Ch-ch-changes

If there's one thing the Army teaches you it's that things change (all the time). Life is always changing, but for the majority of the world, that change doesn't disrupt daily life like it does in the Army.

At most jobs, when they send you to a special training event, plane tickets are purchased, hotels are booked, all travel arrangements are made and there's no thought that things may completely change unless there's bad weather. The Army is not this way. When Kevin went to the National Training Center before his last deployment, the date they were supposed to leave changed about four times, it wasn't until about a week away that they gave us a definitive date. I remember thinking that it wouldn't be like that all the time, but boy was I wrong. Change is a way of living for soldiers and their families.

Kevin's unit got stationed at a place that was a pretty low risk area--much to the relief of friends and family. But recently we found out that they are moving--to a higher risk area. While in reality the risk factor is the same anywhere you are, there is a comfort you can take in knowing that less people die everyday in one place than in another. It's because of these kinds of changes happening all the time that trust in the Sovereign God is a necessity in my life. Change isn't so bad when you can lean on Someone who never does.

good to the last drop

I would be willing to guess that every child between the ages of 2-6 would list one of their favorite drinks as chocolate milk (codename, CM, when you don't want your child to know that they may be getting some). The first time I gave Davis some chocolate milk was at our favorite coffee shop in OKC, Wholly Grounds. He drank the entire cup in about two minutes--the straw never left his mouth and his eyes never left the cup!

Today we went to McDonald's and I ordered chocolate milk with his happy meal; he was delighted! He finished his chicken nuggets, so it was time for chocolate milk. I shook it up then opened it, he swallowed it down at about the same pace as that first day. He has learned that if you tilt the cup and put he straw in the crease of the cup that you can get one more little sip, after that, he was satisfied then threw away his cup in the trash. I noticed we had forgotten to throw away the lid, so I asked him to throw it away too. He picked it up and a short gasp escaped his mouth, then he said, "There's a little bit left in the lid." And he licked it up.

Since having kids, I have re-discovered just how good chocolate milk is. When you have endless options at the coffee house counter, we tend to forget just how good the simple things are.

Pharaoh, Pharaoh...

If you know the story, you know what his famous line is, "No, no, I will not let them go" and Moses keeps asking while God sends plague after plague until the Passover. My precious three year old knows this story very well, it's one of his favorites (his other favorite is David and Goliath).

We were at a friends house the other day and I told Davis to do something, he looks at me with this stern face and says, "No, no.........(what seems like hours later) I will not let them go." This was one of those moments where you sit stunned for a moment--do you rebuke or laugh (because I wanted to do both)? My friends laughed, but I had to reprimand, because I can't allow him to tell me "no" no matter how he does it--even if it's through the voice of Pharaoh.

Later, when I was thinking about the whole event, I realized: man, my kid is really smart! I decided to be thankful for his incredible intelligence and genious creativity instead of being irritated.

phone cards and missed calls

We thought we were really ahead of the game because a friend of mine informed us that all the phone cards had been purchased in Kuwait, and there were none left, so we got one for him before he left, that stated clearly on the front it was for international use. However, when he arrived and tried to call me, he realized that it also stated clearly on the back that you had to call customer service while still in the U.S. to set it up. He emailed me the card number and pin and customer service number, so I could make the call, this polite man informed me that the card could not be used in the country he was in. There is an excellent website that sells phone cards specifically for deployed soldiers with phenomenal rates, so one of those has been set up.

Knowing this, I have had my phone on me all day today, with the exception of one minute (and I mean that quite literally). I wrote him a novel of an email today, so I ran upstairs to check my email and see if there was a response of any kind, none at all so I ran back downstairs and I had a missed call. [insert sinking feeling in chest] I checked the voicemail, it was him. I cried. Davis looked up at me and asked, "Mommy, are you sad?"
"Yes, I am. That was Daddy who called and I missed it."
"I'm sorry. I'll get you a tissue for you tears, okay?"
And he did.

and it begins

I am a mother of two boys--a three and half year old and a six month old. And we have just begun the adventure of our lives---the second deployment of my husband to Iraq. The
Army is a unique organization, anyone who is a part of it will tell you the same thing, it is a different culture, most people don't know this, in fact most people know very little about the Army or its soldiers. This time around I thought I would enlighten my friends and family (and I suppose whoever else finds this blog) what it's like. What it's like to be a mother of two, a dedicated wife of one, and a civilian supported by the Army.

day two

Today has been a little harder. I did hear from Kevin. I got a text message on my phone from a friend of his via yahoo, telling me Kevin was online and waiting to talk to me. I then got a phone call from some lady telling me the same thing (don't really know how that all worked) We were in the car on our way to the mall when all this happened--so I turn around and get back to the house, put a cartoonon for the kids and ran upstairs to try and talk to him. We tried everything and either my computer wouldn't work or his wouldn't, tried AOL, myspace IM, Facebook all for about 45 minutes with little communication. During that time Ronin started screaming. Finally I gave up, went and made Davis his routine lunch of PB&J with yogurt,I was in such a hurry that I put Ronin in his chair but didn't buckle him...he was fussy, so when he was crying I didn't think anything of it, til I turned the corner and he was laying on the ground-he had pushed himself out of the chair!By then, it was time for him to eat too, so I fed him and laid them both down for nap. I heard little whisperings...Davis was leaning over into the crib talking to Ronin, I had to give him a spanking. Then the phone rang, and I hurried downstairs to answer it, all I saw was the 405, so I opened it on up--then realized it was a friend I wasn't really prepared for today, but they just wanted to check in and see how we were doing. Whew...so here it is 2:00, and I still haven't had lunch and Ronin is still rolling around in his crib...wait...I think he must've just fallen asleep. Anyhow, that's been our day so far. :)