What we did this Summer

I love this picture I took randomly this summer. The girls were "playing homeschool." Lily was listening to the Addition Fact songs on the iPod (what Abby is dealing with in math right now), and Abby was playing teacher and beauty parlor at the same time. Yup. This is what homeschooling really looks like!  

So, I flaked out this summer from posting. I am so sorry, I feel like I let myself down as much as you guys. But I have a very good reason.

ROACHES.

So that apartment we moved into? Yeah, apparently the entire building is infested with roaches. Of different varieties. By the millions. I couldn't help but see the irony as I was learning more about roaches than I never wanted to know. I can now tell you exactly the life cycle of roaches, what kills them (nothing) and what doesn't (just about everything), and even what their eggs and poop look like. Homeschooling at its finest. IT WAS GROSS AND NASTY.

I really hope ya'll aren't retching right now and still reading.

We did find a new place to live finally, but in the meantime, we went through weekly full extermination sessions - emptying every single cabinet and closet and leaving the house for a full day, come home and put everything back, only to have them come crawling back out of the walls a few hours later. I am not even kidding. It was really that bad. Really.

We finally got into our new (beautiful, clean, safe neighborhood, and most importantly, insect-free) townhouse almost two weeks ago, and we are feverishly unpacking and trying to get re-settled.

Last week I added it up, and as a family, if you count the month long stays with family, hotels, and temporary apartments, we have moved eight times. In the past two years. To say we are all completely sick of it would be an understatement.

What else did we do this summer? We took advantage of the plethora of summer camp programs in our area, and the girls participated in church camp (VBS) for two weeks, Spanish immersion camp for three weeks, and one week of "ballet camp." (The girls really miss ballet.) And right now Abby is finishing up two weeks of "math camp", where they are working on the dreaded addition math facts. We're hoping this will get us over the hump when we get back to homeschool full-time next week. And we also did a joint birthday party for the girls in July.

 

And I have been working on networking and drumming up more coaching business. My website designer is feverishly (I hope) working on the re-design of my website. So far all I have is my new logo to share.

But, mainly, our hobby this summer has been apartment hunting and the murdering of mutant bugs. God, I am so ever thankful we are done with all of that.

What I've Learned After Being Married For Nine Years

Today is our anniversary. Joel and I have been married for nine years. Somehow, that seems odd, how in the world has it been nine years ago we just walked down the aisle?

And also, it feels like it should be a million years.

We've lived a lot in those nine years. We've lived in over TEN different "abodes" - three of which were hotel rooms for a few months each. We've lived in four/five different countries (including Afghanistan for Joel), and visited over seven on top of those. We have dealt with movers at least fourteen times (and I know I must be forgetting some in there somewhere). We've had four different cars. We've also had two kids; which means dealing with potty-training two different times, food allergies twice, multiple preschools, and two sets of terrible twos, threes, and fours. We've had multiple "short" separations, and one war-zone deployment, several surgeries, sicknesses, and a few hospitalizations. We started homeschooling. We bought a house, and now are long-distance landlords with a renter.

It's no wonder I constantly consider buying stock in the hair-dye I use!

So, because I am now an expert, (HAHAHAHAHAHA) here is what I've learned in my nine years of marriage:

1. Marriage is FRICKIN HARD. Sure, everyone tells you that before you get married, but this isn't the "he leaves the top off the toothpaste" kinda hard. It is HARD WORK. Both of you have to accept that, and show up every frickin day and give it all 100% all the frickin' time.
2. Marriage needs GRACE AND FORGIVENESS on the table EVERY SINGLE DAY. Because it's humanly impossible to bring 100% to the table every single day. Cause neither of you are even close to being perfect all the time. Marriage can also open great cans of worms. Everyone comes with their own set of baggage, and marriage is God's way of opening your eyes to your own suitcase of it, if you're willing to look and deal with it. So, giving grace and forgiveness to each other while dealing with that suitcase of junk is necessary.
3. Marriage is FRAGILE. I believe you have to handle your marriage with the same care you would a priceless rare piece of art. With a lot of care. It is so easy to break and destroy and be left with what fragments of what was once great.
4. Marriage is ENDANGERED. No, this is not the regular political debate I'm going into here. But I do believe "successful" marriages are becoming few and far between and the exception to the norm nowadays. I have personally seen just too many dear people ripped apart by marriages ending and what comes after. And well, it stinks. My heart just breaks and breaks for them, often there is often nothing more I can do. So I've come to treat my marriage like it's an endangered species, needing special protections to keep it safe.

And finally:

Marriage, to the right person, is PRECIOUS. I am so thankful, that even in our very very worst times, that I found that right person for me. We all have those times where we think "What in the world have I done?" - but over and over God has confirmed to me that I found and was found by the exact person He chose for me. And I am so glad that I can consider my life-mate my closest friend.

Marriage is a SAFE HARBOR. I know, that no matter what, Joel is in my corner, supporting me in my wild-brained schemes and ideas. Even when he disagrees with me, he is always on my side. Joel created this "inside joke" about us being "Team Mendez" (he's surrounded by girls and is a sports nut - it's his coping mechanism, haha). Except now the inside joke is more like a family motto. We are a team. Heck, we even have our own cheer!

