Nevada

It's one of the 50.

I think Andre Agassi is the only famous person from there.

Oh and Vegas. Vegas is there.

Other than that, there's nothing too special about that place, it's mostly just a bunch of worthless land that the government owns.

All it does is fill up the space between California and Utah.

Unless...

It's missing. Then there's a big empty spot on your puzzle. We had already lost the New Hampshire / Vermont piece from the east coast. But it was just a little piece and I'm thinking it still might turn up. Somehow, despite Nevada's insignificance, we are really missing that state. You see, Jack plays with this puzzle all the time. He takes them out, rebuilds the puzzle on the table. He lines them up, smallest to largest, largest to smallest, sometimes by date admitted into the union, sometimes by population. --Not kidding. I noticed Nevada was gone a few days before our first scheduled trash pick up. Now it was trash pick up day, Mike and Ty had just left to take a load of stuff to Good Will.. About eleven o'clock Jack came into my room. He said:

"Mom, can you come help me find Nevada? It's in a box in the garage."

The boxes that had been filling up the garage were no longer there. A few of them were on their way to be donated and the rest of them were here:



And they were full.

"Jack! Those boxes are at the road for the trash person (sounds so PC doesn't it?) to pick up!"

"Will you come help me find it," He pleads.

"Are you SURE it's in there?" Because I want to be sure it is before I have to put on day clothes and go digging through my own trash in front of neighbors I don't yet know.

"Yes, it fell down in one of them when we were playing last night." Jack responds.

I'm such a sucker, or an awesome mom. You pick.

"Jaaaack..." I groan... "Yes, I'll come help you look."

I carefully look through box number one. It's like a needle in a haystack. I almost quit right there because of the odds that are against us.

Box two contains a whole lot of white packing paper.

"Jack, was it in a box with paper or a box with other stuff?"

"hmm... I don't know." He replies. He's not going to be much help now is he?

I dig through the box.

Box three. Nothing.

"Jack," (Now's as good as any time for a lecture, I decide.) "You shouldn't play with puzzles in the garage. It's so easy to loose pieces.

From hearing all of our adventures in life, you probably assume we don't have a complete puzzle anywhere in our house. That is where you'd be wrong. I'm a puzzle NAZI! One deployment Hannah and I built a huge shelf for the playroom to store the kids toys on, we refer to it as: "The Puzzle Shelves" Because that was what we had in mind when we built it. My thoughts are you might as well throw a puzzle away if you can't keep up with all the pieces. I get them out a couple at a time and only when the situation is controlled. Some people have gun safes, I might one day own a puzzle safe.

I'm pretty sure I asked God to help us find the puzzle piece. (Why do I care so much? I guess because Jack cares so much.)

"Jack, do you think the piece is on top or way down in the bottom of the box."

"I heard it go 'tink, tink, tink, tink,' all the way to the bottom."

Ok, well that's something.

I keep digging. Box 4, 5, 6, 7,8...14, 15.



I get to the end. Nothing.

"Did the piece just fall in?" I ask, getting slightly annoyed at the situation.

"No, it was playing 'hide 'n seek' and I hid it in a box."

I groan...What a terrible idea...

I go back to some of the boxes I had already looked at but been a little less thorough the first time.

Still nothing.

"Jack. I think it is lost. Let's stop looking."

I thought about calling Mike and asking him to please comb through all of the boxes he had with him. But I didn't.

That was it.

For the next two weeks every time I looked at that puzzle (which lives on top of the puzzle shelf in the big boys room) I was sad about poor Nevada.

Yesterday we did the finishing touches to the garage.

Looking good isn't it?



See that one brown cardboard box in the middle of the floor? Mike has been asking me for days to please go through that one and decide where that stuff goes. I make it happen.

You'll never guess what was in the bottom of that box.




God cares.

This proves it.

Welcome home Brady!

The boys made Brady and Me some awesome welcome home signs.

Chrissy and the boys were excited when we arrived.

Hannah and Chrissy were there to help us all day. I was under strict orders to take it easy.

A proud big brother.

Another one.

I look old don't I? Wow, four kids really does a number on you doesn't it? Here I am reading the boys "Johnny Texas on the San Antonio Road." Good book, you should pick it up.

