Thankful

Tis the season of Thanksgiving and there are plenty of things I am thankful for…I am thankful for my husband, my children, my extended families, my husband's job, the Lord and for providing for us, and so much more than I can name in a little paragraph.  But too often I feel as though I am not as thankful as I should be.  I have been doing a daily devotional for the Deployed Spouse and it is a wonderful eye opener each day.  My most recent devotional was about being content.  I usually feel as though contentment is something that I do not struggle with.  I feel as though my Dad's passing and all of the other events that I've gone through in my life up to now have made me into the spiritually confident woman that I am today.  Yet recently, there have been times in my life where I have felt discontentment and anger at individuals and situations that I deemed unfair.  The passage in my devotional hit the nail on the head when it says that I am not to compare myself to others or other situations.  I need to be content with what I am going through and know that God is controlling all things for His purpose.  So turning my discontentment into thankfulness, I have been able to make my unhappiness into joy with knowing that the Lord knows my situation and is still providing for me and my family every second of the day :)  And for that, I am thankful.

I am writing to y'all almost a month exactly since my last post.  Too many things have been happening this fall and it's hard to remember to sit down and type.  I am thankful though for relatives like Mary LaRoche who prod me into writing and remind me that people do really want to know what is going on with our family :)  So thank you…we feel loved!

Normally I don't start off with Stephen news, but I have been over the moon ecstatic with new developments so I will start off with the hubs.  Stephen is doing well.  He just turned the big 3-0 a few days ago.  He wants to thank everyone who sent him a package…it made his day, literally.  From the Post and Courier newspaper, to the home baked goods, to the package stuffed with all kinds of snacks, the lovely cards and of course the cheesy 30 year old paraphernalia ;) …he felt a piece of home 3,000 miles away.  I know most of you didn't know about this, but the past few weeks Stephen has been busting his…booty…studying for the biggest test in his career.  It's called the TAC board.  What it comes down to in a nutshell (Stephen if this doesn't sound perfect, sorry :) is:  Stephen is a co-pilot.  There are two pilots in the Osprey and the main pilot is the one who signs out for the Osprey and is responsible for it.  You have to have…so many hours and qualifications to become the main pilot.  But on top of those checkmarks, you have to go through a grueling process of becoming a TAC.  Don't ask me the acronyms…I never asked about them :)  So, Stephen is in the process right now of going through his TAC board and checks.  There are four checks he needs to become a TAC.  The first check is passing your TAC board.  Stephen's TAC board was a week ago today.  The TAC board consists of the CO and a couple of other "uppers" sitting in a room in front of Stephen grilling him on every question about the Osprey they could think of with Stephen having to answer everything perfectly.  His board lasted 2 1/2 hours.  It sounded like a verbal SAT with all open ended questions and your "professors" sitting and staring at you for 2 1/2 hours.  Well, Stephen passed!! Praise the Lord!  So that is check number one.  His second check is his day check where they will fly and test him on his skills during the day.  The third is his night check where they will do the same thing, but during the night.  And his Final Check will be with him and CO doing whatever our amazing initial Osprey pilot tester wants. :)  We're both hoping he finishes this process before he makes it home, because so much time is spent studying that there isn't time for much else.  So keep Stephen and his TAC process in your prayers until I know that he's finished with it.  Lastly, Stephen has a window of returning home.  I know the window and definitely cannot say it here, but it is much much sooner than all of y'all where initially thinking.  Things are in the works and all I can say on here is that within Stephen's squadrons' 13 month deployment, Stephen will be deployed twice with the second deployment being longer than his first.  Contentment contentment contentment.  :)  Stephen has also asked that I let y'all know that packages cannot be mailed out after November 12th.  After November 12th, the packages will not arrive until January due to so many packages being mailed to deployed service members during the holiday seasons.  So November 12th is the cut-off date!

As for our family of three here, we are just chugging along.  Porter's doing well in school.  I just had his parent/teacher conference on Monday and they said he is great!  He likes to sit in the front of the class and always has a question for everything.  (Sounds a lot like the person I knew in high school…Stephen :) He loves science and discovery center…especially the magnifying glass!  So far so good pre-k!  Joshua is doing amazingly!  He is growing up way to fast.  He is hitting his 4 1/2 month stride and can roll from his back to his tummy and tummy to back proficiently now.  Only on our bed, not the floor…he can push himself into a crawling position.  This kid is a fast learner and I'm sure will be crawling and walking MUCH sooner than his older brother.  I just need Stephen to get home so that he can have some recollection of Joshua before he turns one!  I know I don't usually talk about me too much, but things on my end are doing great!  My Mom came and helped me a few weekends back completely organize my garage, rake out my pine straw in beds, lay down some mulch and plant some flowers.  I will say, I feel like a new person and my house looks AWESOME!!  I'm trying to get the last few things done around my house to make it perfect before Stephen gets home.  So much to do and so little time!  We are counting down the days everyday and I can't keep a smile off my face :)  All Porter and I talk about now is what we are going to do when Daddy gets home.  Porter finished his last session with FOCUS last week.  They made a Secret Daddy Jar for Stephen when he gets home.  In the jar are pieces of paper with different things Porter wants to do with Daddy when he gets home.  So every time we think of something, it goes in the jar.  This is supposed to help with reintegration and helping out Dad with already having a list of things to do with Porter instead of scratching his head for ideas.  Our new favorite thing to do is going on "long runs" as Porter calls it.  I decided to start my Couch to 5K with a girlfriend of mine and Porter is doing it with me.  Porter said, "Mom!  When Dad comes home we can go on long runs togethers.  All of us!"  Ahhh, I love this kid.  I think all three of us (mostly two of us :) are excited about Stephen's upcoming homecoming :)

