Happy Birthday Charlene!!!

What a journey it has been the last 6 months! I am so grateful that I was able to spend Charlene's birthday with her! I made breakfast this morning and I was a little too lazy to wrap presents, so we played "hot and cold" with Charlene to help lead her to her presents, which included: Rollerblades, a watch, wasabi peas, chapstick, a football, and a few things to color. I am sure she will also get spoiled over at her Dad's house!

I am so fortunate to be this girl's Mom! She is so smart! So loving and so inquisitive. She makes a wonderful sister and an excellent daughter!! We all love you so so much!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLENE AMANDA!!!!!

She really is alive!!

Wow!! It has been awhile since I have posted here. Or even looked at my blog. The comments left for me, especially on Carolyn's birthday brought tears to my eyes!! What a precious spirit to still effect so many people after 10 years! I am so proud to be her mother! :)

It has been a crazy 5 1/2 months!! The past 24 hours have really tested my commitment to the army. However I am proud to be an American Soldier and although this journey has been incredibly hard, I know it will be worth completing! Just a few short weeks and I will be home!!

I want to share a video with you. It is an older song, it was played at my AIT graduation and it has gone through my mind a lot lately. With my renewed commitment to being an American Soldier I wanted to post the video on my blog.

I also want to share with you the Soldiers Creed:

I am an American Soldier
I am a warrior and a member of a team
I serve the people of the United States and live the army values
I will always place the mission first
I will never accept defeat
I will never quit
I will never leave a fallen comrade
I am disciplined physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills
I always maintain my arms, my equipment, and myself
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life
I am and American Soldier!!

I have a great love and respect for the United States Military and what we stand for. I am so excited to come home and be a wife and a mother with new found strength, courage, and dedication. I am very grateful for a husband that has been there every step of the way to cheer me on and motivate me to stay and finish what we started, even when he wants me home as badly as I want to be there!

For you followers of the Letters from Lisa... The site is going to be under construction for awhile... But don't give up on me!! I just have a lot on my plate right now!!

Bella Bean is 5 already?

Birthday message for Bella Bean!

Hey Bella!! Are you really 5???? I know you could never know how deeply I miss you today. :) I wish I could wrap my arms around you and tell you how proud I am of you!! Daniel will give you extra hugs for me today, and I will bottle up your birthday hugs and give them to you when I see you!! I hope you are being spoiled rotten!! I love you with all of my heart!!!!

Your Dear Old Mom

Our Beautiful Angel

"I really wanted to take a few minutes to express my gratitude for the most beautiful spirit that has been in my life.

Carolyn Jude Johnson... just saying her name brings a smile to my soul. I feel like I have told her story a million times, but today is the tenth anniversary of the day her work was done on this Earth, so I thought it would be appropriate to tell it once again.

Can you imagine being so pure that you did not need to be tested in this life? She had such a light about her. She seemed to radiate knowledge and light. I did not realize just how different she was since she was my first child. But I have learned just how different she really was.

She lived a short 7 and a half weeks, but she touched more lives than most people touch in their lifetimes. It would be impossible to describe what that little girl meant to so many people. She brought hope and peace to most everyone she came in contact with. I would not even try to name all of the lives she touched. I can tell you though, that most babies that young have not even met that many people, let alone make such a life changing impact. I know with my other children, they hadn't even met most of the extended family by the time they were two months old!

There are so many stories to tell, but I just want to share my experience as a first time mother to a perfect soul.I was sick most of her precious life. I remember her smell even to this day. I had never spent any time with a newborn, so I thought it was just how newborn's smelled. Now I just know there was something special about even her smell. The smell of heaven. She was such a comfort. I remember so many people that met her, just had to come visit again, just to hold her, to feel that comfort.

She seemed so wise. She would roll her eyes if she didn't want to eat and I was trying to make her eat. I could just hear her say, come on mom as her eyes rolled.

The day she left was surreal of course. I don't know that I need to convey what that was like. In the days to follow, I mourned deeply and would speak to anyone that would listen about the things I was mourning. The life I wanted for her and with her. To do her hair, to watch her grow and learn, to watch her get married and to have children. So many things I was not going to have. I remember a day or two after the funeral I was laying in bed, I had just woken up pretty early in the morning. I could feel every part of her little body on my chest. I did not dare open my eyes because I did not want her to leave me. I could smell her hair and feel her little fingers scrape at my shirt. I layed there with my eyes closed and said goodbye to my precious angel. As her spirit left me I could see her walk away (my eyes were still closed), a beautiful spirit, not a baby but a young woman with a bright smile and flowing dark brown hair. That was enough for me to start to heal. To know what my beautiful angel looks like. I will forever be grateful for her last hug goodbye to her heartbroken Mother. What a precious gift!

