Ingram Family

2011-02-25T12:12:00.000-08:00

Disregard the weird layout of my latest blog post. Apparently since it has been 2 years since I last posted, I have no idea what I am doing!
Chrisitna

2011-02-25T11:23:00.001-08:00

Since it has been 2 years, I thought I might just update our blog! When I read back to see my last posting, it literally feels like last week that I wrote that post. How in the world have 2 years already past. Oh well, if I have failed as a blogger, I am ok with that, since I feel like I have succeeded at the more important things in life, you know like updating my facebook status regularly. :)

To try and catch you up on the last 2 years of life quickly, I will sum it up in one word...blessed. Isn't God amazing. When we first found out we were moving to TX, I cried. It took me a long time to be ok with it. I thought I would hate it. I thought I would die of heat stroke, that I would hate the ugly scenery and the way people talked. But God, as always knew better than me (shocking I know). He put us in the exact spot we needed to be. The last 3 and a some years we have lived here in Abilene have been the most stable, enjoyable, happiest time in our marriage and family thus far. Does that mean Abilene is somewhere we LOVE and dream about living forever...no, but we are so content here that that almost trumps living somewhere where the scenery is more pretty and it isn't quite as miserably hot in the summer, and where people don't say you all funny.

Chris was deployed for 6 months and has been home about a month. He is actually for the first time in his military career really enjoying his job. He is still working in the muntions field, but has found a shop that he really enjoys. All these years he insisted he wasn't made for a desk job...God in his beautiful irony helped Chris realise that in actuality he is really good at it! It is so nice to hear him come home from work with a good things to say about his day and a smile on his face.

To update you on me...I am still working at the preschool. This year I started teaching music, and LOVE it! I also (most days) wake up looking foward to work. The added perk is no more dirty diapers!!! While Chris was gone I got pretty committed to the gym, and lost 20 lbs in the last year! I have a few events that I will be participating in over the next couple of months, so I will be updating with those pics as they happen. I have found a true love for excersise in any form I can get it in. :)

Cailey turned the big 7 this month. She is doing great in 1st grade, straight A's so far this year. She is playing soccer again, so that will be consuming our time for the next 2 months. She loves it and is pretty good. She says she will never quit soccer and wants to be in the world cup and be on tv. :)

Caleb, what can I say about our little man. As we speak his running around in his spiderman costume, zapping me occasionally with his web. He is all boy, and plays super heros or cars all day everyday. He is 4 and a half now, and I am holding on to these last few months that I have him home with me. He starts Kindergarden next year and I am going to be a wreck. I am going to miss having my little spiderman home with me durning the days.

Last but not least, I will be one of those annoying dog people and give you an update on Honey. She is definitely part of the family, so it is only fair to give her some blog time. She is 2 and a half and still the sweetest puppy on the planet, although in her old age she basically sleeps most of the day.

I will try to better with the updates since I am sure you are all dying to know what is going on with us these days!

The Ingrams!

2009-04-30T18:53:00.001-07:00

I work at our church in the Preschool two days a week. On Thursday before school starts, all the staff have chapel time, and each one of us throughout the year have to do the devotion. I was able to go the entire year without going, but today was finally my day. I have known what I wanted to share for a long time, but was trying to second guess God. I knew that he was calling me to share part of my testimony, so I did, and I also felt God telling me to share it with whoever would listen because someone else might need to hear it. So here it is. The grammer may not be pretty, and my spelling might be bad, but this is it none the less. Oh and the picture has nothing to do with it, I just wanted to share my cutie patootie daughter and I fishing. I guess only the girls in this house like to touch worms and get dirty. The boys were shooting golf balls instead.

My Testimony

I have always been a worrier and been very fearful, even though if you looked at my life I really have never had anything to worry about. I lived a very safe, secure, non dysfunctional life. My parents are both very strong Christians, and I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior at a young age, and have loved Him ever since. I grew up in AK and my family still lives there. I had great friends, a great church, and a wonderful family that loved and supported me. I don’t know where this fear and worry comes from, but for as long as I can remember I have had it.

To give you just a little glimpse into my strange mind, I remember a time when I was pretty young and a family friend was joking around with me and my sister. He made a comment about dreams, and asked, how do we know we aren’t dreaming right now? It scared me so badly that I cried and worried over the idea of being stuck in a dream for about a year.

Another example, my mom had a best friend when we were growing up named Piper. The year that I started Kindergarten, Piper was diagnosed with Lupus. My mom sat my sister and I down and told us that Piper was probably going to die. The thought that she was going to die terrified me. I was only 5, but when I think back on this time, I can feel the icky fear and anxiety that I have come to know all to well in my heart.

