Military Spouses Appreciation Day Blog Hop

 

It's Military Spouses Appreciation Day & Blog Hopping!

Head on over to Riding the Roller Coaster  to post your link & party hop around to other great Military blogs.

My name is Amanda & I've been a military spouse for sixteen years now. Here is our lovely but old before digital wedding picture to my then Specialist.

Here is the current picture as I picked him up for R&R in late February of this year.

We started at Fort Campbell , headed to Fort Wainwright, & have been at Fort Lewis now for eleven years. That's right folks I said eleven! Why so long & how did we accomplish that. Well here is the picture of my four handsome boys.

My third son who is Jeremy was born with a rare disease called Sturge-Weber syndrome. it officially put us on EFMP status. So we have been super lucky to get to homestead at Lewis in Washington . My family loves it here & we are so glad we can stay .

I'm a really outgoing lady who was raised in the south deep in the bible built. I no longer hear my accent but true North Western friends & acquaintances always say they hear my soft lilt still today.  I do miss living close to my extended family but adore the PNW climate unlike a lot of people. The mild summers are a welcome blessing from the southern heat & humidity I grew up with.

My favorite thing I do during my time is run obstacle races. It started back in 2009 & hasn't stopped. The only thing that has changed is that my muddy buddy & I are picking harder races each year that challenge us more.

This was the end of our first Down & Dirty & the beginning of my obsession to stay fit & healthy for life

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I was always active but after four children became a little sedentary. Obstacle racing has got me into the best shape of my life. It has also helped me meet some of the best women around who love to play in the mud & work really hard! I studied to become a personal trainer during deployment number two while my husband was gone through ISSA. I never took the final but completed all the quizzes. I have a good base of nutrition & exercise & love to help others along on their fitness journey.

My newest recruit into obstacle racing &  I hanging upside down for situps on a park work out.

My children consume all my time when I am not racing. My husband is on deployment number four and we are finally wrapping it up in a few weeks! Waiting to see what our next Army adventure will be to come. I am restless as I wait, wait, wait for news of his last promotion & if school will follow. I started my blog before he left on this deployment & it has been wonderful meeting a lot of new military spouses along the way. You will find more information abut my daily life as wife, mom , & friend if you look around . Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy Military Spouses Appreciation Day

" The toughest job in the World."

Just a current song I have on repeat - wanted to share. Blessings to you all out there in bloggy land.

I am EXCEPTIONAL

Today was the day , Jeremy headed off to school for a half-day. I was very nervous he was super excited! We arrived in his classroom right on time & he immediately asked for computer time- lol Once in his desk I asked if I could leave him for awhile & he responded "nope, I think you need to stay mom." so I did. We got ready to head to his first official school assembly called BOOT CAMP. He would sit & learn about Lackamas expectations of their students for the year. I was just praying he actually sat down through the whole thing. Well there was no need for my worry he sat right down & made a friend right away!

After they finished in the gym they broke into classes & toured the school grounds. They learned the rules for the playground,library,cafeteria,bathrooms,music, art room, & bus drop off.Half way through he informed I could leave now-haha I decided to just go back to his class since we only had one more hour for him at school. I helped his teacher a bit & waited. He burst through the door about 45 minutes later with a huge smile. He looked at me & said "can we go home now?". That was my cue, I knew he had been there long enough so we put our pencil away said our goodbyes & headed to McDonalds for a special lunch! His IEP is still getting finished so it works out well that he can only go half-days for the next week. I think getting use to a new routine slowly will work best. 

What made me smile the most today was during the assembly. The principal informed all the kids that they where "Exceptional Kids". Well the Army calls Jeremy our "Exceptional Family Member", so of course he raised his hand & asked "how did you know that already?" I almost burst out laughing because he was so serious & whispered it to his teacher that he was called that all the time at Madigan where he see Dr. Jodi. Anyway we both survived today & I will keep praying that next week goes just as smoothly as today. I hope everyone has a very blessed weekend.

Jeremy at his desk

First school Assembly