Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Merry Christmas
"He became the Son of Man so that we might become the sons and daughters of God."
-Lorine Finch
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Welcome Home Soldier
Bo is home! Yesterday was amazing. Bo found favor left and right travelling home from the base. He was originally booked on a late flight that would put him in Atlanta at 12:30 am this morning, but was able to change flights and arrived at 3:00 yesterday afternoon. He was supposed to fly to Dallas then to Atlanta, but every flight out of Fort Sill's airport was double booked. There were soldiers from Thursday still waiting at the airport Friday to get out. All military personnel were travelling yesterday, beginning their holiday block leave, and thousands of army soldiers were trying to leave Oklahoma. The first miracle was that Bo's drill sergeant allowed him to leave the base and get to the airport early. The second miracle was that the ticket agent allowed him to get on a airline van (for free!) that was driving to Dallas. The third miracle is that the same agent in Oklahoma gave him a boarding pass on an 11:00am flight from Dallas to Atlanta. The fourth miracle is that, in Dallas, he was singled out from a group of soldiers to be upgraded to first class! He was seated in 3A, the very first seat on the plane!
Isaac and I drove to Atlanta to meet him. Isaac was perfect and content. He held his giraffe and just stared out the window. No traffic, no problems. We had about an hour and a half wait at the airport before Bo's plane landed. I found the USO and we were welcomed and offered lunch. We found the terminal where Bo would be coming in and anxiously waited for our man! When Bo saw us, he dropped his bags, grabbed us and cried. It was a beautiful reunion. Bo was crying, I was crying, the people around us were crying. One woman came up to hug us both and thanked Bo for serving our country. Another offered to take our picture. Another brought her five year old grandson (Noah!), to shake Bo's hand. People spoke to him with kindness, thank him for defending them, and offered to buy his food. As happy as I was to see my hubby, observing all the respect given to him was just as great. After the way he was treated at his last two jobs, seeing him being honored, affirmed, and appreciated is very validating and a long time coming. Oh yea, we are doing the right thing. He is right where he needs to be and we both know that.
Welcome home soldier.
Ooahhh.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Army Man Update
The boys and I are so excited. Bo comes home for Christmas this Friday! The separation has really added a delightful anticipation this Christmas. I've decorated a little bit, but we are leaving the stockings and tree until this weekend when we can hang everything as a family. Bo says he is counting the seconds until he can see us.
He has done well in his training. I know some of you follow my blog to keep up with him and I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. Most of my days are full of cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and most of all, kid-raising so forgive me when there is a lull. Most of Bo's days are full of drills. The platoon is kept busy at all times. They've done combat training and weapons training these past few weeks. Here's a pic of Bo's M-16. He named his gun "April"!
He has done well in his training. I know some of you follow my blog to keep up with him and I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. Most of my days are full of cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and most of all, kid-raising so forgive me when there is a lull. Most of Bo's days are full of drills. The platoon is kept busy at all times. They've done combat training and weapons training these past few weeks. Here's a pic of Bo's M-16. He named his gun "April"!
Bo passed all his rifle tests and qualified as a "sharpshooter". He has always been a good shot. In addition to learning how to shoot M-16s, he's learned how to throw grenades and use a bayonet (we still use those? how barbaric!).
He's also passed all his physical fitness tests, which a big praise because he's had trouble with his back and his knee. He has a hairline fracture in his kneecap and was prohibited from marching for a few days. He does lots of marching and lots of push-ups.
He and his bunkmate Cassidy are the two oldest soldiers and both of them have gained the respect of the platoon. Cassidy was nominated platoon leader and Bo was nominated squad leader. He is in charge of sixteen guys in the platoon, and has to do push-ups when they mess up! Here's a pic of some of the older guys, they've been dubbed the "pop squad".
