Unconditional Bonds

As summer came to an end this past weekend, we were fortunate enough to spend it with dear friends, who are more family than friends to us. All Friday, Kevin looked at me as though I had lost my mind, as I raced through the house cleaning and making sure things were "perfect". Little did he know that we had friends arriving that evening that we had not seen in years and that they would be spending the entire weekend with our family! For over a month, I had spent time "scheming" with our Glenda and Rob Kiser as well as Kris Valencia on their trip to Macon. For those of you that are not sure of these friends - we were all close to inseparable in Germany. We have seen Kris since our PCS from Germany in 2006, but not The Kiser Family.

Friday afternoon, our doorbell rang and for once I refused to open the door. Instead, I continued sitting in the living room, reading a book I was reviewing for Family Of a Vet, Inc. Kevin, not very happily, went to the door and peeked outside, then slowly looked at me, quite pissy and said "I'm not opening the damn door. You get up and do it". With an irritated look, I simply told him he was there, so go ahead and open the door. With frustration because he had no idea who was on the other side, he opened the door and ended up with the biggest smile on his face as he realized that Kris Valencia was at our house. The look on his face brought a smile to mine!

As we all hung out in the kitchen, making dinner, Kevin decided to pick up my phone when a text alert rang. For those of you that know Kevin, this NEVER happens! He honestly never messes with my phone. However, of all days - this is the one he decided to check it out. When he saw Glenda's name he instantly assumed that they were coming out as well. Now, if you know me - you know I suck at lying and even though  said "no" the answer was written all over my face. In that one moment, I wanted to cry because of month of planning was reveled instead of being a surprise arrival. Yet, to see the look in his eyes made things okay. He was truly excited to see Rob and the family. He looked like a little kid.

We spent the rest of the evening catching up with Kris and laughing until around 9:30 when I received the text that the Kiser's were right around the corner. Without hesitation, Kevin and Kris decided to go outside to "smoke". We were all standing outside as a truck slowly approached out house and whipped into the driveway - parking incredibly crooked and making it hard for anyone on the passenger side to get out. Full of enthusiasm, Robert hopped out of the drivers seat and him and Kevin were guy hugging.

From there, the kids all rambunctiously headed into the house and upstairs. It was like they had never been apart. Nicholas was the only "new" one to the group since Germany. All of the adults migrated to the backyard, where we stayed until after three in the morning, catching up and laughing. I took quite a few pictures that I sadly lost Saturday morning when I attempted to update my cell phone.

Me and Glenda

On Saturday morning, we started preparing for more people to arrive at our house that evening for our small Housewarming gathering. To all that made it out, thank you so much! We had a fabulous time with all that showed: My cousin Courtney with her husband Nick and their son, Eli; Aunt Denise (who I have not seen in so many years! What a blessing to hug her and see her!), Aunt Susan, one of my oldest and dearest friends, Sarah Norris with her husband Chad, and children Matthew and Kaylin (Chandler Norris - we missed you!!!), and Kev's last surprise visitor and our friends, Jason Brentzel with his wife, Heather and their kids, Hayden and Logan. To say everyone had a great time together, would be an understatement. We all enjoyed hanging out, laughing, chatting, and eating! The men of course ended up migrating to the backyard drinking a few beers and the ladies stayed inside, sipping on cocktails, while the children played. To all that came, thank you so much for leaving us with such an enjoyable evening! It was wonderful seeing each of you and we cannot wait to do it again!

Kris, Jason, Rob, and Kev

Sarah, Kaylin, and Chad (being silly)

Heather and me

Me and Glenda

Jason, Kev, and Susan

Nate, Naisha, Hayden, Nic & Bre

The Adults - Taken by a child

Me and Aunt Susan

Bre and Naisha helping set up

Adults

*If you read our blog posts by email updates, please go to http://www.biddlebuzz.com/2012/09/unconditional-bonds.html to watch the 3 videos below.* No we do not normally let our children do what they are doing in the videos, it was only fun for this one night. Yes, the middle video is Glenda. She had to be a kid just once ! lol

Sunday was spent being lazy. We said our goodbyes to Kris as he headed back to Florida. We cleaned up for a bit and then ate dinner together at our house. Schnitzel, potato salad, pasta salad, and I cannot remember what else! It was quite tasty and enjoyable. We all called it a night fairly early compared to the two previous late nights. Our kids had school the following morning and the Kiser's would be beginning their six hour journey back home.