Piper ended up recovering remarkebly. I praise God for her recovery and can’t imagine having grown up without her, but that moment in time stuck with me for a long time. From that day on I cried every day in Kindergarten. From the moment my mom dropped me off until she picked me up at the end of the day. I was my kindergarten teacher’s nightmare. I couldn’t tell anyone why I was crying, because even from that young of an age, I was embarrassed and ashamed of my fear. It wasn’t until years later when my mom and I were talking that I told her what was behind all the crying. The reason I cried when she left me at school was that I was absolutely terrified that she was going to die while I was there. I was so scared anytime my mom left me somewhere that she wouldn’t come back. Satan had a hold on my little tender heart even at the age of 5, and that year started many years to come of living a life walking in fear and worry.

Over the next years of my life, I grew with the Lord and for a long time I could control my scary thoughts. As I got older and my thoughts got a little stranger, I began to get embarrassed to talk about most things I was afraid of. I would try to pray about them, but I even felt embarrassed to tell God about the silly things that made me afraid, because I was fully aware that most of what I worried about was ridiculous.

In 2002, I met and married my husband Chris. He is in the Air Force. Shortly after we were married, we found out we were moving to Germany, and right after that found out I was pregnant. This was not in our plan, and it added a whole slew of new worries to my plate. I was very attached to family, and hadn’t cleaved to my husband yet. The thought of having to raise a child without my mom absolutely terrified me. I was also very naive to what being a military wife was all about, and I really didn’t know what I was getting into. The first year in Germany was terrible for me. Our marriage was struggling, and we were on the verge of separating. This was the first time in my life that my relationship with the Lord was really tested, and I was failing miserably.

Chris and I went to see our Chaplain about our marriage and received some really good solid counseling, and things started to look up. I started to dive back into the word and find comfort and guidance from the Lord again. Things were going better for us, so we decided to have another baby. We got pregnant right away , but when I was about 24 weeks pregnant, I started having some problems. I went to a ladies retreat and started to feel sick even before we left. I thought it was just pregnancy related, so I went anyways, but by the time we got there, I knew something was wrong. When I got home, I was admitted to the German hospital and at this point I was overcome with fear. The Drs. All spoke in German to each other and had very serious looks on their faces, but really couldn’t tell me what was wrong. My body was going into sepsis. My liver, spleen, gallbladder and kidneys were all inflamed and starting to shut down. They finally diagnosed me with a severe kidney infection, and did a very painful procedure that required putting two stints through my bladder and up into my kidneys. This helped to open up the blocked ureter which had caused the infection, and let the infection out and the urine flow. I spent the next six days in the hospital on IV antibiotics. For someone who struggled with being a hypochondriact this was not the place for me to be. I lay in that bed worrying day and night. I was worried I was going to die. I was worried my baby was going to die. I was worried about how I was going to make it through the next 3 months peeing constantly. I was worried about how I was going to take care of Cailey, wondered who was going to take care of me? I was so scared I couldn’t even pray. This was my darkest hour, but it also began a journey that I can look back upon and see that God was using to work powerfully in me. He was breaking me so that I could finally rely fully on him.

After I got out of the hospital, the decision was made for me to go back to AK to finish out my pregnancy. I needed help that I didn’t have in Germany, and was nervous about the healthcare system in Germany. I gave birth to Caleb on July 25, 2004. He was a very robust and healthy 9 lb 10 oz baby boy. I am still amazed that after all of what I went through, I gave birth to such a perfectly healthy baby.

You would think that after watching God take care of me and Caleb, my faith would have been renewed, but it wasn’t, it was only the beginning of an even bigger battle for me. My faith suffered through that time, because I realized how little faith I actually had.

After returning home to Germany with the kids I began to have severe insomnia. I would lay in bed at night worrying about everything under the sun. I could not shut my mind off. I would lay there while everyone else slept and felt trapped in the prison of my own mind. This went on for about 8 months. I pretended I was ok, which I now realize was prideful. I had plenty of friends who would have helped me, but I wasn’t one to ask for help. I thought I was too good for that. I would lay in bed at night and pray and pray and plead for God to help me sleep. Nothing I seemed to do would help. I was miserable, exausted, depressed, and could barely function.

There was a pivotal day of reckoning for me. Chris was working the night shift, so I was alone at the house. The kids were asleep and I Had been laying there trying to sleep for hours. I started to go crazy. I couldn’t stand to listen to my thoughts another second, I couldn’t stop thinking and worrying, and I felt like I just couldn’t take it another minute. I went to the kitchen to get a knife. I didn’t want to kill myself, but I wanted to hurt myself badly, so that I could be admitted to a hospital and someone would finally take my sleep problems seriously. I didn’t know what else to do. Thankfully I got scared at the last second, called Chris and he came home. He took a week off of work to stay home with me and sent me to see the pysicatrist. The pysciatrist suggested I stop nursing Caleb. He thought a lot of my problems were due to post partum deppression and he put me on an antideppresent that also made you sleepy. Within 3 days I was sleeping a lot better, and within a couple of months I was sleeping well. I started opening up to my friends, about what I had been dealing with, and they started praying for me and encouraging me. During that time my dad e-mailed me this scripture, which spoke to me.

