Surreal

Surreal...How else to explain the first few weeks of deployment. It feels like I am walking in a fog. Today I found myself wandering around the commissary without even glancing at my list. I have been down this road before and the feeling never changes. Until Dominic is safe on the ground, settled in, and able to shoot us an e-mail here and there, I know this feeling will hang around. I plan on it being different every time but it never is. It's hard getting used to being by myself. I have the kids, but it's not the same. No more listening for the van to pull up front at night, no more "I love you" texts during the day, and no more impromptu lunches. If the hubby was here I know just what I'd text..."How bout that sun Eyore?" I call my hubby Eyore because when it comes to weather he only likes sun and we live in WA, need I say more. I tease him about it all the time. Anyway that's what I would text him. He would of course text something amusing back, but for now I will have to wait. His last text was from McChord AFB last night as he loaded the plane. Tonight I will take over all the stuff that dad likes to do. It will be the first time I drive 20 minutes to Lacey to take my son to youth group. His dad always gets home on Wednesday night by 6:30 to drive him, no matter what, even if he has to go back into work. It will be strange, but it will be my job. Until he returns things will be like looking through glass, but I know he is trained well and will do his best to keep him and his soldiers safe. For now, we will survive.

Goodbye my love....see you soon...Godspeed

This is the last picture I have this morning of dropping the hubby off at his company (he looks like a polar bear, overdressed as usual, trying to recreate the Hawaiian heat he enjoys so much). Please pray for the 54th MP company to have safe travel and a safe deployment. Dominic is supposed to be home in July so we can attend a family reunion. I am hopeful all goes well. Also please pray for my new blog friend Mari's son who is also deployed to Afghanistan. I will be praying for my husband, Mari's son, and all the men and women of the Armed Forces. Please join me. Thank You.

IHOP

Dad is deploying tomorrow night so we have been having a bit of fun as a family. We went to the IHOP last night for dinner, which was fun, except for the fact that my hubby chose chocolate chip pancakes and was not happy when he ended up with chocolate chocolate chip pancakes. I told him to try the Cinn-a-stack, which my good friend Pamela recommended, Thanks Pamela, but he stuck with his old favorite, except for his old favorite doesn't include the pancakes being chocolate too. That's why you should always read the description before making your choice. I'll have to say the Cinn-a-stack was to die for though. Tonight we are going to the Red Robin and surely we will all be reading the hamburger description's before making our choices.


Can we all say YUMM-O!!!!!!

Milspouce Friday

Join us for MilSpouse Friday Fill-in over at Wife of a Sailor


1. What are some of your ideas for staying connected with family…you know, those people we moved thousands of miles away from? Skype. Also I keep my blog so my husband can look at it any time he gets the chance and so can my relatives and friends. This keeps them up to date on our lives past and present.
2. What’s the most romantic gift you have GIVEN? My hubby always try to buy me red roses on my birthday and Valentines day. I find red roses very romantic.
3. Would you encourage your child, if they came to you and wanted to join the military? Yes. I would encourage my children in any path they want to take. I have a son in college now who plans on enlisting in the air force afterward.
4. What is your least favorite bill to pay and why? Cell phone. we all have a phone and the bill is high and we barely have any services. I can't imagine what it would be if we all had internet capabilities.
5. What is the proudest moment you’ve had as a military spouse? So many I wouldn't know what to put. I'm always proud of the men and women in uniform. They really impress me.

New book....and deployment time....

I'm now reading "The Book Thief." I know many people have read this one and I just wanted to give it a try. I read mostly Christian fiction but once in awhile bear off the beaten path. I did not really like the last book I read because It was a little to progressive for me, but I liked knowing how other people think, so it was a worthwhile read.

Dominic is leaving for Afghanistan next week so it has been a busy time for us. I will have a whole year by myself so I'd better get used to it. It's always hard in the beginning but settle's down to a normal pace rather quickly. We just try to go about our day to day business and keep our mind off dad being in deployed. This seems to make the time go a bit faster. It will be strange with just occasional contact but he knows that I like to talk and that I will save up all I have to say for that phone call. Same with the kids. We write down things that are happening in their lives and then they won't forget anything when dad calls. And then there is my blog. This was the way we kept in touch last time. I post lot's of pictures of what we are doing and then he e-mails me all about what's going on. Thank God for modern technology. So be prepared for my blog to be filled with many pictures in this year.