Glenda and I saw this at Publix and she immediately said it was perfect for Kevin. 

The kids licking cake mix out of the mixing bowl

Silly kids - posing after licking the bowl clean. We were just missing Naisha in this photo.

The little monsters decorating cake balls

Me and Glenda. I love this pic!

Glenda making her yummy schnitzel

Love the look, babe! Kev and Rob

Riley decided to steal Rob from Glenda last weekend!

On Monday morning, we all woke up around 7ish to get ready for the day. Kev and I wok the kids and got them all ready for school as the Kiser's started gathering their belongings and preparing for their trip home. The kids of course didn't want to go to school that day, Nic being the only one who ended up not going due to being a bit sick. Kevin took the girls to school and the rest of us met him at Waffle House for breakfast, where we stayed for well over an hour - prolonging the dreaded goodbyes and hugs. 

In life, it is rare that we fall into relationships that leave us with unconditional bonds. It is even more rare that these bonds tie two couples together.

The one thing we learned over the weekend is that no matter the amount of time that goes by, when friendships truly exist, distance will never be an obstacle. Nerves may have been in existence as the time approaches to see people after so many years, but the truth in relationships shines through the moment you see someone and the moment you are all engaging in hugs. Everything seems to fall right back into place and you feel comfort of being surrounded by people you realize you would be lost without. Until next time Rob, Glenda, Nate and Naisha, we love each of you and are so blessed to have you in our lives. Thank you for being friends/family that is a rare thing in life. We cannot wait for our next weekend together!

And more than anything, Welcome Home, Rob! Robert returned from Afghanistan the week before they made the trip to our house! Not only was this past weekend to celebrate our new home and being back in Georgia, but also to celebrate Robert's homecoming!

A Dream Come True - Moving to Macon Details

I have sat down numerous times to write about and express the life changing times that we are currently going through. No matter how I write this or what words I use, none can express our gratitude or any emotion that has overcome us in the past two weeks and that will continue to sweep through us as time goes on.

After debating applying with Operation Homefront and their Homes on the Homefront program for a couple months, Kevin and I decided to go ahead and apply. Chase (the bank/mortgage company) partnered with OHF in February of this year under the intentions that they are going to award 100 wounded combat veterans and their families bank owned homes across the country - mortgage free. When Tim McGraw caught word of this, he jumped in and partnered with the Homes on the Homefront program awarding 25 of these homes.

Now, let me tell you our story and how this fits into our family.

A little over two weeks Kevin and I logged on to the OHF website and eased our way onto the Homes on the Homefront page, where we located a house in Macon that was going to be released the following day for applications to be submitted. Needless to say, the following day we submitted our application and heard back from our now caseworker the following day. During the following week, we found ourselves filling out paperwork and submitting documents, providing referrals and resources. Almost exactly a week later, we received the call that changed our lives...

Our OHF caseworker, Andrea called to confirm our travel arrangements on June 7 - which consisted of going to Dothan, AL for a few nights, then to BamaJam to have a meet and greet with Tim McGraw himself before his concert. At this point, we were under the impression that the ones moving into the Macon house would be announced then. After verifying arrangements, Andrea asked me if I was sitting down. After I told her I was, she then went on to say, "Congratulations Brittney. The committee has chosen you, Kevin, and your children to award the Macon home to." To say I was overfilled with emotions consisting of appreciation, excitement, disbelief, shock, and much, much more would be an absolute understatement. This was actually happening to us. We were the ones that the committee of Operation Homefront decided upon. As I heard the words, I broke into tears and felt like I could not breathe. Andrea asked if I was okay and still breathing as I tried to get my words out. How do you find words for something like this? Thank you is just not sufficient enough. My family is one of the 25 under Operation Homefront, Chase, and Tim McGraw. There are just no words.

