Just Jenny;)

Yep, that's me and my youngest child, Jacob. Due to an increase in traffic on my blog from people other than friends and family- which I LOVE, by the way- I decided to post a little about myself. Lately, I have felt like blogging has become more than just an occasional fancy, and I find myself not only excited to read some of my favorite blogs, but also excited to post on my own blog. I always feel bad if I don't get around to posting, because I know the diasppointment that I feel when I check other blogs and there's nothing new- crazy, huh?! So, I guess you could say I'm an addict!
Besides being a stay-at-home-mom-of-7, I am happily married to my husband of almost 18 years. I met Zack the summer before my junior year in highschool- he had just graduated and had plans to join the Air Force. Within just 6 months, we both knew we were "meant-to-be," and Zack enrolled in a community college while he waited for me to finish highschool. We ended up at the University of Montana together, and were married just 2 years later. It wasn't even a year before we had our first child on the way...
But before I go on, let me backtrack just a little:) I keep finding myself wondering if someone will read my blog that I know from my past. You see, I am blessed to be an ARMY BRAT, and spent my childhood moving all over the U.S. and Europe, so my life has been touched by many people. Not only that, but Zack ended up with an Army ROTC scholarship, and we spent our first 5 years of marriage in the military. So, I decided it might be fun to list ALL the places that I have lived from birth until now- hold on, it's a bit crazy, and I hope I get it right...
1971* born in Nebraska
1971-1975* Ft. Huachuca, AZ
1975-1977* Oklahoma (for the life of me, I can't think of the Army post that we lived on) oooo- I just remembered- it was Ft. Sill!
1977-1979* Durham, NC
1979-1980* Norfolk, VA
1980-1982* West Point, NY
1982-1984* The Netherlands- Europe
1984-1986* Stuttgart, Germany
1986-1989* Ft. Devens, MA- graduated from Ayer Highschool
1989-1993* Missoula, MT- attended the U of MT
Jan. 1993-June 1993* Ft. Huachuca, AZ- yep, same place my dad was stationed when I was little- my dad and my husband were both Military Intelligence officers- cool, huh?!
July 1993-1997* Ft. Hood, TX
1997-1999* Reno, NV
1999-Jan 2001* Tulsa, OK
Jan 2001-June 2001* Fishkill, NY
June 2001-December 2001* Keller, TX
Jan 2002-June 2002* Polaris, MT
June 2002-June 2003* Bozeman, MT
June 2003-December 2003* Missoula, MT
Jan 2004-July 2005* Keller, TX
July 2005-July 2007*Billings, MT
July 2007-present* Overland Park, KS
Whew!!! I think I got that pretty much right! What you don't see are all the moves we made when living in the same area- like moving on and off post or changing apartments or living in apartments while building a house, etc...
So, now that I got that out of the way, I hope someone will say oh my gosh, I lived there at the same time...! PLEASE leave me a comment if you think you know me- no mom, not you!
Okay, a little more about me. I have many children of all ages, which is REALLY cool! We always have something going on, and I love having a teenager about to go to her first prom and a toddler working on his 6th tooth! And for the BIG question that we are always being asked and I know you're dying to know- will we have anymore kids? Well, we have decided to leave that to the BIG GUY UPSTAIRS. If God choses to bless us with any more babies, we will be thrilled- and I know both sets of grandparents have just suffered heart-attacks;)
We are not mormon, or catholic- just plain old protestants. We attend a great non-denom. church that we love.
We have a 10yr-old son that has been diagnosed with ADHD, and who is currently on Straterra, however we are struggling with having him on meds and plan to take him off as soon as school is out for the summer. I did try homeschooling one child for one year, and really enjoyed it. If I had it to do all over again, knowing what I know now, I probably would have homeschooled all of my kids, but that's a LONG story!
My greatest fear is death, which is rather ironic considering all the blogs that I have been obsessed with lately. People keep asking me why I follow the blogs with dying or dead babies, and all I can say is that I'm being called to go there- I have cried more in the last four months than I have cried in my entire life- seriously. It has gotten so bad that at one point, I was certain that my baby would be dead when I woke up in the morning- okay, now I sound a little crazy-but ya know, it's real, it's happening, it's life, and I believe there's so much to learn from these families- if it can happen to them, it can happen to me. I can't begin to describe the impact on my life, and I can tell you that my marriage is growing stronger, my mothering is getting better, and my priorities are falling into their proper places.
My husband and I were baptized by immersion, together, about 4yrs. ago, and my life began to change at that point, but it wasn't until just recently that I truly began to follow the path I believe God has laid out for me. I am constantly in awe of blogs like Bring the Rain,
...where laughter lives, kayleigh's story, and of course my charming kids! I could only hope to some day inspire just one person as those blogs have inspired me!
I am so excited to now have my "chat wall" on my sidebar (courtesy of THE BLOG FROG), and I hope that it will be a place where people can ask me questions and I can either reply on the wall or in a post. And now that you know more about me, please feel free to ask away...
And I just realized I have some more pictures below- it's getting late and I think I've gotten rather side-tracked. Here's what I see when I'm working on my computer and I look down...
I am a list-maker and extremely well-organized. I have to be- my life demands it! And here's where I spend most of my time blogging...
If you're wondering why I stand up to blog, it's due to the fact that I usually only get through one or two sentences before I'm being paged- moooooommmmmmyyyyy! And I've recently discovered Twitter- LOVE IT! Here's my cell phone- it's one of those leave-on-the-back-of-your-car-and-run-over-it-then-drop-it-in-the-toilet-proof phones- and it is often found in the slobbery hands of my 15month-old or on the floor where he has thrown it. People give me the nastiest looks when they see Jacob holding my phone in the store and then he throws it across the aisle- it's kinda funny!
And if you come to my house, you will definitely see me whip this out at least 2x per hour. Yes, it's true, I am a recovering neat-freak. I say recovering because I used to be so much worse, but over the years I have learned to relax a little, and now my family members no longer use the term OCD when referring to me! Yep, it was that bad. If you were to come in my house today, you would not believe that 7 children and one dog live there- what can I say, it's a curse and a blessing. It can be a pain to keep up with, but I need some form of order in my life- we have enough chaos with the kids!!!
And while vacuuming with one hand, I usually carry this in the other...Well, that's all for now! I hope that I don't lose All those (not YOU mom) that read my blog now that you know a little more about me. Nighty-nite!!!