Sunday July 24th, 2011

Today nicole and I are going to church or ( Jesus's house) as Nicole likes to call it. Everynight before we go to bed on Saturday I say tomorrow morning we are going to Jesus's house. So when Sunday morning rolls around, usually very early, Nicole comes into my room stand's by my bed and says "mommy you need to wake up and get dressed for Jesus's house". I love that she likes to go to church. She loves the children's program that Savannah Christian provides and usually comes out with some useful bit of information like "God made ev-a-r-y fing!" (everything!) then all the way home she names the things he made like apples, trees, rain, dogs.... the list goes on.
I try to explain to her some concepts like heaven and Jesus saved us and things like that. I think she gets it :) She knows that my mom's dog Jack that died two months ago is in heaven and that he was there when our family friend Karyl passed earlier in the month. The thought of Karyl walking into heaven and having a slobbery bird dog greet her made me laugh. Karyl wasnt very fond of dog's and when they would jump on her she would put her hands up and say "eeewww!" She knows that daddie's nama (cooley) is in heaven as well as my great grandma muffin. It's a big beautiful welcoming party there :)
Anyway, back to church. Nicole dressed herself this morning and came out in a orange halloween shirt with a sparkly witch that says "daddy is under my spell" and a blue pair of shorts with a flower print. She was so excited that picked this outfit out herself that it's going to be sad when I have to change her before we leave.
Usually at church I try to pray about everything and everyone I can think of. I think today I am genuinely going to thank god for all of the wonderful blessings he has put upon us. I am going to thank him that he blessed me with a wonderful family, extended, immediate, and by marriage. That he blessed me with a beautiful daughter and a new baby boy. An amazing husband who does everything he can to provide for the three of us including risking his life everyday for a good part of the year, and giving up precious time with us to do it. When he is here he is helpful, and caring, and an amazing daddy ( which was always top on my wishlist for a mate when I grew up.) Thank you god for giving us a warm dry place to lay our head everynight, the financial means to have it, and the ability to sleep at night without worrying about how to keep it there.
Thank you for my health and energy to accomplish the things I do, and the wisdom to attain an education all at the same time. But most of all thank you for giving me the hope and ability to put my trust in you when I couldnt see where my life was going or what an outcome was going to be. Everything in life so far has led me to this point, from joining the military to getting married (very quickly:) ) to having Nicole (again very quickly :) ) to getting out of the military to making it through our first deployment to the second, then third, now finishing up our fourth.... phew!
Amen.