Since the phone call, a week and a half ago, I have remained in shock. I have shed many tears of relief, disbelief, joy, and appreciation. For the first time in such a long time I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me and I can almost breathe again. There are no words for the gratitude that we have for all involved and what they are doing. They are making dreams come true and are enabling families to live again. To me, this is something one hears about, yet never thinks it will happen to them. This is something you see occurring on the television, not actually living. There is absolutely no way to ever repay this, which is why all I can do is say we will be giving back to veterans and their families that much more. I want to take this and turn around and make more positive impacts on our heroes and their families. This enables Kevin to receive better medical care at the local VA CBOC, sufficient mental health care for his PTSD.  We will be closer to the VA hospital for his multiple monthly appointments, versus living three hours from the VA hospital like we do now. Every trip is hell on Kevin, from his physical injuries to his mental. This allows the children and I to be under the care of better doctors and the children education.

Every time I try to speak of this, I find myself choked up and in tears. Crying has become a "normal" thing for me when this comes up. I am overfilled in emotions that I myself am trying to define. We have been through hell between the severity of Kevin's combat injuries and my health and for the first time in years I feel like I am on the verge of being able to breathe again.

I have been sitting at my desk for an hour now, attempting to write this and cannot honestly find words that are adequate enough to express the way we feel or explain things. The past two weeks have thrown me onto an emotional roller coaster, but in an amazing way. We will soon have a place we can call "home". For the first time our daughters will have their own bedrooms. We will have a fenced in backyard and a house that suits us. A house that is by far the nicest of all that Kevin and I have lived in. We will have a house that means no more moving, one that our children can grow in.

On Thursday, June 14 - which was also Flag Day and the Army's Birthday - we met with the VP from the Chase program, his wife, and with an OHF Liaison. We all rode to the concert together, which was a nice experience in itself. The closer we got to the park, the more apprehensive Kevin became. He began to feel overwhelmed just by thinking about the crowd and traffic. The weather had been horrible that afternoon, knocking out power lines, delaying concerts at BamaJam, and even leaving it to where some performances were cut. It was drizzling a bit when we arrived, but nothing too bad. The traffic was horrendous, but surprisingly the crowds weren't in the beginning. Someone from Tim McGraw's team met us in front of the lines of people attempting to get in and escorted us past the lines, the security and to the behind the stage area/catering tents, where we waited for awhile. Then we were escorted to the tent area that would hold the meet and greet. We were told to remain at the end of the line since we would be that last ones to meet with Tim before he went on stage.

Once we were able to meet with Tim, I began to feel all of the emotions hitting and even as surreal as things seemed to be, the reality was beginning to hit me. We are moving into a house that is soon to be ours. That is close to impossible to even fathom right now. Kevin walked up to him before I did and after introductions told Tim "Thank you" for all that he is doing. Tim looked at him like he had lost his mind and responded with "Shit man, are you kidding me? Thank you for all that you and your family have done..." It was incredibly sincere. This was the point that I began to struggle with keeping it together. Music is my own therapy, so many of his songs are on my playlist because his music holds so much meaning and truth and has helped me through so many situations and obstacles in life. My favorite is "Somebody Must Be Prayin", as well as his new one that hits me hard, "Better Than I Use to Be" - which explains how I feel often.  Music helps me keep it together. Here one of the musicians that I respect the most was thanking my husband and our family. I looked at Kevin, then to Tim and turned around praying to keep my composure. After we chatted for a bit, we left so that he could get ready to head up on stage. I made it halfway up the steps before Kevin said "Awww, I think Britt is starstruck". All I could do was shake my head and mumble that was not the case before the flood gates opened. On a different note, Tim is one of the most sincere people that is down to earth and all around seems like a great guy!

As I broke into tears all I could do was turn to Ebony and thank her and OHF for this amazing opportunity, then do the same to Rusty for what Chase is doing. Without them, this would never even have been a possibility. I am still struggling to find my words and to process everything. I am not sure when I will be able to process it all or when the reality of it will all fully hit me. My heart is overfilled with joy and appreciation. Our lives have been changed in an amazing way and each of us are eternally grateful. We will soon be close to our parents and siblings, which has each of them overfilled with joy and gratitude as well. So much has happened in our lives that has left us struggling and full of battles, yet we managed to keep a smile on our faces even when breaking down behind closed doors. We managed to keep our faith, hoping and praying that someday things would turn around. This house, OHF, Chase, and Tim are allowing this to happen. They are making dreams come true. Many times Kevin and I debated on backing out of this because we did not feel worthy of such a thing. Kevin still questions many things. But, after talking to Ebony and to others, we couldn't be more excited and ready for the next step as we are now.

