I have blogged about this subject before, a few years ago on Veteran's Day. However, it is something that is very dear to my heart and considering some of the disturbing comments I have seen around cyberspace these last few days, I'm really feeling the need to repeat it somewhat.

This photograph has been circulating on Facebook recently, and as with most of the people commenting on it, I'm incensed when I see it. You can "blame" this picture for fueling my ire and prompting this blog post.

We are a patriotic family--I make no apologies for this. Our first and primary allegiance is to the Almighty God that our very beings belong to, but we are also very aware and proud of our great nation's Christian heritage and the service our family has given to this country throughout its existence is a source of heart-swelling reverence to God for the blessing of our liberties. Our patriotism stems out of our faith--they are intertwined.

In the last three years, I have had a son join the Army, a husband retire from the Army, and a son-in-law join the Army. Many of our friends and loved ones have been affected by deployments to one region of the world or another. My own son spent a year in Afghanistan. We have had several opportunities to witness parades, ceremonies, and other "patriotic" functions. Lord willing, my husband and I will be able to attend the Veteran's Day Parade here in town next month. The last one we had the privilege of attending, Pete "marched" in. Well, no ... more accurately, he rode in it atop the HIMARS launcher that he trained other soldiers to repair. Pete has had several odd-feeling moments as he has experienced the military pomp and circumstance more from the audience since our son enlisted--and especially since he retired. In fact, when we attended our son-in-law's basic training graduation at Fort Jackson this past April, it got REALLY weird. Pete's father had marched across that same field both as a basic training graduate and for his own retirement ceremony before Pete even graduated from high school, and they both stood there welcoming yet another generation of our family's soldiers into the ranks as retired soldiers.

One thing I'm really not fond of seeing again at this year's parade is something we have experienced at every single one of the 'patriotic' events we've attended these last few years--the lack of respect for our flag and those who defend it. People, it's not just a piece of fabric on a pole. It represents the blood that was shed to unite this country in solidarity against outside forces that sought to abolish freedoms that our founding fathers believed in enough to sacrifice life and limb for! It stands for FREEDOM. It is identified worldwide with a nation that seeks to liberate people from tyrannical rule.

At least it used to be.

Nowadays our own people are bringing disrespect to our own flag. Many Americans are more concerned with preserving the heritage of nations they came FROM and showing how proud they are of THAT culture. We find people who are offended by the display of our OWN FLAG!!?? We have church groups (I refuse to even identify these people as "lowercase" christians ... anyone who uses the name of God to promote hatred doesn't deserve to wear His name, in my opinion, and if I'm wrong on that, I'll answer to God, thankyouverymuch!) who are making a mockery of funerals, bringing pain to people mourning the loss of soldiers while preaching anti-American false doctrine with very little regard to those men and women who have died to allow them the freedom to spew such vitrol. We have a generation who do not instinctively stand out of respect of our flag and what it stands for.

Look at that picture at the top of this post again. Look at all of those people sitting on the curb, and the handicapped veteran who is standing. He's not forcing their respect; he's not making a scene. He isn't belittling them for their lack of patriotism. He's just doing what comes naturally. And so are the ones who give no respect to the flag. Why the difference? Training.

"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." --John Fitzgerald Kennedy

What does this nation "owe" anyone? Not a thing, save the billions of dollars we borrow to keep hundreds of meaningless programs running to super-regulate things that probably shouldn't be regulated in the first place. (woah ... soapbox. Stepping down ... )

What do we OWE our country? Respect.

Train your children to understand WHY this country exists. Train them to understand HOW it came to be. Train them to show respect. Train them to do for OTHERS and not expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. Train them to honor their elders. Train them to appreciate. Train them to show gratitude. Train their hearts to hurt when they see others hurting, and to look for ways to help. That's what makes this country great--its foundation in the principles of the Bible. It's what will return this great nation to her roots. It's what will preserve our freedoms. It's what will ensure that those veterans who stand to honor the flag they fought for will not stand alone.

UNITED we stand.

Stand up, America. For heaven's sake, get off your butts and STAND.

Reflections on being a "veteran's" wife

Had you asked me 22 years ago, the day after Pete and I had our first date, what Veteran's Day meant to me, I would have told you that it was pretty neat to have a day off of school.  Today, all that has changed.  I "get it" now.

