Home Sweet Home!

I've travelled a lot in my life. A LOT. Well I guess it was my turn. Or my fault for choosing the cheapest way to fly from Maryland to Seattle... Not that that was cheap in my opinion...

Zane and Shannon dropped me off at the airport after eating dinner at a yummy bbq place in Waldorf, MD called Famous Daves. Yah, it should be famous. Great BBQ! Rod loves pulled pork... and guess what I was eating when he text messaged me at the restaurant... poor guy!

Once I was there, no biggie, waited in airport lines before. Well it took two hours to get through. The plane that was coming to the Baltimore Airport was late, really late... probably three hours late. So that means that I would miss my connecting flight. We waited at least four hours to depart from BMI. We took off at 2am. Then we got to Vegas... and waited 5 more hours (on standby b'c there were NO seats technically available) to see if I could get a seat. I was tremendously relieved when some guy called "Nelson"....

I now know what it feels like to wait endlessly, to have no access to food... and only access to a water fountain... for four plus hours... to wait standby wondering if you're going to get on 'this' flight... to have commrodery with a lot of people (a planes worth) where you are immediate friends with everyone involved because you have this situation in common.. and I know what it feels like to try to maintain a good attitude (I don't know if positive would be the right word) despite the sitation...

I don't know how many times on TV that i've seen people waiting, their flights delayed or cancelled and wondering if they were really making a bigger deal of it than it was. It's crazy to think of how many people were affected by a dumb late plane. All of the people on the plane (plenty of children) and those who pick them up....

But because I was able to get on the earliest flight (9:30 am) to Seattle, Rod was able to come down an pick me up... I really wanted to see him... Anyway, i'm home!

Maryland 2007

Well... we finally made it here. Gosh, I make that sound like it took us forever to get to Maryland. We left friday morning about 4:30 and arrived on sunday at 9 am... so we drove for about 50 hours. Yep,straight through. We were planning on getting here originally on Monday... but decided that we just didn't want to drag the drive out that long. Shannon and I had a ton of fun... well mostly. Montana of course seemed to take forever (yah, I knew it would, Rod and I have driven cross country to see family quite a few times...), the bit of Wyoming we went through with skiddish cell phone coverage, and then there's the trek through South Dakota... Somehow whenever we get to South Dakota, it's my turn... to drive at night through the flatlands that seem short on gas stations.. Indiana seemed to take awhile as well. Shannon pretty much drove during the day and me, the night owl drove through the night. Before yesterday, the furtherest east i've ever driven was Tennessee.. When we drove through Lolo, MT and I waved at you, Paul & Shari...

I tried to play my DS but playing diner dash in the car just wasn't working for me. Did listen to some music and I did watch a dvd.. bridget jones diary... I've never been a sunflower seed person like Rod is when he drives... but I have become one. I realized that the key to staying awake is really keeping my head busy... whether it be listening to music or chewing on sunflower seeds. You just can't be board and drive that far.

I was bummed that I didn't take many pictures along the way of our trip. With driving straight through, we didn't stop at many scenic places. McDonalds and Taco Bell and Gas stations in my opinion aren't really picture worthy....

So I'm here for a couple of days. At home the boys are in VBS at church. Mom's taking them a couple of nights and the day that Rod has off he'll take them. I can't believe i'm missing VBS! I've 'worked' it for the past three years....

When we got here it feels so East Coast. The houses, many of them have brick faces... which I've always loved... So many things here are different... But the heat is shocking.... you walk out of the house or get out of the AC'd car... and you get a blast of heat. It appears that most people spend their time indoors. Today is was 98 and tomorrow it's supposed to be 97. Thank the good Lord for Air Conditioning! Rod used to live out this way, before there was 'us' and i've teased him about why he ever moved west, it's beautiful here... and the way the houses are here it feels classic. He says he moved out here to meet me... awwww...

Funny being so close to the nations capital makes me feel somewhat patriotic. Seeing the signs etc... Normally, it's a place that's so far away, that you have no real reason to visit. And being here makes me want to come back, bring the kids, and see the sights.

It's peculiar to go somewhere without Rod. I know that Branden travels alot, but I don't go very many places without Rod. I really love to be with him... and it makes me sad when I have experiences that he is not a part of. It's a piece of me that is hard to share. You can't really share something that you haven't done... I can tell him about it, but it's just not the same! Miss you babe!

