Best April Fools Ever...

A funny thing happened on the way to retirement, (we'll get to April Fools in a few) someone that flipped our world, as we knew it, upside down. A couple of years before Brian retired from the Navy he decided he should make sure that he took care of as many medical issues as he could (that the Navy would cover) so he had physicals, dental, etc. One of the best surgeries he took advantage of was corrective eye surgery (for free...right on!) The last surgery he scheduled was reproductive related...wink, wink. We had tried to have more than two kids without any success for many years and eventually nothing was happening at all. Just to be sure, Brian decided to take care of that permanently. He went to a mandatory all day meeting and was to schedule the surgery. Well...too late! I found out I was pregnant. Did some quick calculating our older boys would be 14 and 18 when this new little critter showed up. WOW!

Fast forward a few months. The surgery was definitely going to take place NOW! There would be no more surprises from this side of the Brentise family. So Brian scheduled the appointment 6 weeks before I was due. This way he would be very much recovered before I needed him. On March 31st he took care of his obligation. Our son, on the other hand, decided that he was done and was not going to wait 6 weeks. So in the wee hours of the morning on April 1st I was trying to NOT have contractions so Brian could continue his recovery. Let me tell you how NOT effective that was. Finally, had to cave and go to the hospital hoping they would stop the labor. My poor husband was being taken care of by nurses on the maternity ward and I was being injected with stuff that made me feel like I was on fire, and then something else that made me about shake off the bed...they did absolutely nothing for the contractions though. I kept apologizing to Brian because I felt so bad that I was making him be with me while he was recovering from his issue, but he kept reassuring me that he was certain what I was experiencing was more painful and to not worry about it. He's a good man!

Anyway, bright and early on April Fools Day our little man was born! He had a rough go of it for the first couple of weeks, (didn't realize that the heart beating thing was mandatory) but once he got the hang of it, we brought him home. He's been an incredible blessing to our family for the last 4 years and we wouldn't change a thing. OK, that might be a stretch...maybe a couple of things that happened along the way, but the boy is definitely a keeper. Happy Birthday, Kieran!

I have a little faith in me

I am sure the first time I popped up in God's ranks wearing my armor murmuring, "Do I have this on right? Is this a belt or a headband? Do these come in a smaller size, it's kind of heavy?" His first thought was, "Great, Julie has crossed over." But, His second thought was, "Where can I put her that she will cause the least amount of damage for my Kingdom."

I have always been a believer, I don't remember a time in my life when I didn't believe. I'm sure that comes from having Christian parents and a grandfather who was a minister. I don't have a before God...AFTER GOD moment. I think for a while I questioned whether I believed because I heard it all my life or if I really BELIEVED. Since then I've done enough craptastic things that left me with no one but God that I'm confidant it's the real deal.

So this amazing thing happens when you become a Christ follower, you are filled with His Spirit, who will teach and guide you if you let him. It's like having a Super Hero inside you that if you listen to the power and allow it to work, God will do amazing things using you...think Jesus. Wow! My problem is I'm not good at accessing that or focusing it. I have had great God moments where I think, "That was so cool, did you see that? That was all God right there!" But most of the time, my moments are less impressive. I feel the battle inside of things I should and shouldn't be doing and sometimes thumb my nose at both. That whole "free will" thing doesn't seem to work in my favor...ever...

I have served in many churches, in many ways, often taking on ministries that are about to dwindle away from lack of help, with the idea that I will just fill the space until a more qualified person comes along. Sometimes God makes me the qualified person. Other times, I've taken positions enthusiastically,  and while I know God equipped me for the job, I manage to muck it up or trip myself up. (insert God eye roll here) My point is, I'm trying. I don't jump every time I feel Him asking me to, but I'm not a complete slacker either. While I may not be in service with the church all the time, we really make an attempt to live our faith every day, hoping it reflects on those around us. I read, study, teach my kids, and pray without ceasing (the bible told me to... so if His ears are bleeding it's on Him). We have teens in and out of house all the time and whether they are mine or not they respect our praying at dinner, or they all tag along to Youth Group on Sunday night. It's who we are, we don't change it because they are in our home.

