Isn't it funny

Sometimes God does things that just make you stop and go "Wow. Thank you!"

Have you ever met someone who is just the same as you, but yet so different?
Have you ever just sat back and wondered  what life would be like if you didnt know that person?

Well this wonderful journey we are on, thanks Son, has brought some amazing women into my life and highlighted some old friends.

2 women are on the same exact journey. Their sons, and Nic, are going to be Nukes. Wow, how cool is that. 2 moms who are Christian women, who have the same feelings I do. We connected and they have been a life line. We cry together, talk about all topics under the sun, we laugh together and we support our boys together. The only problem is, we all live in different parts of the country. 1 is in Cali, 1 is in PA and then me in NC. Luckily, I get to meet one at graduation and the other shortly after in SC. God is amazing, isnt He.

He decided I needed someone close to home. Someone who I can call and say "Coffee?" Or better yet, "Crafts?" Someone  that loves Jesus like I do, but understands we arent perfect. And He provided. Today, I meet a new friend. A mom who sent her only son to the Navy. A mom who sat with me and cried, opened her soul and trusted me with it. God did it again!!

He knows what He is doing. We just have to have faith in His plan. We have to hold onto the hope He has given us, and know without a doubt that our heavenly father loves us and does whats best for us!! So thank you God for these wonderful women that you brought into my life. I ask blessings over their lives!

To my new found friends, and my old friends, thank you for letting me be part of your journey. I cant wait to see what He has in store for us next!

Strength

I sat my phone down and walked away,  to only hear it ringing. I ran to it and my heart stopped, it was the call I have waited for, that call to hear my boy's voice. "Hey Mama," said an emotional voice. Wow.. what a sound.
You could hear the weakness in his voice, but also the amount of strength he has gained. And then you heard your sweet little boy. What a gift.

Sometimes in life, we feel so weak. We dont understand what is happening or why we struggle, but once we come out on the otherside, we have gained a strength we never knew we had. A strength, that at the time, we didnt know was getting us through.

Strength can be cleaverly disguised as weakness. We recognize weakness and dont see that strength is there. We fall to the floor and ask God for help, for strength, and His response is "Shh, child, you have the strength. Slow down, and pay attention." When we take our eyes off the weakness, we slowly start to feel stronger. We start to feel a strength we never knew.

Yesterday, through the weakness, I heard his strength. I heard his strength shine through.

We are your home

For 9 months, I carried you, I loved you and I nourished you.
For 7 years, it was just you and I against the world.
Towers built, roads ran and discussions of epic proportions.
Mommie-Nic Nic talks - we took on the world.
Then your father, your dad, entered our lives.
He showed us what we had been missing
He taught you how to ride a bike.
He taught you how to drive a car.
He taught us how to love fully and wholy.
For 10 years, we have loved you.
We have neurtured, we have hoovered
We have faught, we have guided -
             We have let go.
We have watched you show your brother     
    how to love, how to fight and how to
    just be him.
We have watched you grow into an 
amazing young man.
We watched you make a decision and 
wrestle with your choice.
We let go and watched you step up to
the plate.
17 years ago - I held you. Today, we hold
you while letting you go.
We are proud of the man you are
becoming - we are proud of our little red
head.
Its time to let go and watch from a 
distance.
It's time for you to show the world -
  It's time to let go and let you live!
Letting you go is hard - letting you go to
go live - GO - show the world - just know 
we are here -
        We are your home!

I wrote this about 2 weeks before Nic left. Letting go is hard but the rewards are worth it.

Childhood promises

On the phone tonight, my nephew said he was gonna build a big house and his moms were gonna live with him. It made me think back to when Nic was just a little boy, when it was him and I taking on the world. He would tell me he was gonna build me a house to the moon, with brown curtains and butterflies. He always had huge dreams. And he shared them. But tonight, I hold onto that childhood promise of brown curtains and butterflies.

Embrace the new

Wow, its been a while. Life sure has a way of stopping you in your tracks. I was told I needed to start writing again, to blog my way back to sanity. Really doubt that will happen, but you never know.

10 days.. 10 long days without a word. A box of dirty clothes and a letter that you didnt write. 10 days without hearing your voice. 10 days of "I miss my brother." 10 days of telling him he will see you soon. 10 days since you went and gave yourself to the American Government and made us so proud. 10 days since you became part of the worlds best Navy.

As a parent, you often wonder what your child will grow up to be. You wonder if they will make it out of those horrible teenage years and you wonder if driving a car is a smart choice, you know they got your lead foot. Let me tell you, those sleepless nights, fights, hands being thrown in the air, that horrible teenage attitude is all worth it when you see them graduate. Now awhole new set of questions come into play, college, debt, sex, and so many more. You start to grieve for the loss of your little boy (girl) and think back on the past 17/18 years. Then through the tears, you start to embrace that your little boy, is almost a man. You can still see him sitting on the floor playing legos, as he walks out the door to go have ice cream with friends. You can still see the tears from falling off his bike, as he jumps on the trampoline with his brother. You still feel him sitting on your lap as you drive down the road, as he comes in with his 2nd speeding ticket. You still remember the 1st I love you, as you hear it for the last time for 8 weeks. Being a parent is hard, you were told that. But it is so much harder watching them walk away from you.

Just know you are a great parent. You will see your baby into adulthood, shed some tears and embrace the future!