Ok. I won't bore you with all the details of us getting home, but we made it!! We got home about 3:00 pm our time yesterday and had went over 8 hours without eating!
It was a nice layover at Scott AFB! It makes us want to move there, so we can be closer to family! I guess time will tell and we will see what the Lord has in store for us! Who knows right? Thank you for all your sweet and encouraging comments! I know I just need to trust the Lord with where we should be right now! I don't want to be out of His Will!!
So, I get home and have TONS of mail to go through and guess what is in the pile? A note from my school saying I have made the Dean's List!! Hooray for me!! I am so proud. You see I was never a good student or got good grades when I was in school (too busy getting into trouble) so now for me to have this honor, I am just thrilled! I can't believe it! I take my school work seriously and LOVE being in school. I have already registered for my classes next semster and it is going to be a busy schedule!! Most of my classes are at night (which is what I didn't want) but I need to finish my degree....hopefully by next Fall! I won't know what to do out there in the real world cause I have been in school for so long!
We are thrilled to be back in our own house and our dog was just THRILLED to see us pull up in the driveway! Poor guy! He is just following us all around the house and the kids have been spoiling him with treats and lots of lovins since we got home. Steve had a softball game last night and there was no way I was leaving Samson behind again, so he tagged along with us to the game and was in his element! He loved it!
Ok. So I bored you with details...sorry! I am thankful that we had a safe trip home and now I have LOTS of work to do around here! My house is a mess and I can't function with it looking like this! I also will be taking my First Aid/CPR this week probably in Napa, so hopefully in the next two weeks we should get a referral! I am so excited about this and can't wait to see who will be joining our family! I have been praying for the little boy that will be coming to our home, so I know that he will be special! Keep us in your prayers please!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
We made it home!!!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
STUCK!!!
That is us....STUCK! We tried to fly out of Scott AFB, IL on Saturday morning and it didn't happen due to an Air Show! We left Mansfield about 10:00pm Friday night and arrived at Scott AFB around 5:30 AM! I was only going on 1 1/2 hours of sleep and NOT a happy camper when we found out that we were not flying HOME that day! We spent about 8 hours at the Terminal trying to find a car rental, find a hotel, then find a way to get the car rental, then fight traffic back onto the base (due to the airshow it was HORRIBLE) then FINALLY get to our hotel. Steve and I took about an hour nap, we didn't even take the luggage out of the car. We turned on the tv for the kids and went straight to sleep! It was a VERY ROUGH day! We woke up refreshed this morning and decided to take advantage of our little lay-over here. We are only about 20 minutes from St. Louis, so we took off to see the big Arch there on the Riverfront. It was a cool sight. They had a beautiful park right by it, so we walked around for a while. It was very hot and humid, so we didn't stay long at all. We drove a little further into St. Louis and found this cool place called The Magic House!! Oh my...this was the most fascinating place I have ever been to! It is a kids museum and learning place and the kids had a blast!! It was four stories of nothing but exploring!They had a room for everything in there, a bank, a grocery store, a toddler exploration area, a FOUR story slide, a Lewis and Clark exploration floor, a Math zone, and so on! In each area the kids could touch, play and do whatever they wanted in it. Like in the bank, they could make a deposit, play with safe's (figuring out how to open them by a code) and so on. It was all hands on and the kids loved it! We stayed there for about three hours and then were hungry and had to get out of there! We decided to have SONIC for lunch and enjoyed the great food from there. The sad thing is that we have these in California, but haven't made it to one yet. After eating one today...I am going more often now!!
So for the bad news, I don't have a lot of pictures from today. In fact, I only have three and one didn't turn out! My battery is dead on my camera and in the midst of packing in Mansfield I picked up my mother n laws camera charger that looks just like ours and was sitting in the same place. So I won't have any pictures to post for a while.
We are suppose to be at the Terminal tomorrow morning at 9:30 and our flight should leave shortly after that. I am hoping that I can post from home tomorrow night!! Please pray that we get on our flight tomorrow morning!! I am ready to be home! I have actually enjoyed our little min-vacation here, but am anxious to see my puppy Samson!! I miss him so much! It is hard to believe that I love my dog that much! He is a part of our family and I hate every minute that we are without him. .....
Ok! See you tomorrow....hopefully from California!!
The kids at the Park right next to the Arch! It was a beautiful but HOT day today!
St.Louis Arch! What a beautiful sight. I couldn't get it all in the picture up close to it!
Friday, July 6, 2007
Saying Goodbye....
Tonight we will be leaving Ohio and driving to Scott AFB, IL to catch a flight back to California. It is a bittersweet feeling for everyone and it will be hard to say goodbye. Tyler has already started crying and saying he doesn't want to go home! It hurts to see him want to be with family so badly, knowing there really isn't anything we can do to get him home. We have been working on trying to get a little closer to home, but each effort gets shot down somehow. It can get depressing, but we knew that was the military life.
Please keep us in your prayers as we travel by car to IL and then fly on to California. Also pray for an easy goodbye for all of us. As anxious as I am to get home to my bed, house, and dog...it will be hard to say goodbye.
It has been a great trip though! I have met my precious and beautiful niece Mikayla....who is adorable!! We have been to Alum creek swimming, to friend's house swimming, I have been with my sister for two whole weeks (who is going through a rough time right now), been to an Indian's game with my husband, and LOTS LOTS more!! I will post more pics of the past few days when I get home on Saturday. We had an awesome Fourth of July and Jaelyn actually enjoyed them this year!
See you Saturday!!!!
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Too many pictures!!!