Lamentations 3:22 “ Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed. For his compassion’s never fail. They are new ever morning; great is your faithfulness.” Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed...that is powerful to me. I was so consumed with my thoughts, with my fears, and God was right there waiting for me give them to him. So often I felt like I had given it to God, but I never fully did. For some reason I hung onto those thoughts and fears, and they ate their way right back into my mind every time.

Philippians 4:4 says Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again :Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving , present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

This is a verse that I still have to recite to myself daily. God tells us we have to give our fears and our worries and our thoughts to him. The verse doesn’t say give part of your requests to me, it says give them ALL to me. I had been holding on to my worries and when I would pray for God to take them away, I never truly let go.

Going through these past few years has made me realize how powerful our thoughts are, and if we aren’t careful our thoughts can get us into so much trouble. God tells us in philippians that, He will guard our hearts and minds. That shows me that there is something to guard against. Satan attacks us at our weakest points. My thoughts, and fears and worries, are my weakest point and that is how Satan feeds on me.

I can now say that Satan does not have control over my thoughts. I finally was able to hand my thoughts to God to guard and protect. That doesn’t mean that I am not afraid anymore. I am fearful about things everyday, and sometimes I have to say out loud to Satan, “I will NOT let these thoughts into my head. Get out, I rebuke you, because I know these thoughts are not from God.” The bible speaks so much about the power of our tongues, and how important our words are. I believe that when I say those words out loud to Satan, that that is powerful, and also when I speak out loud to God, and ask Him for help, ask to take the ick out of mind and put in the good, that that is also very powerful.

I can now confidently say I am child of God, who been redeemed, and I no longer walk in fear, but rather I walk in the truth that God’s mercies are new every morning, and Great is His faithfulness.

Bye bye Baba

2009-04-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here on the couch holding my breath. I just put the kids to bed and it is quiet upstairs. This would be normal, but this will be the first night that Caleb has gone to sleep without a pacifier (baba) as he calls it. I know, I know you are all thinking, "it's about time," but then obviously you don't understand the relationship my son has with his precious baba. He has loved that thing since the minute he came out of the womb. At one years old we took it away except for bedtimes, and that was pretty easy, but he has NEVER, not one night gone to sleep without it.

It is funny because before we had kids, I thought pacifiers were the devil. I made so many judgements about mothers who let ther children have them. I hated seeing children walking around with pacies in their mouths, but here I am with an almost three year old, and I am sitting downstairs feeling sad and a little teary that my baby is upstairs sleeping with his cars and a dinosaur and no paci in his mouth. I will miss the way his little eyes look up at me while he makes his little sucking noises...so sad. I will miss the way it calms him down and he curls up in my lap and relaxes with it. Ok, I know I am being melodramatic, but this is our last baby, and this is his last baby thing. He is not in diapers anymore, he sleeps in a big bed, he hardly rides in a stroller anymore. It is just a harsh reality that my baby is not a baby anymore. So not only is he mourning the loss of the precious baba, but mommy is too!

The things I will not miss are the never ending nights of the search for the baba. We have spent a LOT of time searching for it. I remember when he was really little, I couldn't find one anywhere. I had searched and searched, and was panicked. We were living in Germany and the BX and shopette were already closed. He was screaming for about an hour, Chris was at work. So finally about 10 o' clock at night I went upstairs to the apartment above us. The girl up there had just had a baby and I stood there holding my screaming baby and begged her for one. She had a whole basket full, and was sweet enough to let us have one. That was a hairy situation!

I also will not miss the horrible bad morning breath. That pacifier makes his breath smell so bad. I also won't miss having to put cream all around his mouth, because he gets chapped lips from sucking it all night long. Ok...so it is time. I feel a little better after getting all my feelings about it out, and so far it is still quiet upstairs. Pray for us this weekend, as I am sure nap time and bedtimes are going to be teary (possibly for both of us)!

Flip Flop story

2009-04-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

Last night I went out for a couple of hours by myself to do some shopping...yeah! Well, I have this awesome pair of reef flipflops that I think I got at the beginning of last summer. I have worn those things out. I LOVE them. They are so comfy and have sparkles on them, but for some reason yesterday I realized that their time was over and I really needed to get some new ones. Mostly because while I was at work, I took them off and my feet smelled so bad it was embarrassing....so I went to Dillards thinking I might just get the same pair. I looked at all of them and finally decided on a really cute pair of Roxy ones. They had a little heel which I like, and there were no sparkles, but they had a cute little silver piece in the middle. So I bought them. Never in my life have I ever spent more than like 10 bucks on a pair of flipflops, but here I wear them year round, so I invested 36 dollars on these ones. My previous sparkly pair were only 20, but still, these were pretty cute. That was a total tanget, what I really wanted to blog about was what happened directly after buying the new non sparkly 36 dollar flip flops. I walked about 10 feet and my old sparkly one broke. The little toe separater thing broke right apart and I couldn't even walk in them. I went back to the counter and asked if they had a pair of sisscors so I could put the new ones on. Weird timing...maybe I have esp or something :)