I have seen, though skewed by interpretation, through the eyes of my husband into foreign lands where freedoom is something that most people feel they'll never have.  I have listened to countless stories of captured soldiers who fully throw themselves into captivity because the treatment they will receive from our military is far better than the "care" they receive from their own government and their military superiors.  I have wept with my husband as he recounts how truly awful the political conditions of other countries are for their citizens.  I have seen both the relief and confused anxiety on his face as he returns to this free land to enjoy liberties that he has seen so brutally taken away from those he fought to liberate.  I have also wept with him silently as he listens to people who have degraded and devalued the mission he supported and watched several of his peers give their lives in support of.  I have shared the pain and unadulterated rage as he watched people turn military funerals into political venues and dishonor warriors whose families only want to say goodbye in peace.  SHAME ON YOU, America, for making ANY of our nation's brave warriors feel as though their missions are not important.  You haven't seen what they see.

If you don't appreciate your freedoms as an American citizen, try living in one of the coutnries that our servicemembers are fighting in right now.  Try giving up all of your luxuries in exchange for a cramped, uncomfortable living space shared with sixty other people in a foreign land in which those "archaic" living conditions (complete with running water, internet access and cable TV) are still worlds richer than those of the locals you live near.  Would you begin to feel that stirring of pride upon seeing the stars and stripes waving in the tranquil breeze when you returned? 

My husband came home from "his" war.  I hope and pray that my son does as well.  I hope and pray that my son-in-law never has to face the atrocities of war, but I know that at some point in his military career, he likely will.  It is never an easy or pleasant task to face the separation of war, but it's far more unpleasant to consider where our nation would be if we never had anyone who believed in the value of our freedom and the virtue of liberty enough to pledge their lives to defending it.

This wife of a retired soldier, mom of a deployed soldier, daughter and daughter-in-law of Vietnam veterans, granddaughter of WWII veterans, and proud American citizen salutes those who have served.  With great honor and respect, when that flag passes in review, I will stand with my right hand firmly placed across my heart.  I know it is only because of the bravery and patriotism of those who have worn the uniforms of our country's military that I have the right to STAND.

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

Moving along...

We've been moving toward this day for twenty years, and now that it's here, it feels a tad anticlimactic. That's okay. We've had too much excitement over the last oh, seven years, we are welcoming a bit of calm transition with open arms.

At long last, after what seems like a lifetime of preparation and paperwork, Pete signed the last of his military forms today. Walking out of the transition office with a HUGE smile on his face, he said simply, "I'm done." And with that, his military career ended. Like I said, it was anticlimactic. We then went over to the post exchange and purchased that all-important "Retired Army" baseball cap that is standard for retirees, and picked out a "US Army Retired" window cling for each of our vehicles. You could say he's just SLIGHTLY excited. I have lost count of the times today he's said "I'm retired!"

What's pretty funny about today is that when we left the house this morning, he had an odd look on his face; offering a penny for his thoughts, he obliged and told me, "This feels like I'm stepping off the edge of a cliff into a fog, where I can't see anything below my feet but I *know* that the ground is just a couple of inches down under the fog". Pretty heavy stuff all of a sudden. I think that's the most philosophical he's gotten in several years! Needless to say, he stepped right onto that ground and will take the first few steps into what other retirees have described as "a whole 'nuther world" on Monday, when he starts his job a few miles from where he's worked for 18 months. This time, his work day is fixed; he will have a real, dependable schedule, but he'll have to choose what to put on when he dresses himself. Big changes!

As if ONE huge life change wasn't enough, our son added yet another BIGGIE to our day when he showed up unexpected with a "gift" for his girlfriend...Grandma, sit down. Our not-so-little boy, all on his own, went and picked out a beeeeutiful 5/8 karat diamond, set in white gold, and proposed tonight. She. Said. Yes. In a year or so, after he comes back from Afghanistan, we'll be gaining another daughter! He's done pretty well for himself this time, and we couldn't be happier. Now to introduce her to the complexities of being an Army wife!?

I am really beginning to understand Pete's cliff/fog metaphor!

The changing of the guard?

In a few DAYS (I can't believe we're finally to that point!!!), Pete will be taking off his beret for the last time...unless he gets a moment of nostalgia in a few years. His retirement won't be "official" until the end of March, but he will be wearing polos and casual slacks to work when he starts his new job on February 1st. He had to rub that little point in to our son the other day, who is just a year and a half into his own military career and is...well, let's just say he's not all that fond of camouflage at the moment! LOL

Ironically, the same month Pete will retire, Jon will deploy to Afghanistan for a year. We've randomly commented on the oddities of having father and son in active service consecutively over the last 18 months, but pretty soon, that will end. We'll have one more "retired" soldier in the family and only one actively serving. It feels a bit like the changing of the guard for our family in some regards, and it's a whole lot easier to deal with than I ever thought it would be.