Well Port, Josh and I will be coming down to Charleston on Wednesday, November 27th and are heading back early on Sunday December 1st.  We would love to see as many people as possible during this time, but I know holidays can get pretty congested for everyone with families visiting and travel, etc.  Give me a call or text if you want to meet up with us sometime during then!  I hope everyone stays healthy and safe during the holiday season.  We love y'all and can't wait to get down to Charleston in the next couple of weeks to see everyone :)  Happy.  Thankful.  Content.

This is our neighbor Aubrey and Porter watching a movie one night while I babysat her.  Aubrey's Mom said that she always is creepin' on us and tells her when we get home, when we're outside and that Porter is playing…needless to say I think these two are tight :) haha 

This is Porter at Mike's Farm where we got our pumpkins, rode the hayride and ate wonderful family style country food with BeBe.

Joshua and I with his pumpkin :)  P.S.-LOVE my Boba!!

This is the only one who would cooperate for a photo on Halloween :)  Porter fell asleep because of our Halloween party that afternoon and barely trick-or-treated long enough to say we participated.  This little man had fun though and dare I say was THE cutest cow ever!

This is Porter picking out his favorite leaves for his collection during one of our long runs on the trail on base.  Such a boy :)

Porter for some reason has decided to start drinking "coffee."  His "coffee" consists of one part coffee, 2 parts milk and sugar and one part marshmallows.  His special coffee cup was my special cup when I was little too :) Memories!

Oh these two!  Brothers?  I think so!  Porter does love to get down and play with Joshua sometimes on his own.  So glad to have such sweet loving boys.

Typical crazy face photo!  Thought I'd throw in a selfie of all of us to give y'all a glimpse into our everyday lives ;)

And Stephen, I had to throw this pic in!  I sent Stephen a box full of cheesy, probably mostly feminine, turning 30 accessories.  He indulged me for a moment with throwing all of it on for me!  Enjoy :) haha

Hello Fall!

Well hello Fall!!

  It's been a little while since my last post and weather wise, I am soooo happy!!  This week has finally started to feel like October and Stephen might kill me when he reads this, but....I totally turned on my heater today.  My feet are freezing! :)  I hope the beginning of this season is treating everyone well.  Our trip to Charleston was pleasant, brief and fulfilling.  While we didn't see all of the Charleston family while we were in town, we did see some and ran into many old high school friends along the way and their kiddos that I have never met.  I of course did my usual shopping for the kids clothing one day and relaxed the rest of the week.  Porter got to go spread corn in the woods and look for deer with his great uncle Stanny and Joshua realized he loves to watch tv!  Another little Stephen in the making for sure :) haha  All-in-all, it was one of the most relaxing trips to Charleston that we've made in a long time.  Go ahead and mark in your calendars our next Charleston trip so y'all know well in advance.  The three of us will be making our way down to Chucktown for Thanksgiving this year.  I'm not sure when we'll leave, but we are definitely coming.  I need to do my black Friday shopping of course, and Jacksonville leaves much to be desired shopping wise :)  Hopefully we can see some more of the extended family so everyone can meet little Joshua before he gets much bigger!

  Porter's schooling is going well and he's loving life in the new 'hood.  I randomly ask him if he likes it here and he says he likes it better than the old house which gives my heart peace.  You always wonder during decision-making if you're making the right one, and hearing Porter's honesty brings a smile to my face.  He loves his new neighbors and friends.  A peak into our morning routine would be Porter standing at the front door waiting on the bus and seeing friends walk by to the bus stop.  Port opens the front door, leans out and yells "Hi Maximus! I'm waiting on the bus too!" He loves yelling "Mom, Mom! The bus is here! Hurry, we're going to miss it!"  "Did you pack my folder? Did you pack my snack?" I mean seriously...who is this kid?  I thought I had a four-year-old living with me...not a ten-year-old! haha  But truly, the last few days we've woken up twenty minutes before the bus arrives and are racing out the door with me wiping Porter's face off on the way to the bus stop with Joshua in one arm.  We're definitely a sight to behold for our bus driver, Mr. Dennis!  Other news in the world of Porter: he will be The Flash for Halloween this year.  The funniest part about this is he didn't really know his character's name.  He kept asking me, "What's my name again? The Light?" haha!!  Although his costume is slightly too big, he has been wearing it around the house running as fast as he can.  He will definitely be wearing his new red kicks to help him be "super fast!"