School Program

2009-04-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

I have been blogging all morning. I really need to keep up with this better so I don't have to sit at the computer for hours at a time to catch up. I forgot to add pics from the kids school program.
It was in March, and was really so cute. I am going to try and upload the videos...we will see if I can make that work. Caleb was kinda slow getting into it, I think he is the 3rd little boy in, he is the one screaming "no" in the second song, and he really got into the last song. But Cailey stole the show. You just have to watch it to get the full scope of it's cuteness. Enjoy!

Easter

2009-04-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

We had a really nice Easter this year. First we woke up early and went to the 8:10 service at church. It was a great Easter message, and then at the end they passed out envelopes to each family that had anywhere from 5 to 100 dollars in it. Our pastor told us that he wanted us all to go home and pray about how to bless someone with the money. To do whatever the Lord told us to do with it. Keep in mind there were probably about 4000 people attending on this weekend. So a lot of lives could be affected by this. We are then supposed to go on the blog and testify about what we did with it. So far we haven't quite decided what to do with ours, but I will keep you posted.

We came home after church and got ready for some company. My Grandparents drove down from San Angleo, and we had a few friends from our life group over also. The weather was supposed to be bad, but we ended up having a beautiful sunny day. We ate a big lunch, and just hung out. It was a really nice day. We did a big Easter egg hunt for the kids in the backyard, and now my children have enough candy to to last until next Easter. All in all it was a really nice relaxing day!

Car Problems

2009-04-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

So far the end of March and the beginning of April have been interesting. It has been a month of car trama for me. It all started with a hefty sized speeding ticket I received probably about 5 weeks ago. I was on my way to take one the kids to the doctor, and was going 66 in a 50. Now let me just explain that everyone speeds on this road, but apparently the police officer decided the mom in the old minivan deserved the ticket. So I sucked it up, paid my fine and am going to attend traffic school. If only I had stopped there. Probably 3 weeks after that, I was in an accident. It was my fault and I got another ticket, for failing to yeild. It was a pure accident and I was just so thankful me or the kids weren't injured. And only if it had stopped there. The accident totalled the van, (which was a total blessing in disguise, because we got a lot more for it than we thought.) So last week I was at the auto shop in my rental car cleaning out the van, since we had to hand it over. Well...it is hard to explain what happened. Basically there were these poles, and cement blocks, and a very tight spot, and you can guess the rest. I clipped the rental cars bumper on the cement block that I couldn't see in my mirror and pulled half of it off of the car. :( It was a sad sad sad day for me. I was hysterical, and so humilitated. Needless to say these last few weeks have not been my most shining moments. Chris was very understanding of the first two "incidents" but by the 3rd, he wasn't quite as understanding (which is totally understandable.)

Well, it just so happened that the rental car incident occured about 2 hours before we were supposed to leave for Dallas to look for a new vehicle. I ended up getting a new rental car, and went home to face my angry husbands wrath, and we started a very silent drive to Dallas. About a quarter of the way there we started talking again, and by the time we got there, we were almost laughing about the ridiculousness of our current situation (almost, but not quite laughing yet...) We ended up finding a great car. It is a 2005 Nissan X-terra, and we love it! It has really low miles and is super clean and we got a really good price. We almost feel like we are driving a brand new car, which is a pleasant change after driving my old van for the past few years.

We ended up having a great time in Dallas. We hadn't made a reservation for a hotel, and didn't start looking for one until about 8 in the evening, but found a nice place for a really great price (yeah for military discounts!) plus the guy working at the counter was feeling generous and upgraded us to a suite with a kitchen and living room and bedroom. It was great. We ordered a pizza from room service and all watched America's Funniest Home Videos. It was a really fun night, and a much needed happy note on a bad day. For those of you who are family and haven't yet heard the rental car story, it is because I have only just now started talking about it. I was too embarassed. :)

So hear is a picture of our new car, that I am VERY cautiously driving. I also included a picture of the front of the house, just so those of you haven't seen where we live could!

March

2009-04-18T07:45:00.001-07:00

My mom came out to visit in March, and I was finally able to learn how to sew. Chris's parents bought me a sewing machine for my birthday in September. My mom gave me an intense lesson and these are a few of the projects we accomplished while she was here. I even made a matching shirt for me and a dress for Cailey. I haven't gotten up the nerve to wear my shirt when she wears her dress, but I think it is really fun anyways. I have worked on a couple of things since mom left, but am afraid to tackle another pattern on my own. I will probably stick to blankets and curtains until I get another lesson in patterns.