I am hoping to fly out to Oklahoma in February for his graduation, and look forward to meeting all his army buddies. Bo recently read the encouragement part from one of my letters to his platoon. A lot of guys were having a hard time and he thought it might lift them up. I'd included scriptures about finding treasures in darkness and he said about 15 of them started crying (including him!), then after 20 seconds of silence, yelled the army war cry. Several have asked me to pray for them and I am so touched by this. It encourages my thinking that my church will now be found in community.
This will be a very special Christmas for us. Our last in Albany, our first as a military family. It will be a simple Christmas. The army does not pay much, and we are playing catch-up financially. In August, Bo was fired from his job after he began the enlistment process. We were without a paycheck for three months. I am blessed to say that family and friends generously reached out to us to bridge the gap. Bo's return home will be our gift. We will have him for two weeks.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Alright, maybe I shouldn't have eaten Madonna's cookies.....
I am recovering from a horrendous day yesterday. Four weeks ago to the day, the plumbing in my house went crazy, causing me to have to turn off all the water in my home for two days while I found and hired a plumber to repair it. In the midst of this, chaos ensued. Joshua cut his hand trying to help fix the broken faucet, a feminine event which appreciates running water occurred, my teenager decided to hit the roof with mood swings, stuff like that. Well anyway, the electricity in my house got wind of the plumbing disaster and decided it was not to be outdone and wanted to have a go at my resolve. So, here was my day:
I wake up as normal and get Noah off to school. A few minutes later I attempt to dry a load of laundry. Noah has a Christmas program at school that night and needs a white shirt for it. I turn on the dryer and surges of power go throughout the house, all the lights dim, my computer speakers go on and off, the fridge makes weird sounds, and although the dryer is wrecking havek on the rest of the house, it doesn't come on. As I walk through the house, I smell electrical smoke ("blue smoke"?) behind the computer, the TV, the kids' video game systems. Yikes! I unplug everything electronic and call the power company. Joshua leaves to take Caleb and Isaac to school and determines the problem. The storm from the night before caused a huge limb to fall from a tree, on top of my power lines, taking out my power, phone, internet, and cable. Oh, wonderful. Okay, no problem, I figure the power company will come and fix the power line and I head off for a doctor's appointment and aerobics class at the marine base. After my class, I call the power company to see if the line had been repaired and they say "yea, you're good". Silly me, I thought that meant everything was you know, fixed, and you know, working again, but no, no, no, what they meant was "there is a huge problem and we had to disconnect your power and you're going to have to hire an electrician to repair the damage caused by the storm and then we'll come back and reconnect your power and by the way, it's your responsibility and expense". So, I find an electrician and he fixes all the equipment that was literally ripped away from the side of my house from the weight of the limb on the lines, and presents me with a Christmas bill of $243.00. Thank you. Just what I needed. Merry Christmas. Can you get the power back on???? He says, yes, he'll call the power company back. I ask if he thinks they will repair all the lines still hanging down in my driveway and across my metal fence. He says, "don't think so, their line is still up, it's the top one, these on the ground are your phone and cable lines". What???? Okay, deep breath, call the cable company, who after about ten minutes finally answer the phone. They say it will probably be tomorrow before they can get out to fix it. I leave to go pick up Caleb from school and when we get back the power company is here, turning the power back on. Which comes back on, but it's the same problem as before. Lower wattage things work, but the dryer and heat don't. The temperature is supposed to drop so I plan to heat the family room with the fireplace and we'll all just sleep in front of the fire. I call my father-in-law who is a electrical engineer but who also