  As for little Joshua, the poor kid is sick again for the second time in his three months of life.  I guess this is to be expected for the second child.  Mom?  Am I right?  I took Porter to Urgent Care in Charleston before we left thinking he had strep, but instead he was diagnosed with acute bronchitis.  Well, once we arrived back in Jacksonville little J started having croupy cough and he's been sneezing milk out of his nose and gasping for air through his phlemy coughing fits.  I hope the little guy gets over this quickly because unlike Porter, he's too young to take meds for illness.  But for those who did get to see Joshua can attest, this little baby is one happy dude!  Although he is sick, he will cough up a lung and then red faced and all, turn and give the biggest grin possible.  If it wasn't for his poor sleeping habits, I would dare to say he is the perfect baby.  BUT, he doesn't sleep so that knocks that punch line right off the table.  I believe he is getting better with getting into a routine of when he will nap during the day and go to sleep at night, but his naps consist all of 45 minutes total and he still gets up multiple times at night leaving him in our bed to sleep still.  However, Porter has officially been moved back to his room since our Charleston trip which is one big WIN for this Mom!!  Thank you Charleston trip!  All that's left is one more child before Stephen gets back and we'll be doing awesome :)  And for Halloween this year, Joshua will be a cow.  While in Charleston, my Mom snagged a cute baby Gap perfectly sized cow costume for $2.50 at Once Upon a Child.  I can't wait to post those pictures at the end of the month!

  And finally Stephen's update.  There isn't too much to post about him this time.  While we were in Charleston, Stephen's parents and siblings got to FaceTime him which was nice.  He was able to meet up with Philip in Gibraltar.  He worked on getting down there I think for 36 hours beforehand and finagled it by saying he was doing a PME (Professional Military Education) while he was there.  He took a government vehicle, another officer and some enlisted marines down there and then peaced out to spend the day with his bro.  Mariana was able to make it down as well so Stephen was finally able to meet her too!  Without a doubt, that has been the highlight of his deployment and I'm 100% sure that will never happen again.  That is one experience they will remember forever which is just so awesome it was able to come about.  :)  As for Stephen's whereabouts, he is in a different location since I was in Charleston.  Without saying where, if y'all watch the news at all you will probably be able to figure out where he is now.  We haven't been able to talk a lot recently, but from the few minutes here and there...he is exhausted and tired.  I think when we talked this morning he fell asleep for a little bit.  Poor guy.  And he's probably going to be mad at me for saying this, but oh well :)  I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that Stephen's big 30th birthday is November 7th.  So far, my care packages have been making it out there in a week almost exactly.  Soooo, if y'all are wanting to send a care package...this would be the perfect time to show some Stephen love!  I hate that he won't be here to celebrate it and he definitely won't be able to do anything over there.  If you're interested, the post office has APO boxes to send overseas that are free or you can order them online to be delivered to your door in packs of 10...for free!  The package is about the size of two shoe boxes.  It covers $50 worth of insurance and is $14.98 to mail.  Let's make Stephen feel super special on his big 3-0 and send some love his way in the next couple of weeks!  His address again is:

Captain Stephen J. King

SPMAGTF C.R. ACE S-3

Unit 13926

FPO, AE 09510-3926

  I hope y'all stay warm and welcome in the fall season!  Here are some pics below of life lately!  Enjoy :)

Here's Porter in his 'get-up' to go out to woods to spread out the corn for the deer.  The cool thing about his trip is that he actually went to the deer stand where we scattered my Dad's ashes.  So he was able to be at the same place where his Papa D was that he never met.  Pretty special!!

Here's the two trouble makers ready for their adventure!  Porter was sooo excited.  He got to ride in a four-wheeler and see deer on the video.  He said, "Mom.  I just saw two eyes in the dark!"  And would you know they actually saw a deer on the way out.  Fun times with Uncle Stanny :)

Here are Philip and Stephen in Gibraltar during their one day of fun!!  So cool to see the brothers together :)

And here are Stephen, Philip and Mariana!!  I hope I finally get to meet her soon :)  I think I'm the last of the King clan to meet her.  Stephen said she's super sweet, so I'm excited to meet her in...December? 

Little Joshua turned 3 months on the last day we were in Charleston.  It's so hard to believe that he has only seen his Dad for half of his life now.  And since Stephen's not here, I think this baby is going to turn into a thumbsucker! :)

I had to post this picture too.  Joshua has started sticking out his tongue when he smiles now!  It is too cute and hilarious not to share.  Love him!

Porter's school picture just arrived!  He is looking sooo old now!  They at least captured the best Porter smile possible :)  He is growing up so fast.  I can't believe he will be a Kindergardener next year!

Ok...is this the same baby?  No?  Which one is Joshua?  I saw this picture on Phil and Ann's fridge and couldn't believe it!  Obviously little Joshua is on the right :)  But the baby on the left is none other than the infamous Philip!  I mean seriously, if this baby isn't a King baby I don't know who is!!  Philip, how crazy is that!

                                   

And I'll leave y'all with this sweet image :)  I've been getting up and trucking it to church every Sunday at 9 a.m. rain or shine.  However, after we got up, had breakfast and then I laid down to feed little Joshua...this happened.  I didn't have the heart to wake them and my soul definitely loved the extra rest that morning.  What sweet little boys Stephen and I have been blessed with!!  Thank you God :)

Home Sweet Home

Well I am writing you this wonderful evening with laundry going, both kids asleep in their OWN beds and my house picked up.  I would definitely say today was successful!  Our little family of three are trying to get everything together for our FIRST Charleston visit post-deployment :)  Porter has seriously been asking for his cousin Jonathan for about a week now.  "Jonathan lives in Charleston.  That's far far away.  Can we go there tomorrow?  Can he play with me?"  Needless-to-say, someone is biting at the bit to get down there!