Look at this. Look at it. Have you ever seen us look more pulled together? Like little cherubs, that's what it reminds me of. And then I'm sitting there, with non-maternity clothes on and make-up. This was Sunday morning, Brady was a week old and we were headed for church. We owed the kids ice cream after this one.

Brady Mays

Brady Mays Ellis

Born Feb. 5, 2012

8 lbs. 11 oz.

For the fourth baby I had a pretty long labor. I started having contractions at 7:45 in the evening Saturday, went to the hospital at 5:00 am Sunday morning and had Brady around 1:30 on Super Bowl Sunday. -No, we didn't name him after Tom Brady, even if he was quarterbacking one of the teams vying for the championship.

This was taken right after he was born.

So sweet.


Eyes are open!

Chilling with Mom in the room.

Number four is a BOY!

Four sons. Could it get any better than that? This was our first baby whose gender was a surprise to us. Neither of us had preference on this last one --despite having three boys already. A girl would bring a new dimention to our family, but having a house full of boys seemed like something special.
My reaction when child number four was first held up for inspection: "A boy! Alright!"
Brady, don't let anyone ever tell you that we were trying for a girl when we got you. It's simply not true. We are thrilled with what you are and are excited to see who you become.

Did we win?

Before Jack was born, before we were married, before we were engaged, back when Mike and I were that high school couple that never sat together at youth group... I had a dream.

Mike and I were both officials for the YMCA through high school and college. It was a dream job if you love the Texas heat and enjoy being criticized by adults who had a way worse view than you. We loved the kids and getting to be a part of sport and liked that we could work only the hours we chose. I mostly officiated baseball and Mike did soccer, baseball and I think some basketball too. I would go to the soccer fields when he was reffing and watch him blow the whistle and throw out parents. Nothing is more attractive. During those moments a dream was born.

I imagined myself sitting in a lawn chair on the sidelines of a soccer field on a cool Saturday morning with a stroller parked next to me where the little one would be contently eating goldfish and sipping apple juice. I'd look across the field to the opposite sideline where I'd see Mike, clipboard in hand, coaching his heart out. Our son would be the kid on the field that had just been credited with an assist and was now helping up an opponent that had fallen to the ground. I'd cheer for our team in celebration of their most recent point then sip on my still hot coffee. The fresh air would be both invigorating and relaxing at the same time. What better way to spend a Saturday morning...

It was a dream.

A dream I have been dreaming for 10 years.

This fall it was to be realized!

Except...

It wasn't exactly like that.

It was more like this:

"Jack! Have you found your cleats?"
"Well, where did you put them after practice last week?"
"You can't find your socks either?... Oh! I know where they are, they are still in the washer." "They are just a little damp, you can wear them!"
"You have to wear them! We don't have any others."
"Mike, is it supposed to be over 110 again today?"
"It is? Awesome."
"Did you grab your water?"
"Mike! Is the stroller and the snacks and the chairs and the kids drinks all in the van?"
"How long does it take to drive there?"
"We are late already??"
"Tell me it's not our week to take the team snacks!"
...
"Quick Jack, run with dad to the field."
"Mike, do you know where field 5 is?"
"OK, call me when you find it and we'll head over there."
"Hurry Jack, the game is about to start!"
"Ty, you can't ride in the stroller, I need your seat to hold the chairs."
"Ty, keep up with me, we are missing the game. They only play for 40 minutes."
"Hello, Mike? Did you find the field? It's not near field 6? On the other side of the complex? Ok, we'll turn around and head your way."
"Ty, we didn't bring you a chair, you sit in the stroller and watch the game."
"Ty, you are in my seat. Ok, I guess you can sit there. I'll sit on the ground."
"It is so hot! Mike did you grab the waters out of the van? We have one bottle? Great!"
"Ty! Don't pour the water on the ground!!! That is all we had to drink!"
"I'm sorry Austin, we don't have any wa-wa. We'll get you some later."
"GOOooooo JACK!!"
"No, Austin, you can't get out of your seat."
"Come on Turbo!!"
"Austin, you can't play with that ball, it's just for the big boys."
"What's that Ty? You need to go potty?"
"Ok."
"I'll take him Mike, you watch Jack since you couldn't make that last two games."
"Ty, I told you not to touch anything in the restroom! Especially the toilet seat!"
"Wash with soap."
"Don't touch the door, I've got it."
"No, we are not buying a Powerade."
"Baby, can you walk any faster? We are missing the game!"
"We're back, did we miss much Mike?"
"Oh, that's it? It's over?"
"Did we win?"