At this point, we are waiting for the bid to come back on the rehab/modifications of the house. Chase is modifying our house to fit Kevin's needs, to accommodate him and his mobility.

If you or someone you know is looking for a place to donate, I urge you to donate to Operation Homefront. This is an organization that is changing the lives of many veterans and their families in need. They are making dreams come true. They are alleviating stresses in our lives and in the lives of people throughout the nation.  Kevin and I will be donating monthly once we are able to, after we are moved. You can go to, http://www.operationhomefront.net to view their website. To read more about Chase and Tim McGraw, go to http://www.operationhomefront.net/timmcgraw.aspx.

I am sure as time goes on, I will write more as the days come and I can process this. Right now, my words are not coming out as I would like. I want people to become better educated on the injuries of combat. Many look at Kevin and see nothing wrong by a glance. Physically he is wounded, but mentally it is much more intense. I cannot even begin to explain what war has done by one post. Most days are a total struggle as he battles his injuries. Our lives forever changed after he deployed the first time. Little did we know things would happen as they have. I am becoming overly emotional writing this, so I am going to end it for now.

Thank you to all that said prayers and to those that have known the details, thank you for your support. It means the world to us.

To Operation Homefront, Chase, and Tim McGraw, from the bottom of our hearts we thank you. Words can never express the amount of gratitude we have. With one phone call, you changed our lives. You have moved quickly with things and with absolute grace. You have kept us informed and been amazing people to work with. We could not have asked for better people than what we have talked to and met and cannot wait to meet our caseworker, Andrea.

We will soon be in Macon, GA and cannot wait to see family and friends! It's time to come home!

Tim autographed our tickets, one with Kick Ass!!! An cool photo of what we are doing with this to come!

Tim before the concert

Moments before he walked on stage

Our view from where we stood away from the crowd before leaving

Thank you Operation Homefront, Chase and Tim McGraw for our home!

****** If you would like to contact me on behalf of this, please email me at brbiddle@ymail.com*****

Christmas in the Biddle House

This Christmas was by far, one of the best we have had in quite awhile! We were able to not only spend it away from the Army and the stresses of the Army, but also to be able to spend it with family for the first time in eight years was absolutely amazing! Since heading to Germany in early 2004, we have (sadly) spent every holiday away from family. This year, we were not only blessed to spend Christmas with Aunt Jeanette, Grandmama, Aunt Beverly, and Uncle Mike; we were also very fortunate to have Kevin's mom and dad spend the week before Christmas and Christmas day with us! We could not have asked for more, other than for my parents and both of our siblings (and now two nephews).

In the weeks before Christmas, the kids helped us to fill our house full of Christmas decorations. Nichols took it upon himself to decorate the tree one evening. Little did he know we had to redo it all because all the ornaments hung a tad bit too close to the ground.

 

Going into the second week of December, the five of us went to the college with Aunt Jeanette and helped her put up Scott's Christmas Tree and hang ornaments. The kids spent a lot of time running the sidewalk around the lake and admiring the other trees that had already been set up. For the past three years the college has allowed people to rent spaces for trees that are in memory of someone, or anything that the person chooses. For the past couple of years, Aunt Jeanette has placed Scott's tree from his apartment up in memory of the amazing life he lived. This Christmas marked three years and seven months since his death. If you have not followed our blog for long, I have written about his death on a few occasions. My cousin, Scott, lost his life May 25, 2008 (two days before his 26th birthday) when a drunk driver crossed the yellow line and killed my cousin on impact. In memory of him, his mom, my Aunt Jeanette, places his tree at the college for Christmas every year.

A couple weeks before Christmas, we celebrated Christmas at church with a "Hee-Haw" celebration. Fitting for out here, right? We weren't sure what to think at first, but all ended up having a wonderful time. Nic loved it because he was able to wear a "Cowboy" hat.

David and Terri arrived on Tuesday, real late, before Christmas with Kev's old John Deere riding lawnmower on a trailer, two leaf blowers, a weed eater, and a few other things as a surprise. Well, to say that we were surprised would be a full understatement. Kevin's eyes were filled with tears when he saw it all, just as mine were as I watched the expressions on his face.

Throughout the week, the kids found pure happiness and excitement in riding the lawnmower over our acre and a half property. While at the same time, it made all of realize how much they have all grown. In ways, it made me feel a bit sad as I realized the girls are far from babies now days. My how times have changed.