I have been chatting with Stephen a lot about all of the goings-on here.  Mainly I've been dealing with a lot of defiance issues with Porter.  For some people, Porter's behavior would be deemed "normal" for a 4 1/2 year old.  However, I know my son very well and he is definitely acting out.  I feel all I do every day is yell at him, chastise him or spank him.  From sticking out his tongue, to literally throwing a temper-tantrum to back-talking me and tell me 'no'...I am drained come bedtime.  And none of that is counting Joshua's non-sleeping self ;)  So, I started an eight week session called the FOCUS Project that the military provides which is Family Resiliency Training for Military Families.  Normally this is done with the military member right before they deploy and then with the family afterwards, but we didn't have time to even think about it.  The lady I meet with is basically a therapist and goes over ways to improve our home life and basically survive with each other through the deployment.  During the third session, the lady will meet with Porter without me and only tell me things if it's pertinent for his well-being.  My first homework is to set aside 5-10 minutes every day during the same time (which is after the bus drops him off from school) to have Mommy and Porter time ALONE.  Lock up the baby, because little Porter is the only one that exists during those minutes :)  Porter has also been using the excuse that he is the "man of the house" lately for everything.  I believe he honestly took that literally.  He told me, "I can't sleep in my room because I'm the man of the house and I have to protect you Mommy.  So I need to be like Daddy and sleep with you."  He has also in some form every day said, "You can't make me _________ because I'm the man of the house!"  We're having serious issues here people.  And this stuff happens every. single. day. all. day.  I can't take it anymore and need a serious break!

So, when I told Stephen I was thinking about going to Charleston the last weekend in September for a long weekend, he told me that I needed to go NOW and for at least a week.  So...I decided I could swing Wednesday until Tuesday :)  We'll head out once Porter gets off the bus around 11:30.  I want to see as many people as possible, but I'm also not planning on wearing myself out.  I really wanted this visit to be relaxing and helpful.  So I would LOVE for Porter to be around some men since he's not getting that love at home right now.  You should see all of the kids at church jump on the men who are volunteering in the kids ministry.  So many children's Dads are deployed that they are yearning for that manly relationship.  If any of you men out there are around and would like to have some bonding time with Porter, please let me know.  He would absolutely love doing anything and everything!  As for me and little J...we have no plans while we're there.  Just call me or shoot me a text and we can probably make something happen.  I am staying with my Mom, so I will be on Johns Island while in town.  Hopefully I can see a lot of y'all while there and let Joshua meet everyone too!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful and cool week!  See y'all in a few days!!

This is a sampling of the photos that we had taken the week Stephen left.  I will hopefully be printing some out soon to send to everyone :)

This is Porter's Daddy Doll.  We finally got it in the mail on Friday!  Porter's is Deserts on the back and Joshua's is Woodlands print.  Porter talks to Daddy all the time.  "Come on Dad.  Let's go get my book." "Dad! No hitting.  You have to sit in time out for four minutes!" "Mom, I love my Dad"  So so glad we got this for him!

This is Aubrey.  She lives three houses down and calls me Porter's Mom.  Her and Porter ride the bus together and are in the same class.  Every day she gets off of the bus and tells me she is going to eat and then come to my house, ok? If you ask her her name she will say Aubrey Chicken Boo Boo, but you can just call her Boo :) LOVE my neighbors!!

Aubrey and Porter having baby time.  The neighborhood kids come over just to hold the baby.  It's pretty hilarious :)  I think Joshua loves it though!

One Down

Happy Friday family!

Yesterday was such a great day because this family has hit the one month mark! Woohoo!! I can't believe we've finally made it a month.  Through ER visits, weird sicknesses, acting out and no sleep...this Momma will be having a wonderful glass of wine tonight and kicking up my heels to wish this first month of deployment so long!

As we're entering month two, things are starting to look better.  Porter has started school and is in a routine and I'm filling my schedule with meetings, playdates, bible study and everything in between!  As my friend Staci said, always stay busy :)  Sometimes I feel simply stretched thin, but I would rather have too much to do than sit at home and watch the clock tick slowly by.  It makes me feel normal.

Porter's school is going well.  A little bumps in the road with his first incident on the bus.  After giving Stephen the low-down and a little FaceTime disciplining from Daddy-to-son...I think Porter will never do that again :)  I was hesitant at first about his new school since I wasn't familiar with any curriculum, teachers or other students, I feel much much better now.  Porter is coming home every day and telling me exactly what they did in class (which never happened at his old school) and trying to sound out letters and singing songs.  I am so hopeful for what the school year is going to bring!!

Joshua is continuing to grow :(  We had family pictures taken the week Stephen deployed and I just received them back today.  Little J is SOO much bigger than he was then.  I can't believe it!  Today was a big mile marker because he finally rolled over from tummy to back!  And I say this with confidence because I definitely made him do it three times in a row and then later this afternoon.  So definitely not a one time thing.  We don't do tummy time around this house because I just don't have as much time to do it that I did with Porter.  So I was super excited when Joshua decided to do his milestone.  I was able to video tape it too to show Stevo later thank goodness!

