Little gifts from God

Reposted blog entry from October 5, 2007

On Friday I was telling a friend that the one thing I had wanted to do here in California that we hadn't done was go to the San Diego Zoo.

My husband was scheduled to work overnight shifts this past weekend but at the last minute was given the weekend off. So we hopped in the car and took off for San Diego.

On the way there I was telling my husband about another friend's story. She wanted something that was out of her price range but was there at just the right time when it was clearance and then 50% off. She said she felt like it was a little gift from God.

When we got to the zoo on Monday, we were surprised at the amount of people that were there. Turns out, it happened to be Founder's Day and admission for the zoo was free for the day! We saw the pandas and had a lot of fun. When we were done we took a break at the hotel and then headed over to Sea World. It was the season that they honor those serving in the military making our admission free! We got there just in time for a pet show (trained animals doing tricks) that the kids loved and then got to see the last Shamu show of the day. My husband won a giant dragon at the ring toss too.

It was such a wonderful trip. I told my husband that I felt blessed by it. Like we too had gotten little gifts from God.

A Father's Day Post

When I met my husband in college, he was already teaching music in a little private school.  He continued to teach in various public and private schools until he joined the Air Force 7 years later.  He taught different grades at the different schools, and all grades at some of the schools.  He was good at working with kids of all ages and the kids loved him.  He was nominated for Who's Who Among American Teachers by a few different students during those years, and 11 years later many students still track him down to tell him how much they learned from him and how much he impacted their lives.

Obviously he was experienced working with kids.  He was not, however, experienced working with babies.  In the hospital after our first child was born, he was quite nervous about how to handle the seemingly fragile little bundle.  After I finished feeding the baby for the first time, I sat him up on my lap, put my hand firmly under his chin and leaned him forward to pat his back for a burp.  If you've had any experience with new babies, you know that their muscle tone is not well developed yet and his cheeks sagged over my hands.  If you haven't had any experience with babies, you might think what my husband gushed, "Oh my goodness!!  What are you doing??  You're choking him!!"  I laughed.  I did have experience with babies and tried to assure him that this was just one of many ways to burp a baby.  He was not buying it.  He only knew of one way, and if there were more ways, certainly they didn't involve my hand around the baby's neck.  A nurse came in to check our vitals.  My husband quickly pointed out to her what I was doing, sure that she would rush over and show me the proper way.  He was quite surprised when she assured him that it was a perfectly fine way to do the job.

I smile when I think about those first few days.  His protective nature as a father was evident right from the very start.  On the way home from the hospital, he kept making me check 'just to make sure' that the baby was breathing because he wasn't crying.  (He was sleeping!)  It was just a glimpse of what a great father he would be.

Blueberry picking

Reposted blog entry from August 20, 2007

We went blueberry picking on Friday. It was sooo much fun! They gave us little buckets for the berries and straw hats for our heads.
Asha loved getting to pick berries and put them in a bucket. Of course she also loved putting handfuls of dirt and twigs in the bucket too. Daniel picked about one berry from each bush while going from row to row calling us Farmer Mommy and Farmer Daddy. My husband enjoyed sampling all the different flavors -some tart, some sweet- and I loved the hunt for the biggest and bluest.  It was a very memorable family day and we got some nice photos to remember it by. I can't wait to go again!

Click here to view these pictures larger

In Motion (Part 2)

To read Part 1 go here.

In 4 weeks we are set to fly out of Osan Air Base, South Korea on a military flight (The Patriot Express) which will stop in Okinawa before arriving in Seattle.  From Seattle we were supposed to take a commercial flight through St. Louis and then Atlanta before arriving at our final destination in Montgomery, Alabama.  The 5 leg trip with 30 or so hours in flight + 3 high-energy, jet-lagged kids makes me stressed just thinking about it!  Since we were last stationed in Hawaii and only one vehicle is authorized here at Osan, our second car is still on Oahu.  The plan was to have it shipped to Alabama in time to be waiting for us when we got there; we would keep using our van here and ship it just before flying back.