My brother Zane, when Josiah was a baby, found his birth mother. Since then he's been in touch with his birth siblings. He has 5 birth siblings.... And one of them, First Sargent Sam, lives about an hour from Zane and he was here when we arrived... So I got to meet the infamous Sam! I didn't know if I would ever get to meet his other siblings just because they live all over... and so it was an honor to meet him. And pretty crazy to see someone who looks so much like Zane. Up until now, I've never seen anyone that has his features... it was great! And then, because I'm a civilian... trying to figure out all what Sam actually does took me a bit. But he was very patient.... Thanks sam!

I fly out wednesday night... taking a red eye.... Funny, some days I so need a break from my kids... and then when i'm not with them I really miss them! I guess since i've been gone, Jaden and Jedediah have both moved up a level in swimming lessons and Josiah got his first trophy (3rd place) in BMX racing at Bakerview park... and Garrett got his first ever First place trophy (he's gotten others before) in BMX this last weekend as well... Usually i'm the one texting pictures to him to see at work while we are doing something cool... i'm not usually on the receiving end of those text pics!

Anyhoo... i'll let you know when I do get home... and maybe even post some pictures... Z

My Parents 50th Anniversary Party

This is an update on the party we threw for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. The party was amazing, it was beautiful... It was at laconner flats.. a display garden... they use it for parties receptions, and teas, etc. My dad is actually good friends with the owner... so that was helpful in getting it all setup.

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon...in the grainery which has been completely remodeled... which I would recommend for any type of reception. There is plenty of seating inside and out. The garden was beautiful.. flowers blooming.. although, I didn't really have the time to go see it all for myself!

After a bunch of us got there and set it all up... it looked pretty amazing. We had food, my parents "cut the cake" (you should have seen how many cameras came out!), Zane did a toast, Rod got up and read about what things were like in the 50's as well as told part of the family history, friends got up and spoke, my dad read a poem to my mom, my good friend Janet's daughter got up and sang a song.... after all that, I don't think there was a dry eye in the place! We also had tons of photos out... some mini's on the tables... a couple of tables dedicated to pictures in picture frames... and then one table that had only photo albums at it... People seemed to love the photo albums.. they poured through them... And I had family requesting copies of pictures that they would like or of pictues that they had never seen before...

There were plenty of people who couldn't make it, but there were plenty of people who did. Part of my 'fear' of throwing a party is you send out all of these invitations and spend all this money on a party and hope that the people that said they are going to show up... do! Well, I think if I went back and looked at the RSVP that everyone that told me they were coming did... and that there were a few more that didn't tell me they were coming that showed up... Which I'm glad they did. There were people there from my dad's garden club, the Kleins - who were such a big part of my life growing up, neighbors, and a ton of family! My uncle and his wife (dad's brother) drove 15 hours to come to the party... But then most of our local family had been in town for my cousin Chad's wedding that was the day before. Couldn't have tried and planned that any better. Worked out nicely.

It was such good fun to see my parents' friends and catch up on old times. Most of you know Genny, well she now lives in Idaho with her husband and two kids.. and they made the trip over. I haven't seen her in a couple of years... but to see her sit there chatting with my parents, it felt like back in the day.

Something else we did that was fun was that I made a program.. which had quite a bit of history about them, about when they adopted Zane and Zantha, and some fun facts about them. That turned out really well... I had people asking if they could take an extra copy for this person or that person. And I also had family that told me..after reading our program, that "they didn't know this about that" type of thing about my parents...

We also had Rod take a ton of pictures. He pretty much got pictures of everyone that came. That'll be really nice to put into albums. You know how we did last year at the Fourth? We tried to get pictures of each family that came. Got most.

But the best part of all was how blessed my parents felt and how they expressed that. They both meantioned it numerous times over the course of the next week. How beautiful it was... I think that they really felt honored. I felt honored that we put something together that they so appreciated and that so many people took the time to come and see them.

I will always be able to say that we really honored them that day. Beforehand, Dad kept asking me how the program was coming or whatever and I'd just say that it was taken care of.... I think that Mom and Dad were both surprised actually that we had it done so well...