As for Stephen he is doing well.  We actually talk every day now on FaceTime which I'm super thankful for.  We've been able to keep each other up-to-date on all of the important stuff and goings-on which has made the long distance feel closer.  Stephen did in fact get his hair all shaved off.  And he just thought that this was a perfect time to bic his hair since he would never be able to do it again.  All I can say is ugh! My girlfriend came over and looked at a pic we have of Stephen back in the dating days and said...."yeah. Stephen looks so much better with hair!" Agreed. Enough said :)

I hope everyone is doing well and that y'all are getting ready to start off this Fall season wonderfully.  I just have to keep drinking my Pumpkin spice latte to make it feel like fall since it is so incredible warm EVERY day!  I'm excited for tomorrow as it's only supposed to be in the mid-70s.  A perfect day for a shopping trip in Wilmington! Take care y'all!

This is Joshua at our 1-month mark!  I swear he has Stephen's eyes.  He is seriously always such a happy baby now...so so thankful :)

 Each month we are go and get ice cream to countdown the months.  This is Porter at our 1-month mark  at Chick-fil-A of course :)

This is our other countdown we're doing.  The container says "A KISS a day while Daddy's away."  It has the number of kisses in it that I'm 'assuming' is until Stephen comes home.  Every night Porter takes one out and eats it.  So it gives him a better visual of exactly how many days are left :)

End of Summer

Well it's been awhile since I last posted all of our craziness so it is time again to update everyone!  I know summer has just come to an end with Labor Day and school is back in full swing for students AND teachers :)  Our days are definitely stacking up with school and activities galore!

Porter started his first day of Pre-K today! We had orientation yesterday which was a full hour tour of the school, principal, nurse, class, etc.  It was super informative and made me feel great seeing the classroom and all of the other parents.  Great eye-opener for how next year will be at the school!  This morning however I was an emotional wreck! We were all prepared for school: packed the book bag, were dressed and ready well before time and even had time to play.  However, we walked outside about 15 minutes before the bus picks up for school to take pictures and low and behold...here comes the bus!  Mr. Dennis, the bus driver, stopped and motioned Porter on and I was super dumbfounded.  Apparently the schedule provided by the school was from last year and the times were wrong! Good thing we were outside when he happened to drive by!!  Needless-to-say Porter jumped on the bus without even so much as a goodbye to me or looking back and he was off!  I practically ran inside and just lost it!  No school picture, no goodbye and totally gone!  That was just way to quick that he grew up and left me alone with little Joshua laughing and giggling.  Good thing I had a party at a neighbor's house down the street to pass the time this morning.  Porter came home and said he played with "the kid with the hair?" (what does that mean) and read books for two hours.  I guess in the mind of a four-year-old, that was a great day!

As for little Joshua, he is doing well.  He is 100% over his sickness and turned the big 2 months last week :)  He just went to his two month well check up and weighed 10 lbs. and was a little over 22 in. long! He's just a growing little boy.  He is also super duper strong! All that kid wants to do is stand up in your lab and flex every muscle in his body...I think he just wants to keep up with his big bro :)  Little J did have his first round of shots on Tuesday and I totally forgot how that all worked.  He was such a trooper with just a little bit of tears and was happy go lucky the rest of the day.  By 9 o'clock that night though, he was screaming louder than I've ever heard him cry and feverish!  Well a nurse hotline call later, Joshua was doping up on his first bout of Tylenol and sleeping.  After two days of pain from the shots, he is back to normal and as happy as ever!  He finally outgrew his newborn clothes and is wearing 3 months and is in a 1 size diaper....which means cloth diapering 101 is about to happen!  (Look for that experience in the next post hopefully!)

And we can't forget about Stephen :)  I lucked up last week and was able to FaceTime with him if not everyday, every other day.  We never talk about him because he always says he can't tell me anything so we don't even go there.  But he looks great, still has hair and is chugging along on his job trying to get all of the groundwork done for this deployment.  I did ask him if there was anything specific we could pray for him for and he mentioned one thing.  He is looking for direction.  Direction as to what to do next and where the Lord is calling him in the next couple of years.  I will add prayers of safety, encouragement and steadfastness in the Word to that as well :)  I haven't talked to Stephen at all since Monday and I'm getting pretty anxious.  Times like this morning sending Porter off to school make deployment hard and real when all you want to do is call your best friend and pour out your heart to them.  My guess is they have shaved his head (first deployment ritual) and he's waiting to FaceTime until he gets more hair per my request :)

Below I have some helpful pointers when sending care packages.  My girlfriends that have just experienced their first deployment have provided some helpful tips about sending food overseas! I hope this help y'all out a bit.  We're hoping to make a trip to Charleston sometime this month, but it's looking to be at the end since school just started up.  I'll give y'all a heads up once I've pinned something down!

Care Package Tips:
If you send cookies, brownies, etc.. use a pringles can. Put a piece of bread on the bottom and on the top and seal it really good all around the edges of the top with packing tape. That worked for us. I also baked cakes and breads in mason jars and sent them. Paul loved that. I would just send icing with it. You basically just make whatever cake or bread you want and use the mason jar the same as you would a pyrex dish. I reduced the cooking amount a little and would just check on it periodically to make sure it hadn't gone over the top or got too brown. You seal it RIGHT when it comes out of the oven. The heat from inside the cake will seal it correctly. The top of the jar should pop out and you know its sealed right. ~Staci Lancaster

Also, single serve oatmeal cups were a hit since breakfast got cut. ~Anne Green

I sent photos, zoe's drawings, and cards. I took the easy way out and shipped food from Amazon. The chocolates with "liquor" in the middle were a hit! ~Becca Tole

Porter's first dentist appointment! It was super awesome and he did AMAZING they said for his first time.

