Michael and I have been married eight years today. Today is also the 42nd anniversary of JFK's assassination, as a friend was so nice to remind me of earlier. Fortunately for us, our generation as a whole is too young to have "where were you when JFK was shot?" flashbacks so they are free to focus on celebrating our wedding anniversary. :)
This anniversary is an important one for us- not just because we can say that we have made it successfully and happily through almost 3000 days of married life but because we were actually in the same state, country and continent on this anniversary! This might not seem like that difficult of a feat to most of you but we have only been together on November 22 four times out of eight. On our first anniversary, he had just left Mississipi where we were living to go ahead to Bristol to start a job here and I didn't move until the first weekend in December. We were together on our second anniversary and we ate dinner at KP Duty in downtown Bristol, ( where Michael would tell you we paid "alot of money for a little piece of meat!"- but it was good! :) On our third anniversary, he was in Basic Training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. On our fourth anniversary, he was in Germany and I was here in Bristol. We were together on our fifth anniversary and we went to a nice German restaurant in a hotel near our neighborhood in Bamberg. We were together on our sixth anniversary as well and we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Bamberg. (Yes, there are Italian restaurants in Germany.) That anniversary was hard because we had just received the news about the Stop Loss which would send Michael to Iraq. And last year, our seventh anniversary, Michael was in Iraq and I was here in Bristol, 3 months pregnant with Dresden. So, even though we did not officially celebrate today since Dresden is sick with a nasty cold and Michael had class tonight, we are thankful just to SEE each other today!
Being apart so much was hard, especially on important days like these, but as I look back over our eight years of life together, I remember that on our wedding day, we promised to stay together (and only in marriage can you be an ocean apart and still be "together" ) and to love each other through good times and bad. We didn't know then what good times or bad times were coming, and we don't know what's coming tomorrow, but trusting God together and living through the joys and the sorrows together, IS marriage. I love you, Michael.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Okay, Okay
I know I have not posted anything for two weeks (Jana :) but that is mostly because we have been busy "living"! I'll try to catch you up on all the exciting Branson family happenings. First of all, we did see Alley's play last Sunday afternoon and she did a great job. After it was over, all the actors/actresses stood out in the hallway so that the audience could congratulate them as they left the theater. We gave her a small bouquet of flowers (from Aunt Jana and Kane) and she acted almost embarrassed to receive them but I think she was secretly glad since she saw several others getting flowers also.
On Monday evening, I went to a homeschool mothers meeting at the library where I listened to a local author speak about helping your children to become independent learners. It was interesting but as you can see, not terribly "blogworthy".
A few posts back I mentioned my bedroom project. Well, it is continuing, be it ever so slowly. On Tuesday afternoon of this week, I worked on stripping the paint off a few more drawers in preparation for painting them, hopefully very soon. Tuesday was also a very cold day here in the mountains of southwest Virginia so I was rather chilly working in the garage with the door up for ventilation. It is amazing what you can stand when you are motivated!
On Wednesday afternoon, I went with Heidi to Wal-Mart to buy food to cook the Wednesday night meal at church. It was raining which always adds a lot of fun and excitement to a trip to Wal-Mart, especially with 4 children in tow! We arrived at church at 2:05 pm where we were going to pull double duty, cooking as well as assisting with the processing of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, as our church is a drop-off center for the area. We were supposed to help with that from 2:00-5:00. We were a few minutes late and the only boxes that were dropped off that entire afternoon were 3 boxes that arrived in the first 5 minutes, before we even got there! We did enjoy visiting with the lady we were working with and we were able to have plenty of time to get our soup started. I also took Alley to her piano lesson that afternoon and then came back to finish up meal preparations with Heidi. The meal was served at 6:30 and was enjoyed by all.
On Thursday afternoon, I came back over to my parent's house to continue with my project in the garage. It was VERY cold that night for mid November here and I decided to just stay at their house overnight instead of getting the kids out to head home in the dark and cold. Michael was working out of town so it was a little like old times, since the kids and I would stay with mom and dad about once a week when Michael was in Iraq.
