He's Coming Home!

Sorry that I haven't lived up to my "every week" updates on Kelly. To be honest, there isn't much to tell. He usually calls once a day. Sometimes for less than 5 minutes, sometimes longer. He is busy training, trying to keep all his people on task and attempting to make the Sargent Major happy (which I personally think is impossible!). It's so hard for me to hear how the SGM treats him sometimes. Kelly is still learning his new job and the people he is in charge of and is trying so hard to stay on top of everything. He and Kelly definately have different leadership styles. Kelly is pretty laid back, tries to be positive and give people a chance. The SGM seems to be one of those people who enjoy belittling people and then telling them that it's not personal and you need to have a thick skin. I think it's just an excuse to be a jerk! Anyway, Kelly could use prayer in this area. I really want to give the SGM a piece of my mind and tell him to back off. I don't know why I feel the need to want to come to Kelly's defense. Maybe it has something to do with me being the oldest and him being the youngest.... Anyway, I am trying to pray for the SGM, that Kelly would be an example of God's love to him.
Kelly is coming home on Thursday, 4/30. On Saturday, 5/2 there is a mobilization ceremony at the Memorial Coliseum at 9am. Anyone who wants to come is welcome. He will be home and will supposedly have Friday, Sunday and Monday free and will have to report on Tuesday. He is scheduled to fly to Georgia on Thursday, 5/7. So, that is the latest for now, I will write more when I know more.

Easter

Today the words to this song say it all.... Happy Easter!

Chris Tomlin - I Will Rise
From the album Hello Love

There's a peace I've come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say, "it is well"
Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

Chorus:
I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God, fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

There's a day that's drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes
And I hear the voice of many angels sing,
"worthy is the Lamb"
And I hear the cry of every longing heart,
"worthy is the Lamb"

Chorus:
I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles' wings
Before my God, fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise

Contentment

I've been thinking a lot about my life lately (wow, I must be getting old!). In our Sunday School class we were having a lesson on the prodigal son and talking about how he left home because he wasn't content with his life. My friend was talking about people now always wanting more, bigger, better stuff and it was like a lightning bolt hit me and I thought "I am content". It kind of surprised me to realize that I am truly happy with my life right now. Since Sunday I have been thinking about how this came to be. I think that it has a lot to do with gratefulness. When I have been praying lately I have been trying to thank God for everything. Does this mean that my life is perfect? Ha, right! Are there things that I would change if I could? Sure!

Here are a few things that I am grateful for:

1. I am thankful for my husband. I wish he wasn't going to be gone for a year but I am thankful for him. For knowing at 15 that he was "the one". For still being madly in love with him 29 years later. For how he makes me feel loved and protected.

2. For my kids and grandson. I wish that Nick, Britt and Holden lived closer so I wasn't missing so much, but am thankful that I have 5 beautiful, healthy children and the cutest grandson ever!

3. For this body of mine. I wish that I didn't have to struggle with my weight but I'm working on it and I am thankful that I don't have any health problems. I can still walk, run (a little), see, hear, etc.

4. For my cars. Do I sometimes wish that I could just buy any car that I want? Sometimes, but I am thankful for our 1997 Suburban that holds my whole family and gets us where we need to go and for our 1993 4-Runner that makes a great back-up. I guess I'm thankful for Kelly's motorcycles? (There's gratefulness I need to work on!)

5. I am thankful for my home. I wish it was finished, wish some parts were bigger, but we have a home. We live in a great neighborhood, have wonderful neighbors, were able to remodel to give us the room we needed and in these days of foreclosure, I am especially grateful for my home.

6. I am thankful for Kelly's job. It would be nice if he didn't have to drive so far but it is a great job. He has good hours, is off on the weekends and makes enough that I could quit my job and be at home.

7. Most especially, I am thankful for knowing God. I am thankful that I was raised in a family that took me to church from my beginning. That I found a partner who shared my beliefs and that we have brought up our children to believe.

I am thankful, grateful and content.

