Beginning of August...

Now that all my posts for JULY R&R are done, i guess i'll get caught up on the beginning of August.

McKayla celebrated her 8th birthday two weekends ago. Her birthday was August 1st, but the party was on Saturday the 31st. She definitely enjoyed her day being the center of attention. haha. It seemed to go well. It was a family party since she hasn't been in school yet to have school friends over, but im sure next year she'll have a big party full of a bunch of 9 year old (oh helps up! lol) It was amazing getting to celebrate with her...this was the first birthday she's had as a part of the Rushing family! :)


Since the party was held in Tyler, Jessica and i spent the weekend with Amber at her new apartment. It was a great weekend spending time with my two favorite people, my sister best friend and my best friend! :)
Since Jess is about to leave for Mississippi soon, it was good to spend a few days with her. The two of us went to a Casting Crowns concert Aug 5th. It was AMAZING! Very good!! Im glad she invited me to go with her. We met in Austin, and then i spent the night at her place afterwards. We didn't get much time to talk since i had to leave early the next morning, but im hoping for at least one more chance to hang out together before she leaves :)

Anyways, i've got my cousin, baby Remington for a few days...so i better get off this blog and go rest up. I heard through the grapevine that he gets up early! lol

Psalm 91:4...
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find shelter....

R&R POST 4...last r&r post

Thursday we went to Dallas for a Rangers game. The very first baseball game i've ever been to. I really enjoyed it. It was hot, yes, but i was definitely a great experience! Aaron wanted to go, and at first i wasn't so sure of it, but by Monday i was definitely excited and looking forward to the new experience. We got some pretty good seats too! Oh btw, the RANGERS WON!!! And Josh Hamilton is my favorite! Not only is he a good player, but he has some pretty sweet Christian songs that play when he steps up to the plate :)



After the game, Aaron and i ate breakfast/dinner at an IHOP. We stayed in Dallas that night with my Aunt Mary. Friday for lunch, all three of us met up with my cousin Will and his wife Samantha. It was a pretty good day. The weekend seemed to go by fast after that. He was to leave on Tuesday.
Friday when we got home we just rested because of all the driving we had done! Saturday i felt bad because we didn't do anything at all. I didn't feel good and slept almost all day, did laundry and cleaned the house a little. Thank goodness Aaron had his xbox or im sure he would have been bored and wanting to do something.

Sunday- we went to my church. It was a really good service. And you know, after two Sundays having my husband sit beside me in worship, i really can't wait until he gets home so we can go to church together more often! We ate lunch at Chili's with my parents and little sisters. Then we spent the afternoon/evening playing Nertz. Aaron loved the game. (A card game that EVERYONE should know how to play!) He won the very first rounch we played- his very first time to play. We ended up playing till almost midnight!

Monday we took the girls for a bit, i can't remember why. But we took them swimming. Aaron and i had some "us" time before going back over to my parent's house for some homemade enchiladas and another night full of playing Nertz :)
We stayed there late, and then when we got back home, neither one of us wanted to go to sleep because we knew once we did, the time would come for him to leave. We tried staying up for a while and ended up going to bed around 3 or so in the morning. I took him to the airport around 11 and there we parted.
That part isn't so good...but the two weeks we did spend together were amazing. And i can't wait for him to get back home for good!! :)

....If i wrote these posts any earlier i might be crying my eyes out, going through tissue after tissue. When Aaron left, it was so hard for me. After a few days of just crying and horrible loneliness, and memories everywher i turned, i finally started this devotional book that Aaron let me borrow. It's over Psalm 91. It goes verse by verse in the chapter. As i read it, well i cried some more as i read Psalm 91:1 and God spoke to me.

"Those who dwell in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."
The book talked about how i must first "dwell" before i can "rest"
I then decided that instead of trying to make myself feel better, i needed to rely on God and have Him comfort me. So that's what i did. The tears stopped coming so harshly. And yes, im still sad that Aaron isn't here, but im also content and growing closer to God through this. He has definitely been speaking to me through this study and, WOW!...my heart is feeling more peaceful, hopeful, and happy every day that goes by.