Putting Away Childish Things

This is the first piece of fiction Marcus Borg wrote. Although I don't agree with many of his beliefs, I'm more of a C.S. Lewis type, I like to read about what other people may be thinking. So far I am enjoying the book but finding it very controversial. The main character has some Christian beliefs that are definitely not along the lines I believe in. All in all it gives a good picture of what a progressive type of Christian looks like.

The Veganist

I am reading "Veganist" by Kathy Freston and am really enjoying it. Most people who know me know I am a food nut in a way. I am a very picky eater so going Vegan would probably be rough for me. I do eat meat, minimally, and only bought at Whole Foods, but much of my diet still consists of dairy (ie, cheese, milk, eggs, etc.) which is not exactly Vegan. I am trying to eat less meat so I am on the hunt for the best alternatives out there. I do make a wicked baked ziti made with vegetable crumbles, which no one ever guesses is not meat, and I make a wicked fettuccine, shown above, which people also love, but not Vegan. So on my quest this year I will be showing some of my dinner's and letting people know how they taste when I veganize them. So Sat. it's hello again "Whole Foods" this time on the search for a perfect Vegan cheese...and of course a caramel sea salt gelato, my bad!

Time to get back to blogging....

...so I've said before. It's been awhile but I miss it. Life has been so busy. My husbands parents came for a visit. We had a lot of fun but it was too short. March 21 is leave day for hubby to make his way to Afghanistan. Please pray a blessing over him and his unit. I'm reading the Veganist and enjoying it. It's crazy how much I still have to learn about eating.

Our Pastor's new book

Here is the link to my Pastor's new book. He is doing his preaching on the things he wrote in this book and it's amazing. Last night he preached on how powerful the words we speak are. It was an awesome night. I learned a lot.

Ipad VS laptop. I love my Apple laptop but it is shot. I have had it evaluated and it would cost me almost as much to fix it as to buy a new one. I have heard that Ipad's are good but they still can't come close to a laptop. Does anyone have an opinion on this?

Anyone who knows a military person will appreciate this video

FT. HOOD TRIBUTE TO THE TROOPS

Happy New Year...Seattle style

We had a fun Christmas. The kids say it was one of the best we ever had and I'm pretty sure they were right. With 4 kids there it was crazy. I love lots of kids and lots of fun and lots of chaos. Anyway eating was so good especially since we got to share the holidays with my daughter, her kids, and Dawn's family. Definitely planning a repeat. Anyway here are some crazy videos, and I do mean crazy.

Merry Christmas

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

New kindle Skin

I love pink so when I saw this skin on Amazon for my Kindle for only $2.97 I had to have it.

Percy

I will be reading these books 1-3 to the boys over the Christmas holiday. Percy has dyslexia although he sounds a lot like he has ADHD. My boys can totally identify with Percy. Although Jr. has read the first one I want to read it to all 3 boys. I think they will get a lot out of these books and I will enjoy them too. Anyone reading anything interesting for the holiday season?

Trip to the tree farm

It was sunny yesterday and we took the kids to get our tree. Here are the pictures from the hunt for the perfect tree. The hubby wanted to know if you cut a tree and then find a better one what do you do. I told him I don't think you're supposed to do that.

Time to Decorate

I'm late this year with buying a tree and decorating the house inside and out. My neighbor put up a lot of lights as you can see. So when my hubby came home from work tonight I pointed to their house and said "I want you to do that." Let's see what happens. If anything I will get something going on this weekend. Probably not as elaborate, but Christmasy all the same.

Long Time No Blog.....

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a lot of people here and watched football most of the day. My dad is in from NJ, my daughter Vanessa was in from HI, and my son Brandon is in from Greenville College. Add them to my daughter Kira and three grandkids Julian, Kai'lie, and Rielyn and we had a fun day. The turkey dinner came from Safeway and Kira did most of the work putting out the spread so I had a great, relaxing day. Now everyone is going back home with my dad last to leave at the end of next week so I expect to get back to blogging a little bit more. Other then that it is time to get ready for Christmas.

I WON

Thanks to Sandra (from: Diary of a Stay At Home mom) I won this recordable book which Dominic can use before he deploys to Afghanistan. The kids will get to hear this read by him every night. I was so excited to see I won this special book. Thanks so much again Sandra.