Throughout the week, Terri and ran all over Mena while she finished the Christmas shopping for her and David. It was much easier for Terri to finish things for the kids here versus in GA...especially since their truck was already loaded with goodies for the little Biddle's, as well as me and Kevin. Throughout the week, each one of the girls took a turn spending the night in the hotel with Grandpa and Grannie and having breakfast with them the following morning at Skyline Cafe in historic (downtown) Mena. Kevin and I have yet to eat there, but the four of them said it was fantastic and all enjoyed their meals!

On Christmas morning, David and Terri came over around seven in order to see the children wake up to Santa's gifts. The kids were enthusiastically surprised and overjoyed with their gifts. Each child received a bike, skateboard and small goodies placed around their bikes. We all spent a few hours taking turns opening gifts from everyone that was here, as well as family in Georgia and North Carolina. Thank to everyone that sent gifts!

Christmas afternoon, we ate Christmas Dinner at my Grandmother and Aunt's house. We opened gifts with everyone there and all enjoyed the family time we were blessed to have with one another.

To all that spent Christmas with our family, we thank you. Thank you for being here and for making our Christmas more than we could have imagined. We are immensely blessed to have each of you in our lives.

From our Family to Yours, we hope each and everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Kids and Cool Whip

A couple weeks before Christmas, I walked into our kitchen to find Kevin, Breanna, and Nicholas in fits of laughter. Bre and Nic had their heads back with Kevin holding a can of Cool Whip above them and filling their mouths. All I could do was laugh and shake my heads as these three enjoyed their Cool Whip....

Nicholas has started this new thing to where when he points his finger at something, he closes one eye and squints out the other. This is something that just began and leaves me in giggles to see. There are times I ask him where something is just so I can see this new action...

 

Happy 31st Birthday Weekend, Kevin

Happy Birthday to the most amazing man and husband that I have been blessed to have by my side, through the most amazing times, and of course the most trying times in our lives. Without him, I am not sure where I would be in this crazy, everyday life we live!

On Friday, September 16, we celebrated Kev's birthday.... He turned the big 31!!! It's kind of nice to sit back and say I am still in my (late) 20's while my husband is racking in another year on the 30's chart. Haha. On Friday Kevin didn't really want to do much of anything, so we ended up eating at Burger King, more or less something to allow the kids to be kids. They had a blast, being able to get Kid Meals, which is an extra treat for them! Following that we stopped at the grocery store for a huge tub of Vanilla Ice cream and then headed home to enjoy the dessert! See, the girls and I were going to make him a cake as soon as they got home from school because as we all know, we should of had time to do that. However, Kevin had other plans and came home a tad earlier than we had anticipated! In other words, there was no cake baking! This is the first year we have not been able to do that! Friday ended up being very enjoyable, other than him having to go back to work for the first time in a month! Yes, he was able to take a full month off of work for two reasons. The first was obviously so he could help me recovery from this complicated surgery and recovery that I fully needed. The second reason was because he has over 100 vacation days and 35 of them were considered "Use or Lose". This, in the Army ways, means that had he not used any of those "use or lose" days by October 1, he would have been completely out of luck and just lost them. So, what better time to use them than to help me out with everything, including the kids starting back to school! Perfect timing and great quality time! I was honestly sad to see him go back to work! I had truly enjoyed the month I had with him and no Army time! (We are still waiting on his retirement rating, so there is nothing to report on that as of now. As soon as we know more, I will post more....AFTER we share with our close family and friends! Thanks for all your support and understanding. We would not be where we are without each of you!)

On Saturday, we spent most of the day cleaning and just being complete bums around the house. Really, nothing at all too entertaining. We did watch a little football, of course, we watched as the Gators beat the Vols! Go Gators! Did you know that in all of the Gator's history, there has only been one coach that lost to TN their inaugural year? That was in 1990. So, congrats to their new coach, Will Muschamp on Saturdays win! Oh wait, I did redesign both blogs and we love them! Hope you do too! (You can check out my other blog, which started out as an outlet tool, athttp://southerngirlsstand.blogspot.com/)

New Designs:

(for Biddle Buzz)

and

(For Southern Girl's Stand)

