We Love Our Sailor

We made the trek up to Great Lakes the end of last weekend to spend some time with P.K. We arrived in the early afternoon in time to get a new base sticker for my car. I took a rock to my windshield a while back and had to have it replaced. I don't have a need to go on a base very often, but it is nice to be back in the club. We also took Rachel to get her first military i.d. Turning 10 is a huge milestone for military kids because they too get to have a military i.d. However, at least in this family, the 10 year old is not going to carry her own i.d.

I caught this group hug when P.K. arrived in the parking lot.

After we got the stickers and i.d.s out of the way, P.K. took us around the recruit side of the base. When we were stationed here, that area was a huge mystery. It is where new recruits go for boot camp. The area is pretty heavily restricted. Since P.K. was a chaplain for the recruits he didn't even have access to that part of the base. But now, he is over on that side. This is a monument outside of the recruit chapel.

P.K. and the kids outside the recruit chapel.

I'll have to take and post some pictures of the main base. There are some beautiful historic brick buildings there. Our time there was before I started the blog, so it would be nice to have them on here.

After our tour, we jumped right into more family time. There is a nice outlet mall nearby with a little reptile zoo. We had to take our snake lover through.

Aaron with an anaconda.

P.K. was taken with this huge Burmese python. This one is actually larger than what would typically be found in the wild because she is fed regularly and can laze around. In the wild she would have to search large areas for food and would only be able to eat when she found prey.

P.K. and me with an albino Nile crocodile.

The kids with an alligator. Notice their matching Navy shirts. It was their idea to wear them when they got to see Daddy. I have one too, but I declined the invitation to match my kiddos.

Is God Fat and Daddy Loves Crosses

My niece, Bethanie, is visiting us for the summer. She is 9. At church on Sunday Rachel was sitting on my right and Bethanie was on the other side of her. The visiting speaker was talking about the idols we have in our lives. He mentioned a portion of scripture in the Bible that says if all the nations were gathered and placed on a scale with God on the other side of the scale, the nations would weigh as dust compared to God. I don't remember the scripture reference. The speaker was basically telling us that God is greater than anything we could imagine. All four of the kids were coloring so I didn't even think they were paying attention. Bethanie leans across Rachel and in a very offended less than quiet church tone asks me, "Is he calling God fat?" I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud.

The last couple of days Hannah has been drawing her dream house which will include a personalized guest room for each of us. Today she was showing me what the room she has designed for PK and me will look like. It has a sign that reads, "Navy King and Queen" and a window all the way across the top so we can lay in bed and look at the stars. Then the bed has a big cross on it. I asked her, "Is that because we love Jesus?" She said, "Well, Daddy loves crosses, but you love Jesus."

Where Did the Time Go?

I know. It has been over a month since I've updated the blog. A big shout out to my friend, Laurie, for letting me know I need to update! It is so good to have fans! Here is a quick summary of the last month.

We moved into the new house on June 8 and jumped right into unpacking. PK left on June 16 to go to Naval Station Great Lakes until the middle of September. That gave us about a week to accomplish as many tasks as possible around the house before he left. We ran errands and worked from dawn to dusk every day and went to bed feeling like we had been run over by a truck. PK bought me a new computer and a treadmill before he left. Sad to say, the computer has seen more action than the treadmill.

We hired a contractor to finish the partial basement. I'll post before and after pictures later as I still need to paint and get someone to put in carpet.

My dad and his wife came to visit the last few days of June. They brought my nine year old niece, Bethanie, with them. She is going to be spending time with us until the kids and I go see PK toward the end of July. We hiked Kennesaw Mountain. The last time my dad came it was a rainy day and he was very disappointed that I didn't want to hike the mountain in the mud. About half way up is a great look out spot. We stopped to rest and enjoy the view.

The kids went to scout ahead. When they returned Hannah brought me my camera and told me she couldn't get it to close. She had been stopping to take pictures of EVERY SINGLE DADDY LONG LEG we had passed on the trail. Trust me. There were tons.

I said, "Oh. The batteries are probably dead. I'm sorry but you got to take lots of pictures." She said, "Or it could be when I fell on that rock." Nice. Needless to say we were camera-less for a few days.

