Promotion Day and a Giveaway!

The Coast Guard is a very big and important part of our life.  We have been a proud military family for over four years now.  My husband has worked very hard to bring our family to where we are today and I'm so proud of the work he does each and every day to serve our country! 

 His Dad, Little Sis and I recently had the privilege to attend his Promotion Ceremony to Lieutenant.  He held Little Sis in his arms like a proud Daddy while his Dad and I each got to change out a shoulder board.  

Extremely proud of our new Lieutenant!

This was a special day, so it called for a special present!  I found Wood Simply Made on Etsy  and was excited about the Challenge Coin Holders Mike offers.  He custom made this coin holder with the wings on it for my husband, and he loves it!  You can choose from any of the military branches for your holder.  

When I was looking at the shops information, I knew that I had found the perfect person to give my business to.  Mike is  a disabled veteran and served 6 years active duty Air Force from 2003 - 2009.  He proudly makes all of the products here in the USA out of his home wood shop.   (All of his products are made from real wood and do not use any cheap press board or particle board substitutes.)  Great quality and supporting a US veteran is a great choice for our family!!

I couldn't be prouder to bring you Wood Simply Made as a place to offer you military gift items.  He has graciously offered a Military Coin Holder giveaway to one lucky Happy House of 5 reader.  Please enter through the Rafflecopter widget below, I will choose one lucky winner by verifying that the entries have in fact been made.  GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Decorating Ornaments for the Whitehouse

This weekend the big girls were able to decorate stars

for a Christmas tree in the White House, yes as in THE White House!

They decorated the stars with a group of Coast Guard kids at the air station. 

They were both very excited to do this. 

Great job girls, way to represent the Coast Guard!

 

Air Station Visit

When I returned home from my relaxing weekend church retreat, we had some family visiting us for the week. We don't have any family here in South Florida with us so we enjoy our family visits! Here are just a few pics from visiting Daddy at the air station.

{Little Sis and cousin checking out the

airplane Daddy flies for the US Coast Guard}

 

{Little Pilot}

{The Pilot and his Mom}

 

{My husband and I, so proud of him!}

 

Hope you enjoyed these peaks at our family visit.

 

 

Free Books for Military Kids

 

This  weekend our family went to the area's

first event hosted by Florida Blue Star Families program. 

 

Wondering what Blue Star Families is all about? 

 

"Blue Star Families is run by military families and for military families. At our core, we are a member-driven group with representatives located at or near 70 bases around the world. To help support this amazing community, we have a dynamic National Leadership team made of spouses and other family members of active duty, national guardsmen, reservists and veterans serving in all branches of our military all around the country.  Our BSF chapters and chapter directors are the heart of our organization. They get together for friendship and support, but they also connect to help fellow military families and/or the larger community AND to get cool stuff for their units or bases with the help of our national BSF programs and partnerships."

According to the website "Books on Bases is a program created by Blue Star Families in conjunction with Kids in Distressed Situations (K.I.D.S.) to positively impact the lives of military children through the power of reading. With the generosity of partners such as K.I.D.S. and BAE Systems, Blue Star Families donates books to military children, base libraries, Department of Defense schools, and military-impacted public schools."

 

 

 

 

 

 

{this was the book for 2 and under, Little Sis was at

home napping so we picked one up for her and she LOVES it!}

 

Not only were they giving away FREE books, they were GREAT quality books!

 

They also donated a great basket filled with books to the local

library that the event was held at!

 

Here are a couple of the local Coast Guard

spouses who happily served our military community! 

{Little Sis making a Thank You letter

for the "Operation Appreciation" Mailbox}

 

 

 

{Big Sis and her picture}

 

 

Blue Star Families has several other programs that include:

 

Blue Star Museums-free admission to museums

Operation Appreciation-writing thank you letters to military and their families

Mil-Kidz Club:for all military children to enjoy free and fun activities

 

What an awesome way to lift up our military families and come together to show support!  We were really blessed to have received these beautiful books, our girls haven't wanted to put them down since this weekend. 

 

Thank you to Blue Star Families and the local

women who helped make this event possible!

 

 

Blue Star Families plans to distribute 10,000 books to military children over the next year. If you'd like to bring Books on Bases to your military community, email books@bluestarfam.org.

 

 

 

 

 

Perspective

A change of perspective is something that God has been working with me on for awhile.  I have to admit that being a military wife in general isn't an easy job.  I still feel like I'm new to it and have so much to learn about the Coast Guard and my husbands new job as a pilot. 

 

Flight school took almost two years to complete and that in itself is a very stressful and trying task.  Now that we are at his first air station he is considered a Junior officer, or a new officer to those who don't speak the military lingo, he is at the bottom of the totem pole. 

 

He usually has a 24 hour duty twice a week and since we've been here he is lucky to get one weekend a month off without a duty shift.  What that means is that we don't get a lot of quality family time.  If he works on the weekend, they try to give him a "slider", a day off in return either on the Friday before or Monday after.  That is a great thing but the downfall is that our two oldest daughters will typically be in school on those days so they miss out on some of our family time. 

 

I feel God whispering to me, telling me how blessed we are that my husband has a great job.  His dream job at that, not everyone can say that they get to have their job that they've dreamed about since being a young boy watching the movie Top Gun. 

 

Instead of being resentful for the time he has away from us at work, I'm trying to focus more on all the blessings we have around us.  We are blessed with great family, friends and an awesome new church to call home.  I'll admit it's not always easy but we have choices to make.  I choose to try my hardest to be a supportive and loving wife rather than take out my frustrations on my hard working husband, even if I'm tired and stressed out.

 

Each new day I have to remind myself of this choice, and ask for God's help because it doesn't come naturally.  I look around and see my military friends who are in different branches, that are without their husbands for months at a time, and ask God to bless their families. 

 

What perspective does God want you to change in your life?

 

I'm linking up with Courtney at the Women Living Well blog, where she is sharing a series on Reviving your marriage.