"Never Once"

Scars and Struggle along the way- but Never Once was I left alone on this deployment! God is faithful! By God's grace and power in me have I come through this deployment and year! What a great year to see God's might! I have been asked almost weekly, "How do you do this military life, Lauren, I couldn't do it?" I have the same response every time. "God always gives me the grace I need for everyday." God will give you the grace for everyday as well if you're following Him and letting his power work in you!
As challenging as this year has been, it's been a great year! We have a new, now almost 1 year old Baby Annie, and a new home! God has been faithful everyday! Below are the lyrics to the song by Matt Redman.


Verse 1
Standing on this mountaintop
Looking just how far we've come
Knowing that for every step
You were with us

Verse 2
Kneeling on this battle ground
Seeing just how much You've done
Knowing every victory
Is Your power in us

Pre-Chorus
Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

Chorus 1
Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Repeat Verse 2
Repeat Pre-Chorus

Chorus 2
Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Bridge
Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Never once did we ever walk alone
Carried by Your constant grace
Held within Your perfect peace
Never once, no, we never walk alone

Ending Chorus
Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Every step we are breathing in Your grace
Evermore we'll be breathing out Your praise
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Army Life!

The Army way: Hurry up and Wait! We are so excited for Tracy to be coming home soon, less than 48 hours now! He cleared all of medical screenings and is cleared to return home! Yahooo!
He is excited about his PT test tomorrow! He hopes to break a 14 minute 2 mile! wow! That's fast! It turns out that when you live on a mountain, have no resources for intaking high caloric food, and the only activity is to exercise, then you can loose 20+ pounds in a year! I'm proud of you Tracy! Can't wait to see you and your handsome, skinny self!
We will be seeing him Thursday sometime! We still are not certain of the time! For now, I"m busy cleaning the house, getting things squared away for a trip to Austin/San Antonio, and getting ahead on Premier business stuff!
We look forward to seeing you soon! Look for a picture or FB status update for more info. I could update the blog, huh? ok, I"ll try to send a quick message here as well!
The girls are awake. Time for some play time!

Tracy update!

Tracy made it to El Paso this afternoon! We're glad he's in TX! One day soon we'll actually be in the same time zone! We'll get to pick him up in Austin the mid part of next week! Addison is so excited to see her Dad and to see Shamu at Sea World too!

Lauren
Sent from my iPhone

Headed Home!

Tracy is headed West! He departed from his base last week sometime and is headed further West at some point in the next little bit. (As I'm writing this I just got word that he is out of Afghanistan :)!!!) I know you are all anxious to see him and to at least hear that he is on US soil! When he arrives in the states then he will do his demobilization training near ElPaso for a few days. Then the girls and I will be driving to Austin to pick him up! Those are our plans for the next couple of weeks. I'm sure when he gets his cell phone turned on then he will be calling some of you, but he may just be flat exhausted from the traveling and sleeping on cots for a solid 2 weeks straight!
It has been a challenging year for both of us and we are both excited for him to get home! We look forward to seeing everyone at our house on Sept. 10th for a joint birthday party and Welcome-home party!
You can be praying for his safe travel and our reunion as it approaches in a few short days.
Thank you all for your love and support over these last 15 months!

My grocery store helper!

M&M jar hijacked!

Addison got the M&M jar off the counter! She and Annie were helping themselves to the candy! Kids are so funny! I've often wondered if we eat all the M&Ms if it will make their Daddy come home any faster? Maybe they were wondering the same thing!

M&M Jar

It's almost empty! Daddy's almost home!

Standing!

Annie is 10.5 months now, next week she'll be 11 months! Tracy should be home a week or so prior to her birthday! We are ready for him to be home! We are having Annie's birthday party and Tracy's welcome home party at our house on Sept. 10th! You're invited so mark it on your calendar!

Sweet photos :)

These pics are from September 2010!

Thank you Meredith! I love seeing Tracy with his girls! 

Lauren

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Meredith Lemmon <mglemmon@gmail.com>
Date: July 21, 2011 23:08:50 CDT
To: Lauren Gross Coe <Laurencoe06@gmail.com>
Subject: Sweet photos :)

Annie roll!

She can scoot, crawling with her chest on the floor, and roll to get where she wants to go!

The House!

I realized I never posted a picture of the front of the house!

Helping

Addison wanted to help me spray the Windex. Then she asked for the paper towel to clean the door. She's getting so big!

New Swing

I think she likes the new swings on Papa's play fort!

Nap time?

Addison must be a lot like me. I can sleep almost anywhere. My mom tells me that when I was a kid I'd go get my blankie and tell her I was ready for night night. In college my friends made fun of me for going to bed early, before midnight. I've always liked my sleep.
For Addison, I guess this runner looked like her nap mat at preschool and she decided to nap there.
She's getting so big. She learned to put her Keens (shoes she's wearing in the pic) on all by herself. She's been telling me 'by myself' more frequently as of late. Mainly, she wants to put her pants on by herself and get out of the bath tub by herself.
I better run. I'm off to get my Aunt Cindy from the airport! So excited! A whole week of decorating and painting :)

Paint!

Addison helping me paint her new room, princess purple!

House!

Tracy and I are buying a house in McKinney. We close on the house this Friday. We will be moving in the next weekend, May 14th.
Tracy has only seen the house via photos and videos. I did draw him a floor plan so he could see the lay out.
I had a photo of the outside of the house on my phone, but it must have been deleted by my little Addison. :) I'll take another one soon and post it for you all to see!
The house is 4 bed, 2 bath 2100 sq ft. My friend Mindy and I talk about all of our distractions til our husbands come home in August. The house buying process has been a good distraction. Moving in and decorating will also be very good distractions.
Tracy is very excited about us buying this house and to be coming home in 120ish days!

Some have been asking about Tracy's reaction to Osama bin Laden's death. I haven't talked to him about it yet. Maybe he will be able to write you all in the next few days.

Lauren
Sent from my iPhone

Annie baby

We also call her Annie banan-ie. Although I try not too b/c I find it annoying. It's kinda catchy and hard to stop saying.
She has a cold but she's doing well. She's been working hard; she grew 2 teeth last week. She's sitting up for long periods of time and becoming more interested on her toys.
She's tired. Gotta go put her to bed!
She is excited to see her Daddy in 18 weeks!

Yum!

Yummy Icecream!

Ice Dream

She loves ice cream!

Sleeping Annie

While I was making dinner :), Annie fell asleep in the exer-saucer :( poor girl.