The tale of two wildcats

Okay, so my husband's alarm went off at 4:30 this morning. What the heck is the army thinking?!?!? These soldiers just spent 15 months in a desert who's recent weather averaged 75 degrees F. After being home less than a week, they want them to go PT in less than 20 degree weather. Idiots... I swear!

Anyway, so though I try as I might I can't get back to sleep. So after some prayer time I'm on my laptop still in bed :), checking my e-mail. I know I've said it a thousand times over, but I love living in this smaller atmosphere. Back about a month ago, the 1st and 2nd graders had a poster contest for the K-state Basketball season. Johnathan's class won which got them a visit from the K-State mascot, Willie the Wildcat.

Now this isn't going to matter to anyone but me, and those friends of mine that grew up in Arizona. See, my home town, Tucson, Arizona is home to the University of Arizona, which happens to have the wildcat as it's mascot also. So I grew up with one distinct "wildcat" mascot, it's weird to see a different logo and different mascot attached to the "wildcat" name.

Wilbur Wildcat:

Willie the Wildcat:

Honestly, I think the Arizona one is superior, because the wildcat head on a human body just gives me the willies. (pun intended) I mean, yeah, we all know it's a guy in the costume, but at least Arizona tries to mask the fact.

And my friends that are loyal to Tucson may want to throw tomatoes at me for this next comment... I think the superiority stops there.

Where Wilbur is a fun character, great to have around at game time, I don't recall it ever being involved with the community, with younger children outside of sporting events. Willie the Wildcat is. My sons class got to go to the K-State college and see the locker rooms and basketball court and football field first hand. Willie was with them as they took the "secret stairs" that led them outside. Willie signed autographs and if you didn't have something for him to sign, he'd sign your arm for you. (I know... the marker still hasn't come off my sons arm!)

The fact that K-State is involved with the youth at the younger ages outside of sporting events thrills me. My little man came home so psyched up about his visit, he was just bubbling over with excitement. Though this might seem un-important for most, think of the early impact. It is making young kids excited about college really. My son will never forget the day he got to go to the college, he's going to feel that connection, and how he felt important and special, like he belonged there. It's just awesome that's all.

So as I leave this post that I'll be scratching my head about later, wondering where the heck it all came from (I blame the 4:30am alarm clock!!) I shall leave with a picture my son's teacher sent me.



PS Oh, and if you're like me and interested in useless little trivia facts when you have time to kill... According to Wiki, K-State created the costumed wildcat mascot first. Willie is 12 years older than Wilbur.

Home

Are those happy kids or what? That was the scene yesterday, and the reason why I may be a little hard to nail down. The ceremony time kept changing, first it was on Sunday, then it was Monday at 11am, then it was Monday at 8:30am, then when we got there we were told it changed to 10. Thankfully though, once it did start, it was super quick. They marched them all in (about 100 guys) and some high ranking guy thanked the men for a job well done, then said let's get these guys released to their loved ones. I was so thankful for that! Finally someone who knew his droning on and on meant little to the soldiers, they just wanted to be with their families.

So for now things are going slow. He has to go back to work full time on Thursday, I'm sure I'll be pestering my blog then. :)

One more day...

Ha! As I should have predicted, hubby's homecoming isn't happening today. His plane broke down in Iceland. lol Poor guy. Now we're rescheduled for Monday at 11am. I'm rolling with the punches, unfortunately however my oldest is being a down right difficult child and I can't help but wonder if it's because of this. He is just lashing out at everyone, and though I understand his frustration and anger, it's not okay that he takes it out on those of us that are home. *sigh* Today is going to be looooooong.

On the bright side, I now have more time to clean up. lol Not to mention play with my "stuff". I posted a card I made today on my other blog, and I really need to get making a good website. I gave out several cards at the craft show yesterday, I need to have a website to support it, but I just so am NOT in the mood to create a website. I have the know how, I just don't have the gumption. I wish there were a lady out there that would trade me a website for a discount on scrapbook items. lol If you are out there, contact me!!

Oh... thought I'd leave with this picture of my daughter, bored at the craft show yesterday.

Finally Home...

Today has been excruciatingly long! But it hasn't always felt that way. The alarm went off bright and early at 6am. Out the door by 6:30. My oldest stayed home with our dog. Last night, my oldest thought it was a grand idea to play keep away with Nahla using one of those small rubber bouncy balls. Well, Nahla got it, and swallowed it whole! So while I'm freaking out Nahla's quite pleased with herself. Thankfully the vet said she should be able to pass it (while she's barely a 5mo old pup, she weighs 40lbs, she's a big girl), he gave me some medicine to give to her to help her poop. So since my oldest was the one to feed her the ball, he got to stay home to take her potty constantly and see if that stupid ball makes it through.