My Grandpa came out the last week my mom was here and we all had a good time. We went to the rattlesnake round up in Sweetwater. A very interesting experience to say the least. It was fun though, and we got to eat some horribly greasy, but delicious food while we were there. That was my highlight! In typical Texas fashion, there was fried everything.

Blessings in barf.

2009-02-18T06:18:00.000-08:00

On Monday night we went to life group, and we started a new study on 1 Peter. We started talking about how trials in our life produce more faith, and to praise the Lord in ALL circumstances. Also I brought up the fact that sometimes I almost look forward in a weird way to trials coming my way, because from past experience, my faith is always so much stronger afterwards and I am always thankful for the trial I had to go through to get to the place I am now. Without trials there would be no growth. So I am trying to change my attitude to praise God in the midst of ALL things, good or bad.

This is something really small, but I got something out of it, so I just thought I would share. Yesterday I woke up feeling really sleepy in the morning, and just kinda off. But I got up and put on a smile and headed to work. I felt ok all day, I just seemed really hungry and the leancusine I brought for lunch just didn't cut it. I just felt funny. Well, after work I decided to hit the gym. I have really gotten off my regular gym schedule and I was determined to get back on, so even though things were starting to feel funny, I forced myself to go, even if it was a short workout. By the time I got home, I was beginning to wonder if my tummy was ok, you know the feeling, I can only describe it as questionable. I have been putting off cleaning the back yard, the poop from the dog was really bad, and the puppy had also gotten a whole roll of paper towel one day and tore it all to shreds in the back yard. So I decided to tackle it. I was able to get everything cleaned up, I had dinner on the stove, when Chris got home. I greeted him and then ran up to my room and stayed there for the rest of the night. I won't go into detail, but it wasn't pretty...AT ALL. I tell you all of this, because I found myself thanking the Lord. I mean it couldn't have been better timing. I was able to get pretty much everything done that I needed to, and Chris was home, so I could just worry about myself and not the kids. Also, although the time alone was less that enjoyable, I got to lay there and catch up on all the tv I had been DVR ing. So all in all, I was thankful that the Lord allowed me to get sick at the best possible time. The throwing up even stopped about 11:30, so I got a relatively decent nights sleep, and although I will probably just be laying low today, I am so thankful I am not throwing up anymore, that I am actually in a pretty good mood. So although this is a small small thing, I just thought I would share how God used my barf to bless me!

1 Peter 1:3-7

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope throught the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance tha tcan never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

The last couple of months

2009-02-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

February is here!!! Ahh...the month of love, and kisses, and hugs, what could be better! We have had such a busy time since Christmas, I have finally found a moment to sit and think over all we have done this last couple of months.

As most of you know we went to Kauai right after New Years. We spent 10 days there with my family, Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother in law and 2 nieces. We had an absolutely amazing time, and wish we were back there pretty much every day.

We returned home and got a surprise visit from my Grandpa. So we got to spend about 5 days visiting with him, and enjoying his company. The weekend after that we got the opportunity to go to San Antonio and see Chris's brother Jon graduate from basic training. We also got to visit with the rest of the Ingram family, mom and dad, sister Ali, Grandma, and Aunt Trish, Uncle Mark and the cousins. It was a really fun three days, and really special to be able to be with so much of the Ingram family. The kids were attached to Auntie Ali and Uncle Jon, and we had a great time all around. We were able to go to the River Walk and do some shopping. It was really fun!
Let's see other milestones this last couple of months...Cailey just turned 5.
We still are having a hard time believing we are parents of a 5 year old. We had a birthday party for her in Hawaii, and then we celebrated her actual birthday in San Antonio. She was very blessed this year to be able to celebrate with so much family. Now that she is five she has decided that she doesn't want to sleep with her blankie anymore "too babyish" she says, and she can blow a bubble, she is quite bossy to anyone younger than her, and is SO excited to start kindergarten next year. She is a joy and we are very proud of what a sweet and kind little girl she is turning into.

Caleb hasn't really hit any major milestones lately. He is still fascinated with cars, he ALWAYS has one in hand, and sleeps with one everynight. He is a sweet, sweet boy and is very easy most days, and content with life.

That's about it! Life is going fairly smoothly and we are just trying to enjoy it. These last few pics are of Valentines day. Chris was very sweet and sent me flowers to work. We had a great day on Valentines, took the kids to breakfast, and Cailey went to a birthday party. We just enjoyed each other and were very thankful for all the blessings and love we have in our lives. God is good. Of course I had to include one of Honey (our sweet 5 month old lab). I know that was long and there is total picture overload, I decided to get caught up all at once! Love and miss you all.