I grew up civilian, oblivious to the lives of those who served our country in the military, with the lone exception of my uncle. I didn't know much about Richard; all I really knew was that he lived in some pretty exotic places (Congo, Morocco, Paris, Helsinki) and he couldn't tell us what he REALLY did for the Army. I also knew we didn't see him but every five or six years, at best. I knew my father and both grandfathers served in the Navy and the Army Air Corps, respectively, and I had heard my dad's ridiculous tales of raiding the officer's mess and stealing their prize turkey. That was pretty much it for my military knowledge. I certainly didn't have the slightest clue what I was marrying into, that's for sure! Mine has been on-the-job training from day one. If there is any other lifestyle that is more difficult (and sometimes hostile) toward family unity, I haven't found it yet....but the heartwarming satisfaction of knowing the family is contributing to a good far greater than our own is worth more than the security and "padded living" we give up to stand behind our soldier.

Now, though...for us, that focus is shifting. In a few months, instead of being the one leaving, Pete will be standing with the rest of us as our son takes on that responsibility. Many people have asked me how we feel about that, and my answer without even the slightest hesitation is that I couldn't be prouder. Our son has, on his own, decided to follow the footsteps of his father, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers and will be serving our great nation on foreign soil. He stands tall and proud, in a uniform that represents a nation full of wonderful people. Regardless of political policy, our military will continue to fulfill its duty at home and overseas in a respectable manner, and I have no doubt in my mind that wherever the US military goes, it does good in a land that greatly needs goodness.

For those who have asked....no, I do not look forward to the day my son gets on that plane. I will pray every day for God's protection, and I'm sure I'll probably lose a lot of sleep, just like I did when his father was away. But I have no doubt that this is Jon's path, and I am proud to play my passive part in such a patriotic heritage.

It will be odd...and a little sad, I must admit, to replace our dual-Liberty Star ribbon with a single. Pete will probably feel just a tad "lost" for a while too. He'll be okay. He was trained well.

A brick of reality upside the head

Pete is seventeen days away from wearing his uniform for the last time. Well, almost. He'll have to wear it one last time for his retirement ceremony in March, but as of the end of January, he'll have worked his last day as an active duty soldier. We had to attend THE briefing of all briefings today--the one that really drove home the fact that WE ARE GETTING OLD FAST!!! It was the briefing where we had to decide on survivor benefits, talk about life insurance policies, Medicare, and (gulp) burial plots and military funeral honors. ACK!!!!!! By the time we left, I could nearly HEAR my joints creaking. I think I aged fifteen years in two hours.

We can't be "that" age yet, can we?? Pete turns 39 on Saturday; I am still two years behind him. Yet there we sat, with a five-month-old bouncing and making growly noises on my lap, listening to a retirement counselor give us some very ugly news about some things we'd rather not even think about at our ages. Why? Well, we HAVE to.

Unfortunately, military retirement tends to yank our Peter Pan heads out of the proverbial sand in the blink of an eye and introduces us to a WHOLE new life we just aren't ready for yet.

Our eldest daughter came home from work (at Burger King) ranting about the crudeness she puts up with in her fellow burger-flippers. Meanwhile, her dad and I are still reeling from our double dose of reality today. I feel very old right now.

The beginning of a new beginning.

This morning, I was so thrilled to greet Pete with a steaming cup of coffee after sleeping in (to the horribly "late" 8am) with these words:

"You retire from the Army this year."

THIS YEAR. In fact, with a humongous grin on his face, he countered my statement with this:

"I'm out of a job in 30 days."

Um.....wait a minute there. Thankfully, he was pointing to the beginning of his "terminal" leave (doesn't that sound positively awful to the civilian ear....I assure you, however, it is a WONDERFUL thing) the first of February. While remaining on the Department of Defense payroll as an active duty soldier, he will be able to draw his regular Army paycheck while being "on leave" and available to work another job. Double dipping! He's THRILLED. And I am too.

Somebody in the military's secret satellite service somewhere spying on us overheard that conversation and just HAD to make sure that our joyous beginning to the New Year began with our heads firmly planted on terra firma, however. About lunchtime, he got a call from his first sergeant (albeit a repeatedly apologetic phone call) informing Pete that he'd been placed on staff duty--sitting at the barracks manning phones and essentially babysitting whichever soldiers had no home to go to for the holidays and the ones coming back off of Christmas exodus early. So there he sits, the first day of the last year he'll serve as an active duty soldier, manning his post until 8am tomorrow. Funny, we were just joking the other day that as of Monday, he'll officially be retirING....so once the process starts its final countdown with the beginning of the clearance process, he can't pull duty anymore. This was literally THE last opportunity the unit had to put him on staff duty. FIGURES!!!!!!