Anyway, I dropped my youngest two off at a friends house, then my oldest daughter and I headed to the craft show. It was pretty easy to set up, I had one table their for me. When the doors opened at 9am the guy that was to my back dumped all of his oils on his six pails of potpurri. While I've always liked potporri, sitting by buckets of it for hours on end isn't good. Come noon my head was pounding, and when 4pm came I couldn't wait to get out of there. Thankfully 3/4 of my stuff sold and it was a super quick pick up. I hope to be able to do the show again next year. With more time to prepare I can make more things and be less stressed about it. I was shocked that three of my cards actually sold for $3 ea and I had several people take a business card and even chatted about my cricut machine with a few!

Anyhow, so now my head is pounding, but it's been a good day. I pick up my kids and as I'm driving towards Pizza Hut to pick up our pasta for dinner (I love their chicken pasta) the phone rings. It's the army. I get to pick up my husband Sunday afternoon!! It's supposed to be COLD tomorrow, and the ceremony is outside, so hopefully it will be quick. The poor guys have been in the desert for the last 15 months, they think 60 is down right cold. We're not even supposed to hit 40* tomorrow, and our off and on snow is supposed to continue tomorrow. What a homecoming it will be!

So, if I'm not around my computer much the next couple days you'll know why. He's supposed to have two days off before he has to go back to work, till the 13th when his block leave starts. So I'm sure I'll get to the computer by the end of the week. But I doubt I'll be around my puter for the next two days or so. :D

A lonnnnnng time...

First, I want to say very publicly, thank you Jenni! For understanding my need to vent despite the fact that I know all of this stuff already. lol And of course my mom... who I called immediately begging for her to come do my craft show for me. lol Thanks for laughing with me through it all.

I'm a military wife of 13 years, this is not the first homecoming I've been through, though this is the longest he's ever been away. He left on the 3rd of Sept. 07. He'll be home just days shy of 15 solid months. I know that it's perfectly 'normal' for the emotions to range from anxiety to pure excitement. There's even resentment, fear, joy, and awkwardness. It's all very usual... but just because it's 'normal' does not mean it's easy.

This morning as I was cleaning up my kitchen, preparing to get my pie started, my mind wandered to the changes that have happened in this house since he's been gone. There's been a lot.

The first one that comes to my attention (probably because I can't take two steps without running into her) is our Nahla.

I am so sorry Jenni, you've asked me about her often, and I somehow always forget to snap a pic of her. Even now that I have, it doesn't show her size well, all I can say is when we got her, her head was well below my knees when I sat. Now you can see she's waaaay taller than that. But I just love this picture, she's so.... handsome in it. (Can I use that word to describe a girl dog?) She is beautiful but she is a handful! She's a very large, playful, rambunctious (did I mention large?) puppy. She is however my hubby's favorite breed, so hopefully he'll fall in love with her. Hopefully she won't mind him to much as well. lol I can see the two of them getting along.

Then there's the fact that when he left I was homeschooling the kids. Now they go to the public school, which involves a huge change for them, but also for our schedule. There's dropping off, and picking up, tutoring days to keep straight not to mention homework.

When he left the kids were not in extra activities, now there's Gymnastics, Taekwando, Library Story time, Calvary Kids Club and soon there will be basketball as well.

All of his kids are a year older, half of them have had two birthdays since he's been gone.

I'd have to say one of the biggest differences is me. Quite frankly, I was depressed. I had the joy of the Lord, but being joyful is not the same as being happy. I was depressed, I didn't take care of my self, I didn't put even an ounce of effort into my appearance. And though I still do not wear makeup, and I'm not all about my looks, I have self worth and value now. The Lord has worked on me lots while my husband's been gone.

And you know, I'm sure the biggest changes are those that I don't know about yet. The ones in him. Those that know our story know that there has to have been major changes for him. I mean we faced divorce square in the eye while he was gone. It's weird. Fifteen months is a long time.

Got a phone call

It's not the phone call... As that title is reserved for the worst phone call military families fear. Nope I got the "you can expect your spouse home between this three day window" call. While I'm glad, and it's nice to know he's on his way, I am so worried that he's going to come in on Saturday! I payed a $55 fee just to have a table at this fair, I sunk over $100 worth of stuff into creating my goods for this fair. Now watch, I won't be able to go because I'll have to pick up my husband. Is it wrong for me to pray he won't come in until after six pm on that day? It is isn't it! There's no way I'm NOT going to pick him up. I mean it's the end of a 15 month deployment. But man... it'll hurt to not have the opportunity to recoup the costs... Listen to me I sound horrible!!

