Aloha!

Hello everyone!  

We are still here and loving life. We made it through our first deployment and Darrell got to come home early which was awesome.  Reintegration was super easy for us. He slipped right back in like he had never left.  A few months after his return from Iraq we got the news that we had orders for..........HAWAII.  We arrived here in June and love it. I seriously believe my husband and kids should have been born Hawaiian.  

One of the big changes that the move to Hawaii brought to our family is that we decided to begin homeschooling as the public schools in Hawaii leave a lot to be desired and sending three kids to private school here was very cost prohibitive.  We have been at it for 5 months now and so far are really enjoying it. Darrell is gearing up for another deployment and the flexibility has been great.  Our rule is that if Daddy is off we are. It is allowing to spend a lot of time with him before he leaves.  

We are feeling truly blessed as we God had put amazing people in our path here and we made incredible friends right off the plane.  We can't wait to see what the next 2 1/2 years hold for us here.

100 Days!!!!

Good morning all!!  Yesterday marked the 100th day of our very first deployment. Some of the things I have learned so far are 1) My kids can survive off of chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and noodles, 2) I miss even the super annoying things that my husband does, 3)  I am a much stronger person than I thought, and 4) My faith can get me through this one day at a time.  My theme song for this deployment has become Matthew West's song "Strong Enough".

Military BibleStick Outreach

This is such an incredible ministry that I wanted to share it. If you are looking for a way to donate money to help our soldiers this would be a great place to start.

Military BibleStick Outreach

Good Morning!

Hello everyone! It is a beautiful day here in central Texas. I can ALMOST feel fall in the air. I am really homesick right now for Kentucky in the fall. It is just not the same here. I miss all the local pumpkin patches and our yearly trip to Huber's for all that great home cooked food. However, I am sure that in the winter I will be rejoicing in the lack of snow and single digit days.

Caleb is almost done with football this season. His team is a very young team and because of that have struggled to even score against the much larger and more experienced teams we have faced. I am ready for football to be over. It is like a a religion here in Texas. I thought Kentuckians were crazy when it came to basketball but Texas and football could give them a run for their money. Win or Lose though Caleb always has a grin on his face and just loves to play. I couldn't ask for more. Zoey and Eli have taken a couple of months off from activities but they are getting ready to start swim again and Zoey is getting ready to begin her guitar lessons. They are super excited.

On the Chaplain front things have been very busy here. Ft. Hood has been plagued by a series of suicides and my heart breaks for the communities and families and they deal with these tragic losses. Darrell is, as I type, teaching yet another suicide prevention class. However, until the soldiers are willing to reach out and ask for help it is going to be really hard to treat the problems. The help is there in many different forms so if you know a soldier or soldiers family who is struggling please help them to contact their Chaplain or Chain of Command so we do not have even more devastated families.

I pray for a blessed day for any and all who come my way and that God will give me a spirit of joy and compassion in all my interactions today.

Back in the Saddle

Well, we have now been an Active Duty Chaplain family for 6 months and so far it has been quite an experience. Darrell is in his element but the amount of pressure he is under can, at times, be unbelievable. I think that the Chaplain Corps is one of the most under appreciated facets of our military right now. They work incredibly hard at a very emotionally draining job and yet are seen as weak because they do not enter physical combat. Trust me when I say that our military Chaplains battle daily with forces we cannot see or understand whether it is religious, physical, or mental. They have to be able to treat all soldiers diplomatically even when that soldier wants to do nothing to help themselves. They also are on constant call and have a hard time even making definite plans with their family because they never know when a crisis is going to come up. They are a pastor and counselor along with being a Soldier. Darrell is the low man on the totem pole in a small Battalion but still has over 400 soldiers whose mental/emotion well being he is responsible for. I pray daily for all our Chaplains that God will give them the strength they need to deal with the constant emotional upheaval and for their families who deal with it second hand.

Finally.....We have orders!!!

We have officially received orders and will be heading to Ft. Hood, Texas the first part of February. We are very excited to be moving into the next stage but very sad to be moving away from all our friends and family here in Kentucky. So far I have been extremely busy looking for a house and checking out schools online and basically trying to get all our HHG organized before the movers come. Some sites that have been great for us is www.ahrn.com and many of the sites linked from the Ft. Hood site. The Killeen newspaper www.kdh.com has helped too. Hopefully this move will go smoothly and the kids will transition seamlessly into their new schools.

