This should be interesting

Somedays I miss blogging.  I met a lot of people through this.  Quite a few I still keep in contact with now.  Life is funny that way.  Let's see how this works.  I figure this would be a place to write, as Facebook would not be a good outlet for these long thoughts.

Last Sunday Jordan left to start the journey to become a Marine.  This is something this child has dreamed about, talked about for as long as I can remember.  It was his first thought of what he wanted to be when he grew up, that of course after he decided he no longer wanted to be a stranger or an Indian.  Whew, glad his career goals changed.  Can you imagine when dome one asks about your son, "oh he is a stranger" or "oh he is an Indian".

Jordan signed up for the Marine Corp  June 1, 2012.  He was so excited, passed everything, and on the way home was in a terrible wreck.  He flipped his truck, had to crawl out the back window with gas pouring out onto the street.  God had his hand on him that day, and I know he still does.  There were three cars involved, not one person required medical attention.  Jordan was in the DEP program (delayed entry program).  He went o PT at least once a week, recruit functions once a month, etc...  June 10, 2013 couldn't come soon enough for him.  Jordan had a serious case of senioritis, imagine that.  Lol!  He played football.  That is another story in and of itself.  He went to Muncie Area Career Center, and was in Construction Trades, and helped build a house.  What an awesome experience.  Jordan went to prom with a girl he's been friends with forever.  He had so much fun.  Then, out of no where graduation came.  How did that get here so soon?  What an awesome moment to see him walk across the stage to receive his diploma.  I love our community, to see staff  and schol board members hug my son at graduation.  We had an open house immediately following graduation.  Jordan really enjoyed "his" day.

Knowing Jordan was leaving 8 days after graduation, we did LOTS of fun family stuff this past year. We were able to buy a camper, and had fun camping.  We went to the Upper Penninsula of Michigan for a week.  We definitely enjoyed every moment we could bring together.  Not that there wasn't fighting, but we still enjoyed it.

Well, June 9 we took him to his recruiter, hugged him and then he left to stay in a hotel getting ready for Monday.  June 10, we drove to Indy to see him swear in and get on a bus to leave for 13 weeks.  What an awesome experience.  It was a bit boring when we were just sitting around waiting, but the moments we got to spend with Jordan were worth it.  We hugged again, got his belongings, and waved goodbye, for real this time.  Did I say 13 weeks yet?  Well, we will not see him again for 13 weeks, 13 weeks, that is a long time.  At that time we will see him graduate boot camp.  That, my friend, is a day I am looking forward to.  So, when people in town ask me EVERY day "how are you doing?"  I honestly tell them, I miss Jordan but the pride and happiness I feel for what he is doing far out weighs the sadness i feel from him being gone.  I think of Jordan, pray for Jordan at least about a million times a day.  I love to hear people tell me, "I said a prayer for Jordan today".  Jordan is one lucky guy, we know people all over the world and they are praying for him.  Pastor Mackey gave Jordan a blessing and prayed with him the day he left.  How much more comfort can a person be given?

Tuesday Rob got the scripted phone call that he had arrived at his destination.  Now, the waiting game.  Hoping to get a letter with his address this week.  We have read that we should write every day, do that Jordan will get mail every mail call.  Hoping I can do it.  We bought some note cards, I figure that would make it easier to write something each day.

Well, I have definitely rambled enough.

Please pray for a high school friend, who I came in contact through facebook, whose brother just passed away. 39 years old is too young to die. He has a wife and 2 young children. I can't even imagine the pain right now.

The boys are so excited because Grandma is coming for Christmas. Please remember us during this time.

For various reasons we have not spent many holidays together for quit a few years, at least the last 4 or 5. We ae hoping this will be a new milestone in our family relationship. My boys so long to have their grandma around. She is planning on building a gingerbread train with them, along with my nephew Stephen, and some other fun things. She is coming on Monday sometime and leaving on Friday morning. Mom and my sister and her family will be joining us in worship at our Christmas Eve service.

Hopefully someone will be taking pictures and I will have some to post sometime soon.

Yesterday we joined the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The church is in Muncie Indiana, we've been attending since last February or so. Anyone whose been reading my blog for any time knows that we've been on a LONG journey in our faith. We left the UPCI 3 years ago officially, and prior to that we'd been praying and studying Gods word. God has shown us so very much. We have been to several churches. Non-denominational, Reformed Baptist, Congregational, Presbyterian and finally Confessional Lutheran. Last January we were baptized as believers in the Presbyterian church and became members. Actually we only had wanted to be baptized and in order to be baptized we had to join the church. Even at that time there was a few things we were still questioning and then through yet more studying and prayer God led us to the Lutheran church. Rob had been listening to some podcasts and was learning so much. He had been listening to The Whitehorse Inn and Issues Etc. to name a couple. We have decided that for us this is the church we will be a part of, basically because of what we feel is the proper distinction of law and gospel.

There is so much I'd love to post about this, but I will have to do that at a later time. I've taken so much time from my family this evening, just by posting what I have. This season has been so busy for us, and I haven't spent enough time with them. I have so many, many thougths running through my head right now, I can't wait to post them, or at least try.

The best looking boys and their dog.

Our new quilt

The boys quilts

Oh so much has happend since my last post. I will try and do a quick update.

The end of October was a sickly time for the parents that live in this house. That would include Rob and I, just in case you didn't know. Rob got terribly sick, he missed 2 1/2 days of work even. That is totally unheard of for him. He had parotitis. It is basically an infected salivary gland. No good explanation for what causes it. It was awful for Rob though. It causes extreme pain though. He was taking a strong pain medicine for about 4 days all day, and then in the evening/night in order to sleep. Not fun. Then no sooner than he got better, I got sick. Of course just started with a cold, and then led to a bad sinus infection. I don't enjoy those at all. I get one about this time every year. I lost my voice--well not completely--but I sounded awful for almost 3 weeks after I started taking the antibiotics.