About 3 weeks ago, I had what will probably turn out to be the worst idea I have ever had.  Why not have the van shipped to Seattle and drive from there to Alabama?  This is why not.  But I'm a glutton for punishment so we scrambled around frantically trying to get our van shipped ASAP.  We had to get a move on because it can take up to 55 days to go from Seoul, Korea to Seattle, WA and we were only 50 days out.  My poor husband.  For a man who always has a back up plan for his back up plan, trying to change plans that he had already made months ago for our flight and make new plans for driving and then back up plans for in case the van was delayed... If ever there was proof he loved me, this concession is it. :)

Love this song!

and this one too...

Conversations with Daniel

Reposted blog entry from November 26, 2007

We pulled up to a stop sign and a woman with headphones jogged through the intersection. The following conversation went like this...

Daniel: Mommy, what's she running from?
Me: She's exercising.
Daniel: Hee, hee, no! Maybe its a car.
Me: You know how Dad exercises at home when he runs on the treadmill? Well, some people run on the street to exercise.
Daniel: When I'm on the street and a car comes, I exercise too!

Another reposted entry from October 25, 2007

We went to the beach today. When it was time to go home, Daniel was speeding for the car. Asha on the other hand was in no hurry at all and lagging quite a bit behind. Daniel calls for me to hurry and here's the following conversation...

Daniel: C'mon, Mom!
Me: Honey, we have to wait for Asha.
Daniel: Why?
Me: Because we can't leave our sister at the beach.
Daniel: Why? Will someone else come and take her?
Me: Yes.
Daniel: And they'll be happy to have a new sister?
Me: Are you happy to have a sister?
Daniel: (silence)
Me: Daniel, are you happy to have a sister?
Daniel: (pause...and then an unconvincing) yes.

Anyone else feeling the love? hmm...

Another reposted entry from December 9, 2007

I hear Daniel and Asha fighting in the hall and then it sounds like someone is getting smacked. I'm pretty sure its Asha getting hit since I don't hear Daniel telling on her.
I call out to him, "Daniel, hitting is not an answer!"
He calls back, "Is it a question?"

In Motion (Part 1)

Even though we have about 6 more weeks before we fly back to the United States from South Korea, we are already in motion.

The movement began with an assignment.  We were originally suppose to be here in Korea for two years, but after we had been here for just a few months, we found out that we would be moving to Alabama after only one year.  At that point, plans began to be made and life began to take on a temporary feel.  We had to get housing set up for the new assignment right away (you can read about that here).  Conversations started to include the statements '...before we leave...' and '...after we move...' While we waited for orders (official paperwork), our calendar started to fill up with dates for the process of moving, the first of which is getting our stuff from here to there.

Since it takes a few months for household goods to make the trip by boat, they needed to be sent ahead of us.  The moving company had an inspector come to evaluate our move.  This is the beginning of the part that makes me feel unsettled.  I don't like people looking in my closets and cupboards, and though it may not be true, I always feel like I'm being sized up.  Being in Korea didn't help this at all.  The inspector kept making comments about us having too much stuff and our TVs being too big, etc.  Since English was not his first language, and he kept smiling while saying it, I could never figure out whether he was insulting us or complementing us.  A week later the movers arrived at 8am and had us packed and loaded on the truck by 3:30pm of the same day.  Previous movers have always taken at least 2-3 days so I was up all that night wondering if they broke anything in their haste.  The guy in charge kept assuring me that Korean movers are the most careful ones.  I hope that proves to be true.

We were only in the hotel for a couple nights when loaner furniture was delivered to our empty apartment so that we could continue to live there until it is time for us to leave.  This part is nice.  Well, mostly nice.  The double mattress that the base loaned us is not really big enough for two people to sleep on so I have spent many nights on the loaner couch.  Its also smallish, but so am I, so it mostly works.  What really works though, is having less stuff.  I already miss things like our bed and my desk, and eventually I would miss the rest of it too.  But for a while, less stuff is nice.  Its less to take care of.  Less to be responsible for.  There are less dishes and laundry to do, though that also means they have to be done more often. *sigh*  I must say that I do like having less toys to convince the kids to put away.  I think I might even be hoping that the box marked 'toys' gets lost during the move.

To read Part 2 go here.