Oh these past few days have been a blur!! I feel like I haven't had a minute to stop and rest since we landed over a week ago!! It has all been a lot of fun though and I am sure once I am home I will miss it again! I sure do love being back here in my home town! I do miss my bed, my dog, and my house!! If I could just pick up my house and bring it here, that would be great! Oh well. So on Saturday we drove up to Kris and Mindy's house and went to the Zoo while the guys went golfing. They had a great time and so did we. We got lots of good family pics while we were together.
Today we went to Church and heard a great sermon at Church. We sure do miss our Church alot. Pastor Bruce is an awesome Pastor and is sooo on fire for the Lord. It is wonderful to see how much the Church has grown and the great things they have going on in the works! I love it!
After Church we took off to the campgrouds where my dad is staying and went out on my dad's boat for a while. The kids all drove the boat and had a great time. We then came home and Steve's mom, my sister and I took off to Cheddar's for some dessert and girl-time! It was nice to socialize and eat delicious desserts! While we were gone the guys started a bonfire out back and had it ready to make Smores' when we got home. The kids roasted marshmellows and made Smores' then headed for bed. Tonight was a perfect night for a fire because it wasn't too hot out!
Here are TONS of pictures from the past two days. I have so many to choose from! I love all these family pictures and doubt these are the last of my vacation pics!!
Tomorrow I start looking for flights back home. We won't be going in the next 48 hrs, they only give out the schedule for that far ahead! It could be as soon as Thursday though and I will be very sad to leave. We need to make sure we get back to California before this weekend because Steve has to be at work on Monday! We don't need him being AWOL!!!
Enjoy the pics. Sorry there are soo many!
I love this picture of Mikayla. She is so adorable!!
At the Zoo...everyone wanted to get in the water!!
What cute girls!!
The original Ousley's....ha ha!!
Sisters....
Brothers!! The guys had a great time golfing together! It was good to see everyone have a good time together!
Family picture!! It was great to have everyone together for a picture! This doesn't happen too often!
I love this picture of Me and Steve. We hardly get our picture taken together, so this was nice!!
Family picture this morning before Church! It was so great to be in our "home" Church today!!
Me hanging out at the campgrounds with my dad. He decided to take some pictures with my camera to check it out!
Me and my dad out on the boat today.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Date with my husband.....
At an Indians game! We had a great time tonight. We took off and left the kids with Grandma and headed for the game. We stopped and had dinner together, boy...it was quiet without our kids, but very nice. We then took our time getting up to Jacob's field to watch the game! It was a nice relaxing evening together! After the game they had a fireworks display and a light show too! It was awesome!
Tomorrow we headed back to Massillon to go to the Zoo with Mindy and the kids! It should be a good time!
Me and my date for the night!! We had such a great time together and it was nice having a "date" night!
Our view from our seats. We were up VERY high, but could see all the action.
The fireworks after the game...
The light show during the fireworks. It was a blast.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Having lots of FUN!!!!
We have been having a GREAT time the past few days! Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Chad and Laura's swimming in their nice pool! Boy do I wish I had one of those in my backyard! Someday maybe! We had a nice visit and the kids LOVED being in the pool the whole time!
Then today we had Steve's Grandma and Grandpa over for dinner. It was nice to be with so much family! I sure do miss this for my kids...and myself. Maybe someday. I am starting to get homesick though! I miss my puppy Samson back home, but I know that he is doing good hanging out with our friend Scott while we are away.
Next week is looking crazy busy! I am looking forward to it! Tomorrow night is going to be an exciting night for me and Steve.....we are having a DATE NIGHT!! Yep... a night out just the two of us. We have decided to head up to an Indian's game and check out the firework display afterwards! I think we will go out to dinner first! I am really excited about it! The kids are going to hang out here with Grandma for the evening and watch a movie and have popcorn and other "goodies" I am sure! Then Saturday we are going up to the zoo and spending the day with Mindy and the kids while the guys all go golfing (hopefully) we haven't confirmed all of the details yet, but Mindy if you are reading this post....MINDY HERE WE COME!!! Just kidding! Hopefully the weather will stay nice for the next week, but I doubt it. I am anxious for a GOOD storm while we are home, but haven't had any luck yet. I love storms and we don't get ANY out in California hardly EVER. If it thunders out there they issue tornado warnings.... ha ha just kidding!!
Here are some pics. They are all out of order, but you should be use to that by now. One day I will sit and try to figure it out...
My sister and me! Spending quality time together...ha ha! I miss hanging out with her!
My in laws doggy, Buddy. He is such a cutie and loves the kids! He is sitting here begging right now looking so cute!
Me and my sister, Holly. She has been here almost everyday to hang out with me! I sure do miss her a lot! We were always together when I lived here in Mansfield.....those were the good ole days!!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
A day at Alum Creek!
Today we had a fun day at Alum Creek! We packed up coolers, bags, kids, and sunscreen and headed towards Columbus to go swimming! Jaelyn was crying last night to go to the beach (I think she misses home) so we decided to go to there today instead of going to the pool.
I am so happy that we are home! We are totally enjoying all the fun we are having being home. Sunday was a blast at Mikayla's birthday party! She made such a sweet birthday princess!! We are so glad that we could be there to help celebrate! I am praying that we soon find a way to get closer to home, so we don't have to be away from our family any longer. Being home makes me miss everything even more! So please keep us in your prayers!
Crazy kids!! They are ready to go swimming and have a fun day in the sun!!
I'm ready mom!!! Take me swimming!!!
Look at these tired eyes....and this is on the way to go swimming!
My handsome husband!! He had a great time today too! He played in the water with the kids almost the whole day!
Jaelyn running in and out of the water. She had fun in the water today! I couldn't believe that she wasn't afraid!! I was very proud of her!
Tyler in the water swimming! He loved the water today and wouldn't stay out of it. They had a blast!
Grandma and Jaelyn in the water...
