Standing Watch........

You know being married to a firefighter for almost 17 years I have  seen some sad things. Been to enough funerals, heard enough bag pipes and seen enough firefighters follow caskets out of a church to last a lifetime. But yesterday it was different. I almost didn't want to blog about it because I wasn't sure what to say to do the moment justice. 
I had decided to run some errands down in Loma Linda and Redlands. I was driving home on the freeway when all of a sudden the traffic just stopped. I was annoyed at first because I was trying to get my melting grocery's home and there was no obvious reason for people to be stopping in the middle of the 10 freeway. Then I looked up. The over pass was lined with fire engines & firefighters standing on top of the engines at attention. The same went for the next over pass and the one after that, all the way up the 10 freeway. I'm not sure if everyone else realized what was going on but I knew. They were bringing another firefighter's body home to his family. One of the men from the Hot Shots team killed two weeks ago. The fireman do this as a sign of respect. For their lost brother, to his family and friends left behind. To some it may seem like a small gesture or pointless after the fact. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I just started crying and couldn't stop.

 At the cost of sounding cold or heartless I gotta tell you; I don't give the day to day thought of what Dan does to much thought. I can't. I'm to busy trying to figure out how to be alone most of the week and raise two kids. I'm taking care of home and life here. I don't get to complain when he calls home or fill his head with drama because he can't deal with our "stuff" and be present there for days. We have to just "deal." It's just who our family is. We know holidays together aren't a sure thing. Birthdays will be missed and events will be attended solo or cancelled if he gets called out. 
We realize that fire season is when the Santa Ana's come and that means less daddy/husband time. We understand & accept as a family unit that this is the job God has called Dan too and that means we sacrifice so he can help others.

 We count on and fully expect God to use him when he's away. We know we are on our own when it comes to middle of the night illnesses, injury's, things that break in the home, etc. But when a firefighter is killed at work or dies from a work related illness you pause. As a wife you pause and breath deep into your husbands pillow for his scent and pray selfishly that it is never your husband who they are standing on a freeway over pass keeping watch. You realize that these men died not kissing their wife and kids good bye that morning because they had not seen them in days. That's how we role. Dealing with stuff in chunks of time as they come and go for days. Hoping you kissed them and said you loved them as they left in the early morning hour for their time away. 
 

I'm not complaining. I love my life. I know God called me to this. It's just a pause. A pause to remember it's a crazy life. It's not for everyone. It's a reminder to not take for granted even the smallest amount of time we have here before Jesus returns. To point everyone we meet to the Lord by loving them so they know where they are going when it's time. A pause to remind myself that I can do this crazy life. Not alone but with the Lord and the village of people we have around us who love us.

Labor of Love......

So for two years our girls have been asking their daddy to build them their own private club house. We finally decided we needed to set the time aside to do this thing for them that they would always remember as special. It wont be long before they don't want to climb trees and play in forts so it was important to us. The girls and their friends tore the gazebo down that was at the end of our property.....

Then it was time to clear all the wood away and get the foundation set....

Personally I think the foundation took the longest and was the most work.When we were pouring the concrete on the posts  I told the girls,"Hey this is like a lesson on building our homes on the rock. Or wait, it could be about the foundation in your marriage." I think they just rolled their eyes at me. Whatever. I was being deep.

Mind you I found a picture on Pinterest that I thought we could use as a reference.....my husband bless his heart is an over achiever though. So the "little playhouse" turned into a mansion with a redwood deck.

We roped the neighborhood kids into hauling wood all the way back to the building site. "Come on, it'll be loads of fun. I know it's 110 out, but it'll be fun."

Thaaaannnkkksss Dad!

My poor husband would come off a 96 hour shift, run by Home Depot to pick up more supplies and come home and work on the fort for 6-7 hours in the heat. Good man.

The girls helped paint the walls and seal the deck.....

A few sound words of advice if you ever plan to build a club house: #1 Make a budget and then double it..no scratch that, triple it. And the time it will take? Oh boy A LOT! But on the flip side, we sat up on the deck under the stars on the 4th of July and watched fireworks together so that my friends was priceless.

The back has an exit door that we are going to hang a rope ladder from for those quick escapes. It's hard to tell from the photos but the fort is high off the ground. 6 ft. or so. So we are also going to hang swings for them to swing out over the cliffs on. Good times. :) Still working on hanging white lights on the inside and the curtain across the front. A work in progress. A labor of love.....

Today's The Day!