My mom and her husband came to visit 4th of July weekend. They were here during the period of camera-less-ness so I don't have any pictures of them A lot of the festivities around here were held on July 3 as the 4th was on a Sunday this year. I really do like living in the Bible Belt. I took the kids to a 4th of July parade early Saturday and Mom and Jim arrived just after lunch. We went to walk around Marietta Square for a while and then went to watch the fireworks. Mom and Jim bought the kids some fireworks which we set off the night of July 4th. Jim fixed my lawnmower for me and then mowed the entire yard. Yeah! We spent one day cleaning up the backyard. I'm still amazed at the amount of trash the previous owners left out there. Mom and Hannah cleaned out the yard barn which Hannah has claimed as her play house since she first saw it.

We adopted a dog and then returned him a couple days later. He was a lab/bassett mix. He looked like a black lab with those short little bassett legs.


He was a year old and overall a good dog. The kids loved him, but I learned that I am just not a dog person. Hannah and I both cried when we returned him, but I think it was the best decision for us. I told the kids they can have any small caged pet they want after we make the trip to Illinois.

Now we are on the countdown until we leave to go see PK. We will be dropping Bethanie back home in Indiana on the way. We have loved having her here and will miss her. We are going to see a couple of friends on our trip and I can hardly wait.

Be It Ever So Humble...

it will eventually feel like home! I know. That is not the way the saying goes. However, PK and I closed on our first house yesterday. We have been married sixteen years and this is the first house that belongs to us. Well, as my dear hubby said yesterday in a way that he found funny, "It belongs to the bank, but we can call it ours."

We have rented, lived in student housing, base housing and a parsonage. We have called many places "home." I know all too well the feeling of moving into a new house and knowing it is the place we will live, but it takes a while for it to feel like home. Right now the "new" house is an empty shell (other than some junk the previous owners didn't quite get out). I long for the day when we have spent some time away and walk through the doors and I am overcome by that sense of peace that screams, "Ahhhh! Home! Kick off your shoes and relax!"

When we lived in California (those "when we lived in California" stories are starting to sound like the "when I was a kid we walked three miles in the snow, barefoot to get to the outhouse" kind of stories) we were living in base housing and due to some changes we were being moved to different quarters on the other side of the base. I remember telling one of my friends that it didn't seem like home. She said, "Bake something. Baking cookies will make it seem more like home." I don't think she used the word "homemade" but that is the way I heard it. I've repeated those words to myself with each new move since then.

I'm not sure it is the smell of fresh baked cookies that make it smell like home, but rather the steps it takes to get there that make it seem more like home. One does not walk into the empty shell of a house and whip up homemade cookies or even a decent meal. The kitchen needs to be unpacked and organized. That is always my first step in unpacking. Once the kitchen is in working order, I feel like the rest of the house can come together. After all, isn't the kitchen the heart of the home?

In my house, little hands will surely be there to help make and eat those cookies. It is the beginning of making memories in a new house. Perhaps the act of making memories is the beginning of making it home.

I have made it a point to do a final walk through of each place we have lived after it is empty and the last thing to do is drive away. I'm not looking for anything left behind. PK's OCD tendencies take care of that. I'm doing a walk through and letting the memories of each room flash through my mind. The memories are still photographs in my mind. The ones I will never forget...

I love traditions and I have been very careful to build those into our lives. As we circle through the first year in the new house and put those traditions to practice we will build lasting memories and before I know it I will walk through the new door and something inside of me will scream, "Ahhhh! Home! Kick off your shoes and relax!"

Our new house

Aaron at the front door

From the dining room looking past the front door into the living room

Aaron by the fireplace in the living room

Other end of the living room looking toward the dining room

Dining room

Heading upstairs

Upstairs in front of Aaron's room

Top of the stairs...Aaron's room on the right...girls' room on the left

Looking back down

Dining room into the kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

Back to the island looking at the bay window and window seat with STORAGE

Aaron found this rope on the tree in the front yard

Monkey see Monkey do

Bronze Award

Rachel is finishing her sixth year of Girl Scouts. That means she has been a part of Girl Scouting for over half of her life.

Last night she was awarded her Bronze Award. It is the highest award a Junior Girl Scout can earn. Each girl was presented her Bronze Award by one of her parents. The parent presenting the award had to give a brief speech about what their daughter has taken away from Girl Scouting. Of course, P.K. was conveniently out of town, so I had to stand up in front of the crowd and talk. One of my worst nightmares.

