Is it really this normal/common for birds to be flying around this airport? O.o

Today is a very special day. It's hard to believe that 4 years and 5 days ago, my daughter Arianna was born at 8:46am. And now she's 4. FREAKING FOUR YEARS OLD! Where has the time gone?? It's so crazy, and I think it feels even crazier for me because I'm not around her 24/7, but she really is growing up so fast... Maybe too fast? I've already missed so much, and I hate having to miss more of her milestones and other accomplishments that she will reach as she continues to grow. That.  will change though, I have a plan that I believe God has shown me, the next steps that I need to take to not miss out on anything else, and be a happier person.

Not many people know this (and by not many, I mean hardly anyone, until now), but I HATE crying. Not so much when other people cry, but I hate when I cry. For the longest time I've always linked crying to being weak, but I've learned since Sam, and since I've had Arianna, that sometimes it's okay to cry. Sometimes that's the only way to really deal with everything that's going on in your life. Sometimes it's good to just have a good cry and let out all of the stress and frustration that's going on in your life. Sometimes tears are the only worthy replacement when you can't accurately express how you're feeling. I've noticed that for me, crying is a good way to really get in touch with God, and feel His comforting, loving presence around me until I fall asleep, waking up the next morning feeling refreshed and not even remembering what I was crying about the night before. So for me, it's also a reminder that I'm not alone, that God loves me, and He will not leave me.

Well, this post has certainly taken a turn that I was not prepared to take, haha. I guess that's what happens when you just left your fingers type whatever comes to your mind, the only corrections being grammatical/spelling errors.

Anyway, this morning I clicked on a video that was posted on Facebook, because it looked interesting. Turns out that it's a compilation of various service members coming home from deployments and surprising their families. Usually, I purposefully avoid these videos (and the TV show that used to be on TLC, I think) because I know that they would make me cry. And yet, I couldn't close out of that video...5 guesses as to what happened while I was watching the videos lol. What's also funny is that I also had something in my eye, which caused even more tears, so even if I had been around someone and tried to use "oh I've got something in my eye", they probably wouldn't believe me even though it was totally true -_- It got me thinking about how it will go when I get home to VA today for Arianna's birthday. Will there be tears? Most likely (and most likely from me and my mom, ha). I'm both excited and nervous, because I don't know how Arianna will react, let alone how I'll react. I just know that it will be a happy and exciting time, and I can't wait to spend it with my family :)

I CHOOSE...

Happy New Year, you guys (whoever actually reads this thing, lol)! It's 2014, 2013 is in the past! I wonder how long it will take for me to get used to writing 2014 on paperwork now... Anyway, I just wanted to do a quick post at the start of this year, about goals. I used to do resolutions, but those never lasted more than a week or two. So, thanks to a few ideas from a friend of mine, and some wonderfully helpful advice from another friend, I decided to come up with goals instead. And they're not just any kind of goals, they're goals for LIFE, and I just wanted to share them with you all! I'm reading a book that was highly suggested by one of my friends mentioned above, and it has a lot of good information in it, things that really make you think and realize how much certain things can have a major impact on your life. If anyone wants to read it for themselves (and despite the title, I would still suggest this to anyone), it's called Think and Grow Rich, a Black Choice (don't be afraid of the title!). I'm still near the beginning for the most part, but I've learned a lot. Now I'm rambling now, so here is a picture copy of my Goals for LIFE!

I wanted to actually write them down somewhere that I can see easily, which is why I went with the giant dry erase board (although I should've used wet erase markers...). This way, I get a daily reminder of what my goals are, and motivate myself to stick with them even when I don't want to!

I guess that's it, I hope everyone had an awesome New Year's, and will continue to have an awesome year :)