My faith is an amazing gift and I don't want to abuse it, so I'll keep trucking along and hoping that I will at least have a bench to sleep on somewhere in heaven. Thankfully, I do know I will be there! Now... where's my cape?

Until next time,
Julie

Bonus time...Woo Hoo

Brian is blessed to have gotten a job right away after he retired from the service and it was, thankfully, a pretty easy transition. The company he works for gives bonuses every year based on profit for the year (not unusual, many do). There is some sort of calculation that involves up to a certain percent of their salary, whatever that profit margin was, and how the planets align. I don't know what it is, I just know come March we get a little extra in the paycheck. Yay! We used to get bonuses in the service as well, signing bonuses, they were incentives to keep you in the service if you reup for so many years. That bonus depended on your rate and what they felt like your skills were worth. Brian was a Nuclear Engineer and it was pretty sweet the first couple of times. After a certain number of years there is no bonus, at that point you are clearly a "lifer" and they don't need to entice you anymore. Being able to start collecting retirement checks at 40 is a pretty sweet incentive.

Funny thing about bonuses, people really start to depend on them (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation). They count it as part of their salary and often times have it mentally spent in their head before it hits the bank, sometimes have spent it in advance by charging and then plan to repay with the bonus. It is part of your salary, it will get taxed, and you will get to spend it, but we have NEVER counted on it or included it in our budget. It has always been what it is...a BONUS. The cool part of viewing it this way is, if it's not as much as you thought, it's OK, if it's more than you thought, awesome. We don't plan for it. It either goes in our savings account, or this year towards a couple of bills and a dang water heater (not fun) and Brian's lift on his Jeep (FUN). This is not to say that I don't like getting it, I totally do, for a couple of reasons, Brian works his butt off and deserves it, and because I'm the saver in our family so the more I can tip the finances in our favor the happier I am.  It's a nice cushion to have, but if next year there is no bonus, we'd be fine and that's what's really important. (Plus we have some in laws that would be happy to bring the boss over to the house so we could get our revenge.)

Now you'll have to excuse me while I go call the pool guy...OK, no, but wouldn't that be nice? We are eating out for dinner, though, you have to splurge a little.

Until next time,
Julie

I Miss the South!

It's official, I'm a southern girl. We've tried many places and the south just seems to be where I am most comfortable. I'm not even partial to the southwest vs. southeast, I'm all about green chili and cheese grits, they're even fabulous together.  I'm just not very good at anything north of, well... the south.

Let's start with location. I grew up in Albuquerque at the foot of the Sandia Mountains. Gorgeous! I miss those mountains and the desert, you can see for miles and sunsets are spectacular there. When I married Brian we lived in many southern coastal cities, VA being as far "north" as we went on that coast. It was my first real experience of living with trees all around me all the time, at first I felt claustrophobic. I LOVED the beaches, though, and the ability to go when the mood strikes, I regret not doing it more, really miss the beaches. Love the swampy area in Georgia and Louisiana and even some areas of South Carolina, Cypress trees and cool creatures. The Midwest has it's own beauty, being able to see crops everywhere you go gives you a real appreciation for the work that goes into the produce in your stores. Seriously, I have huge respect for these farmers. However, all farms all the time is too much for me, I miss other landscape. I would love to come back and VISIT these fabulous folks anytime, though.

Now the weather, I'm a warm weather girl. We had seasons in Alb., probably more so than any other place I've lived. It was nice. In the SE you get a more warm weather than cold, and while the humidity can be brutal in the summer, I would much rather be hot than cold. That's what the AC and the ocean is for, right? Yes, there are hurricanes, but you get tons of notice to evacuate and I'm thankful to say I've not had bad experiences with them, but do know people who have. Here, it's been snowing on and off all day (a week from Spring) AND we are approaching tornado season. I'll admit, I'm a chicken. They are real, big, destructive, you don't get much notice, and every spring I have to spend time in my basement. I'M NOT A FAN! Ideally my seasons would run something like this: Summer until school starts and then fade to Fall, Fall until Thanksgiving weekend and then bring on the snow, Winter until January 1 and then I'm over it. It should be Spring now (because I want it to be) because we just switched to Daylight Savings Time and I want my extra hour of light in the evening to be WARM!!! Actually, let's skip spring since it brings tornadoes and just bring on summer!