I've had a rough afternoon/evening. With one sick and not-so-happy almost-five-month-old, a sixteen-month-old who is suffering from a lack of mama-lap time, three little girls who are still on a sugar-and-food-coloring high from the last two weeks, a teenage daughter who still hasn't quite figured out how to be a productive member of the family, and a son that I can't bear to look at for very long because I KNOW I'm seconds away from realizing he's going to Afghanistan in a couple of months.....I'm just not really enjoying my last day as a forced-single-mom. I'm tired, I'm sore, I have baby snot caked all over the entire front of my shirt, and I'm craving a Sonic Mocha Java Chiller something terrible. I've already broken my own resolution to keep my temper under control after the thirteenth trip back into the girls' room trying to get all four of them settled.

Can you see it?

I'm suffering from a bad case of selfishness. Not a good way to begin the New Year. I'm going to go grab my sword, do some communicating with the Commander, and do some battle before I go to bed alone. This year may mark the end of my "career" as an Army wife, but first and foremost, I'm still a soldier. My post needs manning.

Change is not a bad thing!

Change is something a military family comes to accept as a way of life. Things are constantly in motion. Our family has moved thirteen times in Pete's twenty-year career. The temporal nature of life is the only thing that really seems permanent. Ironic, no?

Standing in the threshhold of a new way of life, Pete and I (but especially Pete, who was also the son of a career soldier) are having a bit of a rough time adjusting our brains to think bigger than a three-year assignment. It's not easy to make the transition from the "dictated" way life has been lived for the last two decades to thinking that WE will be making the decisions from here on out. Where we live, when we take vacation time, our school schedule, all of it has been determined by the military for so long. You just tend to forget how that gets done when someone isn't telling you how to do it! Just the simple thought that this house we'll close on next week could actually be our HOME for the next.....well, till it's paid off.....that's not as easy to wrap our minds around as you'd think! We're learning fast, though!

The change in our children....that's another story altogether. What's funny is that every now and then, we run across someone at a homeschool or church function who remembers us from the very first time we lived here, nineteen years ago. They'll say something about how they remember that REALLY young couple with the little baby boy who loved to bounce on Mama's lap, and how MUCH things have changed now that the little boy is an adult and we're toting around his six little sisters. Believe me, we're reminded all too often of how quickly kids grow up. We'll have one of our girls talking about being a bride for Halloween while another is actually older than I was when I wore a wedding dress for real! We're all too aware that it seems like just yesterday that the child who is now preparing to deploy to Afghanistan was laying on the couch learning how to get his hands into his mouth to chew on. And we know it won't be long till our little stairstep girls are all the same height. Maybe that's another "side effect" of having such a large separation between our olders and youngers--we can actually SEE how quickly they go from babies to adults!

I'm reminded daily that I just have to be more diligent in taking GOOD pictures of the kids--and that they really do need to be labeled, because oh MY....our girls have a bad habit of looking just way too much alike at different phases of life! We took an impromptu trip over to the Botanical Gardens last weekend and got some pretty good pics; now I just need a few of their brother (that don't show the horrid tattoos he's defiled himself with) and the time to actually do some scrapbooking so I can freeze at least one moment in time.

Kelsey, age 17, and a senior in high school. She's sporting the "Kate" hairdo that her beau Chris has finally convinced her to grow out. YAY!!!Morgan, 5 and a half years old (that half matters!) and old enough to know how to work scissors....notice the inch-long bangs that Mom had to camouflage by pulling what was left up in a hair bow?Jamie, at four (and a half...again, that half is oh-so-important!), is just absolutely beside herself that she doesn't have any loose teeth yet like big sis Morgan. Slow down, short stuff....all in time! Jamie will probably also be the one to be the most freaked-out by the actual tooth-pulling process!I can't tell you how hard it was to get a good picture of Danica that didn't involve a goofy smirk, closed eyes, a stuck-out tongue, or some other oddity. I know, she's three....it comes with the territory!Something tells me Shelby will be our "model". NO, we aren't putting any of our kids into the modeling business, BITE YOUR TONGUE! I simply mean she's going to be the most photogenic child, the one most comfortable in front of a camera. And that SMILE.....she's got her daddy's killer smile. Be still, my heart.Yep, Kasey's me made over. Down to the unwillingness to be photographed smiling. Already. At three months, she already detests the camera. I feel ya, kiddo! I don't want to close my eyes. If I do, they'll be grown up and gone! No fair...

Twenty years ago today...

I fought the tears (why, I'm not sure...they won) as I drove away from the recruiting office after dropping off my new hubby to leave for Army basic training. His 'actual' career wouldn't begin for another day, when he finally inprocessed at Fort Dix in New Jersey, but to me, that was the monumental day--the day, just ten days after becoming a wife, that Pete made me an Army wife. It would be another two and a half months before I saw him again, and a full eleven months before we could share a home as husband and wife.

