heard this lady loudly speaking in Spanish on her cell phone. At first I just tried to ignore her cuz it seems lots of Latin people do this haha. But as I got into line to wait to buy the card and she came up behind me, still on the phone, I picked up her Spanish accent to be one from Buenos Aires, Argentina.Well, then I rudely listened in on her conversation. Not interested in what she was discussing over the phone, but in her ACCENT!!You see, I served a mission there, in Buenos Aires. One of the very best things I've EVER done in my life. So, I just relished her accent. Purely Buenos Aires!!! They have a very super distinct accent, different than any other place on the earth. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I hate regular ol' Spanish, but Castellano, as it's called, is wonderful, and the Portenos speak it very musically and animated-like. It's so cool!!Actually, while I stood there listening to her I was taken back to my time spent in Argentina. I remember people there and places I'd been to. Then I realized tears had come to my eyes.I miss that place!I miss those people!!!!!Wow my heart just wanted to be back there so much!Hey!! I just remembered that song! "Don't cry for me Argentina" hahahaha. Anyway, I'd do almost anything to go back there and bring at least Tyler, if not my entire little family. It would be awesome to take my parent there, too.I'm so grateful for that opportunity and huge sacrifice I made to go on an LDS mission!!!! I wouldn't trade it for anything, seriously.Since my mission I've dreamt of serving more missions. Weird, eh? I guess I loved it that much. It was VERY hard and I was super happy to be home, but it was the best thing I did and I had lots of success and learned sooooooo much!"Don't cry for me, Argentina" should be "Don't cry for Argentina, Lisa". hahaha