Happy Veteran's Day

You know, growing up as a kid, I heard about Veteran’s Day. I knew what it was about, but I never really did truly appreciate it. I’m 99% certain that’s true for all kids. It’s just not something you think about in your days of youth. I’m afraid to say that I feel the same is true for a lot of adults in this country too. You can’t truly appreciate what a veteran, or active military member does unless it’s touched your life somehow. I mean, I’m thankful for police and firefighters. I think they are true heroes, often unsung. But I can’t truly appreciate what it is they do. Put their life on the line every day.

The same was true of me, even as a military wife, until this war on terror started. When I married my husband back in ’95, the only war I knowingly lived through was Desert Storm. And that was pretty much short and sweet. I was in high school during that war, I was more concerned about the drama going on with my friends than some war that was in another country. I was more into 90210 than watching the nightly news. The first six years of our marriage was during peace time. There were a couple two or three month exercises in the field. All really no big deal. Then 9-11 happened. That’s the beginning of my getting to truly appreciate Veterans and what they’ve done for us.

My kids’ school had an hour long Veteran’s Day ceremony today. I wish the school district I grew up in would have tried to actually teach us the importance of this day. Not that I can guarantee I would have listened if they had, but who knows, maybe I would have. The local VA chapter came to the school, carried the flags and opened the ceremony. Not ten minutes into the thing I had my first opportunity to fight tears. A gentleman placed a black POW cover on an empty chair in the front, the speaker explaining that the gentleman doing so was himself a POW of Vietnam. I lost the fight with the tear that formed in my eye. The things that man and his family had to endure, and all those that never return home. What can I say, it got to me.

The high school’s marching band was there, among other songs they played the theme songs for the five branches of the military. I leaned into my daughters’ ear during the Marine Corps song. “If Daddy were here he’d be singing the words.” She smiled. Her daddy would drive me absolutely nuts walking around the house singing that song. Later I found out they have been teaching the kids those songs. I think my husband has a singing partner in Kirsten now. They both sing off key so it’ll be beautiful.

They asked the students of the school to stand if they have a relative that is serving or has served, I was shocked when somewhere around 90% of the kids stood. Granted, most of those were probably grandkids of military members, but still. A list of names was called out of people that were present who have served, each stood and were applauded. Some that stick out in my memory, one of the last survivors of Perl Harbor, WWII vet, and a nurse who served in the Nurse’s Corp. They called my husband’s name. My kids got to stand up for him. Again, I had to fight the tears.
My husband and I don’t always agree on things, my nose would grow if I said we’ve had more good years together than bad. But I’m ready for him to be home. And I’m proud of him. And I’m proud of my kids. And I pray that I do a better job of teaching my kids how important it is to be truly thankful for those who have served and die for our country, than I was taught as a child. My job may be easy, as their lives have been deeply touched and torn by this war.

Oh, before I forget. Our town ordered some banners to go on the light poles of the town’s main street. There’s only four flags, but on one side they say something like “St. George salutes those who serve our country.” (Not an exact quote, I'm going from memory.) And the other sides have names of people who live here that have served, or are currently serving.



That’s my hubby, second one down. Say what you may about hick town St. George, who’s only businesses in city limits is a bar and a barber shop. I’m proud to live here.

Out of breath...

I am a bit out of breath. Literally. Today has been a whirlwind, and I am definitely looking forward to a smoother tomorrow. My day started off badly, I couldn't find the dog's shot records, so as I looked for it I was wishing my mom a happy birthday. Head off to the vet's, drop the dog off back home and head out to a friends house to brief him and the pastor so he can take over the admin stuff at church. Come home for half an hour before getting my youngest from school, help him with his homework, go back and get my other two. Head out to Pizza Hut so they could use their book it coupons, drive through a huge storm out to base to deliver a title, then head to trainin on base. Get home, it's already 9pm. I feel like today was so packed full of stuff, if it weren't for my headache I'd fall asleep instantly. Thankfully tomorrow's highlights are dishes, laundry, prepping my Sunday School lesson and eating lunch with my kids at school. I am looking forward to it!

The meeting on base tonight was interesting. I am struggling to not be so selfish. My hubby will be one of the last ones home since he's training their replacements. They're expecting the majority of hubby's company home no later than the 15th of this month. The rear d shared that they'll have 5 days of reintergration stuff, after that they're pretty much going to have nothing to do until their block leave. So here, my husband isn't coming home till after the 6th of December, he misses a tiny bit of block leave. It just feels that those leaving now are getting an extra month of leave. I should be happy for them, but I'm jealous! I know envy is a sin, but it's so hard to not feel like you're getting the short end of the stick.

I was surprised to hear that the guys that came back about three weeks ago, they've already had a drunk driving arrest, sexual assault and something else. To sit and listen to other wives share their frustrations and how they pretty much don't want their husband's home. It's just sad. These are real people, real lives, and they're so screwed up. I'm so thankful I know Jesus. He's the only reason I'm okay, and I don't know how people do it without him!