"Heart Breaker, Dream Maker..."

Geez. If you see this picture again, say.... on our Christmas card... pretend you haven't seen it. I couldn't wait to post it. It's from last week. We were getting the boy's Halloween costume on so we could go to our neighborhood carnival. I went to get the camera to take some quick pictures of the ENTIRE outfit, but when I came into the room, there he sat. In his little tie. And button-down shirt. I just about died of heart failure from the "glimpse into my future" it gave me. I don't think he was all too thrilled that I was standing there and staring at him. He gave me this look...



Happy Halloween...

My Long-Overdue Story

How cool is God? I know that there are those among us who would take offense to the idea that God is "cool." He is so many things, and I just happen to like the word "cool" for this story.

Way back in the 1990's, while I was continuing my higher education, I had a room-mate. Not any old "pre-assigned" room-mate, mind you. A room-mate I CHOSE. Jeanna. We had known each other for a few years, we got along, and we both happened to think that everything was funny. Everything. I'm not joking people. We laughed at EVERYTHING. It was a fun few years! When she graduated and moved out, the apartment was a little quieter! She got married to her college sweetie, and I was able to be in her wedding. After I graduated (and married my college sweetie), we kept up with each other through Christmas cards and the occasional "hello-how-are-you" note. Want to see us in 1992? I knew you did.



Yes, I know. The hair... Big hair was still in, folks. We obviously had enough for the entire campus.



FAST FORWARD 12 YEARS...



I knew that her husband had been a minister, and I knew that they had eventually joined the Army. I knew he was a chaplain, and I knew they were living in South Carolina.

When my own husband decided that ministry was best carried out wearing combat boots, we were following in their footsteps. We even got to see them for about 5 minutes at Dan's "chaplain training graduation." They spent the next few years in Korea, and we headed off to California. We did not stay in touch as well as we should have, but that would have ruined my story. And the surprise.



FAST FORWARD 3 YEARS...



We (Dan and I) were working in Children's Sunday School (here at Ft. Bragg) one morning in August. I hear Dan calling my name, so I turn around... and there stands my roomie!!


Jeanna!!


It was that odd brain moment of "Why am I seeing THIS person in THIS place?!?"


"OH MY GOSH!"


We both shrieked and hugged each other and totally disrupted third grade Sunday School. She and her family had just arrived at Ft. Bragg from Korea. HOW COOL IS GOD?!?



Two months earlier, I'd left a great group of close girl-friends back in the desert, and I had yet to "reach out" to anyone new. The Army will do that to you. You either become SUPER-FRIEND MAKER or you tend to retreat into your own little world of unpacking and not putting yourself out there. I was retreating. It's often so hard to get to know people. Especially when you know you will have to leave them. I, honestly, had not prayed about finding new friends. I didn't want "new" friends.


So, God brought me an old friend.


(Jeanna, you are not old... I just meant I've known you for a long time.)



Wanna see us now? I knew you did.



Yep. Less hair. Lots less hair. (I am not bald, folks. I really do have some hair. It's just shorter now. It was a hot afternoon, and in this photo, I have apparently shoved it all behind my ears and sunglasses in an attempt to stay cool. Yikes.)

We have spent the last few months "catching up" on the last 15 years. Our husbands were buddies back in the day, too.



Yep. LOTS less hair, too. It's a job requirement. (Or so they say.)

And, we are all having a hoot of a time. Reminiscing and finding out how much we've changed and haven't changed. And, for the record, Jeanna and I STILL laugh at everything. EVERYTHING.

(For those of you wondering... the pictures were made on a hayride... in a wagon with a top and no hay. But I'll save that for another post. We're not in a school bus... even though it looks like it.)




By the way, I have made some "new" friends, too. They are great... all chaplain's wives. (We've decided there's safety in numbers.)

How cool is that.

Blue Eyed Vampire?

"Somebody's knockin'... should I let him in?

Lord, it's the devil... would you look at him!

I've heard about him, but I never dreamed

He'd have blue eyes and blue jeans..."

(And no shirt...)

(And another self-portrait. I'd hide the camera, but he actually takes a pretty good picture of himself.)

Found the Camera

Well, the camera actually wasn't lost. It was taken by two squirrel (yuck) hunters... who shall remain nameless. The camera got to go on a "man-adventure" through the woods. Please, no PETA protests... I am not responsible for their ridiculous actions that involve small animals and firearms. They are such hillbillies, and you can take it up with them.

Thankfully there were no dead animal pictures on the camera when it was returned to me. So, now I will entertain you with football pictures!

I call this one: "Game Face" (Or... "Stop taking my picture, Mom! Face")



Yes, we know we are cornflakes. But, how cute are the shirts? The team sold them as a fundraiser, and each kid's parents have their son's (or daughter's!) name and number on the back. (Yes, we have a girl on our team; she's darn cute in that football getup, too.)


Not sure what was up with the camera flash in these pictures; we all look like ghosts. Baba and Papa had a blast cheering on the boy. And, they didn't get kicked out of the game for bad-mouthing the referees!