lives four hours away and he explains the physics of 220 wattage, resulting in "you need the electrician back". I call the dude and he returns, looks at what happens with my dryer and disappears into the basement. Comes back and says "something is wrong with your voltage (you think?), you need the power company back". Okay, call them back, and in the meantime take Noah's shirt, in the rain, to the neighbor's dryer. Their house in on a different grid, they have power. Come back, get Isaac to bed, fix dinner. Bo calls. I spend five minutes filling him on the house's electric attack on our family to realize he had to hang up somewhere in the conversation. Check a battery-powered clock and see that I only have a few minutes to get to Noah's program. Go to the bedroom to get ready just as the power goes off. Now it's 6pm and pitch black in my house. Okay, I can do this. I change clothes in the dark, pull my hair back, and go without make-up. I run back to the neighbor's house for Noah's shirt which is lying wet in their dryer, because now the power's out there too. Deep breath. More deep breaths. God, help me. I put the wet shirt on Noah and we climb in the car to leave, late, for his program. Since I can't drive out the driveway, I go around the opposite side of the house, where the ground is saturated from 24 hours of rain, and slippery from fallen pine straw. My car stops. I'm stuck. I put it in reverse, stuck there too. Oh Jesus, I say and drop my head in my hands. "Oh Jesus" I hear repeated from my wet-shirted, Santa-hatted, "Feliz Navidad"- practicing child in the back seat. I call Joshua to come rescue me from the mud. He leaves his band practice and brings Grover along to help with my car. I take Joshua's car to rush Noah to his play, while Joshua, Caleb, and Grover push Petra out of the mud. I call the cable company en route to Noah's school, and after being on hold for fifteen minutes, am told they will come repair the downed line as soon as they can, but in the meantime we can move the cables out of the way or drive over them. Hmmmm, something that would have been helpful to know an hour ago! More deep breaths. Noah sings and dances at his Christmas program, and I think it's the most beautiful thing I've every seen. I fight back tears because I'm emotionally frayed from the day. Listen to Noah's teacher brag about his sweet spirit and look at his reindeer which he named after Luke, and we come back home. The power had just come back on, thirty seconds ago. I go to dryer. Same problem. Call the power company again. This time they bring four trucks to my house. Caleb is looking out the window, saying "this sure is alot just for a dryer". They check the voltage and Bo calls back, and when the power turns off during our phone call, I finally loose it. Sobbing, crying, trying to make coffee during the brief intervals of power, turning everything off except the oven to try to make cookies, which almost finish baking before it cuts off again. Tissues, coffee, cookies. Jesus help me and I wish Bo was here. Joshua is outside in the rain with the the power guys and we communicate on our cell phones (because, remember, there's no phone). They tell me to turn on the dryer so I tap the button and it does it's thing. They don't see any change in the voltage so I tap it again, this time holding it down longer and all the lights flash and something pops. I scream and the power dudes say "what was that?". They say it's an "internal problem", suggest checking the breaker box, and leave. I curl up in the fetal position on the chaise and just stare into oblivion while Joshua and Caleb check all the breakers. After a few tries, I hear the heat turn on and the lights come back to full strength. Hallelujah. Check the dryer and it turns on and runs normally. Thank you, Jesus. Connect everything I unplugged and discover that the only things that fried were the surge protectors. Smart thinking, Bo! I take an anxiety pill and crash for the night. I survived another utility disaster, and am still basically in one piece, except of course, it's that time of the month. Praise God.
Well, if you've made it to the end of this post, here's a new video. I awoke this morning to a new day, fresh with God's grace and goodness. I heard these words in my head "wonderful God, we lift our voices to you.....for all You are, not just for what You do....." I found the disk, and here is the dance. A duet with my girl Belinda. Don't laugh at my head shaking....
