Home again...

Home again...back to laundry and vet appointments and pulling weeds. Back to baking bread for my sweetheart, and going to Mass on Sundays. Back to traffic and 7-eleven big gulps, walking the dogs, emptying the dishwasher, and using tap water without any worries. Back to talking to my daughters, putting together the latest Lydia photos, and going through junk mail. And through it all I am so thankful that God saw fit to send me to another world, to open my eyes to see His beauty in everything, His purpose in all that transpires. God is so good.

Leaving on a jet plane

Well, we thought we were leaving many times last week...for 96 hours we kept getting put on different flight manifests, given different show times (always at least 4 hours before the flight), and for what should be a 4 hour flight it took nearly 5 days. Five days of mud and lugging bags back and forth (and they get heavier every time). Five days of sleeping on a floor or cot or crappy mattress (usually about 2 hours of sleep max). Five days of traveling with the same 20 or so people--but that was actually a good part (except for a couple of incidents where an Army officer got a bit overzealous with his perceived authority). Anyway, here is a picture of me being extremely excited that we may finally (after 2 days) be taking off. Little did I know we'd get stranded somewhere worse...for 2 more days! Next time I have a delayed Delta or United flight, I will laugh at the folks who get impatient when they have to wait for an extra hour!

Kool and the Gang

This is a picture of me and my boss, Mr. Tom Tutt, plus a couple of other co workers, outside our building. I think that is my laundry bag I am holding...not really sure...and I felt like wearing pink that day

Deployed to Afghanistan

One of the biggest reasons I left my old job and took on my new job a little over a year ago was for the challenge, to be needed, to do something meaningful. I love being a part of CENTCOM, I love helping my country, and I love being a part of the military mission again. And when the chance to get more intimately involved with that mission arose, I grabbed it. Took me a week to get here, the place is filthy, the air is so dirty you can actually taste it--I've been to a lot of places, but never ever have I seen a place like this. I am going to have to be more awake and a lot less jet lagged to describe it.

Later--

Drinkable water, talking to my family whenever I want, driving,7 eleven big gulps, my granddaughter's laugh, holding my husband's hand, watching TV, going to Mass, facebook, McDonalds 24/7, roads without concrete barriers and barbed wire, not having to have roommates at the age of 55, clean air, the ocean, a washer and dryer, my own refrigerator, a microwave, a cool breeze, a comfortable chair, being able to turn on the light when I want to because no one else is sleeping, being able to sleep because no one is turning on the light when I am sleeping....

it's the little things you miss when you are gone from home, the little things you wish you had with you that you appreciate all the more

Birthday Girl

I cannot believe it--a year has gone by and Lydia is a year old (well, she will be in 6 days--we celebrated early this past weekend. And boy does that kid love cake!

Disturbing television

I was channel surfing as Alex was snoring in his chair tonight, and found a very disturbing show on TLC--TLC used to be one of my favorite channels. Stands for The Learning Channel--used to have some nice vanilla, safe shows, mostly about home improvment, family, home, style, and cooking. Now there is a show on called "Sister Wives"--wants us to believe that a polygamist who is only legally married to one woamn but "spiritually married" (whatever that means) to three others is perfectly okay. Glorifying adultery...great. I don't really want to "Explore the complex daily life of a polygamist family." ANd putting it on a TV channel called "the learning channel" is an insult to my intelligence and my sensibilities. Polygamy isn't mainstream and shouldn't be treated as such.

Christmas in North Carolina

What a wonderful Christmas--we are truly blessed. We spent this Christmas at our log home in Brevard, NC, with our oldest daughter Mandy and her husband Brian, and our granddaughter Lydia, and my sister Mary Beth and her husband Duane and their three children--Karen, Patrick, and Meghan. Oh, and there were five dogs, also. We bought two live trees--a beautiful spruce and a holly--and decorated them and planted them later. The holly tree is in memory of little "Piccolo"--the baby Mandy and Brian recently lost--and the spruce is the first of hopefully many more Christmas trees to come. 

We played board games, enjoyed a white Christmas, went shopping, even lost power and had to snuggle a bit! We all learned the ins and outs of Farkle!, ate way too much candy, and even had a group caroling session at our neighbors', the Clarkes'--with Brian on guitar, Meghan on trumpet, and Marianna on electric organ. We baked bread, walked dogs (a lot), ate, drank wine, talked, cried, opened gifts, ate some more, sang, went to church, prayed, and basically had a wonderful time. Lydia had more attention than she knew what to do with, and Brian had a heck of a time getting everything in their car.

And two thousand years ago a little babe was born in a manger, surrounded by farm animals, while his virgin mother and carpenter father looked on and angels sang hallelujah under a starry night so we could celebrate His birth over and over again. And that is what Christmas is all about--celebrating His birth and our rebirth.