Finally!!

We are finally approved for active duty and have tentative (word of mouth) orders to report to Ft. Hood in January. I can already see such a huge change in my husbands outlook as he knows he is finally, after 6 long years, going to be doing what he feels called to do. He can't wait to report and really start working on the mission field that he has a true passion for. It is going to be a huge adjustment for us but I know without a doubt that God is in control of all things and will bless our family if we are obedient to his call.

Update

Well...things are looking up in the Army department here. Darrell FINALLY got attached to a reserve unit and will drill with them until he goes before the board again to get approved for active duty. I am so glad we are finally seeing some things happen.

Music

Not a lot has been going on lately so I thought I would post a video of one of my favorite Christian bands. Enjoy!

Stimulus Smimulus!

I am so fed up with the whole stimulus package debacle. Who in their right minds spends more money when they are broke. In my own budget, when I am tight and have a hard time making ends meet I cut out non-essentials such as redecorating, new cars, etc. Why are our government officials having such a hard time with this concept?

Don't even get me started on the Republican turncoats in the Senate. May the rot in unsavory places. I wonder which devil they sold their soul to? Was it for more money in education, building, whatever for their state or was it the promise of a new job when they hopefully lose their future bids for reelection.

Finally, when did it stop being elected by the people for the people. 63% of Americans are against this bill in its present form yet it is still being rammed through Congress. I am so disappointed in our elected officials. Obama's chance is over and yeah I am not impressed.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well it has been extremely busy since I last posted. We were hit with a major ice storm and without power of 4 days. Let me tell you, I was not meant to go without electricity, cable, or internet. I was miserable and the kids were miserable. Darrell couldn't get to work for a couple of days which makes our checkbook miserable too. However, we are now back up and running. The kids are finally back in school and hopefully everything can go back to normal for a little while.

On the Army front. Darrell finally got all of his stuff together and it looks like he will probably be attaching to a unit here. As long as nothing changes, it also looks like he will be deploying sometime within the next year. I have very mixed feelings about it because I know it is what he wants but at the same time I really hate him being gone for a year. It also leaves us in a kind of limbo when he gets back as we wait to see if he will be able to go active or not and how long that will take. I know I just have to leave it all in Gods hands but that is not always the easiest thing to do.

Just wanted to post this as a Thank You to Ex-President Bush. He has kept my family safe and for that I thank you. He has kept his cool in the face of mindless, childish, idiotic attacks against his character and his intelligence. Through it all he kept to the high road and for that I greatly admire and respect him. I pray that he will enjoy his time away from the madhouse that has become American Politics.

Today

Today is just today. I have been rather down and out lately. The whole waiting on the Army thing is starting to wear on my nerves and depress me. Darrell's one dream is to go back active and be a Chaplain and until that happens, I don't know that anything is going to be right in our little world. He has been very down lately and when that happens he is not the man I married. He is not abusive or mean he is just not Darrell. I just pray everyday that things will begin to workout and Darrell will realize his dream.

We have finally gotten everything done for the IRR now we are waiting on a position in the reserve to be found. Darrell is hoping it is with a deploying unit. He has been sworn in (again) and contacted by various recruiters. Now the big delimma is whether he should go Reserve or just wait until August when he can resubmit for active duty. He is worried that if he attaches to a Reserve Unit now they will not want to release him when he is approved for active duty.

And so it goes with the Chaplain's Family.....

Pensive

As the Inauguration approaches my feelings of aprehension concerning Obama increase. I cannot understand the rose colored glasses his supporters wear. He is already breaking promises or backpaddling left and right yet they chose not to see. He is having the most expensive inauguration ever and not because of security or the like but because of the glitz and glamour, yet liberal media focused on the Bushes buying new China for the White House. I hope and pray I am wrong about Obama and I will always respect the office even if the man himself never earns my respect. However, I cannot make myself be excited about this Inauguration no matter how historic it is.

Merry Christmas

Ok, so I know this is late but better late than never. Darrell finally got sworn in for his Reservist position so hopefully we will be able to get that going now and eventually lead to him becoming active again.

Christmas was wonderful here. We attended a Christmas Eve service at Immanuel Baptist Church which is the church we attended before Darrell accepted the pastorate at New Highland Baptist Church. It was a wonderful, peaceful, reflectful service. We enjoyed worshipping with our friends who we don't get to see near as much as we would like.