I wake up as normal and get Noah off to school. A few minutes later I attempt to dry a load of laundry. Noah has a Christmas program at school that night and needs a white shirt for it. I turn on the dryer and surges of power go throughout the house, all the lights dim, my computer speakers go on and off, the fridge makes weird sounds, and although the dryer is wrecking havek on the rest of the house, it doesn't come on. As I walk through the house, I smell electrical smoke ("blue smoke"?) behind the computer, the TV, the kids' video game systems. Yikes! I unplug everything electronic and call the power company. Joshua leaves to take Caleb and Isaac to school and determines the problem. The storm from the night before caused a huge limb to fall from a tree, on top of my power lines, taking out my power, phone, internet, and cable. Oh, wonderful. Okay, no problem, I figure the power company will come and fix the power line and I head off for a doctor's appointment and aerobics class at the marine base. After my class, I call the power company to see if the line had been repaired and they say "yea, you're good". Silly me, I thought that meant everything was you know, fixed, and you know, working again, but no, no, no, what they meant was "there is a huge problem and we had to disconnect your power and you're going to have to hire an electrician to repair the damage caused by the storm and then we'll come back and reconnect your power and by the way, it's your responsibility and expense". So, I find an electrician and he fixes all the equipment that was literally ripped away from the side of my house from the weight of the limb on the lines, and presents me with a Christmas bill of $243.00. Thank you. Just what I needed. Merry Christmas. Can you get the power back on???? He says, yes, he'll call the power company back. I ask if he thinks they will repair all the lines still hanging down in my driveway and across my metal fence. He says, "don't think so, their line is still up, it's the top one, these on the ground are your phone and cable lines". What???? Okay, deep breath, call the cable company, who after about ten minutes finally answer the phone. They say it will probably be tomorrow before they can get out to fix it. I leave to go pick up Caleb from school and when we get back the power company is here, turning the power back on. Which comes back on, but it's the same problem as before. Lower wattage things work, but the dryer and heat don't. The temperature is supposed to drop so I plan to heat the family room with the fireplace and we'll all just sleep in front of the fire. I call my father-in-law who is a electrical engineer but who also lives four hours away and he explains the physics of 220 wattage, resulting in "you need the electrician back". I call the dude and he returns, looks at what happens with my dryer and disappears into the basement. Comes back and says "something is wrong with your voltage (you think?), you need the power company back". Okay, call them back, and in the meantime take Noah's shirt, in the rain, to the neighbor's dryer. Their house in on a different grid, they have power. Come back, get Isaac to bed, fix dinner. Bo calls. I spend five minutes filling him on the house's electric attack on our family to realize he had to hang up somewhere in the conversation. Check a battery-powered clock and see that I only have a few minutes to get to Noah's program. Go to the bedroom to get ready just as the power goes off. Now it's 6pm and pitch black in my house. Okay, I can do this. I change clothes in the dark, pull my hair back, and go without make-up. I run back to the neighbor's house for Noah's shirt which is lying wet in their dryer, because now the power's out there too. Deep breath. More deep breaths. God, help me. I put the wet shirt on Noah and we climb in the car to leave, late, for his program. Since I can't drive out the driveway, I go around the opposite side of the house, where the ground is saturated from 24 hours of rain, and slippery from fallen pine straw. My car stops. I'm stuck. I put it in reverse, stuck there too. Oh Jesus, I say and drop my head in my hands. "Oh Jesus" I hear repeated from my wet-shirted, Santa-hatted, "Feliz Navidad"- practicing child in the back seat. I call Joshua to come rescue me from the mud. He leaves his band practice and brings Grover along to help with my car. I take Joshua's car to rush Noah to his play, while Joshua, Caleb, and Grover push Petra out of the mud. I call the cable company en route to Noah's school, and after being on hold for fifteen minutes, am told they will come repair the downed line as soon as they can, but in the meantime we can move the cables out of the way or drive over them. Hmmmm, something that would have been helpful to know an hour ago! More deep breaths. Noah sings and dances at his Christmas program, and I think it's the most beautiful thing I've every seen. I fight back tears because I'm emotionally frayed from the day. Listen to Noah's teacher brag about his sweet spirit and look at his reindeer which he named after Luke, and we come back home. The power had just come back on, thirty seconds ago. I go to dryer. Same problem. Call the power company again. This time they bring four trucks to my house. Caleb is looking out the window, saying "this sure is alot just for a dryer". They check the voltage and Bo calls back, and when the power turns off during our phone call, I finally loose it. Sobbing, crying, trying to make coffee during the brief intervals of power, turning everything off except the oven to try to make cookies, which almost finish baking before it cuts off again. Tissues, coffee, cookies. Jesus help me and I wish Bo was here. Joshua is outside in the rain with the the power guys and we communicate on our cell phones (because, remember, there's no phone). They tell me to turn on the dryer so I tap the button and it does it's thing. They don't see any change in the voltage so I tap it again, this time holding it down longer and all the lights flash and something pops. I scream and the power dudes say "what was that?". They say it's an "internal problem", suggest checking the breaker box, and leave. I curl up in the fetal position on the chaise and just stare into oblivion while Joshua and Caleb check all the breakers. After a few tries, I hear the heat turn on and the lights come back to full strength. Hallelujah. Check the dryer and it turns on and runs normally. Thank you, Jesus. Connect everything I unplugged and discover that the only things that fried were the surge protectors. Smart thinking, Bo! I take an anxiety pill and crash for the night. I survived another utility disaster, and am still basically in one piece, except of course, it's that time of the month. Praise God.