Today was a bit more entertaining and quite possibly the most fun we have had since before my surgery! After breakfast and a little downtime enjoying American Choppers, we decided to take the little ones to the Rio Grande. They have already started the damming process in New Mexico, at Elephant Butte. The Rio feeds from that before flowing down to us. Before the fall hits, this process starts and within a few weeks the Rio is completely empty. Right now, there is still some flowing water, but not much at all. In most spots the river bed is in the openness. Of course, I think Nic would rather it be that way because he can run, play, and splash around more than other times! We stayed out there for a little over an hour while the kids ran some of there energy out. It is still plenty hot enough here for them to swim and not get sick. It was kind of odd in a way for them to run through an area freely that not too long ago we floated down! The pictures that I took do it no justice in showing the depth of it. I will take better ones the next time we are out there!

Right before going to the Rio, Caitlin was begging me to take her to the store so she could spend her Tooth Fairy money. She lost one of her teeth on Friday at school. Well, we all know how money just burns the holes right through a child's pocket, so I took her with me to the store when I went for butter. The Dollar General is right outside our neighborhood, so to me, it's easier to stop there versus driving for ten or so minutes to an actual grocery store. When we got there, they had an entire display of outside toys for children that were marked 70% or more off. Caitlin found herself digging through the boxes of toys and decided that she would rather spend her money on toys they could play with instead of purchasing candy or something in that area. I am so proud of her for this one! With $5 ($2 of her own) she was able to buy four outside play sets because of this markdown! How awesome is that? May not be the best quality, but it sure kept them entertained all afternoon.... including Kevin on this one! They ended up with two Lacrosse sets, a Frisbee, a t-ball set, some other game set, three plastic bats, and I have no idea on how many balls between them all. For over four hours they played and played and played! It was great seeing them play as they did.

Of course, little man took right to the t-ball set and was determined to not give it up to anyone. He claimed it before we were even able to get it out of the bag and spent almost the entire time with it. I have never seen Nic so focused on something for the amount of time that he was today. I guess that's a sure sign of baseball being in his near future! You won't see me complaining on this one! He is such an athletic child! We love it!

While Nic took over the T-ball set and refused to let anyone else play with him, Kev and the girls got out the Frisbee, Lacrosse game, and football. Caitlin spent a lot of time sitting beside me on the patio watching them, while Bre and Kev played close to nonstop. Of course, they each took a spot on opposite sides of the yard to just stand there and throw things back and forth, because it still hurts for Kevin to do too terribly much. But they had so much fun together. We learned today that Bre has a mean spiral when throwing the football! 

While they played and the chicken grilled, I started to get restless and decided to take some pictures of the blooming flowers on the bushes that we have at the back of the house. Nic refers to these bushes as the "pokey trees". At least that is how he explained to me where he brought the picked flowers to me from! Of course, while taking pictures, I had to find a creative way in getting some good shots! I took a few after Nicholas had watered them. They turned out with a pretty cool look, I think! I have a few more shots on my computer saved.

As the Chicken came close to be grilled all the way, I wanted to make an attempt in taking a photo of all three kids side by side. Well, for anyone that knows these three, you know that sometimes that can be almost impossible... Let me show you what I mean by that....

After many attempts, the best one I could get with three smiles, is this one:

I think that one captured their personalities! Haha. Definitely frame-worthy!

After the attempt in taking a picture of this crazy trio, I was able to capture a few cute shots. I managed to get one of the girls side by side. Can you all see how close in height they are now? It is crazy! This could explain why everyone always asks me if they are twins. How can you not help but to love the one of Kevin picking on Caitlin? She was so mad and grumpy because she "throws like a girl". At least that's what she said. So, she sat in the chair and pouted. Kevin decided that was completely out of the question and decided to go all out on picking on her! It cheered her up! Nicholas became overly tired at one point and decided to throw himself on the ground and pout over something Caitlin did! Best part: I was able to get in a quick click of a button on my cell phone and get his "I'm going to sit down in front of my toys after throwing them down and pout" move with his arms crossed and all! Once he calmed down, he decided to water the grass again... or should I say play in the water again? Not sure if more water made it to the grass or his clothes....

Hope each and everyone of you had a wonderful weekend! Get out and enjoy the rest of the nice air before fall gets here and cooler weather takes over! Have a fantastic week everybody!