There are so many other things I miss about the south. I miss the accents and even the cliches about them...bless their hearts. I miss the food. From the SW I miss green chili and spicy New Mexican food. From the coasts, I miss fresh seafood, shrimp and grits, frogmore stew. I spent quite a bit of time in Louisiana growing up and I miss their Cajun attitude, and boudin, beignets, french coffee, and crab gumbo. I just was raised in the southern part of the country and that's where I belong. I'm glad we came up here and got to know these people and experience the area, but it has confirmed that, at heart, I'm a southern girl!

Until next time,
Julie

Coffee...YES, PLEASE!

My dad sent a card in the mail with something about coffee on it and reminded me that I haven't blogged about it, and since I'm ridiculous in my quest for it, it seems it would be a good topic. I'm a coffee addict. That does not mean I'm a connoisseur, I can tell the difference between good or bad and that's it... not where it was grown, or how the beans were roasted, or whether a cat pooped it out...Kopi Luwak, seriously...look it up.  It just means I must start and sometimes end my days with a couple of cups, and if ever offered I won't turn it down. I believe coffee is the best gift God gave us after Jesus. My family is a close third, but I actually need the coffee to deal well with all blessings that follow Jesus.

I have always liked coffee but didn't have a real appreciation for it until we moved to WA state. Its a very temperate climate, never super cold never super hot, but coming from the south I could not get warm so started really indulging. That's when all the twitching started. Had to actually switch to hot water between coffees because I was not sleeping much. There are coffee shops on every corner in the NW, many major chains started there so it was so readily available. Anyway, I really started to appreciate a great cup of coffee during that time span, and when we moved back to the south I found it could be 100 degrees out and I still wanted it.

This addiction has led to the purchase of ridiculously priced coffee machines. My husband has a Keurig at work. I currently have a Nespresso machine that makes wicked good coffee drinks that rival any coffee shop, and I love it. Yet, when we walk in the door of our local shop they have already rung us up with our usual.  We ran in to one of the teenagers that works there at a different restaurant and we said hello. His friends asked if he knew us and he said, "Yes, two medium skinny vanilla lattes, decaf if it's dark out." Hmm... I'm thinking we should exchange names sometime.  I would hate to actually track how much we've spent on those drinks over the course of a month or so, Dave Ramsey would have a field day with us.

So if you ever need to get away or talk with someone, offer to take me to coffee and I'm your girl. I'm off for now. Guess where I'm going? Cheers!

Until next time,
Julie

Throwing the kids under the bus...

This weekend we were talking about the Internet and our kids with a group of other parents. There are a range of ages of children and I find that I am able to use things my boys have done as examples. Yes, I throw them under the bus. I do actually tell the boys that I've had these conversations and why and make sure they know the context. They understand it. Having said that, often times the people we are talking to don't personally know my kids. I'm afraid they might have a bad impression of them.

I have had the ability and privilege of staying home with my boys. I play with them, love them, yell at them, teach them, etc. It has been a most rewarding experience. They are awesome. They do great in school, most of the time. They are well mannered, most of the time. They are loyal to their family and friends. Like all kids they have had bad moments and those tend to be the things that are discussed. Bummer!

Here's the deal though. We have gone through a lot of things where we had no references or people with similar experience to help us navigate that and I am all for co-parenting with every good parent I know. Regardless of how awesome you are at handling things, regardless of how many times you've warned your kids against things, they will still get into trouble. I love that I have a group of people who I can sit around a table with and we can all share our experiences good or bad...this worked or this didn't... how do I get out of this?... how do I avoid this?

What they don't see is my 17 year old running around the house playing Nerf war with my 3 year old, or both older boys (21 and 17) playing hide and seek with the "baby".  They don't see them doing the dishes because I made dinner, taking out the trash, washing the cars, helping build a fence, or babysitting so their dad and I can have a date night. They don't see us praying together around the dinner table every night and then cutting up about our day. They don't see family game night or movie night where we all just hang out and laugh. I have great kids! I'm super proud of them! And now you know...

Until next time,
Julie