It Has Begun

Well, Kelly is off on his new adventure. He left yesterday and flew to CA and will spend the next month at Camp Roberts. In case any of you didn't know, or care, Kelly has changed jobs in the Guard. In December he was promoted to E-8, 1st Sargent of Bravo Co, 141 Bn. That means that he is in charge of a Company of soldiers, about 100+. This is part of the group that was called up for deployment so instead of volunteering like last time, this time he didn't have a choice to go. After spending two drills with this group he was moved to the Headquarters Bn to be their 1st Sgt for the deployment and will go back to Bravo when they return. Anyway, things have been pretty crazy the past few months as he has tried to keep up with everything. He will be coming home for a few days at the beginning of May and will then leave for Ft. Stewart, GA where he will be for two months, then from there he goes to Kuwait for a few weeks to acclimate, then to Iraq. He will arrive in Iraq in the middle of the summer when it is usually 120 degrees. Doesn't that just sound like the best time!? Anyway, he can use your prayers for safety and sanity (as he learns his new job), and we here at home can use them too.

Changes

They say the first step is admitting the problem. I have problems with change. I like life to go on pretty predictably. I like to have a schedule and a plan for the future. Tomorrow my life is changing dramatically. My husband leaves for the first step of his deployment to Iraq. He is going to training in California for a month, coming home for 4 days and going to Georgia for two months from where he will go to Kuwait and then Iraq. I know from his last deployment that I hate the feeling like I'm holding my breath until he comes home. He is truly my best friend and I don't feel like a whole person when he's not here.

Ok, on a more positive note, a change I do like is the change of seasons. Especially the change from Winter to Spring. Today is a gorgeous day here in Oregon, temp in the low 70s, sunny, blue skies, flowers blooming, everything seems to be waking up. I'm glad that the weather is nice when Kelly is leaving. I think if it was raining and gray I would have to get in bed and pull the covers over my head for a few days...we'll see how it goes.

Soon-to-be gorgeous lilacs


I have "daffodil envy" this year. I need to plant more!


These trees, what can I say...I wish you could smell them!


Cleo on the neighbors roof soaking up some rays

The Babes Have a Birthday

Well, here it is again, my babies' birthday. Ok, so they're not babies, they are 14 today, 14!! 14 years ago I was enormously pregnant, feeling pretty miserable and wondering how I was going to handle two babies, a very busy 2 year old and two kids in school. I told Kelly that he should just take me straight from the hospital to the mental hospital and leave me there! Forward to now, those babies who weighed 7 lb 3 oz and 7 lb are beautiful, tall, 8th grade girls who spend their time reading Twilight, lots of time on the computer watching videos with the music blaring, facebooking with their friends and hours in the bathroom straightening their hair and putting on makeup. They have always been best buddies. As babies they would hold hands through the bars of their cribs and they pushed their toddler beds together to be close to each other. Chloey, who is older by three minutes and has always been a little more independent than Shelby and has tried to move out of the room they share twice. So far she has returned twice. They can be mean and fight, but they always make up quickly. It's strange for someone who is a singleton to imagine life as an identical twin. We just assume that when someone sees us that they know who we are but for them normal is having people ask which one they are. How odd to look at a face that looks like your own. Having two babies was not something I would have wished for the 4th time around, but I thank God for allowing me the privilege of being their mother! Happy Birthday Chloey and Shelby, I'm proud of the young women you are becoming!!

Counting the Days

My husband is leaving me! Don't worry, we're not getting divorced or anything, he is being deployed, AGAIN! I knew in my mind that it was coming but now it is down to weeks, days, until he leaves. I sort of shut off that part of my brain that realizes how close it is but occasionally it surfaces. I feel desperate to spend as much time as possible with him and enjoy every minute. I know that when he leaves I will get into a new routine and most days I will function normally. But, every once in while, at random times, it hits me. Usually when I am sitting alone at church or driving somewhere (he always drives when we are together), but the worst is when I am somewhere and see a couple doing something ordinary like shopping, I want to scream, "Do you know how lucky you are to have him here!". I know that people don't really think about it, and I probably don't think about it enough when he's here and things are "normal". When he was deployed the first time I had a magnet on the back of my Suburban that said "Half my Heart is in Afghanistan". I am going to get one that says "Iraq" this time. I don't display it so that people will feel sorry for me or my kids, but so that maybe people will see it and think about all of us out there who are separated and going through our days waiting for them to come home, praying that nothing happens to them, anticipating the day when life will go back to "normal".

Wow, what a total downer that was!