Kimber's Navy Family

There was awhile there that I felt ahead of the game. I felt connected to my purpose for being a stay-at-home mother: to support my children and raise them to be the people that God wants them to be, to raise them in a manner that my husband and I had discussed was important to us, to be the familiar face they see day in and day out as Daddy goes to work or as we move from state to state and Daddy eventually goes back to sea, to teach them life's little lessons as they naturally pop up during the day, and to enjoy these years that slip by so quickly. I struggled at times, especially when teething babies kept me awake at night for days or weeks or when sickness swept through our house and I felt overwhelmed, overworked, overtired. I struggled when I felt my husband had an easier load than I did (and he felt the same way about me-- the grass is always greener?). One thing that remained consistent then is that I would say, "I'm struggling today, right now . This is a phase....

Picture taken by April McTaggart Every time we move, I end up missing our last duty station. I really miss our last duty station right now. I keep thinking, "This is not my favorite place to live." Before we moved, everyone kept telling me how awesome it is in South Carolina and how much I will love it here. Now that we are here, I feel like, "Well, we can't do this or that with two two-year olds..." or "In North Carolina, I took all three boys all over the place ..." I think it is totally natural to feel this way. However, I have to keep it in check! I hated our first duty station. I moved from California to New Hampshire, right on the Maine border, in January. By myself. My husband's submarine was a month late. And I didn't have his boat email address at the time or any idea what an FRG or ombudsman was. I was alone and it was cold . There was an ice storm and our Jeep was encased in literally an inch of ice. There was so much sn...

I've recently joined a book club. At the end of each monthly meeting, we vote on next month's book. This got me thinking about some of my favorite books and books I would recommend others to read. I absolutely love chatting with my friends about our next must-read book. Also, the stack of books on my nightstand is dwindling and I'm in need of a good book! I thought this would be a great opportunity to host my first link-up! For those of you who do not know what a link-up is, let me explain. Fellow bloggers who participate in this link-up will write their own must-read book lists and use the widget at the bottom of this post to link their post to mine. So click on the thumbnails below! See what other people are recommending. The link-up is open from Monday, November 4th, to Friday, November 8th. Bloggers can add their blog posts throughout the work week. Check out what is being added each day or come back next Saturday, November 9th, to see what books you need to put on...