Friday morning we headed home and got our school work done and then I took the kids to a "Fall Party" sponsored by the homeschool group. There were crafts, games and snacks (oh, and also face painting- Alley got a Pilgrim hat on her cheek and Liam got a football on his hand) and they had a great time. Michael got home about an hour after we did and then later, I took my girls and went to a Pampered Chef party while Michael and Liam had "boy time". In case you are wondering, boy time usually consists of watching Star Wars movies or playing video games and eating cereal for supper (or some other equally as easy to prepare entree...if cereal counts as an entree!)
Last night, I went to Big Lots with Heidi to buy the stuff for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes which were due at church by today (nothing like procrastination!). Heidi was doing a box for a boy and we were doing a box for a girl and we had fun looking around and picking stuff out and making sure it would all fit in our box! When I got home, I had the wonderful task of ironing clothes for everyone for church this morning...fun, fun!
Today we went to church and then had lunch with family afterwards and right now, mom and Michael are at choir practice and we will be joining them at church in about an hour.
This coming week is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Tuesday is our anniversary (8 years, can you believe it?!) and also on Tuesday we are going to spend the afternoon baking Thanksgiving snacks like pumpkin chip cookies and cranberry bars. And of course, Thanksgiving is Thursday and we get to enjoy family and relax and EAT! We also share our annual Thanksgiving lists with each other.....which reminds me, I better get mine started!
On Monday evening, I went to a homeschool mothers meeting at the library where I listened to a local author speak about helping your children to become independent learners. It was interesting but as you can see, not terribly "blogworthy".
A few posts back I mentioned my bedroom project. Well, it is continuing, be it ever so slowly. On Tuesday afternoon of this week, I worked on stripping the paint off a few more drawers in preparation for painting them, hopefully very soon. Tuesday was also a very cold day here in the mountains of southwest Virginia so I was rather chilly working in the garage with the door up for ventilation. It is amazing what you can stand when you are motivated!
On Wednesday afternoon, I went with Heidi to Wal-Mart to buy food to cook the Wednesday night meal at church. It was raining which always adds a lot of fun and excitement to a trip to Wal-Mart, especially with 4 children in tow! We arrived at church at 2:05 pm where we were going to pull double duty, cooking as well as assisting with the processing of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, as our church is a drop-off center for the area. We were supposed to help with that from 2:00-5:00. We were a few minutes late and the only boxes that were dropped off that entire afternoon were 3 boxes that arrived in the first 5 minutes, before we even got there! We did enjoy visiting with the lady we were working with and we were able to have plenty of time to get our soup started. I also took Alley to her piano lesson that afternoon and then came back to finish up meal preparations with Heidi. The meal was served at 6:30 and was enjoyed by all.
On Thursday afternoon, I came back over to my parent's house to continue with my project in the garage. It was VERY cold that night for mid November here and I decided to just stay at their house overnight instead of getting the kids out to head home in the dark and cold. Michael was working out of town so it was a little like old times, since the kids and I would stay with mom and dad about once a week when Michael was in Iraq.
Friday morning we headed home and got our school work done and then I took the kids to a "Fall Party" sponsored by the homeschool group. There were crafts, games and snacks (oh, and also face painting- Alley got a Pilgrim hat on her cheek and Liam got a football on his hand) and they had a great time. Michael got home about an hour after we did and then later, I took my girls and went to a Pampered Chef party while Michael and Liam had "boy time". In case you are wondering, boy time usually consists of watching Star Wars movies or playing video games and eating cereal for supper (or some other equally as easy to prepare entree...if cereal counts as an entree!)
Last night, I went to Big Lots with Heidi to buy the stuff for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes which were due at church by today (nothing like procrastination!). Heidi was doing a box for a boy and we were doing a box for a girl and we had fun looking around and picking stuff out and making sure it would all fit in our box! When I got home, I had the wonderful task of ironing clothes for everyone for church this morning...fun, fun!
Today we went to church and then had lunch with family afterwards and right now, mom and Michael are at choir practice and we will be joining them at church in about an hour.
This coming week is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Tuesday is our anniversary (8 years, can you believe it?!) and also on Tuesday we are going to spend the afternoon baking Thanksgiving snacks like pumpkin chip cookies and cranberry bars. And of course, Thanksgiving is Thursday and we get to enjoy family and relax and EAT! We also share our annual Thanksgiving lists with each other.....which reminds me, I better get mine started!
