I don't want the time to fly by and regret not showing my babies the love that they deserve every second of every day. Jesus shows us His love regardless of our behavior. I am sure there are days when He looks down and sees what our behavior is and is in shock. During those times, His love is ever present, not yelling or screaming, but an everlasting love that wraps around us.

I want my babies to know and feel my love for them to that same degree, regardless of what has happened or what discipline may need to be administered. Above anything, they are children and they need to know how important they are and how much they are loved. When have grown, I want them to look back and never have an ounce of doubt that I love them more than anything they can ever imagine.

I am linking with with Jen from Finding Heaven Today, please check out her page, she is a dynamic woman of God.

I'm here today thinking about the twists and turns my family has taken over the last year. Its been just over a year since our family had a baby and joined the military life. For those first few weeks I just didn't think I would be able to make it.

My wonderful husband wanted to make a better life for us by joining the Army, but the leave date listed for him was so close to my due date for our son (5 days after), I was terrified that I would have the baby after he left. Thank God, who had His hand in the middle of the situation allowed me to give birth not only before he left, but a whole week before, which gave daddy a week with his precious son before he would be gone for 9 months of training. Those first few weeks of being alone with the kids was so hard. My son was colicy, which was the complete opposite of his older sister was the calmest baby ever (at one point I'll admit, that I told my mom, with tears streaming down my face, that I would rather be in BCT, because it was so hard having a colicy baby). With the help of my super hero mom, I was able to make it! She was with me helping me every day that Carlos was gone in those 9 months.

With my baby 3 months old and my daughter 21 months old, my parents and I ventured down to South Carolina from New York for Carlos' graduation. Let me tell you, that was a long trip! Carlitos wouldn't stop crying, he hated the car seat. I don't know what I would have done if my dad wasn't in the back to try and keep him from crying for the over 800 mile drive.

Anyway, I have to tell you the moment that I saw my hubby come through the woods for the graduation ceremony the tears fell and didn't stop the whole weekend! I was just so proud of him and so happy to finally be with him after a 3 month separation. The best part was that once we dropped him off at AIT the next day, the CO that was in charge gave him leave for the rest of the weekend, which meant that I would have my hubby with me for my birthday, that was the best gift I could have received! The time with him was short, just a few days and we were on this adventure for another 6 months living in two separate parts of the country.

In the middle of all this we had to sell our house. Which was terrifying, because before we bought it, it was on the market for 2 years before selling, because it had no back yard. When we bought it in 2006, we were not planning for kids for a few years so the lack of yard didn't bother us. Well, in March 2007 we found out we were expecting our first baby! LOL Anyway, once again, God had his hand in it, the house went up for sale in September and by the beginning of December we were moving out and the new owners were moving in! That's it, it only took 3 months!! I count that nothing short of a miracle!

It was hard not knowing if he would be able to make it home for Christmas, but he did =) with the help of http://www.lbeh.org/ thank you Ernie, I will never forget what you did for us!! I have such a greater understanding of what deployment spouses go through and I would like to honor them for the sacrifice that they give. We made it through that part of our journey and moved to Virginia to start his Army career. After all this time (which went by super fast) I have discovered that I just love this life. I love all the friends I have made along the way and I am very grateful for them. I couldn't have asked for anything more. We will have many more adventures with moving frequently, seeing different parts of the country and meeting new friends. I just love being an Army wife!!!

Our first and only family photo, we need to do something about that!

Visiting dog beach at our new home Ft. Monroe.

The summer we worked really hard and had many mistakes, which frustrated her, but by summers end we were to the point where she was wearing panties full time, except at night. With great pride for this little girl, I can now say that she is able to go all night with no pull ups. Sure we still have accidents every now and then, but they are few and far in between. She has worked really hard to get here and I am extremely proud of her!! I love you Gio!!

This weekend was also Military appreciation at the Norfolk Zoo, so we spent the day roaming around and spying on some really beautiful animals. The babies we so thrilled to see all the animals! Every time Giovanna saw an animal that was sleeping she would say "Wake up ____!!!" My favorite to hear her say was zebra, it kept coming out as zera, it was so cute!! By the time we were getting ready to ride the train and leave, the baby was so tired that nothing was making him happy =( Thank God, half way through the train ride he finally stopped crying and was able to enjoy it.

We had a wonderful time!!

For such a long time I have wanted to get back into my creative flow, I haven't had any reason to pursue it until recently. Thanks to a post that a friend of mine put on her blog, I found a reason to sit at the sewing machine again. She is having a craft sale and was asking for donations. I just love helping where I can, so I talked to my hubby and expressed my desire to help. He was completely on board....the only problem was I needed a sewing machine!! Well, that was that, I needed to invest in one so I could help a friend.Once sitting at the machine, I realized just how much I enjoyed being there, allowing God to use me to make a difference in someone else's life. It gave me such joy to be able to go and hand pick fabric and create something from nothing. I started small by making my babies blankets, personalized by their interest. I moved on to making Christmas Stockings for the craft sale and now I am venturing on to more difficult pieces.

Stockings are $10 and fully customizable.

Blankets are great for in the car, stroller or for children to sleep with, they are $20, also fully customizable.

With the weather finally cooling off, I thought it would be a good time to warm up the oven and make some cookies with Giovanna. She was so excited, she couldn't contain herself! All morning she would ask, "Can we make cookies now?!" We made sugar cookies and she got to decide all the shapes. We made some trucks and dinosaurs for baby and the rest she wanted to make girly...lol