Since his enlistment, Pete and I have shared 13 addresses, five deployments, countless field exercises and I've forgotten how many different month-long separations for one reason or another. Our children have faced things that most children never have to deal with, but they've also been blessed with opportunities that we never could have afforded them if we weren't a military family.

Life (and the military) has thrown so much at us these past 20 years...it would be easy to forget all the details, but good or bad, my memory is sharply reminiscent of just way too much! I still remember the day he left for basic training like it was yesterday--the fear of the unknown (the only knowledge I had of military life was of my uncle, whose Army career was one of those national secrets that we knew little more of than where he was stationed), the pain of knowing it would be at least two months before I could see him again--I remember vividly going to the mall with Pete's mother after we dropped him off and the song on the piped-in radio was Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting". OH MY how I had to fight to keep from falling apart!

Even though we've had some seriously hard times, the good has far outweighed the bad, and through it all, I'm so proud of this man I share my life with, and the good he's done has made me pleased to stand in the background on the rare occasion that he actually receives a pat on the back. When it comes down to it, Pete is a patriot at heart. Sometimes that scares me senseless, I'll have to admit! I've been befuddled by tears because he feels his duty in Iraq was not fulfilled and he wanted to go back, and I've sat in the van during a horrid thunderstorm as he pulled over into the median of a busy street during rush-hour traffic to restore the dignity of a fallen American flag by re-hanging it on its METAL pole with lightning flashing all around him. He may give me heart attack after heart attack, but I sure love this guy and I wouldn't trade him (or the last 20 years) for anything!

Happy Armyversary, sweetie--and HOOAH!!!

Is it time for winter yet?

Wow, I really did forget just how hot and sticky Southern summers get! Hmm...and we're not even "technically" out of Spring yet!? Oh my...how thankful I am for air conditioning!

Well, it is official. Pete has submitted his retirement packet and we are now in the official countdown toward military retirement next March. Twenty LOOOOOOONG years, five deployments, twelve moves (not counting in-town moves from one address to another), and more headaches than we care to admit, and in nine months it will all be history. That's a big WOW to both of us, and the reality of civilian life looming on the horizon is both scary and incredibly exciting all at the same time. Could it be that we can actually plan to stay PUT for a while? Oh, how nice that will be. Paint on the walls (okay, COLORED paint), being able to buy address labels....oh, the simple pleasures!

I did have to giggle more than just a little bit at one of Pete's transition classes this week--dressing for success--the transition office had a rep from Men's Wearhouse to come out and teach the been-in-cammies-for-way-too-long soldiers how to dress (ie., how to MATCH your clothing). What was funny was that the whole week, Pete had to wear civilian attire instead of a uniform, and he was a bit at a loss for what to wear! I guess that class really was a necessity! Maybe I need to take a better look at his closet and plan for more than just Sundays now? YAY!!!

I didn't know that!

My nextdoor neighbor is packing right now to fly to Kansas to welcome home her hubby from Iraq. He's been there for 15 months. Nothing unusual in the military community, it's all too common, really. BUT...she's spending 9 days there with him (he's stationed there, she and the girls live here in Alabama...it's a retirement thing, long story) because she just found out the Army is calling up her former MOS (military occupational specialty) by five-year-increments, to active duty for deployment, so she's spending as much time with him as possible in case SHE gets deployed before he retires in February.

Okay, I've heard of it. I knew that everybody who gets out of the military stays on 'ready reserve' for 8 years, where they can call you back up to active service if they need you. Problem is, my neighbor got out SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO!

Why, oh WHY can they call her back to service now? Well, her job in the Army was military intelligence. Nobody told her till she got out that she was pretty much NEVER going to be completely out. They can call her back up to active service till she's dead, pretty much. It's all part and parcel of being MI. For one, the Army is always short on MI guys, and the ready reserve is a quick way to up the population count. Second, the Army retains the ability to call anyone in intelligence circles back to active duty if they're caught double-crossing the American government so they can be tried for treason. OUCH.

I'm glad Pete didn't go MI. Jon too! Yikes! Talk about a "lifer"!

Happy Veteran's Day

For years, I've attended one military function after another. I've dressed up for a ball, stood in support of I forget how many re-enlistment ceremonies, learned about military pomp and circumstance, and even how to deal with upper brass. Shoot, I even managed to get myself in to see the President speak to the troops returning from Iraq to Fort Stewart. Yet I've only had one other day where there was a lump in my throat and swelling of patriotism as big as today. It was the day Pete returned from the war.

