Daddy is a FIREMAN!

On December 17th, Craig and 11 of his buddies from the 61st recruit class graduated from the Greensboro Fire Academy! Craig received two awards and was chosen to give a short speech, which was, of course, hilarious. The whole ceremony was awesome and we are super excited that those 20 weeks are over. Despite being really glad that the academy is over, God has been gracious to our family and guided us through what could have been a really rough time on our marriage. When the families gathered for family night back in August, one of the Captains gave us some crazy statistic for separations/divorces during the academy. After the first week, I could see why. Our husbands had morphed into physically drained zombies who had to study every weekend for an exam on Monday morning. Family time was left to the curb if it wasn't structured and almost forced. But, like I said, God was gracious and gave Craig energy to sit on the floor and play with the boys on evenings that he just wanted to go to bed (at 6pm), to eat dinner with the family, and patience to answer my every question about the academy (I had a lot). It was a great time for me to "step up" the helper role that the Bible calls wives to be in and surprisingly and awesomely (new word I think) Im not tired of that role at all. I'm cherishing it. And I love love looooove hearing Speirs say, "Wy Wy! Wy Wy! Daddy is a fireman!"

Burn Day: Craig is working at the front of the hose.

Outside!

Our apartment has a nice little patio/porch area that has been amazing for Speirs. Thankfully, it is a closed space that allows him to go outside and entertain himself doing a world of different things! We recently put up a swing on our porch, which has been a hit with both boys. What kid doesn't like to swing?!

I wept.

Death always always always shocks me. Perhaps I haven't dealt with it enough or perhaps even if I had, it would still make me weep every time. If the person is 85 or 25, I can't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that I will never see them physically on earth again. Last night, my mom called to tell me that a beloved friend from high school, Jon Green, passed away. The initial hit struck hard and after hanging up the phone I sat in shock. The shock only lasted so long before I started sobbing over the life of a friend lost. His smile was contagious and his personality was top notch. No one met him who didn't love him. I haven't seen him in years but I am pretty confident by the notes on facebook that he was still the same Jon, making people laugh and loving life. He was a son, a brother, and a friend who will be missed.

We weren't meant to taste death and maybe thats why it hurts so much. Jesus, we long for you to restore what is broken, come soon.

Getting Big

Wyatt is getting so big. I have seriously been slack about blogging but I have been taking pictures! One post is really all I have time for right now, so this one is for Wy Wy and his astounding growth over the past five months! We had to go to the doctor the other day for a cold and he weighed 18 lbs! It appears he will be following in his big brothers footsteps when it comes to size! He is sitting up, rolling over and downing the solid food!

July Fourth

For the fourth, we spent Thursday night through Monday down in Swansboro which is the longest we have visited since we've been married. So it was nice to slow down and really be able to enjoy our time. My brother and his family were also in town which made the trip even more special. Its nice that our kids can have some time to hang out and get to know one another! The kids did great and we are looking forward to getting some time in at the end of the month before we aren't able to make any more long trips for a while.

Craig has been hired on to the Greensboro Fire Department and begins the Academy on August 2nd. This is HUGE for Craig and our family and we are super excited about it! But that limits our time out of town unless our visits are going to be very short. But either way, we are excited! Here are a few pictures from the weekend, even though they dont capture all that we were able to do while we were there.

Candid.

My brother and I show our disdain for the others alma mater. I was cold and this was the sweatshirt my mom gave me....thanks.

My brother and his sweet daughter Presley

Corn on the Cob

Flamboyant shorts.

Swansboro

This past weekend, I traveled with the boys by myself to Swansboro. Not sure I considered all of the logistics of traveling that far by myself with two little ones. Such as: what do I do if I have to go to the bathroom and I dont have a double stroller? You hold it sister!...Yep my post baby bladder handled it like a champ.

Anyhow, I was traveling to attend Madi's (my best friend from high school) wedding reception. She was married on the 6th of May in beeeautiful Costa Rica and wanted to have a reception at her parents in Emerald Isle and it worked out that I was able to go. It was seriously a blast from the past but a great one none the less. I wasn't able to get any pictures at the reception since I was by myself and wasn't going to keep up with a camera, but I did get some pictures of the boys from the weekend.

Party time

Life has been crazy the past few weekends. My dad retired at the end of April, so my mom threw him a party May 8th and some of my aunts and uncles from Texas made the trip to treat dad to a Texas Barbeque:)! The food was absolutely amazing but I have to say that the company beat the food! My cousin Rey and his wife Diana are stationed at Fort Bragg so they were able to come too, along with their sweet little boy Jayden. There were 15 adults and 4 babies staying at my parents house that weekend! Good times!

Here is everyone on our last day together!

Mohawk. Compliments of uncle Joey

Wyatt and Great Grandma

Jayden.

He's learned how to smile for the camera. HAM.