Today was the day! Morgan was scheduled to meet with her Ballet teacher and get fitted for her pointe shoes. Dan took Ryanne for the day so we could have some mother-daughter time. It started with a fun breakfast together.

Then it was off to her appointment which went surprisingly smooth. I must confess; seems like this is as good as place as any....until two years ago I knew NOTHING about dance. N-O-T-H-I-N-G! I played sports. I know about baseball gloves and cleats. I know how to wear catchers gear and not throw a bat like a girl. That's it. Period. So this was very exciting for me when I realized this was a BIG deal for a dancer. The BIGGEST deal for girls taking ballet.

I started reading all the Pointe dance magazines Morgan got in the mail so I would have some clue as to what was taking place. This was an exciting day. The strength and dedication it takes to dance in these shoes is insane! When Morgan went up on her toes for the first time she was glowing. She said,"Mamma, this is in the top three of my best moments in my life. Asking Jesus into my heart, this and then getting married!" She's so cute! I'm glad this was before the getting married part. I don't think my heart can handle watching her try on wedding dresses. ;)

I was all prepared to take lots of pictures and switch back and forth between color and black and white but I was so distracted watching her sweet face that I just had to live in the few moments with her.

She wore them all the way home in the car......

This is going to be a huge year of change and growth for her....she's not a baby anymore. A lovely young lady who has her heart wrapped around dance and set on the Lord.

We capped off the day eating at PF Changs and then shopping for Ryannes birthday gifts. Thanks for a day I will always remember Morgan. Your a treasure on loan from God and I NEVER forget that.

Summer Days.....

Just so you can appreciate how small this lizard is; this is Ryannes tiny hand. I can't believe she caught the thing...she's fast. I caught her today following a duck at Soak City.....thankfully she DID NOT catch it.

It was 80's night at youth group......I knew I should have kept my leg warmers...shoot!

We hosted an outdoor movie date night for Married Life ministry......it was so fun. :)

Couldn't resist the bright red lady bug on my green mint.....

Playing with my black and white setting.....look at that face.

My husband slaving away in the heat to finish the girls play house....and yes it's HUGE!!

I have had this crazy thing on my hands all summer.....it's call T-I-M-E! And I'm in heaven. I bought all kinds off boxes and started cleaning out and organizing cupboards. Under my kitchen sink.....

Our junk drawer....OK I confess, we have another junk drawer on the other side of the kitchen but I am just going to throw a match in that one. Ha!

This is one of the cupboards in my laundry room....

Cleaned out and organized under my kitchen island.....

Re purposed a cute basket I had.......

Lined my kitchen drawers

Found a cute way to store/display all those extra coffee pods.....

Cleaned out and organized under my bathroom sink.....

Under Morgan's bathroom sink.....

Had been wanting one of these ceramic tables/seat but didn't want to pay the $120. Stumbled on this one at Marshal's for $50. Wait, did I already show you this find?

Found this cute turquoise chair sitting out front of a vintage store. New it would be perfect for our classroom. Have a great rest of the week! Be joyful!

Our Summer Thus Far.........

Ryanne jumping on our neighbors trampoline.....

Gotta love the fact that she didn't take off her bike helmet first....that's my Ryanne.

A sneak peek of the girls club house we are building....OK well it's the view from the club house. We are almost done with the building part....pictures soon.

The college near our house puts on a Swim Team camp every summer so we send the girls. Its for kids that are already good swimmers but want to work with coaches to learn new skills. It's great exercise, wears them out and they learn lots. :)

Morgan was on the swim team for three years so she loves jumping right back on the platforms and taking off.....

By yesterday the coach was begging her to come back to swim team and she had to politely explain she loved dance WAY to much to quit now. ha! He later told us he was sad he couldn't convince her. Ha!

This is our busiest week this summer. I pride myself in letting my kids be "bored" during the summer. Ha! Just not over scheduling them and letting them run free and be KIDS! But this week we had swim camp AND bible blast so we are T-I-R-E-D! It's all good though. God has helped us dig deep and find that joy we want to have for the almost 400 kids attending.

Our theme this year is the Olympic games. Morgan is a group leader this year for the 2nd graders. She's doing a great job.

Ryanne is on the ever rambunctious green team and likes to carry her team flag. I am working registration and snack....super fun!

Our friends next door have been coming along each night......

Smiley faces......

The energy of all the kids worshiping together is crazy contagious. I LOVE it!

Milo mentioned he wasn't getting enough blog time so here he is getting some morning love. He beats up the great dane. He might look sweet but don't be fooled, he's a bully.