Today, that patriotism oozed from every pore of my body. Maybe it was the "Army Mom" hat I wore, or the US Army jacket, or the unit tee shirt I had on underneath, but I doubt it. That was just identification. Beleive it or not, the last Veteran's Day Parade I attended was one I marched in during high school. Pathetic. My husband has been in the Army for 19 years, and I've not been to a single parade honoring our nation's veterans in all that time. Honestly, until this year, I've not heard of any going on in the areas we were in. It's possible that the towns we've lived in (El Paso TX, Hinesville GA, and Watertown NY) have just not had parades. If that's the case, shame on them.

However, I think it just kind of came crashing down on me all at once today that we're a military family in more than one sense of the term. I was there in support not just of our veterans, but of two active duty units. I cheered when my son's unit marched by, and I cheered when my hubby rode by on top of the launcher he trains soldiers to work on.

It's days like today that I really don't care WHAT you think of our nation's foreign policy, the war, or timetables for withdrawal. These are the guys (and gals) who have sworn to protect us, and they deserve both our respect and every bit of honor that this day brings to them. This is the day we should all be standing up proud and tall as our nation's flag passes by and remember the blood that was shed for the freedom of people not just in this country, but in countries most of us will never go to. Our soldiers, airmen, sailors, and Marines fight not only for our freedom, but for the freedom of people worldwide. That's something to stand up and salute.

I find it absolutely horrific that people around me at that parade did NOT know to stand when our nation's colors pass in review. I told my girls (who were sitting on the curb during the parade) to stand each time the American flag was marched by, and eventually, people got the idea. I was even more horrified that a 10-year-old boy next to us asked out loud as a group of older veterans (proudly announcing that they fought in Korea) marched by, "Mom, was there really such a thing as the Korean War?"

America, we have forgotten our past. We are neglecting to teach our nation's history to our children. We don't teach them what honor and integrity and sacrifice mean. We traded those lessons for self-esteem, sex ed, and political correctness. Yes, we need change. Who will bring the change our country needs? I fear it is not the man who has been promising it.

I'll share pictures of my day before I hurt myself falling off of this soap box....

Our nation's colors and the representative flags of our Armed Forces. Are you standing?

The Alabama A&M Marching Bulldog Band. Pretty cool!

Ok, that was about when that lump showed up in my throat.

Is it any wonder I couldn't find my son in that sea of camouflage?

Jon's company. Nope, I never found him.

Pete and his big boy toy. He's on top of the HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), doing that cute little golf wave--the one on the left under the flag.

I was thrilled to be able to salute not only my two heroes today, but also the ones who have gone before them in uniform, preserving the freedoms and privileges we enjoy as Americans. Let us not forget what our forefathers intended this nation to be, and may America once again return to her roots! For my husband, son, father, father-in-law, grandfathers, grandfathers-in-law, and every generation on both sides who have served in every conflict of our nation's history, I stand honoring every sacrifice that has been made. Let's not see those sacrifices wasted to return to something our forefathers sought to escape.

A little perspective

This has been a week of changed plans! Yesterday morning, Pete called to tell me he needed me to do some emergency babysitting for a soldier who just arrived here on Tuesday. This poor guy did an entire move with his three young kids, while his wife is in basic training. As Kelsey helped me out with the 5, 2, and 8-month-old little ones, she got a good look at just why God intended for kids to have both a mother AND a father and why mamas are so important. I feel for this daddy--he's CLUELESS. Totally lost, and you can see the overwhelmed look in his face as he attempts to get himself signed in here at Redstone, get a house set up, get the oldest into school, look for daycare for the younger two, PLUS take care of all three of them when he's not working.

He was shocked that adding three more little ones to the mix didn't cause total chaos in our household. Poor guy!

I guess one of the most head-scratching realizations, however, came when he told us how much daycare will cost them--$1300 a month. Since I know military pay charts pretty well, I know that the amount they are going to be paying for daycare will be his wife's ENTIRE paycheck. The whole thing.

She is working, essentially, to put her kids in daycare. And it's not just any job, she is now a soldier in the most oft-deployed military in the world. I understand the desire to serve one's country but at what price? I just cannot fathom being away from an 8-month-old baby for SIX MONTHS. I can't imagine it. Kelsey and I have been eating this little baby girl up, and the boys--they are precious too, and of course they're all well cared-for by their dad, but goodness, they just NEED their mom!

It breaks my heart. I wish we could find a way to take care of them full-time. Hmm....it's just two more, right?

Have a ball?

Tonight is the annual Ordnance Corps 'birthday' Ball. Kelsey is babysitting for Pete's boss, and we're not going. I'm just not the Ball type. I don't do formal well, I detest shopping for formal wear, and personally, I feel ridiculous all dressed up. We've gone to one formal military ball, and it was...well, an experience. That's about all I can say about it. Sure, there was lots of pomp and circumstance, everybody looked amazing....but it is REALLY difficult to get comfy and enjoy yourself while you're dressed to the nines and your husband's commanding officer is sitting just feet away from you. Nevermind we were surrounded by a dozen or so drunken idiots who found it hilarious to see how high they could stack their beer bottles...