God is so good!

R&R post 3

Aaron's last week home we stayed in waco pretty much the whole time. Aaron slept in Monday. I was so glad that he finally got a chance to rest and sleep in. I think the weekend wore him out! We took the girls swimming at my apartment one day. They enjoyed that. Then we had them over again for a few hours...they came over around 10:30 a.m. and I let them help make brownies. They finally got Aaron into the kitchen to help too. It was cute, they loved making brownies with him.




After we put the brownies in the oven to bake, i put in a movie. The Fox and the Hound, for the girls to watch while Aaron and i attempted to make spaghetti for lunch. He helped make the sauce. Haha....umm, we need more practice. The noodles stuck together and the sauce was more watery than saucy. lol Oh well, it was food and the girls ate it and so did we. While we were cooking, Aaron took a break and watched the movie with the girls. They love their big brother (in-law). He definitely fit right in with them.


After lunch we let them finish themovie so their food would settle before we took them swimming. It was a good long day. They definitely wore Aaron out! He was napping on the couch after we swam, before mom could come and pick the girls up. lol

R&R Post 2

More about when Aaron was home for R&R...

When we got back from San Antonio, we spent Wednesday and Thursday at home in Waco. It was nice to finally be in "our home" together.
Since we went straight to San Antonio when Aaron got home, when we finally got home we had no groceries...sooo...Aaron and i went to the store. It was nice to finally have someone to go with me to the grocery store! :) We picked upa few things since we were only going to be home for two days before leaving for the weekend. I made him pot roast that night. That was the very first time i made it, and it was beyond AMAZING! Perfectly juicy and so tender...yum! I made mashed potatoes and corn to go along with it, and my honey loved it! I was thankful that it turned out so great my first time. And im STILL getting compliments on it! :) I really enjoyed getting to cook for him while he was here

--A few weeks before Aaron got home, my mom and i found a deal on a table and chairs for the girls. I offered to paint them for the girls, and so they had been sitting on my balcony since we got them. I went to walmart with mom and the girls and we picked out the paint for the table and chairs. When i got back to the apartment, later that afternoon, i asked Aaron if he wanted to help me paint. So, had some fun painting. He wasn't too thrilled at the beginning, but he loved getting to do something for the girls. (They fell for him the minute they saw hime! He's already like their big borther!)
It was really hot outside when we were painting, and Aaron got a little tired of making sure he got every spot covered, and then he got distracted painting ME instead of the chairs. lol, silly. But we did eventually finish painting the table and chairs. It went by really fast with two people, im so grateful for his help because i definitely wouldn't have been able to do it that quickly by myself.




We spent the weekend with Aaron's family in Iola. We got there Friday night in time for dinner and his niece was also there. It was a pretty relaxful evening. Aaron and his brother Evan dended up playing basketball outside after dinner until it finally got too dark to see. I stayed inside with the AC and everyone else watching tv. Aaron definitely enjoyed the one on one time with his brother.

Saturday Aaron's dad was grilling out. So while the meats and stuff were cooking, Aaron and i ended up going into College Station and hanging out in town at the mall and stuff. We went by Gamestop and he saw that the xbox was on sale. So i let him get it, with one condition...that he didn't spend the whole time he was home on it and spent time with me. He agreed. After buying it, we went back to his parents' house, and while the rest of the food was finishing up cooking, Evan and Aaron played some xbox.
After dinner, which was delicious, they played some more and i even played a little too :)

Sunday we went to Aaron's church and had lunch at CiCi's Pizza. Then we went back to his house and spent a few more hours with his family before we headed back to Waco. It was a pretty good weekend. I found it really relaxing since he lives out in the middle of nowhere with alot of land around him. It was beautiful and peaceful feeling. But i was glad to get back home to OUR house :)
Here's a picture of Aaron playing with his new toy...

R&R post 1

My next few post will be about the most amazing two weeks that i got to spend with my most amazing husband when he came home for his two weeks R&R.

