Where exactly DOES the time go?

WOW!!

I just realized I haven't blogged since August of last year.  Of course I have my constant Facebook updates, and you can find me on Tumblr too.  But there's something therapeutic about blogging...and I assure you, after the last year I could TOTALLY use some therapy! 

I need to write more. 

I need to become more organized.

 

I need a cleaner house.

Eh, one out of three ain't bad, right?  Let's go with baby steps for the win.

What a year it has been!

Paige turned 6 in January. Don was deployed.

James turned 3 in February. Don was still deployed.

Don finished a 7 month deployment in April.  That's when we moved our family and all of our STUFF 3,000 miles across the country to South Carolina.   It was a fun trip in the Winnebago, we did a lot of driving, and a lot of singing...

The kids did a lot of coloring, and some bickering.

For every frown or disagreeable moment, there was at least one bout of laughter, and a smile or two to be had.

Even Pepper enjoyed himself...he did a lot of - well - riding.  It was nice of him though to keep track of the map for us.

Don did most of the driving.  I drove for a day...or maybe it was a few hours.  It was incredibly windy, which translated into "Becca speak" is oh-my-God-how-do-you-keep-this-thing-on-the-road scary.  We got hit by a ginormous dust devil going through Utah that pushed us across the freeway and onto the opposite shoulder.  I thought we were goners, it was, by far, the scariest vehicular moment of my life.  Don was driving. 

We got to South Carolina in April and came right to the house!  It was nice to be back, our renters didn't destroy it, but it really could use new carpet and some new paint.  That'll be my goal for the first part of the new year.  I want to get the kids' rooms in shape.  They are the priority after all.

Let's see - what else?

Don left for Virginia in September. 

Thanks to the US Navy, he'll be working in Virginia until September 2012, but we're blessed that he makes it home once a month or so for the weekend.  The distance is only 400 miles - we've endured much much farther distances than that.

It's CHRISTMAS! 
(This is our tree)

Even with chaos surrounding us and a life that we only pretend we can control, there are still beautiful moments.  Treasured, God-given moments spent together, not to be taken for granted.

Ultimately, it's been an insane crazy, crazy insane year.  We've been through a lot, but we're still truckin'.  We get through it, because it's all we can do.  I promise to blog more frequently, for my own sake as well as for the sake of my friends and family that may or may not get tired of listening to me ramble endlessly on and on into oblivion.

"Live a good life - for in the end it's not the years in a life, but the life in the years."

~ Abraham Lincoln ~