It was quite a bit of work but when I look back I'm really glad that I took the time and energy to do it. I had worried for the last few weeks about tons of details... for a week before the party I had a "to do" list for each day... At the party, I had people telling me that I should be a party planner that it turned out so beautifully.... Well, that will probably never happen, but thanks for the huge compliment... I worked really hard and I wanted it to turn out perfectly.. . and i'm not sure that it could have turned out any better from any more effort on my part... It was a huge moment in my life... one that I will always remember... I did the best I possibly could.. I put 110% into it and it wasn't really enough, but God put people in my life along the way to help me... and it was as if he filled the holes where I couldn't do it myself... Things as goofy as meeting a lady at Katelin's dance recital who said that she'd gotten her amazing roses for her grandchildren at Safeway... Angela singing and coming up with an appropriate song, and Janet helping me out when she didn't have to or need to but because she had a skill that I didn't have, she helped me with the decorations and they were amazing!!! (Apparently, there aren't many 50th Wedding Anniversaries anymore, because it was tough finding anything Gold or anything that remotely was related to a 50th anniversary!)

I'm thinking at this moment that you, my friends, must be thinking that I just made a party way too important... that I spent way too much time on it... or that I placed too much importance on it... well, I really felt the need to honor my parents. I felt the need to honor them in a very very deep and personal way. I wanted them to see how much that they are worth to me and how much I appreciated them sticking things out when life was so tough (dad becoming disabled)... They did so much for us kids while we were growing up, and have done so much since then... they've been there for us since Rod and I have gotten married... they've been there as participating grandparents... I just felt that there was no better way to say thank you than to make this as beautiful as zindra-ly possible.

And I need to say thanks to Rod for all of his support through all of this. That he lived with me and helped me and basically made the Anniversary cake and did whatever else he needed to do to make it all happen. He came through for me and was the reason that I had the strength and determination to pull it off. So thanks babe...

+360 is in the house+

The UPS guy came today and I couldn't be more happy to see him! We gave him our xbox 360 in early May... it was sick. Very sick. So sick it wouldn't turn on! Anyway, we had bought the extended warranty, so off it went. Very nice to get it back. And Since we didn't have our 360, I lended our guitar hero gear to my nephew, Garrett. So i'm having withdrawls, guitar hero is not in my possession and now i'm going to be gone this weekend! Sigh!

Apparently we received a replacement. (I had heard there was a problem with some of them... and I knew that Cheryl had sent theirs back a couple of times...)i So I guess, i'm happy that we bought the warranty... (still have to take my camera in to get the LCD screen fixed, but was waiting until after my parents anniversary. Although who knows when i'll ever really get it fixed... b'c after the party, about a week later, i'm going to drive back with my sister in law, Shannon, to get her moved to where my brother is in Maryland... yes, we are really driving to Maryland.

Coincidence? Not likely!

Today some friends and I got together at Jesse's house to start our summer "Power of a Praying Parent Group". Jesse is a military wife that I met through Friday School.. And after today I need to tell her that a huge reason that I love to see her & her family is that I ALWAYS feel better when I left than when I arrived... Do you know what I mean? She has this way of looking at the facts of life and making me laugh. She's like a great dose of Vitamin B. I may call her Vitamin J.

Anyway! So many things end for the summer... Awana, Discovery Club, Friday School... that we just thought we needed a reason to get together during this summer. I miss the gals from Friday School A LOT... and need to invite a few more to come...I may miss a few of our thursday mornings b'c of trips this summer, but otherwise... i'll be there!

We'll be reading through the book at home, discussing it in the group, and praying... hopefully alot for our kids, but also for us and our lives (which, directly affect our kids, so I guess it counts!) Today we got together and chatted and laughed and I 'got my book'... So I guess I'll be starting it this weekend when Rod and I are going down with Polli and her husband and a few others from First Class down to the First Class Auction... I guess the author from Five in a Row is going to be a guest speaker (hopefully I didn't misread something). Oh and as a sweet treat we are going to stop at the WHO convention in Puyallup on the way down! Yeehaw!

It's the greatest thing though, when you get a bunch of homeschooling kids together (today we had 11 kids) and there was no whining, no fussing, kids were taking care of each other and keeping each other busy. The only one that required ANY attention was Julia... and mainly for our cake snack and juice... I Love our homeschooling family and friends... When we get together we have great kids! (Not that they aren't great anyway!)

But I'm realling looking forward to this time together with friends. Good Association and an even better reason to get together... to focus on God and to spend time praying with one another. Hopefully this time together will be really refreshing... as well as get our hearts in the right place esp. with parenting our kiddsss. Which it's interesting how things work out, but lately (as Rod could tell you) I've been really struggling with the kids... and then Jesse says that in our time together she wants read this particular book. Coincidence? Not likely!