Aaron flew into the Dallas airport on a Sunday morning. I spent the night with my Aunt Mary who lives in Dallas, and asked her if she could drive and help me find the airport and where Aaron's gate would be. It was amazing. Dallas has a thing where people actually sign up and there's always a big group of people lined up to greet and support the troops when they get off the airplane. Not all of them had family or friends there, they were just there to show their support. I was totally blown away by that. it was awesome.

So my Aunt Mary and i were ushered into the front of the line since i was waiting (ever so impatiently) on my husband. Well the soldiers started coming out one by one or two or three at a time....about 10 minutes of waiting FINALLY Aaron came around the corner! oh i can't even explain the excitement i had! It's pretty much a blur except i do remember giving him a big hug when he first walked up to me! <3 the love of my life <3

I planned a trip to San Antonio for two days just so we could get away from the world and have fun. I thought Aaron was going to be home friday or saturday, but instead he got there just in time. We drove to Waco to pick up Amber and then all of us drove to San Antonio for the hotel reservation. We stayed in the most amazing hotel ever. It had a beautiful view, it was right by the riverwalk. Here's some pictures ...




Monday we all three went to the Alamo and did a little Tomb Raider ride and shoot the scary animalsthings game, and went to the world's records museum. IT was really fun. We ate at the Irish Pub, the girls were dressed pretty...umm...yeah but the food was good :)
Amber left me and Aaron to hang out with some friends.
So we went back to the hotel room and went to the hot tub. It was very relaxing. We were the only ones in the hot tub and we just talked and got to spend some good one on one time getting to share stuff and just...well, talk. It was great to finally have face to face conversations without the phone line goign in and out and only hearing parts of the conversation and hoping that nothing important was being said :)

Tuesday Aaron and i went to Seaworld. We got in free since he's military. It was definitely a great experience. Although we were a little late, we only made it to two showings. We saw the alligators being fed and talked about, we saw the beautiful dolphins and the Shamoo show. It was a long hot day but very nice to just walk around hand in hand with my husband. We even went to the little water park area for a little while to cool off while waiting for the showtime for the whales. Here's some pics...and im very proud of the one with the whale in the air...i took nearly a thousand and this was a total accident cause i didn't mean to push the button, but hey! it was PERFECT!



Anyways, that was only the first three days that Aaron was home. He was home for 15 in all so there's more stories where this came from....
so...

.........To Be Continued...

Rainy Days

It's hard to keep kids under control when it's raining outside, and when the rain stops it's too wet to go play outside to release all that energy. (speaking of energy...WHERE DO THEY GET ALL THAT ENERGY????!!)

The greatest mother ever (MINE) had an amazing idea! We took the girls to Hobby Lobby today to get some kind of craft to do. I found myself a make it yourself cement stepping stone that i just HAD to have! The girls little picture frames, dangle things, and a jewelry box thing to paint.
We went back to the house and had an Art of a good time :)

Updates...

The Girls
McKayla and Arianna are two of the sweetest girls (most of the time ;)) They complete our family perfectly!
Mckayla is very smart! She loves to read. Mom takes the girls to the library once every other week. She said she'll prolly have to start going every week with how fast McKayla reads through her books.
Arianna is very energetic...i keep telling mom she needs to be a cheerleader or on the dance team or something.
This is a picture from their first Fathers Day with their daddy and our family. [don't they fit in just great? :)]


Wedding Shower
My family threw me a wedding shower.
After starting off with just ONE pot (that was borrowed), ONE pan, and ONE spatula...i was so blessed that most of my gifts were kitchen stuff!! now i can cook!!! :D and i got a few other household items...So i can now IRON!!! :D




Although it was sad to cut the wedding cake by myself, it was an amazing party and Aaron and I are so blessed to be able to start off with kitchen stuff! NOW WE WON'T GO HUNGRY!!! lol

BIGGEST NEWS!!!!
Aaron's on his way home for R&R. He gets 14 days home and im OH SO EXCITED! He's supposed to head to Kuwait on Thursday morning...and hopefully be home by Saturday!! Pray for safe travel and that the days he's here will go by S-L-O-W-L-Y! :)