2008-12-09T14:47:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics from Thanksgiving day, and decorating for Christmas. We let the kids decorate however they wanted and then when they went to sleep Chris and I adjusted the decorations slighty. :)

Happy "sniff, sniff, cough, cough" Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T14:03:00.000-08:00

So November brought the Ingram family many things. Let me try and list them, strep throat, strep throat, horrible head cold, strep throat, a yucky virus that makes little boys get sores all inside there mouth, and more strep throat. Tis the season to be sick and sicker. Since returning from AK we have been bombarded with illness in our house. It has been less than fun, but since I am sitting here sniffling, and holding a very cranky little boy, I thought I would be productive and update our blog. We have had a busy month this month, but as I look back I am not 100 percent sure what we have been doing besides getting sick and working. All I have to say that we are looking foward to Hawaii with a passion right now, and have 37 days to go!!!! So hopefully we will get all the sickness out now before we leave.

One other thing that Novemeber has brought us is a new addition to our family. A very sweet puppy we named Honey. She is about 9 weeks old, and a yellow lab. She is as sweet as can be and so far is an awesome puppy. She hasn't had any accidents in the house, and we couldn't be happier with our impulsive decision to get her. She was given to us, and we couldn't pass up the offer (we are suckers for cute things.) Here are a few pics of her and the kids, with I am sure many more than you care to see to come. We hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving!!!!

November

2008-11-02T19:50:00.000-08:00

It is about time I posted another blog, I have had a hard time finding a moment to sit down and write.

I can not believe it is already November (really I am having a hard time believing it is November, since I was just out yesterday mowing our lawn in the 80 degree weather.) Although it is almost Thanksgiving, fall has really not yet arrived here in TX, but I can tell there is a crisper feeling in the air. Things have been going pretty smoothly, I don't have a lot to report, which is probably a good thing.We just got back from AK a week ago, and had an absolutely fabulous vacation (thanks mom and dad.) The kids did great, and had SO much fun playing with cousins, and Grammy and Papi, and Auntie and Uncle. It was so nice to be able to go with Chris and get to see our friends, and enjoy a lot of date nights, (which are very rare for us) and just relax and enjoy being "home." The kids were once again super travelers. I counted and this was Cailey's 11th trip on an airplane, which is not counting the times in my belly, and Caleb's 4th. They are becoming little jet setters. Our next big adventure is our trip to Hawaii...we have been spoiled rotten by my mom and dad this year. My entire family will be traveling to Kauai on Feb 2nd, for 10 days of fun and sun to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. We are all very excited and are counting down the days. So now we are just looking foward to the holidays, and doing our best not to gain a bunch of weight durning this time, because we have to be in bathing suits in 2 months!!!

The kids are doing great. Cailey has been doing really good in pre-school, and is making a lot of friends. She is getting very excited about turning 5 (she still has 3 months, but talks about it regularly.) She seems to think at times she is 13 instead of 4, the attitude is definately coming out, but all in all she is a sweet ,bubbly, extremely talkative little girl who we are very proud of.

Caleb is doing pretty well in pre-school, but has had a few naughty notes sent home with him. His favorite word is "mine" right now, and has a tendancy to steal toys from his friends, and then run away with a big grin on his face laughing. Having a boy is a very different experience from having a girl, but a huge blessing also. He is so sweet, and cuddly, and is just so cute that all the little naughty things are pretty hard to get mad at. He has a great laugh, and is generally a happy little boy. We are working on being kind, so hopefully this phase will pass quickly.

That's about it for us! Hope this finds all of you doing well also. We love and miss you all, and hope to hear updates from all of you soon also.

Blessings

Chris and Christina

2008-08-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so after posting this newest blog, I realized that everyone had been leaving comments on the previous blogs and I had no idea...can you say computer illiterate. So thank you all for leaving such nice comments, I loved them! Also, I realize there are no pics of Chris on this most recent blog. It isn't that we don't love him, and it isn't that he wasn't there, it is just for some reason he was camera shy. I will try and get a few of him and of the new house this week, Because he is pretty handsome and definatley worth looking at! Love and miss you all!
Christina

Update for August

2008-08-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

The summer is coming to a close...so hard to believe, it has flown by for us! Although temperature wise, it is humorous to say that summer is almost over, it really is starting to sink in that there is only a couple of weeks left and the fall activities begin. I just wanted to update you all on what has been going on around here.

We moved onto base about 3 weeks ago. It was a really good move for us financially and socially. We were blessed with Chris's brother Jon coming the night before the move, and believe me his muscles were definatley put to work. The three of us moved into the new house and got our old house sparkling clean in 2 long days. It was so worth it though. We love living on base. There are so many families to get to know, and the kids have playmates in the neighborhood. I am saving a ton on gas because there is so much to do around here that we rarely leave base. The house is great, I will post some pics as soon as I get a chance to take some. It has a huge back yard, 3 bathrooms, and three bedrooms, and a huge garage. It is perfect and we are really happy we were able to make the move.

