Hello, my name is Stephanie, and to summarize my life I would say it is ‘complete and lovely chaos.’ My husband and I have been married for 4 ½ years and are parents to 2 little girls with number 3 due to arrive in November. We met while deployed in Afghanistan, the last place I ever expected to meet the love of my life and future father of my children. Shortly after I returned home we married and 9 months later our first little bundle of joy arrived with the second following less than 17 months later. Not to mention my husband separated from the military, we moved across the country, he completed an accelerated nursing program and now baby girl number 3 is on the way, I am nearing the end of my Air Force career to be a stay at home mom and we are planning to move to Minnesota and live in our RV for a few months while looking for a new place to call home. Needless to say…we are busy and just a little crazy!
On ‘living the good life’ … “Mommy… Mommy… Mommy…. MOM”. While I’ve been a mother for almost four years now this is somewhat of a new sound for me to hear. Three weeks ago I went from being a military officer in the greatest Air Force in the world to a stay-at-home-mom of two little girls with number three on the way in a few short months. I can honestly say my responsibilities and duties in the military were far less demanding than the needs of my girls. While my husband and I have always been responsible for them there was a time not too long ago when I felt like my daily influence was minimal compared to their caretakers. Something I have been less than satisfied with for some time. The amount of time we were spending as a family included rushed dinners with a quick bath, a few books and straight to bed. Weekends were busy trying to get ready for the next coming week and chores around the house. Looking back I feel like everything was a blur and I wasn’t truly enjoying time with my family. It was about a year ago my husband and I decided the constant looming idea of deployments and Air Force trips away from home were not for us anymore. This was not easy for either one of us since it has been our lives up until the last couple years. It’s an amazing career and you meet some of the finest people in the world, but being able to raise our children together is much more important. I know and completely agree it takes a village to raise a child, but being with them all the time and having more time as a family is what I call…. The good life.
I would say my passions have also evolved in the last couple years. I currently work with two organizations at our church. The first group is called MUMS (Moms Understanding Moms). A group of mothers that get together a couple of times a month to network and develop relationships through fellowship, learning, outreach and spiritual growth. After moving to Nebraska and leaving behind an amazing support network of friends in Arizona I was searching for something similar here in Nebraska. And thankfully, I found this amazing group of women. I am definitely passionate about helping other moms and also growing from their experiences and becoming a better person inside and out. Another group I thoroughly enjoy working with at church is called JUMP (Jesus Use Me Please). This program teaches children that God has called each of us to serve and love others and using their talents to do good deeds and serve around the community. The past two years I have worked with the Lil’ Jumpers (ages 4 – Kindergarten) and loved watching these little people learn about the Word and see how God is working in their lives. I have always loved volunteering, but this puts a whole new perspective and I’ve learned much more than I think I’ve taught the kids.
My inspirations continue to be my family, friends and those I serve(d) within the military and at church. I wish I could list everyone by name, but I would take up all of Hannah’s blog (she is a huge inspiration to me by the way and I admire her positivity and outlook on life). In recent years, I have tried to surround myself with positive people that aren’t negative which isn’t always easy.
Regarding what fires me up?!?! Yikes! It takes a lot to get me really fired up, but I cannot stand seeing others being taken advantage of, especially children and the elderly.
My dreams and goals for the future continue to change as life continues to sway as well. As I mentioned previously, we are looking to move to Minnesota to be closer to family, which has been a dream for a long time. We haven’t had the luxury of ever having family close and I look forward to our children having those influences and future memories of time with their extended family. Eventually I would like to go back to school, but I’m not exactly sure for what or when I will. Right now I’m going to just enjoy the days with the kiddos. I do really enjoy Public Health and the healthcare career field so I’m sure I’ll be called to do that in some way.
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This post appears as part of the In Her Words series. To learn more about In Her Words, click here.