One Step Forward?

I know you've heard the phrase "one step forward and two steps back" before? Lately, I feel like a better description for me would be:

"Eleven steps backward and an occasional accidental half-stumble forward."

Is that a little depressing? I just cannot seem to get my act together. Is that even a real thing? A "together" act?

We had a wonderful (but entirely too short!) weekend. My mom and dad came up to see us. Well... to see the boy play football. I would post pictures, but my camera is missing. (one step back...) They had to leave on Saturday night, but we loved seeing them.

We received a notice that we have an "option" to move. Yep. Move. Again. (one step back...) Not to a new post, but to a new house. Nice thought. Until you weigh it all out. It's not on base. It's base housing, but it's 13 miles up the road. It's a nice new neighborhood and a bigger house, but it is still a MOVE. And all you have to do is read a few old posts to discover how much I love a move. (Note sarcasm.) Our neighborhood is being "re banded" to Jr. Enlisted Housing, and they want to move all the remaining officers to other neighborhoods. Does anyone want to make the decision for us?

And this one? Well, it is a little funny. Last night was "crazy hat night" at AWANAS. Guess which mom forgot? Guess which mom forgot even after another mom said, "Don't forget crazy hat night tonight!" Guess which kid remembered as we are driving into the church parking lot? So (one step back...), I drove back home to retrieve the boy's favorite crazy hat. My husband made the suggestion that the boy should wear his football helmet. For a brief moment of insanity, I considered it. (Seeing as how the helmet rides around in the back of the car so IT doesn't get forgotten. Again.) I know there are those who would say, "Let him learn a lesson!" "It is his responsibility to remember his own hat!" "You are a bad parent for going to get that hat!" And, I beat myself up wondering what others think about my parenting choices. (one step back...) It really isn't that far back to the house. As for the helmet? It is entirely too pinchy. His brain would have been too squeezed to remember his verses.

That is just a small sampling of what is rolling around in my head lately. I really should not complain. I know this. There are sooooo many people out there who have REAL struggles and difficult lives; but, not me. I am blessed. More so than I deserve. I AM grateful. And sorry for not seeing things in a different light. That should count as a step forward.

Clone Troopers Without a Care in the World

Does this crack anybody else up? Am I the only weirdo that finds this funny? (Note the fight in the back seat.)

Don't they know they're supposed to be fighting an epic cosmic battle? Nope. They spent most of the weekend cruising around my house and yard in their (?) Jeep. Arms in the air, bumping into everything and everyone, losing helmets and assorted body parts. At one point, they were dragging a droid behind them by a scrapbooking ribbon. Hmmm...

The football game was cancelled on Saturday (fake cry) because the other team didn't have enough available players (fake cry). We actually got to stay home. It was great. We did nothing in particular and nothing really productive. I loved it! And, apparently, so did the Clone Troopers.

The Prince and the Fan

Did ya' ever hear "The Princess and the Pea" fairytale? You know, where the princess can't sleep because there's a pea under her mattress? I am currently reminded of it because one son brought it home as a reading assignment last week. Now, to my fairytale.

Once upon a time, there was a somewhat tired lady. She had been at Bible study. At lunch with new friends (yeah! ... will post more on this later). At home playing laundry lady. Helping with 3rd grade homework that she has to really concentrate on. Driving to football practice. Driving home to retrieve forgotten football helmet. Driving back to football practice. Killing random ants that continue to invade her home in search of crumbs and cat food (cause there's none of that stuff around here). She had put a boy in the shower, washed her wrinkly old face, and gone to bed. Late into the night... around 2 am... there came a tap-tap-tapping on her arm. Is it a dream? No. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. As she JERKS awake, she sees the source of the tapping. It's her son. Standing by her side of the bed. Staring at her.
She asks, "What's wrong? Are you OK?"
He replies, "I can't go back to sleep." At this point, she wants to scream, "So you thought you'd wake up someone who is having no trouble sleeping!!" But, being the kind mother she is (in her own mind), she takes the boy back to his room.
She asks, "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" (Because now that she's awake, she does.)
She asks, "Did you have a bad dream?"
She asks, "Why are your PJ's off?" (Because now she realizes that the child is half-naked. Half.)
The boy crawls back into bed and asks if she will lie down with him until he falls asleep again. The now deliriously tired lady lies down with her son... NOT out of her great compassion; it's too far back to her own bed. Now, the very awake son begins to talk. And talk. And talk. About why he thinks he cannot fall asleep again. ("Because you are talking," she tells him.) The very awake son then begins to flop all around. Flop. Flop. Flop. After an hour (I looked), the son makes a declaration.
"I can't sleep because my fan isn't pointing on me."
The brain-dead mother gets up, points the fan on the boy, and drags back to the bed to find that the boy is asleep. In the time it took for her to get up and adjust the fan, he fell asleep.
The semi-conscious mother plods back to her own room, takes a detour to the potty, and finds that a small black cat has taken over her spot in the bed. The End.