Christmas day dawned bright and early with the kids up at the crack of dawn, 6:30 am to be exact. The chaos ensued and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their presents and getting to spend time together. Here are a few pictures of us and my parents enjoying the morning.


(Below) Eli and Zoey



My Great Aunt who celebrated her 92nd bday
this past August.



















This is my parents with the kids. My dad suffered a massive stroke 6 years ago and any time we get to spend with him is a blessing now.









This is Caleb and Zoey first seeing their "Santa" gifts.

Happy Tuesday morning everyone. Today is a busy day for us. Eli is going for his 3 yr check up (I still cannot believe my baby is 3), I have to go to the grocery, and I am hoping to get a little more Christmas shopping done.

My tidbit for today is that if you have not checked out www.etsy.com, go there now. It is an incredible site with all kinds of handmade items like hats, scarves, jewelry, and cards. There are some amazing artists featured there with some really amazing items. A perfect, PERFECT spot for Christmas shopping.

Hope everyone has a remarkable day and leave me some love.

I won!

Yay! I did it. I bid in an Ebay auction for the very first time and won. I am sooooo excited. I got a Wii 2 player bundle for the kids for Christmas. However, I will not be completely comfortable until I have the item in my hand. I still don't trust online retailers completely.

On another note, we have run into yet another wall in Darrell's bid to return to active duty. He thought he had found a reserve unit with various deploying groups within it so he could deploy if he decided that was what he wanted. Well, Washington didn't like the idea of him being in a unit that already had one Chaplain so they have vetoed that idea and told him to look for another one. He is really getting discouraged and I am afraid he is just going to give up if things don't start going a bit smoother soon. I pray every day that God will open some doors for him and allow him to reach his heart's desire. I just don't know when it is going to happen.

Hello, Hello!

Well, I tried to put a very moving tribute up yesterday to all of our veterans for Veteran's Day but my computer illiteracy thwarted me at every turn so I will just say today



THANK YOU VETERANS!!!



On another note, I just discovered the wonders of ebay and put in my very first bid today. On a Wii for my kiddos nonetheless. Hopefully it will go well, but not too well, or I may become an addict.

Post Election 2008

Well, it's over. Obama is our President-Elect, like I predicted. I am disheartened by the results of the election but not devastated. I was part of a historical moment in United States history and only time will tell the effects it will have on our country. Obama foreign policy inexperience still worries me but I am hoping that the advisors/Cabinet he surrounds himself with are well versed and intelligent and that he heeds their advice. I pray that all of my worries about him come to be unfounded and he is able to do what he says he will do (although he has already started backpedaling some).

I am excited because I think this loss will energize the Republican party like nothing else could have. We had become complacent and stuck in a rut. I think this will open the door to some new and upcoming people in the party like Bobby Jindal and that a new and stronger Republican party could emerge. I also believe it has shown us that the Evangelical part of the party is not the only part of the party and that all sects should be heard and represented.

All in all, I pray for this country and its new leaders that they will have wisdom and discernment in leading our country and that we as Americans are able to come together for the good of our nation and our fellow countrymen. Time will tell and we will see.

Election Day

Well, today is the big day, Election Day. The day we see who Americans have chosen to lead them for the next 4 years. I am already disgusted by the behavior I have seen by both sides and hope that today goes to disprove what the previous days have shown to be a lack of common sense and propriety in Americans as a whole.

For those who don't know me personally, I am voting for McCain. Not because Obama is black, but because I believe McCain to be the best man to keep my country and my family safe. To put your faith in a man that speaks with platitudes and without specifics seems wrong to me, however, the great thing about this country is that we have the right to do that without recrimination. I am preparing myself to lose many of those freedoms, along with the right to spend my income as I see fit, if Obama becomes President.

I believe Obama will win this election. However I do not believe it is because he is the best man for the job. I believe he will win because of the African American vote. Many of whom, though not all, are voting for him because he is black, not because they know where he stands on the issues. Yes, I realize that it works both ways and that some are voting against Obama because he is black. However I have talked to only one black person voting for McCain while I have spoken to many whites who are voting for Obama.

I just hope that as Americans we take today to vote and vote intelligently, however that may be, and not because of a mans color. Make sure you know who you are voting for and why. Make an informed decision and make it gravely because as Americans we are deciding the future for ourselves, our family, our states and our country. Decide well.