That was how it actually went --and that was on the days when Mike was there to help.

Did we win? Yes. We did. We won every game except for the ones we tied --according to Jack. We would think about what sort of pep talk we would need to give our son who has been known to get really upset when he didn't win at something. We never needed to give the "You tried hard and that's all that matters" speech. He came over to us after every game and announced that they had won. Either we need to work on his counting skills or I don't understand scoring in soccer. Doesn't matter. We never corrected him, we'll working being a good loser next season.

Jack had a phenomenal coach and his experience this fall has left him wanting to play next season. So, until then, I will keep the dream alive. Maybe one day I'll be sipping hot coffee on a cool morning while relaxing in my lawn chair watching my studly husband inspire the athletes of tomorrow.

Maybe.

Arkansas

Two days.

Two days in Arkansas and already teeth are falling out. (No offense Shellye)

Our new house came with a fun slide/swing set play thing in the backyard that was an instant hit. Looks like fun doesn't it?

Who knew this plastic slide would be the cause of my 21-month-old losing a front tooth? He wasn't even doing anything dangerous on it.

Mike was in the backyard watching the kids while I was inside checking box numbers off the list as the movers brought things into the house. Mike came in with a little boy who had obviously been crying and had blood around his mouth. Mike asked me to clean up his mouth and comfort him a bit. He said that Austin had bit his tongue. I cleaned him up and sent the content little guy back out to play. A few minutes later Jack came in yelling, "Mom! Austin's mouth is bleeding!" I go out to check on it and find him with a little more blood so I investigate his tongue more closely.

"Tongue looking good... teeth look ... wait a minute.

There's a big red hole where a tooth is supposed to be!" I felt my stomach get all icky and my surroundings started to float a little. I paused for a moment then went to Mike.

"Austin's front tooth is gone." I calmly tell him.* He gets up and we walk over to the basketball goal where Austin and Jack had been playing. Nothing there. Back to the slide and sure enough there at the bottom of the slide lying on top of the dirt was this:

"How is this even possible?" You ask.

I don't know.

Mike's friend, Tim, told Austin: "You may be the third boy, but you are the first one to lose a tooth!"

That's one way to look at it. If not teeth, at least he has bragging rights.

*despite my calmness that was a rough thirty minutes, but at least I met (via the phone) a really awesome dentist.

Ellis' in Greenville

Well folks, he did it.

Done now after 3 or 4 years of working on papers by candle light. He'd put the boys to bed, hang out with the wife then when I'd get sleepy he'd get up and go study for an hour or two. He was so good at keeping his study time from interfering with family time that I didn't even know he was working on a Masters until 2 years into it. The man hasn't had a Sunday afternoon nap in four years. If he was home and we were sleeping, he was studying.

Boy is he glad he's done!





After graduation Mike and I left the children in Greenville and headed back to Abilene to oversee the move. Due to cutbacks in the Air Force this move was less government supervised and much more of a headache. See below. Mike and I spent hours chilling on this rug waiting while the slowest people in the planet packed and moved our stuff. I'm so thankful that the boys weren't there going crazy.

Helpful people like this one (Joe) kept the kids happy and healthy while Mike and I were moving.

For the last two months we thought we were going to have a house built for us in Arkansas. Turns out we were wrong. God changed the plans for us on that. No problem except that we didn't have a place to live and needed to begin the house search again. Well, we found one. We drove up and looked at it and immediately put in an offer. After a little bit of negotiating we bought a house! I'm very excited about moving in and making this place home. It comes with an acre and a half of land for the boys to explore. It couldn't be more perfect for our family.

Ty had a birthday. My smiley little guy has turned four. For those of you with little bitty kids, four is big. No longer a toddler, no longer struggling to communicate, no longer having potty training issues. No, this guy is big. I'll put up a birthday post soon. I'm working on collecting all the pictures. Here he is waiting on the UPS man to deliver him a package full of birthday party supplies --glow sticks!