Marriage is an ADVENTURE. Look at all we've done in the past nine years. Would either of us have done all of that on our own? Heck to the double no. And even through the crazy; keeping adventure in mind makes us LOOK FOR THE FUN and enjoy life, doubly appreciating what little bits of sanity and calm that come our way!

Marriages is GOD'S REFINING FIRE. Remember what I said above about all that baggage? Well, being married, and also becoming a parent, has taught me more about myself that I thought possible. It has taught me about prayer and more about God's love and grace and mercy than I ever knew existed. Being married has made my walk with Christ better than it could have been without it. But please note: that does say fire. Fire is not always fun. But it is often a tool to make things stronger than before.

Marriage is LOVE. Marriage has taught me more about love than I could have ever learned in a book. Living love, accepting love, giving and sharing that love with others. Even though when we first married I knew about love and felt love, I think it took the passage of time to truly understand love and the depths of love.

Yeah, we haven't had a picture of us together without kids in it in quite a long time!

So, Happy Anniversary, Joel Mendez. I love you. May the next nine years be even more wonderful and fulfilling, though hopefully slightly less chaotic???


Yeah, I got quite a chuckle outta that one, too. Ah well, one can dream, right?

Sorry I've been MIA

So, yeah, our move here threw me for a loop.

I really apologize if you guys have sent me emails and I haven't responded. I've tried to keep up, but in my personal email box alone there are over 100 emails still sitting there, and that's after I cleaned out 40+ this morning. And that's just one email account (I ummm, have quite a few.) So yeah, I have not been a good email buddy.

This week the girls are at "church camp" so I am trying to dig in and make a huge dent in all of the "paperwork stuff" that I've let slide while I've been dealing with everything. I made a lot of progress this morning, which I'm sure was completely fueled by the coffee I had while sitting at Starbucks. Still, since my hole is so deep, it's gonna take me much too long to catch up.

So, what have we been up to? Well, we moved in that first weekend in May, and then unpacked like crazy people for three straight weeks. It took that long to even get close enough to come up for air! We had to get a storage unit in our complex to hold the stuff we can't keep (stay tuned for a bunch of Craig's List ads!) and I have become extremely creative at storage tricks. I have had to go through every single bin and box we have ever had and purge, reorganize, purge some more, and store things the most efficient way possible. By the way, you can fit A LOT of stuff under beds. And thank goodness for the good closet storage we do have. Mostly this step is done. Mostly. I've still got one bin left that needs to be organized and put away, but I keep putting it off to do other things. Like scrub bathrooms, throw food at kids, do laundry, etc. I will get to it.One day.

Joel was sent "off" again for a few weeks almost immediately, and this has not improved my attitude toward the Foreign Service at all. I will come around. . . . eventually. I wouldn't be expecting them to be on my Christmas list, though. Joel was not the happiest about it either, but hey, we live at the mercy of the US Govt and that's all that there is to be said about that. Out loud, at least. In my head, I say a lot of things. In very colorful language. (He should be back in July.)

My mom was able to come visit for several days and the girls loved having their Nana here. There was lots of reading of books and more books and more books, and a trip to the pool (kinda too chilly still, though. What is up with this weather?), and generally just hung out. We did get together with family up here which was fun, and we also went over to Colvin Run Mill. If you're local, you really should go. We got to go to a "general store" and then watched them grind corn into cornmeal in a working mill that has been around since the 1700's. The day we went they also had a blacksmith and wood carving. We got the girls sunbonnets just like "Little House on the Prairie, which the girls L-O-V-E (the bonnets and the books!).

We finally got "home school" started up again, but have been having difficulty getting our rhythm and consistency back. I hope that by the end of all these summer camp things we're doing, I'll have gotten everything more settled and will be able to stick to a routine. We are very blessed that this apartment has a "breakfast dining" and a "formal dining" area, so we turned the "breakfast dining" space into our class room. As soon as I can get it cleaned up enough, I'll take some pictures for you guys - it is starting to look really cute! Abby is currently working through "1st grade" and Lily will be joining us next fall with a more formal "preK4" program. Addition and subtraction facts have been kicking our hineys for a few months now, BUT at the Virginia home school convention a few weeks ago, I was able to get a couple cool math fact CD's and with a bit of bribery (a chart that she gets to mark off for doing her math work without complaining and then get a prize), Abby is very motivated and has decided math is fun again.

Lily is now fully potty-trained, even at night. She regressed quite a bit with the stress of the move, but after a break of a week, she was so completely insulted by the idea of wearing pull-ups again that she just made up her mind that she was done with them. I swear, that little girl is the funniest thing ever, but she is going to drive me to distraction!

Taking advantage of all the COOL summer stuff going on around here, we have both girls in "Church camp" for two weeks, then one week of a ballet camp (really just a week of ballet lessons with an Angelina Ballerina theme), and three weeks of Spanish immersion camp.We are right around the corner from the Annandale Boys and Girls Club and they are doing soccer camp this summer, and I was able to get Abby in that for one week as well, and both girls are signed up to do soccer next fall, and Abby will continue with cheerleading through the ABGC. So yeah, we're keeping as busy as we possibly can be!

Work has been picking up for me as well, which is very nice. I am looking forward to clearing out a few business projects that have been on the back burner for quite a while this summer. I'm redesigning my business website and branding, and looking into networking and volunteer opportunities.

So, that is us in a nutshell.

I will get some pictures up soon.