My grandmother died. She is the last grandparent on either side and my children's last great grandparent. She lived a long life and was loved by many. My grandma is your typical grandma. I've always joked with my cousins that from the moment I remember her she's looked like a grandma. In fact she hasn't changed a whole lot in 40 years. She wore grandma sweaters and grandma pants and ...

Christmas cards. I love getting them. Even the annoying ones where the people list off all their awesome accomplishments for the year and gloss over the bad stuff. I usually send Christmas cards (photos), but I haven't for the past two years. Last year we had just moved into our house and I couldn't find our silverware, let alone a family photo. And this year... well, you know. The problem ...

Always winter but never Christmas. I finally "got" that quote from Narnia today. That's how it feels around here. Sure there's a tree, lights, and presents, but it something's just not right. We started decorating a few weeks ago, but after opening a box or two everyone just gave up. These is so much good, but right now it feels like we are drowning in winter. My husband has been deployed ...

Today was one of those awful, deployment sucks sort of days. It started with me crying anytime someone asked how it was going at church and ended with me getting into a huge fight with him via Facebook chat. I don't have much else to say about today other than I'm glad it is over. My husband has been deployed to the Middle East for 274 days.  These are my real thoughts expressing my heart ...