It's a pediatric dentist and they definitely have TVs above their heads on the ceiling to keep them entertained.  You could tell Porter was already zoned in!!

This was how we spent our last days of summer!  Joshua enjoyed the pool too and was representing his Dad with his little lifeguard swim trunks  :)  

Joshua's 2 month birthday!! He looks so different from just a month ago! He is able to support himself in a chair which is HUGE!

These kiddos keep me smiling!  Porter's favorite thing to do is making silly faces and Joshua just wants to be with his bro.  Typical day in the King household :)

This was orientation at Porter's school yesterday :)  He was totally talking when the teacher was and chatting it up with his new friends....this could be a long year (I hope he learns to listen!)

Porter's first day of Pre-K!  I made him take the picture after he got off the bus today since we missed everything this morning.  You can tell how amazingly excited he is with me!

Meltdown Mania

Hello family!

Well a lot has happened since my last post.  I usually am able to talk to Stephen once every 3 days.  They are 6 hours ahead of us, so we tend to get to talk around lunchtime or just after on those days.  There isn't really too much going on with him.  Every time I try to ask what is going on and how things are doing with him, he just says he is soooo busy with his job and has so much to do.  He said that most nights he has been going to bed between 2:00-3:00 a.m. working on his job.  I just can't believe he's still doing that much work over there like he was here....it's craziness! But I did tell him I didn't want to hear about his "no sleep" because there is NO WAY he is getting less sleep than me :) He agreed!

As for me...well.  In case you can't tell by my post...I totally had a meltdown this past weekend.  Literally.  My Mom and our good friend Ms. Lyn came up for a visit so we could keep putting my house together and decorate :) All day Friday little Joshua wouldn't nap, rest or let me put him down. Porter was his typical hyperactive four-year-old self and I had mad cleaning to do.  Needless-to-say, I was so exacerbated on the phone with my Mom that by the time they got here I think they just wanted to take over the kids for me so I could sit down for just one second and breath.

That afternoon Joshua started having a dry cough and I didn't know what was wrong with him.  After getting up with him three times that night to feed him, he began a deep congested croupy cough that had him gasping for air.  I couldn't take it and woke my Mom up to go to the ER with me.  Thank the LORD they were here because I didn't know what I would do at 4:45 a.m. by myself taking my two kids to the ER.  My experience at the ER was great and the doctor basically said that little Joshua has a cold and is fighting it very well.  The only concern is that he's not 2 months old yet which is when they get their first vaccinations so he can't fight off stuff that he normally would be able to.  So, first ER visit during the deployment and it went well.  My Mom and Ms. Lyn were totally crucial this weekend for my sanity.  I've cried from not enough sleep to being overwhelmed to totally missing the person that I need the most during these times.  I so enjoyed my Mom being here and she knew exactly what I needed this weekend.  We decorated, went shopping and spent money.  It was great and I was able to get some much needed time alone without either kid thanks to Ms. Lyn.  It was all around a very stressful, successful and fulfilling weekend. :)  Deployment sucks but family and friends make it possible!

Joshua went back to the doctor yesterday for a follow-up visit and found out that he has a viral rash over his whole body.  This probably explains his crankiness, not sleeping and always wanting to be held.  I feel so so bad for him, but hopefully he will fight it off quickly.  I had to go back today for another follow-up visit to make sure things were progressing the right way...and they were.  His breathing is crackly and his cough is super flemy, but the doctor said that means the stuff is breaking up in his chest which is good.  His rash is still there, but we go back next week for his two month appointment so we'll see what they say then.  I swear my life lately has been one BIG doctor visit!

My week is so crazy, but so much is getting done.  Porter has his home visit tomorrow for his new school that I just signed up for today.  Yes people...he will be attending the DoD school here on base for my sanity alone :)  The school bus will come pick him up and drop him off everyday right in front of our house!! Yay!! The teachers do home visits before school starts to meet the children and they are coming at 8:30 tomorrow morning.  Then my New Parent Support nurse is coming at 10 a.m. to do Joshua's two-month assessment and Porter's 4 year assessment. We might squeeze in a playground playdate/lunch and then Port goes to his first dentist appointment at 2 p.m. which is followed by my FRA (Family Readiness Assistant) meeting with the squadron at 6 p.m. at the USO.  And this is just my Wednesday... Life sure doesn't slow down no matter how much you want it to :)

The last thing I need to address is that I made a slight boo boo on Stephen's address.  I waited so long to send it right and of course I messed up.  Stephen said it's no big deal the way I have it because it will get to him in case y'all already sent stuff.  However, on the line where I wrote "S-1"...it should say "S-3".  This is his "shop".  S-1 is Admin and S-3 is Operations.  So it will get to his squadron, but go to Admin instead of Operations.  They all know each other there, so if it goes two doors down, they will walk it over to him :)  I promise.  But if you haven't mailed anything yet, change it to S-3!

I hope everything is going well with y'all and that y'all are getting ready for football season to start (I know Heath is dying for it to!:)  Please shoot me an email or message anytime you want to get in touch!  We miss everyone and hope to see y'all soon! Much love!
~Amanda

This is Joshua's pic at the ER Saturday morning.  Once he woke up he was a happy little dude and was just checking everything out and smiling :)

This is LP's new Pre-K haircut he got today!! He is getting so big and old!! :(

Stephen's address

Good Afternoon!