So I told you the house was perfect for us right? Well it is, or it will be... after we add another 500 sq. feet. Dad is showing Mike how to build stairs.

We've been being a little more creative with activities for the boys since we are not at home and doing our normal routine. Here mom brought home a big piece of cardboard for the kids to draw on.

Austin helps himself to fruit often.

The boys have access to an awesome swing set in the backyard. Mom and Dad's is a fun place.

The boys and I have been to this park several times. Here my big guy is enjoying a picnic.

I snapped a picture of all three of them (in the same place). See how Austin thinks he's one of the big kids.

Hannah invited the boys over to her house for a sleepover. They did cool things like this. A masking tape race car track. The guys had an awesome time.

Dad needed some pictures of pregnant women for a video at church to show the need for workers in the nursery. This picture was taken two days before the baby was born.

Next post: Baby is here!

The way it's been

I am so far behind in recording our major life events that I'm going to have to update you in a series of posts.

I'll start off with saying that the last nine months were some of the most physically challenging I can remember. I was sicker with this last baby than all the others. More extreme morning sickness --the scented trash bags made me want to throw up. Mike making coffee did make me throw up. On the good days I would roll out of bed, walk to the kitchen, lie over on the counter resting my head in my hands and rest for a few seconds before summoning the strength to do what I had to in that room.

Amazingly enough my boys all made it through. The next couple months were good. And God provided (as He always does) with my sister, Chrissy, moving in with Mike and I. She attended college in Abilene while living with us. We had told her for years she was always welcome to come live with us where ever we were and do college in that town. She came and was a huge help to me and Mike. We thoroughly enjoyed her presence and involvement in our little family.

December arrived too quickly for me. I spent as much time as I could afford being with the women who had walked with my through the last four years --four years that I wouldn't trade for the moon. Those years were filled with adjusting to military life, deployments, TDYs, having children (plural), surviving a two-year-old. I learned so much about how to be a wife, a mother, a daughter to our Heavenly Father, a teacher. I learned how to make friends, how to make coffee, how to be not so obnoxious. I spent countless hours with a cup of coffee in front of me either receiving council or discussing with my peers different ways to reach a child's rebellious heart. I would listen to women build up their husbands and would learn how to be a submissive wife with words of praise on her tongue instead of a judgemental untrusting woman.

I wouldn't trade these four hard years. I definitely feel that God took us to Abilene for me to learn. --I think I've said that on here before... sorry....

So December we left Abilene.

For the last two months the boys and I have been living in Greenville with my gracious hospitable parents and two youngest sisters. I can't believe they haven't asked us to move --or moved out themselves. I had hoped that we would be able to be a blessing to them by having dinner on the stove and the house clean when they got home from work each day. It hasn't exactly worked out that way. The house has never been clean for them. Dinner on the stove... maybe once or twice a week. I just haven't felt very good physically since I've been here. The last month and a half of the pregnancy were hard. Today, a week and a day since baby #4 was born, I'm beginning to feel strength return. However, most all of that is spent trying to take care of four small people. It seems with each new child I have to re-learn how to do life. How many does it take till you get it down and daily life becomes a perfected form of art? 19? If so, I doubt we'll ever get there ;-)

Tonight, after sending the wild boys to bed, I asked if the grown-ups at home would watch the baby while I escaped. They were more than willing, as always.

But now, Starbucks is closing on me. I promise the next post will provide more humor and less information. For records sake I needed to recap the last months. Stay tuned, maybe this blog will get funny again. I think it will.

Family Christmas Picture

Merry Christmas to you!

Due to several mediocre reasons, you will not be getting a Christmas card from me. Well, 20 of you will. I didn't really like the options for backgrounds at one photo card website and that happened to be the place I had some credit for free prints. So I ordered 20 and planned to go to another site to get more. I never did.



The new plan is to send you a family picture with a baby announcement included.



So merry Christmas and I look forward to hearing from you even though I can't return the favor for a few more months. We will be receiving mail at my parents address for the next few months. Let me know if you want the address :-)

It's time.