Well, if you've made it to the end of this post, here's a new video. I awoke this morning to a new day, fresh with God's grace and goodness. I heard these words in my head "wonderful God, we lift our voices to you.....for all You are, not just for what You do....." I found the disk, and here is the dance. A duet with my girl Belinda. Don't laugh at my head shaking....
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
I'm eating Madonna's Oreos
Okay, I will explain......
Last weekend Joshua and Charity went to Nashville for a wedding. Charity's aunt and uncle got married (no blood relation, one is on her dad's side of the family, the other on her step-mom's!). They stayed with Charity's dad, who has the very cool job of driving a bus for stars. He has his own bus and is a regular driver for Dirks Bentley (did I spell it right? he's a country artist..... sorry, don't know him), but charters short-term trips for the rich and the famous. Madonna was in town for a concert (all I know about this is that the tickets were $3000 apiece) and hired Charity's dad. He stocked the bus with snacks she requested and when the gig was over he brought home all the leftovers, which he sent back to little ole Albany with my kid. So, after I renounced any foul spirits that might be connected to the food, we all enjoyed Madonna's oreos, potato chips, pop-tarts, chocolate pudding, and bean dip. Thanks, Madonna.
Last weekend Joshua and Charity went to Nashville for a wedding. Charity's aunt and uncle got married (no blood relation, one is on her dad's side of the family, the other on her step-mom's!). They stayed with Charity's dad, who has the very cool job of driving a bus for stars. He has his own bus and is a regular driver for Dirks Bentley (did I spell it right? he's a country artist..... sorry, don't know him), but charters short-term trips for the rich and the famous. Madonna was in town for a concert (all I know about this is that the tickets were $3000 apiece) and hired Charity's dad. He stocked the bus with snacks she requested and when the gig was over he brought home all the leftovers, which he sent back to little ole Albany with my kid. So, after I renounced any foul spirits that might be connected to the food, we all enjoyed Madonna's oreos, potato chips, pop-tarts, chocolate pudding, and bean dip. Thanks, Madonna.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Happy Birthday Isaac
My sweet baby Isaac turned one year old Saturday. My darling newborn has grown into an independent toddler and I couldn't be more proud. Bo and I have always had big celebrations for our babies' first birthdays. Reaching the milestone of twelve months outside the womb is a big deal for me. Even more than my other sons, this child's birthday has humbled me. I ponder the events of Isaac's birth and there is a weightiness in my heart that did not accompany my other deliveries. I am thankful that Isaac survived the pregnancy, delivery, and his first year. Not all babies do. I feel incredibly blessed that Bo and I have brought four healthy children into this world. God's hand was on every delivery. I know I must have childbirth angels assigned to me because there were complications with every one, either with the baby or me. So, as I celebrate Isaac's first birthday, my heart is tender and I am very aware of God's grace and protection over me and my family. Not having Bo here to share this important day was hard too, but he was able to call. We will celebrate again when Bo gets home for Christmas.
Happy Birthday peanut. Mommy loves you.
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