  These past couple of days have been so so much better than the last week!  That phone call from Stephen has seriously changed my mood around the house :) I'm in a state of happiness for awhile!

So...I FINALLY have the infamous address for all of y'all to send any mail or care packages.  Here it is:

                                                            Captain Stephen J. King

                                                            SPMAGTF C.R. ACE S-1

                                                            Unit 13926

                                                            FPO, AE 09510-3926

I'm not sure how long it takes to get out there, but if it's anything like Afghanistan, my friends have said it takes about 2 weeks to get there. :)  And just remember (I'm sure all of y'all know this), but if you send food over make sure it is non-perishable.  This will always be his address, but he may not always physically be in the same place all the time.  So...the packages may sit for a bit if he isn't in the same place for awhile. 

Nothing much to report here.  I did have a special visitor today!  Our old FRO (Family Readiness Officer) for Stephen's squadron stopped by to visit me today.  She is the liaison between the squadron and the spouses.  Anyways, she left our squadron the beginning of June because her husband was getting out of the military and they were moving to California.  Long story short, she was in town for two days and called me to see if she could come visit since she she left before Joshua was born.  She is amazing and I miss her so so much.  They went to our church, went to the Citadel and she is amazing :) She is also a syndicated author and she brought Porter and Joshua a gift which was one of her books that she published.  So cool!

As for me...I have finally been able to get back to my cleaning schedule and my house is FINALLY getting cleaned the way it should.  It took me 7 weeks, but I am in the place where life can start normalizing again :)  Well that's all for now!  Have a great end of the week everyone!

This is the book Carissa gave to Port and Josh :) She has a whole series of "The Little Marine".  They're great!

My girlfriend who just welcomed home her hubby 2 days before Stephen left came and dropped off a bag filled with these goodies since Stephen just deployed:)  I have the BEST friends!

This was the note she had inside the bag.  This verse was on the front....

 ...and this was on the back :)  Everything she listed on here she stuffed the "Little Jar of Sunshine" with!

Good Evening!!

I hope everyone's had a great start to the week.  We have been busy as usual. I swear I don't know how I function everyday with only a couple of hours of sleep at a time during the night and no nap during the day. My eyes literally start stinging at 8 p.m. when P & J go...I mean "try" to go to bed :)

Well, Sunday was the my first day of deployment emotion.  Porter had a friend's birthday party to attend.  All of fellow marine friends were there and it was a wonderfully grand time with little Joshua hanging out in my Boba (my new front carrier to make me feel semi-normal).  I left the party Sunday to head over to the birthday girl's house with my friends to watch her open presents and eat dinner since all of our husbands are deployed.  Well I noticed I had missed a few text messages from my husband and a couple of calls which would have been my first time literally talking to Stephen since Canada. Soo....needless-to-say, I was all kinds of upset about missing it because of the birthday party, bad timing and a two tired screaming kids in the car back and forth to houses.....ugh!!!

I have learned over these past two days that I'm going to have to either A) keep my phone on me at all times or B) not get upset when I miss communication with the hubs.  Right now at the beginning of the deployment I think I will stick with A :)  It took me a whole day to get over myself, but I was finally able to talk to Stephen yesterday afternoon which made everything all better.  Conversation was quick, but I was able to get out of him that they are still living it large on this deployment.  Instead of sleeping in some kind of shack like they have gone to be trained in twice in California, they are living in actual houses...like a 3 bedroom 2 bath house.  Seriously.  He said their A/C is great which is nice, but he did say that there are a lot flies.  When he was talking to me he said they were just all buzzing around his head. Yuck...but that's the last time I've been able to talk to him.  He said he was busy doing his job again, NAVO (navigations officer).  I can't wait to hear what all is going on once the group they are replacing actual leaves.

As for Porter, he went to the doctor yesterday and it went well.  He is fighting some kind of bug, and his lymph nodes and glands are doing their job.  However, we have to go back in two weeks for a follow up until his lymph nodes are back to normal size again.  Joshua is healthy and...vocal :) Porter was way too chill and Joshua is a grunter.  Awesome! He's crying as I type this  until I actually go in and pat his back and shove that little paci back in :)  And Porter is talking to himself until I walk by to go to bed and then he'll try and coax me back into his room saying he's "too scared to sleep with just himself...he needs somebody to cuddle with him." Ahhh, there is never rest for the weary...NEVER!

Ok, that's all I have for this evening! Here are some pics of the past week and half.  Goodnight all!



This is our last night out as a family!  Stephen took Porter to see Planes as a last father/son bonding session and then we went out to dinner. Last pic of all of the boys together until Joshua is almost 1! Crazy...

 Apparently I'm supposed to be blowing raspberries on Joshua so he knows it's from his Dad.  I'm not a pro at it like Stephen is, but Joshua sure does stop and stare every time we do it!

 This video melts my heart.  Stephen recorded himself reading three of Porter's favorite books for them to watch while he's gone.  This was the first night Porter and Joshua saw the video of Stephen reading the Bernstein Bears "The Spooky Old Tree".  In the video Stephen told Porter to get tucked in, so Porter scooted back in the chair and said "I'm ready Dad."  After the book was over Stephen told Porter goodnight and Porter just waved and said "goodnight Dad!" So glad he did this for the boys to seem like home while he's gone.

