Memorial Day Tribute

A Memorial Day Prayer for Our Soldiers

My God who gave His only Son,

To shed His blood for all mankind.

Give strength to all the loving ones,

Who give their sons and daughters to keep our land free.

Your faithful men and women,

Venture near and far.

We call upon your mercy,

No matter where they are.

Keep them safe, one and all,

On land, in air, on sea.

An while we know some will not return,

Give us strength to accept their destiny.

And to the men that have fallen,

Give a special place of grace in eternity.

And help me Lord to never forget,

The price they paid for our great country.

-Author Unknown

On this day we remember those who have fought for our country and paid the ultimate sacrifice.....WE WILL NEVER FORGET !!!

Happy Memorial Day from The Craig Family

All in God's Timing...

So if you know me, you know I am a total planner ( inherited from my father..lol). These past couple of weeks have been kind of stressful for me.  For one, we are trying to have the kids finished with homeschool by the end of May so that we can focus on our upcoming move.  Thankfully, Rachel is complete...YIPEE and Ethan will be finished by the end of this week!!

Another thing that has been on our minds is finding a home to live in when we get there.  For those who are not in the military, it is really great to already have a house waiting on you at your next duty station so you can do a door to door move.  If you don't, then the moving company will take your things to a storage facility and it will stay there until you have a home.  By not having to do that you have a better chance of all your stuff arriving at your home and not being damaged. Plus, the planner in me likes to know where the kids are going to school, where our bills need to be sent, are their good churches near, etc.

We have been browsing houses for a while and had figured out the areas we wanted to live and at the time there were lots of houses open that fit our needs.  However, we couldn't put a deposit down until we had the money saved and we didn't want to have to start paying rent until July.  We had a house picked out that we thought was perfect...great school, great commute, right size, etc.  It was actually on the market for three months and we had set up a date for my parents to go take a look at it.  Well, the day we got our deposit money the house rented out.  We were so disappointed and the two weeks to follow were not good.  Every house we inquired about either was already rented, was too small, didn't accept pets, or was too far for Josh to commute.  I was really starting to get worried, but Josh kept reminding me that we had prayed about this and that God would open up the right home, at the right time for us. Well, this morning, I decided to go and check a website that had listings of houses available and there was one new post.  Just by reading the post it was everything we were looking for...right size, price, great schools ( a 9 on greatschools.org), great commute, accepted pets..I mean I could go on and on.  So I called the owner, who was SO nice, and asked about it....it was AVAILABLE!!!  She said the only stipulation was that they were leasing for a year....guess what, we are only going to be there a year!!!  She just laughed....I did too! Totally a God thing!! I really don't know why I ever doubt Him...He's never let us down in the past!  Anyway, it is such a relief knowing we have a home and that Ethan/Rachel are going to be at a great school.  Oh, another plus, their school hours are 9:05 -3:45..... How great is that!

So here it is....our new home starting in July!!

Thank you all who have been praying for us and our move....we truly appreciate it!!!

Until next time,
Michelle

Ethans Final Baseball Game......

Tonight was The Mountain Home AFB Braves final game!  They did such a great job this season.  Tonight, Ethan hit 2 singles and a double!! He was really blessed with  great team and coach this year!  Below are some highlights!

Heading to the field

Rachel getting some belly sugar off of Caleb :)

This is what the boys do during the game...

Ethan and some of his pals from the team...

It's a Double...YAY!

In the league here they use a pitching machine for the games...Ethan really thought that was cool! Here he is playing second base.

Getting a player out as catcher!!

Poor little Michael was so tired...

Ethan making a play as pitcher..

Getting some advice from his Daddy...

Until Next Time,

Michelle 

Wordless Wednesday...

Okay, maybe a couple of words...now that Spring is here (sort of), all these flowers started blooming in our yard.  I LOVE them...especially the tulips.  The person who lived here before must have been a big tulip fan...they are everywhere ( front, back, and sides of the house) and several colors!

MK Nature Center Field Trip....

The past couple of months, my friend Melissa and I have been trying to get our kids together once a month to do some sort of homeschooling outing.  This month we chose to go to the MK Nature Center in Boise.  Thankfully the weather was perfect and kids really enjoyed it!  Melissa had printed off scavenger hunts from the centers website for the kids to do ( each at their own level) and brought clipboards for them to use.  At first I didn't know how they would take having to do "schoolwork" while being on a field trip, but to my surprise they were thrilled to pieces to have those papers.  All the kids were so excited, especially Trey and Caleb ( our 4 year olds).  They went from one station to the next hunting down answers....it was SUPER cute seeing 7 little kids walking around with their pens and clipboards.  It was a great time and afterwards we topped it off with lunch at Sonic :).  I am truly grateful to have met Melissa while being stationed here...not only do we get along really well, but our kids do too!! I just hate our time with them was short....but like I told her the Air Force family is smaller than you think and hopefully one day we will be stationed with each other or close to each other again!!  One plus is that she does have family in NC, so we will always have that connection!

Off to answer our questions...

 Michael was telling me about something he had found...so cute :)

Melissa helping the kids with some of their questions....

Michael also wanted to "read" every sign...lol

Trey and Caleb LOVED their scavenger hunts...

Aren't they a "HOOT".. :)

Smiles,
Michelle

Happy 3rd Birthday Michael!!!

This past Saturday was Michael's 3rd birthday!  It was a bittersweet day for me.  I'm very excited that our baby is growing up, that he can now carry on a conversation with me, and that his little personality is just blossoming.  However, he is our last one, so all of the stages he finishes I know we will not go through them again and it's kind of sad....does that make any sense??

This year, we let the kids pick out what they wanted to do for their birthday and Michael wanted to go bowling.  So on Friday night, we all went to the bowling alley here on base and had a great time!!  The smile and excitement on his face were priceless....he really had a blast!!

Michael, you are the best surprise we have ever gotten and we are so thankful to be your parents.  Your smile just lights up the room and you have the funniest little personality!  We love you SO much...Happy Birthday!!