I spent much of the week leading up to the ceremony trying to figure out how I could get out of speaking. Then I started thinking about what Rachel has learned from all the time she has spent with her fellow Scouts. Rachel is very self confident. If someone asked her to stand in front of a crowd and speak, she would do it and assume from the beginning that she could do it well. She does not get that from me. Her experiences in Girl Scouts have nurtured that trait in her. She has been given countless opportunities to try new things. She isn't afraid to try something new. Given the opportunity she will never say, "I can't." She will say, "I'll try it." Usually she tries and succeeds. When her leader was introducing the girls she said, "Rachel makes being smart cool, she is kind and very self confident."

The next big award is the silver award which she can earn as a Cadette and then it is onto the Gold Award which she can earn as a Senior. Senior Girl Scouts can also earn college scholarships.

Here's to Girl Scouting and my Bronze Award recipient!

100,000 Miles 100,000 Memories

On a recent road trip, my car reached 100,000 miles. I am a bit sentimental about such things. A couple years ago I burnt up a mixer around Christmas time making divinity. The mixer was a wedding gift and it had traveled the country with us. I wasn't sad that the mixer died. I was just thinking about all the memories.

I've probably mentioned my love of road trips and my tendency to be a bit of a control freak. Those two things combined mean I am the one who has driven most of those 100,000 miles.

The story of this trip began right before Aaron was born. We were a one car family and had a black Saturn we had purchased the first year we were married. We were living in California and P.K. had to go to San Diego for some medical tests. He, Rachel and I piled into our little Saturn for the trip. Rachel would have been about 18 months old so there was a lot of baby gear to pack for an overnight trip. By the time we loaded everything in that car, there was room for the three of us to sit and that was it. I mentioned to P.K. that if we were ever to take a trip after the new baby came we would have to have a larger vehicle. The Saturn had many, many miles on it at the time as well. It had made many trips between Boston and Evansville, Evansville and St. Louis and of course the cross country drive to California.

We began our search for a mom-mobile and purchased a used minivan from another officer on base. Lemon from the beginning, but it lasted until after Hannah was born. It was a four cylinder. Any major shopping had to be done "down the hill." Which is what you had to drive to get down to Palm Desert, Palm Springs, etc. If I got behind a slow moving vehicle coming back up the hill, I couldn't get past 35 miles an hour. The van really needed a good running start.

We actually brought Aaron home from the hospital in the van. I remember Rachel running out to meet us and I thought she was excited to see me. She ran right past me and climbed up into that van to find baby "An-non."

The van was not running correctly and I tried my best to convince the mechanics on base that something was wrong. They assured me it was fine. After Hannah was born, I took a road trip up to Monterey to visit my friend who was stationed there. I had a weird light on almost the entire trip. I was sure the van was going to die while I was in the middle of nowhere with an infant, two year old and four year old. When I got back, P.K. took the van in and I was right. There were some major problems that were going to cost thousands of dollars to fix. P.K. called me and and said, "We are getting you a new car. Choose what you want because you are going to drive it for ten years." No problem! I knew what I wanted. A Ford Expedition with a factory installed DVD player. Nothing more, nothing less.

Just after Christmas we made one more trip "down the hill" in the van and traded it in for a gold 2004 Ford Expedition with a factory installed DVD player. We (the Expedition and I) have been in love ever since.

We have criss-crossed the country together. California to Virginia, Florida to Wisconsin. I have crammed in friends and their kids for many fun outings. I have listened to Barney, Dora, Bibleman and High School Musical more times than any sane person should have to endure. The kids have laughed, cried and thrown up in there. The Expedition has carried us to SeaWorld, Legoland, the Grand Canyon, Florida beaches, the nation's capitol, Lake Michigan and of course took me safely to and from my half marathon. It has been to weddings and driven in funeral processions. The kids have been driven to and from school, Scouts, soccer practice, sleepovers, birthday parties, taekwondo and swimming lessons. I drove it through the blur of tears as we left 29 Palms and my heart broke. I yelled with excitement in it when my friend, Becky, called to tell me she was expecting a new baby. The kids immediately told me, "Mommy, it is not safe to yell in the car like that." It has worn a license plate from four different states. The windshield has taken rocks and been replaced three different times.

If you look deeply enough you can probably still find sand from the desert of 29 Palms. The amount of survival food (french fries and M&Ms that have dropped under seats and can't be reached, but in an emergency could be accessed somehow) in the crevices could probably sustain us for days if we are ever lost in the wilderness.

If I can squeeze another 100,000 miles and another 100,000 memories out of her, I will.

Faces Painted