Pete is in charge of having the HIMARS launcher there and on display at the Ball, so at least he's got something to do tonight. And something very odd is crossing my mind...maybe we should plan to go next year, just one last time?

And so begins the madness.

Since we arrived in Alabama just a few short months ago, Pete has had to confront a very obvious elephant in the room--his looming military retirement. As we've learned, one can pretty much do an entire military career without *too* much planning. Pete's not a planner. He's a dreamer. He is perfectly content to take life as it comes, and for the most part, that's perfectly fine. But this is one time when it's just not going to happen. There is too much that he/we simply must do--real, live legwork. We live in military housing, so at some point we're going to have to get real about finding a mailbox to put our name on outside the gates of Redstone Arsenal. Of course, then there's another biggie--his post-retirement JOB.

God is amazing us over and over when we see how well 'staged' this move was in preparation for Pete's Army retirement. But there was always the possibility of just riding out the last few years without making any real efforts at making a civilian life until he's pretty much forced out of the Army. We've spent a LOT of time the last few days talking about that, and he admitted to really not even knowing how to go about making that decision. I told him it would be a great idea to go talk to some men who have actually transitioned from the military to civilian life and get their take on things, get advice, etc., but I also asked him if he would rather spend the next few years wearing camouflage or donning civilian clothing to go to work. He finally said it--"I want to be a civilian."

Yesterday, he went and had a conversation with the installation antiterrorism head honchos to ask about the job they're advertising vacancies in. He came home with a TON of paperwork.

And so it begins!

Icky, sticky, summer day

That pretty much sums it up for the day.

Yeah, RIGHT.

Seriously, though, it's 87 degrees in the shade, the breeze has totally died, the humidity is up to 73%, and there is NO AIR CONDITIONING in this country!!! I actually took the girls to the commissary today to hang out for a few minutes in what used to be our ice cream freezer. It's empty now, because the commissary is downsizing along with the rest of the base. But hey, it's still cold, which is more than I can say for the rest of Germany today!

On the upside, today I have a very shiny dining room floor! Go figure, pregnant bodies seem to be made to be on the floor scrubbing! Not so much the bending and mopping, but the being ON the floor. And it's interesting how well Mop & Glo mixes with sweat to make a really pretty finish on the floor!

Ah, yes, and Jon made a big step forward in his budding military career today; he passed a number of common task tests that his recruiter was to assess him on, and he will enter the Army next week (WOAH NELLY!!!) with real rank on his shoulder--a PV2 instead of a plain old Private! How quickly (or not) one forgets just how valuable those early promotions are!

Full Circle

I began my married life as an Army wife. It's the only life I've known since I left the home I was raised in. Ten years ago, Pete and I withdrew our children from public school and began our homeschool journey. Today, that journey came to an end, and another circle has begun.

I am now not only an Army wife, but also an Army mom. As of about the 9th of June, our family will include a Retired Chief Warrant Officer, an active duty Staff Sergeant, and a Private.

One MAJOR hurdle passed

Woah. I feel like I've been run over by the moving truck that left yesterday with eleven crates full of our "stuff". Somehow, even though it wasn't us doing the packing and lifting and taping and boxing and stuffing, I'm worn out! But you know what? Even with next to nothing in our house, there is a huge sense of peace knowing that we're one GIGANTIC step closer to moving. Our next big hurdle is less than a week away--our preliminary housing inspection (always a source of stress because it seems that housing inspectors are trained by the same PR reps that train US Customs agents in the Dulles Airport--rude, impatient, condescending, and just plain not fun to deal with)--and although it's a huge pain in the neck, it's nothing compared to having your entire house ripped apart, stuffed into boxes, and loaded on a truck. It's nothing compared to trying to weed through everything you own and picking out what you think will be adequate clothing for seven people in two climates for two months. Yep, that housing inspection looks like a teeny little speedbump compared to the mountain that is now in our rearview mirror!

There were, of course, the inevitable miscommunication problems that led to several of the things we'd intended on keeping here getting packed and shipped, but nothing major. Jon is just going to have to make due without the ten dollar bill, the Zune charger, cell phone charger, and Chevy Nova books that he neglected to put in his "do not pack" closet. Pete may be getting a slight bum-chewing for having his dog tags unaccounted for today (OOPS!!!), and I may have to drink my coffee from a plastic cup for a few weeks, but otherwise there were no big problems.