We had to take Maggie to the Humane Society. It was an awful day for me. I just bawled like a baby when I left her. She had been put outside, and it was getting cold, I couldn't stand the thought of her being left outside and cold. We just didn't give her enough attention and we felt it was best to take her someplace where she could find a new home. I took her the Friday before Thanksgiving and she went to a new home on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I have had the opportunity to talk to the new family. They absolutely love her. They have 2 small children which is great for Maggie, as she is still a puppy and needs lots of energy spent on her. We still miss her, but I'm thankful that she is in a home that she is very loved. Remember, that we took her in after finding her in the park.

We went to Illinois for Thanksgiving/Christmas. We left on Thanksgiving day and came home on Sunday. Thursday was spent with my family. Mom made us all new quilts for our beds. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE ours. The boys are all special for them. Jordan fishing stuff, Austin dinosaurs, and Zach tools. The one for our bed is a beautiful double wedding ring pattern in earthy colors. matches our bedroom great. While we were in Illinois I started to get a cold again, thankfully it didn't last as long and didn't require a visit to the doctor. The boys got a Wii for Christmas. We had to cheat and tell them, actually they have gotten it already, because of the Christmas we do at Thanksgiving with our families. We didn't want the boys to spend all their money on other things. We bought the system, which came with 1 set of controllers, and they had to buy anything else they wanted. They ended up being able to purchase a total of 4 sets of controllers and 6 games. We all have fun playing the system. We had a great time with our family while we were there. I didn't get any pictures since I wasn't feeling well, which is kind of stinky. But, life will go on.

We have finally gotten the tree and Nativity set up this past weekend. Haven't made any Christmas baking yet. Hopefully this weekend. Man, has this season come fast this year.

A day at Metamora Indiana

Metamora has the only working wooden Aquaduct in the Nation. We took a ride on the canal boat, which is powered by horses. It was a very interesting ride. The boys enjoyed to history we learned this weekend. This was actually the last weekend in October.

Taking a train ride in Metamora

What a nice weekend we had. I was off work, Rob was off work and it was beautiful fall weather. The church was doing family pictures for a new directory. We participated in that by having our family picture done. The boys were not so excited, but we just did a little bribbing with Texas Roadhouse. DONE!!!! Know, imagine, I have 4 men in my house, pictures aren't the highlight of any day, much less a Saturday. Well, then to top it all off, this crazy Mom didn't get the boys pictures this year around their birthdays, like I've always done since they were born. So, we just added a stop at the park, not to play but to snap some pictures, to possibly use as their yearly pictures. They turned out great, I am hoping they turn out in print as well as they look by viewing them.

On Sunday I cooked all day. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the fall weather. I love to cook fall foods, and all that jazz. I made a terrifice batch of Loaded Baked Potato Soup, a doulbe batch of Beef Stroganoff, some cookies, pumpkin cheese cake and spiced cider. YUMMO!! The house smelled wonderful. We've eaten well this week also.

I am hoping this fall we can get to a fruit farm. We didn't last year, because it just didn't seem right to go when it was 90* outside. Maybe, this weekend.

A day off

Get two boys to school @ 7:45
Dentist in Richmond (30 minutes south of home) @ 8:15 am
Take boy # 3 to school--chat with the elementary school principal and secretaries for a few
Eye appointment in Greenville (20 minutes east of home) @ 10:30
Stopped @ the Goodwill store
Eat lunch with Hubby @11:30
Go to the grocery store
Pick up mending--that has been done for about 2 months
Get Maggie a double cheeseburger
Stop at the Middle school and talk with the principal
Come home @ 2
Visit Maggie, feed her the Cheeseburger, play a few minutes
Get in the house and now I should be cooking supper and picking up the house.

What a relaxing day off. LOL!!!!

Maggie and her new friend.

THis beautiful dog, Maggie, became and outside dog today. It was either that or a new home for her. We love her, and enjoy her, she is just not good for an inside dog. Well, she doesn't like to be outside alone for long, even though she LOVES to be outside. Today, Rob and I had to go and get her a dog house and some things for the yard, and Austin didn't want to join us. Well, he got tired of having to stay outside the entire time, so this is what he came up with.

He put the boom box outside to play "adventures in Odyssey" Cd's for her listening enjoyment. He said it worked great at keeping her company.

I thought this to be very ingenious of him. He is such an thinker. This was the shirt he had been wearing today, and also notice the close up of the "hair" (i.e. dried out grass)

Austin and Zach building.

Motgomery, 3 years old, holding Austin 11 years old. It was too cute. He kept saying "I will hold you."

Myles, Batman, Statue of Liberty, with his spiderman cell phone.

Acacia the Statue of Liberty.

Weekend with family

Rob's sister, Faith had her second child. A girl. Ellie Ann. She is absolutely beatiful. In the first picture, Jordan is holding her with Acacia next to him and then Ellie's big brother Myles walking away. Rob's mom had taken a picture of all the grandkids and I was too late with my camera, so this is what remained. There are now 8 grandkids, ranging from 14-1 month old, on Rob's side of the family. We enjoyed spending time with his family 2 weekends ago. The kids all play together so well. It is always nice to see family.

REO Speedwagon Concert

Rob and I along with my sister and her husband went to see REO Speedwagon at the The Great Darke County Fair this summer. It was fun. Nice 80's music. HEEHEE!!! I had never been to a concert, and it was fun. Very calm actually.