Update on Chris:

Chris has finally started getting back to the land of the mobile now that his ankle is doing so much better. His physical therapy has been really helping and although he can't run yet, he is pretty much back to normal. He started going back to the gym which is making him feel much better. We are thankful that he is back on his feet. He has just gone back to work after 2 weeks of leave, and 1 week in Georgia for some training. We enjoyed having him home with us and miss him now that he is back to the daily grind.

Update on Christina:

I was able to stop doing daycare now that we are moved on base. The whole family is enjoying having me back to my non -stressed out state of mind. :) I am enjoying being with just my 2 kids and doing mommy things, like the park and errands, cooking and cleaning, and all the little things that one more child made a little more difficult. If anything, doing daycare made both Chris and I feel very much at peace with Chris's vasectomy. 2 kids is good for us!

I found out a couple of days ago that I got the job I have been praying about. I will be working at our church as a preschool teacher. It will only be 2 days a week. I will be with the "bunnies" which is the 1 year olds. I am really excited about the job and think it is going to work great for our family. Both of the kids will be able to attend the preschool, for a very discounted rate, so it really is a blessing for us. Other than that I have been spending my days trying to get into swimsuit shape for our big trip to Hawaii in Jan, doing Susy homemaker things at home, and trying to stay cool, as the weather has been SUPER hot. We have hit over 100 degrees many days so far. We are all surviving, but don't go out much unless it is to the pool or somewhere air conditioned.

Update on Cailey:

Cailey's big news this week is that she got her ears peirced finally!!!! This is a big deal in our house, as we have been trying to get her to do this for probably a year and a half. She was so brave and hardly cried. She looks adorable with her little flower earings. She is very excited about going earring shopping with me once she can change them out.

We decided not to put her in the public school system this year. She was going to start a program called Head Start, which is pre-K. We have been praying about it though and decided God was telling us that if I got the pre-school job that that would be better for her. So she will be going to pre-school only 2 days a week instead of full time. I get her for one more year and I feel blessed by that.

Other than that she is the same old sweet Cailey. She is quite the social butterfly and is so ready to make some new friends, so I am looking foward to the fall and all the activities she will be involved in.

Update on Caleb:

Caleb turned 2!!! We had a nice little party for him at my Grammy's house. He got ton's of boy presents, (which is really good because he has been way too into Cailey's dress up clothes lately.) The big news with him is that he is totally potty trained now!!! I can't believe how easy it was. We are very proud of him. He has been doing great with hardly any accidents and is only in diapers for bedtime. I can't believe my days buying diapers are almost done! Other than that nothing really new with Caleb, he is just acting like a 2 year old and gives me a headache most days, but makes up for it with his cuteness and sweetness.

That is about it for now. I know it is long, but at least you all now know what has been going on in the Ingram world for the last month or 2, because I know I have been terrible about keeping in touch. Love and miss you all.

Christina

2008-07-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

We only have one full day left in our house. I am a little sad actually, because we love this house, but am excited to start fresh in our new free house! The free part makes it a bit easier to part with this house. We move on Wed, and wanted to post our new information. Our phone number will stay the same, here it is for those of you who don't have it...325-695-2062 and here is our new address...101 Indiana St. Dyess AFB, TX 79605.

Fourth of July Weekend

2008-07-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

We had such a nice Fourth of July weekend. Chris and I both had a four day weekend, so we were able to do a lot of fun things and do a lot of relaxing. On the 3rd we stayed up late and went to the drive in movie theatre (which is so fun.) First we watched Wall i, which was a cute robot kids movie, and then we put the kids to bed in the van and Chris and I watched the Hulk. Let me rephrase that, Chris watched the Hulk, while the rest of us slept, but it was really fun and I had a great nap. On the 4th we went to a pool that was having some festivities. They had a money dive where they threw a bunch of change into the pool and everyone raced to get as much as they could. All together we probably made about 5 or 6 dollars, but it was fun. They also has a balloon toss and three legged races and other things. We had a good time hanging out together. We did not do any fireworks this year, because our children are terrified of them for some reason or another. We had a relaxing Saturday and Sunday, just hanging out together, and going to the pool some more, and then on Monday we went to the Zoo and the park, and had a great time. It was a much needed weekend and, and was stress free, relaxing and fun.