Whenever a child is lost, everyone who cares for the parent of that child has a really hard time knowing what to say. Which is understandable because no one wants to be in their place and luckily few really have any idea what you are going through. I heard everything from, "the pain will never really go away" to "it gets so much better as time goes on". I think the hardest thing for me to hear is when people tell me they are sorry. While I understand why they would say this to me, that always hurt the most.

Although the pain is real and hard was the hardest time in my life emotionally by far. The joy I got from her short little life was worth every second. I feel like her wise soul only needed to be here for 52 days. And I am so grateful I spent all 52 days with her. To me if I was sorry for losing her, I would be sorry for having her, and I am not.

I would not give up one single second of her life to take away one ounce of the pain.

I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father trusted me with such a beautiful soul. And I am grateful for the tremendous love and comfort I feel when I think about her. I am looking forward to my reunion with that beautiful dark-haired angel..... " - Lisa Breitling, 2008

Happy Birthday Merlin!!

I am so proud to be Merlin's Mom!!! I am sad to be away on his 10th birthday. We were able to celebrate his birthday before I left. Merlin has always been an answer to a prayer for me. He is caring and wonderful! He is a great brother! I hope he truly knows just how very much I love him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MERLIN!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Sweet Angel

11 years ago today I became a Mother. I will forever celebrate the day my precious Carolyn was born!! Every year I get a new plant on her birthday. Unfortunately I can not say that I have been able to keep them all alive but I love to get a new plant to add just a little more life to my home in Carolyn's name. :) I love this one too! The girls helped me pot it just before I left. (Charlene and Zoey) I am so very grateful that I have a guardian angel. Now more than ever! Not for me, but for the children. Bella is comforted in the fact that a guardian angel will be looking after her mommy while she is away. She looks at her pictures often now. Carolyn has found a way to be one of THE BEST big sisters ever!!! I am so very grateful for the role Carolyn played, and is continuing to play in my life, and in the lives of my family!!

Letters From Lisa B

I will not have an address to where letters can be sent to me for about two weeks. As soon as I get one I will send Daniel the address. Daniel will send my address through email to all that are interested. I have provided all the email addresses of the people I thought might write me, so chances are, if you read my blog on a regular basis, you will be getting an email from him. I just want to say that I know letters will be really important while I am gone and I will write as much as I can. I will be sending Daniel letters Daily and I will send him letters to post to my blog at lettersfromlisab.blogspot.com (there is a link located at the top right of this blog for your convenience. :)
I have no idea how often there will be entries but I do plan on sending letters for him to post, so check it out every once in awhile. :) Daniel will be using this blog to post pictures of the kids to keep everyone updated on the life at the Breitling/Nell residence!!

Oh How I Love These Children!!

So there are a few things that I put in place so the kids don't feel like I am gone completely. :) I gave them each a stuffed animal to give them hugs from me while I am gone. (Yes I even got that great big bear for Daniel so that our bed doesn't feel so empty) I also gave them a letter about how I feel about them and gave them something to do for me while I am gone, take care of Daniel, don't torment Merlin, be nice to your sister, that kind of thing. I also gave them their picture above and one of the pictures taken on our Dates. I gave them a journal to write in as well.
They all gave me a really nice necklace with an Angel pendant as a reminder that I have a guardian angel watching over me! A day full of love, a day full of tears. Uncle Steve came over tonight to wish us luck and we talked his ear off for a couple of hours. It was good to just sit and chat and not think about anything else for awhile.
There was a tear filled heart felt "see ya later" (no good byes, because I will be back) from Harrison and Zoey. What a wonderful family I belong to! :) I have SO much to come back to....

Lucky, Lucky Me!!

My Dear Sweet Husband

As you can see the machine at K Mart just kept getting worse as the weeks went on! But they were still a lot of fun to do!!

There is not much I could write right now that won't make me start crying all over again. I am so blessed. I have such a wonderful family. I have Children and Step Children that love me dearly. More than I think I ever understood.

And Daniel? Well that is something I am not sure how to explain! As all of you know, I have been head over hills for this guy since the day that we met. I told everyone that would listen how PERFECT he was!! I said it so much that my family was concerned that I was going to get hurt because no one is really perfect. And okay okay I never thought he was perfect as in could do no wrong and never has. I meant perfect as in he is perfect for me! And I have never thought differently. However, until this past 3 weeks I did not know the extent to which that was true. There are no words to describe what we have been through the last three weeks, but I will say a few things from the bottom of my heart, in more honesty than I knew was possible.

I trust Daniel, not only with my life but with the life of my children.
I am so entirely proud of who Daniel is.
Daniel and I work perfectly together as a team.
I have never felt so loved, so complete.

Daniel-You are my everything. I love you more than words give justice to. Thank you for taking this journey with me and giving me part of you and your life. I look forward to a lifetime of growing and loving with you and with our wonderful children!