Jon's ASVAB testing went well. He took the test alongside three other high school seniors, and out of the four of them, his score was the highest. His recruiter told him he still could have done better, had he done just a tad more studying, but overall he did wonderfully. He should be able to get whichever job in the Army he wants--hopefully the draw of Explosive Ordnance Disposal wears off in the next few days! It looks as if our new graduate (Pete and I signed his transcript and his diploma last week!) will be taking the oath of enlistment next Monday! He's not going to actually go to basic training till August, however, so he's got a little time left with us once we get back on US soil to finally take his driver's exam and spend some time working on that Nova that will be his once he is able to pay for the insurance! We're actually hoping he goes through with his plan of going into an MOS that will train at Redstone Arsenal after basic training so we're at least on the same base for a little while, even if he's living in the barracks. It will also mean that his basic training will be closer to us, and his granparents will be close enough to be there for his graduation from both basic and his Advanced Individual Training. That's IF he trains at Redstone. Another plus to that option (which, of course, we are NOT mentioning this to him) is that we will be available during his training to drive the boy to church! The Army frowns upon soldiers having a car while they're in training, and knowing how shy Jon is.....he would not likely be calling anyone to give him a ride to church if Mom and Dad weren't available!

Wow, life really is moving right along! Hmm....I suppose now that I have a few extra minutes, it's time to start working on Jon's picture board for the graduate luncheon at church in two weeks, and getting his graduation announcements addressed!

Alabama, here we come!

After two full weeks of torture, someone in Army-land finally decided to give our suspense-weary brains a rest, and we now know where that big bird we'll be getting on in June will be taking us!

Redstone Arsenal!!! This is SOOO much an answer to prayer, I can't even begin to elaborate! We have hoped and prayed almost all of Pete's military career to go back to Redstone, and now it's going to be his "final" (providing he doesn't find another vein to take that will extend his career) duty station before he retires from the military!

Whoah.......that kind of seems "final", doesn't it? Are we nearing the end??? FINALLY??? Yippee!!!!!

Okay, I have to wipe this silly grin off my face and get moving...I still haven't made Jamie's birthday cake! Can you believe she's THREE today??

Nail Biter!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOW could he do it????

HOW can he put me through all of this suspense and fall asleep?????

HOW????????

And for crying out loud, HOW can this man KNOW that he's got an assignment and not be RUNNING up to work to get his little computer-geeky fingers on that secure government computer to find out where we're going?????

WHY wait till tomorrow??????

That's it. I'm convinced he likes seeing me biting all of my fingernails off. In the last two hours, I'm down two. By morning I won't be able to scratch an itch and I'll likely have bloody fingertips.

This is what it's all about

I truly meant to blog about the very emotional homecoming of Pete's unit within a day or two of when they came home, but here it is a month later...no time like the present, right? I'll leave out the twenty or so pictures, though!

The picture above was taken as the 1st Armored Division Band played to pass the time between when "our" guys' buses arrived and when they actually marched across the field to their awaiting families. It was totally unstaged, I promise. And yes, my kids do naturally now find it quite natural to stand either at attention or parade rest. Part and parcel of this whole Army family gig, I'm afraid, but I won't apologize for it by any means. Why? Because my children are learning patriotism and respect for our country...and if that means they pick up on a little military protocol, well that's just gravy!

This homecoming was a bit odd for us. It was the first time WE weren't welcoming a soldier home, and it gave us an interesting perspective. We were able to sit back and just take everything in. We were able to feel the pride swelling in our hearts for our soldiers without fitfully searching the crowd for our own. We were able to really take full notice of the outpouring of love that surrounded us. And it was WONDERFUL! It was the blissful moment where all political opinion about war and our place in this world and the global responsibilities our nation has just disappeared. This was just a group of people who accomplished their mission and returned home to their families after a VERY long separation. Nobody on that field cared about anything other than their soldier.

Being a military family is not easy. Being an Army wife is HARD work. It isn't just about "standing by your man". Being an Army wife means that you have to balance being a single parent with having a husband out there....somewhere....who will come home and want to fit back into your life. It means you have to know how to work well without him for Lord knows how long, but be able to know how to step aside and let him take the lead the moment he's back at home. It means you need to know just about as much about how the military works as your husband does, and you have to be able to accept insecurity as a way of life. It means you can't really have true roots, because as we all say, "Home is where the Army sends us", but your heart is in five or six other places with your best friends, your family, and a deployed or "in the field" hubby. It means you don't really get to paint your living room.

And best of all, it means that one day when the stress has gone on for far too long and the loneliness has overtaken you to the point of numbness, you will stand on a field with hundreds of other family members and feel your heart leap from your chest as a military band plays Stars and Stripes Forever and you see that huge formation of green and brown march toward you. It means you stand tall and proud, because the soldiers on that field are yours.

Welcome Home, 596th Maintenance! We missed you!