Sweet Days

Thanks to all of you who left welcome home messages for Spence on my blog site. He appreciated them all!

It is so sweet to be back together as a family unit. It snowed about two inches yesterday and we were snowed in together. What a precious day! The kids clamored for Spencer's attention all day long -- it seemed they couldn't get enough of their daddy. Even little Tommy warmed right up to him. Though just barely 8 months old when his daddy left for SOS training, Tommy knew his daddy and was asking to be picked up by him all day yesterday. Sammy has also become so expressive and kept hugging Spence on Tuesday. Even yesterday he would walk up to him and just hug his leg. So cute! Lauren wanted to play wii with her dad all evening -- and she showed off her new skills as our family's wii bowling champion!

We have no big plans for the next two weeks while Spence is off, other than fulfilling a promise to take Lauren to Chuck-E-Cheese as a family and perhaps going on a date. Sweet days.... Spence says he has no desire to go anywhere. He just wants to stay put with us and take it all in. He says in a lot of ways he feels like he's lost 5 months of his life (not that he begrudges serving -- it was great ministry in Kuwait). But, I can see that, especially with the kids changing so much.

Thanks again for everyone's prayers for Spence's protection and for my strength during his long absence. God was amazing to provide such great support for both of us during the past 6 months. And, because of our sacrifices and Spence's ministry, several men came to know the Lord and were baptized -- and many were discipled and grew in the Faith. Hearing about the awesome work of the Lord makes it all worthwhile! I even had the opportunity, as I shared on an earlier post, to share my testimony in Florida. There were several ladies directly impacted. And, I know I wouldn't have had an opportunity to share like that if I hadn't been in FL. Again, the hand of God is overwhelming in our lives!

I am working on trying to figure out how to post pictures on here of the kids... They are growing up so fast! Tommy took his first steps last week and Lauren lost her first tooth on Saturday. She now knows there is "no such thing" as the tooth fairy! On the night she lost her tooth she became nearly hysterical at the thought that some "strange lady," as she put it, would be coming into her room in the middle of the night. I finally had to calm her fears by letting her know it was just me... It is kind of scary if you think about it from the perspective of a little child!

Now I'm just waiting for the questions to come about Santa! :-)

Homecoming

Just a quick post to say SPENCE is coming HOME on Tuesday, Jan 13. He flies in about 6:15 p.m. Oh happy day!

I am home now... back in Ohio, with the freezing snow and ice. But, it is GOOD to be in my own space, to wash my own dishes and to scrub my own floors. Our awesome neighbors kept an eye on our place while we were gone (thank you, Kerry and Rian) and we've had several friends bring us "welcome home" meals. We are looking forward to Spence being off for 2 ENTIRE weeks once he goes through in-processing later this week. He is excited to run carpool and play with the kids. I am excited for him to do that, too, and to reconnect after 5 very long months of separation. We tallied it up and, by the time he gets home, we calculate that it will have been 10 days short of 6 months since Spence left for SOS training followed by deployment. WOW! I have been a single mama for a long time. I think I will always look back on this time of my life and say, "If I can do that, I can truly do anything."