Four and a half years in Abilene. It's over now. At the drop party during Mike's training in San Antonio it was revealed what airframe Mike would be working on and at which base he would start out.

I can remember it clear as day: "C-130's to Dyess!" That was the announcement.

My heart sank at exactly the same moment my jaw dropped. Seriously? C-130s? A plane we were avoiding because of the strenuous deployment cycles. Abilene? What do you even do at that place besides watch the tumbleweeds roll and watch your step for rattlesnake?

We had a tiny bit of faith that God was in this decision and our fate did not depend on some commander who was giving Mike less than he deserved.

We went.

It was either that or get court marshaled.

Now we have been here four and a half years and it is time to PCS.

PCS --Permanent Change of Station.

I hate that word permanent.

At least I hate it now that my heart belongs and loves this dusty hot town.

For the last few months I have known it was coming, but I refuse to live in the future. I knew we were leaving, but I didn't embrace it in my mind. Today however, I must. I must put all my attention and energy toward leaving.

Yesterday at church the boys had to say goodbye to Ashten. ...wow. Typing that made my eyesight blurry. Ashten has been their second mom. Now I can't see at all. Great. Where do we keep the tissue? Ashten (I don't think she even knows this) is listed as the emergency contact at all kinds of places in case there is an emergency and they can't get ahold of me. Probably you should inform your emergency contact that they are the emergency contact, that way they will be ready to step in if you need them. There is really no point in telling Ashten. I know she would (because she has) drop everything to help me out. She took the day off of work when I went into labor. I called her and my mother at 6:00 to tell them we were at the hospital. She and her husband have spent holidays with my extended family.

Every military wife needs someone who can and will drop everything when you need her. What will I do in Arkansas without her?

And it's not just her.

I've got about...5 REALLY GOOD friends. Then about another hundred good friends. These people have taken care of my family, prayed over me, encouraged me, fed me, fed my messy children, mowed my yard, drank coffee with me, shoveled my entire huge driveway when it came a blizzard and many other things.

I've got an arsenal full of older women who have taught me and counseled me.

Now I will be far away from them.

It's hard to think about this. It's overwhelming to think what I'll do on my own. I rely on these people!

It's been hard to breath. I thought it was because I was anxious and not trusting God. Then I was reading last night on my pregnancy app on my phone it said: "...your growing uterus has compressed your lungs, limiting their ability to fully expand when you take a breath and causing you to feel like you've just run a marathon when you've only climbed a flight of stairs."

I think maybe it's both.

The thought of bouncing around for the next few months, Mike being away from us, a baby being born, a house being built and the overseeing mama having about 30% of the energy I normally have... it makes breathing hard.

I can't do this. I can do a lot of stuff. I'm a military wife. We are amazing ;-)
But... this is too much.

Last night I read to the boys a chapter of the book we are going through: "Behold the Lamb of God." I will wait till another post to tell you how awesome I think this book is. If you are familiar with the Jesus storybook Bible, this is a bigger kid/adult version of that book. Yes, I am reading it to my 3 and 5 year-olds. It is a bit of a struggle for them to understand, but things they are gleaning are worth it.

So I am reading this chapter. It is about when the Israelites were about to enter the promised land. Spies were sent in to check out the place. They came back and reported of it's bounty and it's HUGE strong people living in the land. The odds were against them being able to conquer the land. It was impossible. They couldn't do it.

The people responded to this report by being afraid and whining "We should have just stayed in Egypt to die." They did not want to enter. They didn't believe that God would fight for them. So... He didn't.

Despite the miracles of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the miraculous provision of manna and water, the visual reminder of a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire... these people didn't believe that God could be trusted to prepare the way.

So he didn't.

He turned them around and had them wander in the desert for the next 40 years where every one of the "faithless generation" died.

I paused my reading in mid paragraph.

This is me. Or at least it could be. Things are heading that way.

I stand on the edge of the promised land (or... maybe just Arkansas) and I freeze up, struggle to breathe.

God who has taken a place like Abilene and taught me, provided for me, matured me, loved me, listened to me, helped me... and I think this God won't take care of the difficulties of this move.

I'm so dumb.

He's so faithful.

I'm so glad.