 This is a picture Stephen sent of them the first day flying into St. Johns in Newfoundland.  Pretty sweet!

 This is what the flight line looked like once they landed in Canada.  I never get tired of seeing all of the Ospreys all together like this.  It's pretty neat!

 

Made It!

Ok..so I know I literally just posted my first blog, but before I sent out the message I received a text from Stephen.  He has officially made it! I don't know any details of where or anything, but he is safe.  He said he will call later and give me more info so check back in later and hopefully I'll have something posted :)

So I guess the deployment can really begin now.  My girlfriends have all told me that the worse part of the beginning of the deployment are the two weeks before they leave.  Literally, I saw Stephen as he was crawling in bed most days in those weeks before as Phil and Ann can attest when they were here.  He was mentally not here and I had already checked out (emotion-wise).  From the Deployment Cycle diagram that is completely normal.  Luckily, the good part of the deployment starts now which is the COUNTDOWN! Yes the countdown to homecoming can finally begin.  I'm not sure how many days or months I'm counting down yet, but I can count DOWN which is way way better than counting UP! :)

I will post Stephen's address later.  I have it, but need to make sure I'm writing it correctly before I post if for all of y'all!  Take care and I'll have more info to come soon!

Deployment...Week 1

Well the first week has almost come to a close of our first deployment and I can honestly say that we are doing well.  My goal during this next year is to keep all of our family up-to-date on our life here in the states and abroad.  Hopefully once or twice a week I will be able post on this site so long as my two children are peaceful at the same time :)  As we speak, they are both taking naps so I will hurry along.

Monday started bright and early with EVERYONE waking up at 4 a.m. to get a smidge of family time before THE drop off.  I pictured my 'goodbye' with Stephen for our first deployment rather different.  As I pulled up to the squadron there was hardly anyone in sight except for a few cars with some people standing outside and a white van to shuttle the few people to Cherry Point.  Needless-to-say, Stephen had stuff to do in the 15 minutes before they boarded the van so he hopped out of the car, walked around to each of our rolled down windows and gave us a kiss goodbye.  He walked away waving and I drove away with Porter asking if he was 'the man of the house' now.  We have done many drop-offs like this for trainings that Stephen has had in the past that have lasted for 1-2 months at a time, so honestly the weight of the deployment hasn't hit the three of us yet.  

Having a child who is unfazed by Daddy's disappearance has made each day as normal as possible.  Porter is such a strong little guy.  After asking if he was the 'man of the house' as Stephen has drilled into his brain before he left, gave Porter the thought that he had some kind of say so in things now.  He then proceeds to ask, "does that mean I'm in charge?"  Oh Porter...you are such a manipulator :)  However, he amazes me by how mature he is with our ever-changing lifestyle.  On the ride back from the squadron I told Porter as I have for the past few weeks now that he may see Mommy get upset or cry sometimes because I'm sad Daddy is gone.  I told him that it's ok too if he gets sad because Daddy's gone and misses him.  Little Porter...with his carefree attitude just tells me, "do I have to?" And I told him he didn't have to cry if he didn't feel like it.  He then says, "Mom, I'm just waiting. I'm just waiting." To this four and a half year old, time doesn't matter to him....which I'm sure is the culmination of 'Daddy will be home after dinner' to 'Daddy's working late and won't see you until tomorrow' to 'Daddy's in California for a couple of months' and 'Daddy's missing Christmas and your birthday this year'.  He knows his Daddy is gone, but he's become an expert on waiting.  I learn so much from him and the stuff that comes out of his mouth sometimes.  He simply..amazes me :)

This first week has gone by so fast!  We've been bombarded with phone calls, text messages, playdates, dinners and doctor's appointments.  There's not a day goes by that we aren't meeting friends at the playground or meeting people for lunch/dinner get togethers.  That's one thing that I LOVE about the military is that all of the spouses rally around each other during these times of separation.  All of my girlfriends have deployed spouses right now and two friends just got their 'homecoming' 2 days before Stephen left.  We all understand what each other is going through and we make sure that we're carrying each other through these days, weeks and months together.  

As for Stephen, I think I've pretty much said everything I know in the email prior to this first post.  He has officially left North America as of yesterday and is in-transit to his final destination as we speak.  Not sure when he will arrive there but my guess is that he will be there before Monday (weather permitting :)  I will post any info that he passes to me on this blog and keep y'all informed on his general well-being and information that I am allowed to pass.  All I do know is that the 'uppers' in his squadron have said that this deployment has already shaped up to be NOTHING like a normal deployment from the free beer to Spa hotel stay and amazing scenery.  I'm anxious to find out any information about what's actually going on over there besides having amazing food and seeing beautiful places on his liberty.  

Until the next post, I hope y'all take care and spend lots of time with each other :)  I'm so thankful that we live so close to Charleston that we can come home to visit when we want and y'all can come visit during a weekend!  The drive is equivalent to Clemson, so if you can drive to Clemson...you better be making a drive north to a free place to stay in Jacksonville! :) Keep Stephen's travels and safety in your prayers as I'm sure you're already doing and keep our general well-being and attitudes in your prayers too.  We love each of y'all and look forward to coming down to Charleston sometime in the near future.

Love always....Amanda