Last Week

2008-07-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

So lets see...what has been new around here? About a week and a half ago I took the kids to McDonalds playland for 1.50 happy meal day. We were having a nice time playing, I happened to be watching three other children that day, so had 5 kids with me, Caleb was playing on a bench, and I said "get down Caleb, that's not safe" so being a boy he decided he needed to jump down. I don't even really know what happened but he ended up on his face and there was lots of blood. I tried to keep calm and when I looked in his mouth I saw 1st his front tooth was chipped and 2nd there was a lot of blood coming from his gums. So Chris met me there and we gathered all 5 kids and went home. We didn't have a dentist yet, so I called the insurance company, found out what dentist I could take him to, left all 4 other kids at home with Chris and took Caleb. 2 hours later we found out that he had indeed chipped his tooth, and also had rolled his gums up off the bone, that is why there was so much blood, and that he was going to be just fine, but maybe just look a little funny. The tooth is now turning a lovely shade of grey(will have to ask the dr. about that when we go in for a follow up) but it doesn't seem to be bothering him in the least. I am not quite sure why he thinks he has to jump off of everything, but for some reason he does and it is driving me crazy trying to make sure he doesn't get hurt again.

Bigger news about Caleb though is that he has decided to be potty trained. I wasn't even expecting to start trying with him until at least 2 and a half, but since I have been potty training the little girl that I watch for about the last 4 months, he has been slowly easing into it. About 5 days ago he finally peed on the potty and now his is wearing big boy undies. I am super excited about it, but also a little wary because he isn't even 2 yet, but he is definatley ready, and I wasn't going to stop him. He loves that he gets candy every time he goes and is extremely proud of himself. We are proud of him too, and although I spend all day on the bathroom floor while he is trying to go, it is worth it to watch my little baby turning into a big boy.

Cailey has also had a mileston this last week or two. She passed the swimming test at the pool. She can go down the slide now, and swim in the deep end, although we told her she isn't allowed without us. She took swimming lessons a couple of weeks ago and they really helped. She is becoming a little fish. She LOVES to swim and it makes me feel so much more comfortable knowing she is in the water with the skills to not drown.

Ingram Update

2008-06-23T12:35:00.001-07:00

I have been talking about starting a blog since we left Germany 6 months ago. So we will see if I can finally make this happen. I have been horrible with sending out any picutures since we moved, so I my hope is that I can find a minute to update this every so often with pictures and stories of the Ingram Family. Here is an update of what we have all been up to for the last few months.

Chris and Christina...

When we first moved here there were no houses available on base. We found a great house off base, that we absolutely love, but it is a little expensive to live in, so I new I was going to have to work. To be able to still stay at home with the kids, I decided on doing daycare. I began doing daycare in February and have been watching a 2 year old little girl full time since then, and also a 6 year old boy. It is a great job to have because I am able to still stay at home with the kids, but it has also been a challenge for me keeping 4 kids everyday. Needless to say Chris and I have both reached our limit with having other children in our house day in and day out. We made the decision a few weeks ago to try and move on base. We are in a year lease, but the Lord is good and we have awesome understanding landlords who found someone to move into our house August 1st. We were able too get a brand new house on base, we will be the first ones moving onto our street. It is beautiful, and has a big fenced back yard. Moving will also allow me to not work any more. I will probably get a part time job, but my days as a full time child care provide are over in a couple of weeks, and I couldn't be more excited. So July 16th we will be packing up our boxes and heading down the street to our new home which is rent free, and utility free!!!

Chris hurt his ankle about 2 months ago playing in a soccer game. He sprained it really badly
(a 3rd degree) and also tore a ligament. He just started physical therapy this last week and is already finally noticing progress with it. Unfortunatley he should have started doing PT right away and would have probably been right back to normal by now, but that is the lovely, sometimes slow, military health care system. So we are thankful he is finally starting on the road to improvement because he has been hobbling around for a LONG time, and I am tired of mowing the lawn :) He is enjoying his job, and will find out in August if he will be deploying for 6 months in Jan. We will keep you posted. He has also recently started delivering pizzas a few nights a week to help with the money crunch, we don't know how long he will be keeping the job, but for now it is helping out.

What is new with the kids...

Cailey is 4 and a half now and is such a great helper. She even changes the occasional diaper for me, (she is really good at it, if olny Caleb would be still for her) She is turning a dark shade of brown out in this TX sun and is becoming a fish because of all the time we are spending at the pool. She will be starting head start (pre-k) at the end of August, so I feel like my time is short with her. I think Caleb and I are going to be really lonely when August comes around and Cailey is gone all day.

Caleb is almost 2...need I say more. He is talking up a storm now, and is never quiet. He is a sweet boy, but also has a wild, and crazy side. He is definatley all boy. He climbs EVERYTHING and jumps off everything, I have been close to a heart attack many times. He loves his cars, and rocks and balls and collects them and takes them everywhere with us. I am clinging to every last baby moment I have with him, because once he is potty trained, he will no longer have anything baby about him.

That is about it, we are all enjoying TX, we love the warm weather, somedays are too hot, but for the most part we enjoy it and just spend a lot of time at the base pool. We have found a great church, that little by little we are meeting people and becoming involved in. We are so happy to be back in the US, and no that God has a purpose for us here in TX and can't wait to find out what it is.