Sunday, November 6, 2005
Our Little Star
Alley can now say she has been in a real play! Actually, she is still in it since they have only done 2 of their 8 total performances. She had dress rehearsal for two and a half hours each night three nights last week and then had to be at the theater at 8:30 am Friday to prepare for the first day of school performances. (They do several shows for the area schools to bring their students to watch.) She started getting a cold Thursday but she made it through practice that night and the performances the next day and now she has until Wednesday to recover for the rest of the shows. Michael and I are going to see the play next Sunday afternoon at the only public performance. She is excited and we are excited for her. I will write more details after we see it.
I did want to mention something that I couldn't mention when it actually happened due to the fact that we were still planning the surprise birthday for my grandmother in Kansas City. Alley actually auditioned back in April for the musical "Oliver" but was not chosen. I looked at the schedule for upcoming plays and told her that she could audition again in October for the Best Christmas Pageant Ever and she has been waiting and waiting ever since then! About 24 hours before the audition I realized that if she got in this play, we would not be able to go to Kansas City to be part of the birthday celebration. I didn't know what to do, since I thought both things were important. As a parent, I wanted my child's long hoped for dream to become a reality but I also believed she would not want to miss being a part the birthday surprise. We let her try out, deciding to just see what happened. The turn out was not as high as it was for Oliver and the director announced that he could probably use everyone who auditioned in some way but we did not find out until a week later which part she would have. It turned out that she got a baby angel part which was not a speaking part so then we were really in a dilemma. We did not want to take it away from her by telling her the trip to Kansas City for a family event was more important than a minor part in a play after she had waited so long and worked so hard and we also did not want her to think she could quit something when something better comes along. I thought about flying to KC and leaving Alley and Liam in Atlanta with my sister and brother -in- law so she might only miss 2 practices. All this time I was thinking it was going to be a choice between the two events and that there was no way for both to happen BUT God is good! My dad and other sister (and my adorable nephew, Grant :) were going to fly to KC for the birthday party on one- way cheap tickets and fly back the same way. I realized that if I could get Alley a ticket to come back with them, and if I could get it approved that she could miss a couple extra practices, she might actually be able to do both things. I got the approval and the plane ticket later that day. (She was going to miss 4 practices but they ended up cancelling 2 of those days so she only missed 2 practices.) I was amazed once again at the grace of God in our daily lives, even in the little things.
I did want to mention something that I couldn't mention when it actually happened due to the fact that we were still planning the surprise birthday for my grandmother in Kansas City. Alley actually auditioned back in April for the musical "Oliver" but was not chosen. I looked at the schedule for upcoming plays and told her that she could audition again in October for the Best Christmas Pageant Ever and she has been waiting and waiting ever since then! About 24 hours before the audition I realized that if she got in this play, we would not be able to go to Kansas City to be part of the birthday celebration. I didn't know what to do, since I thought both things were important. As a parent, I wanted my child's long hoped for dream to become a reality but I also believed she would not want to miss being a part the birthday surprise. We let her try out, deciding to just see what happened. The turn out was not as high as it was for Oliver and the director announced that he could probably use everyone who auditioned in some way but we did not find out until a week later which part she would have. It turned out that she got a baby angel part which was not a speaking part so then we were really in a dilemma. We did not want to take it away from her by telling her the trip to Kansas City for a family event was more important than a minor part in a play after she had waited so long and worked so hard and we also did not want her to think she could quit something when something better comes along. I thought about flying to KC and leaving Alley and Liam in Atlanta with my sister and brother -in- law so she might only miss 2 practices. All this time I was thinking it was going to be a choice between the two events and that there was no way for both to happen BUT God is good! My dad and other sister (and my adorable nephew, Grant :) were going to fly to KC for the birthday party on one- way cheap tickets and fly back the same way. I realized that if I could get Alley a ticket to come back with them, and if I could get it approved that she could miss a couple extra practices, she might actually be able to do both things. I got the approval and the plane ticket later that day. (She was going to miss 4 practices but they ended up cancelling 2 of those days so she only missed 2 practices.) I was amazed once again at the grace of God in our daily lives, even in the little things.
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