Air Force JR ROTC Ball

Scott went to the Air Force JR ROTC Ball tonight. He took his friend Emily. They were both so cute and a bit nervous. This was the first time either of them had gone to an event like this. I know they will have a great time because they enjoy each others company so much!

"Empty House"

I had a request for pictures to be posted of the house empty, but realized when that happens the computer will be on a truck going away. So I'll post some of a sort of empty house!

The Call

I wrote this post once already but the computer froze before I could post it!! Ugh!!

Anyway we got the final job offer call and we are really , truly moving!!!! We are getting more pay than we expected and they are paying us a moving allowance the will even help in getting our stuff OUT of storage!
I almost can't believe it is true, but all I have to do is look at my house!! Alot of the furniture is gone and some of the stuff is packed. Tha packers come on the 19th and they load the truck on the 20th. We hope to pull put of here on the 22nd!

My blog friends have been talking about the coming Christmas celebrations and what they would like to do. There are alot of things I would like to do but this year we are going to be in a car traveling HOME to the beautiful NW! That is our Christmas present! I have told the kids we could do some shopping after we get there. Maybe hit the after Christmas sales! I may even decorate a little.

We will be seeing dear friends and family along the way. Christmas Eve we will be in Memphis ,TN visiting some special friends and Christmas evening we will arrive in OKC, OK at my cousin Joyces. Both famlies we have not seen in a long time! I know it will be a special time!!

We are just soooo excited!!!!! The "topper" for all this excitement would be if our house would just sell!! It could still happen!

Update from the Berry Patch

I thought it was about time to give you all an update about what is going on around here!!! We are STILL waiting on the final paper work, but John got a civilian job back in our home state of Washington!!! We are VERY excited and eagerly waiting for the call from HR and the last paper work to fill out. The CALL came today but we were not home!! Ugh!!! John took me to lunch and then we waited in the car line to pick up our kids from school. They actuallly tried the home ph 3 times but did not call the cell phone number John had provided. Anyway when we got home John tried to call back and discovered the lady he needs to talk to had to go home suddenly because of possible flooding in the area. The NW is having pretty bad weather at the moment! SO if she can get to work tomorrow John should be in touch with her. John will be the Chief of Security for Whidbey Island Naval Air Station and Everett Naval Air Station. We will live in Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island. I will only be about an hour from Cara!!! AND in the same state with the majority of our family!!

As soon as everything is finalized John will fly to WA and hopefully start work on the 10th. He will then fly back on the 20th to drive us home to WA!!! While he is gone the movers will come . He always seems to "miss out" on that part, but he has been doing alot to help me get ready this time!

John and I got to go to a wonderful Christmas party Friday night. Enjoy the pics!!

My retreat!

My reateat was just what I needed! We stayed in the Bellview Biltmore in Clearwater FL. A historic hotel built in 1897. It kind of reminded me of the hotel in the movie Somewhere in Time.

Very big!!

I shared a room with three other women. I was the oldest! The youngest was a 25 year old named Lyn. It was scary how much we had in common. I had not really know her before this weekend.

When we arrived and checked in we met in the Presidential suite for a reception. Later appetizers were served. Two kinds of homemade hot cheese dips. One was spinach and the other I am not sure what it was but it was good. There were also white and blue corn tortilla chips. There was some fruit, cheese slices and crackers. We had lemon water or sodas to drink.

We also played a couple" get acquainted" games. One where you had a name of a famous woman on your back and others in the room were to try and describe her and get you to guess who you were. The other game was a "bingo" game. You had to find and get the names of people in the room who ," had a blue couch, had 3 dogs, played the piano, had a TV in their bedroom, owned a water softener, liked liver........ I think you get how it went. You got a prize for a bingo or for filling all the spaces. After this we had a break.

Later dinner was served. We had homemade chicken salad, grapes, cheese cubes and a croissant
served with water or peach tea. We played another game after eating where we were to write 2 things about ourself that were true and one that was false. The others at the table had to guess the false one. I said that I had assisted in surgery, met Colonel Sanders (the chicken guy), and had gone white water rafting. Which one do you think is false??

For everything they tried to mix us up so we would meet new people.

After dinner we had a devotional time and broke up into groups for prayer. The theme for the weekend was "Going Deeper With God". The points Gwen, our speaker, touched on during the devotional were our Hunger for God, Hindrances that keep us from God and" Helps "that help us hear God. After the devotional we were numbered off so there were about 5 or 6 different groups that went off to pray. There was no agenda for the prayer time other than praising and thanking God and bringing our needs before Him. It was conversational prayer and when it got quiet we ended.

After this the next activity was dessert and a "chick" flick for those that wanted to watch a movie. Dessert was yummy!!! Several different cheese cakes from the Cheese Cake Factory and a chocolate fountain with strawberries, pineapple, marshmellows and pretzel sticks to dip into it. There was also coffee with different flavored syrups and whipped cream. This was definately not a weekend to be on a diet!! All the food for the weekend was prepared by the womens ministry leadership and they served us! (except for the cheese cake)

They tried the set up the movie , which was to be, One Night With the King, but it did not work , so No movie. So we pretty much did what ever. I mostly talked with Lyn and learned how much we had in common. She comes from a legalistic Independent Baptist background like me, her Dad was in the military, she has lost a brother and she is studying to become a nurse. We both signed up for Mary Kay to get the discount when we place big orders . We both struggle with our weight. I could go on and on.

After getting back to our room we talked more with our other two room mates. Both very sweet gals. They are both lawyers wives, but one is an accountant that works from home and the other left the military after 10 yrs. to have babies. She is an Areospace Engineer. Very neat ladies and very down to earth! We got to sleep after 1am!

A breakfast was served from 7-8:45 am. they served muffins, mixed fruit, yogurt parfaits, croissants and coffee and juice. After breakfast we had another short devotional. She talked about a Holy Hush before a Holy God. She did not talk very long , but gave us an activity to do alone. We were to not talk to anyone for one hour while we did the activity. She wanted us to be still and let God speak. She gave us some scriptures to read and some questiond to reflect on. It was very special! At home I do not get to Be Still very often!

After our alone time we had an opportunity to go on a tour of the hotel if we wanted, go to the beach, pool or golf. What ever we wanted. They also had lunch that we could pick up and eat where we desired. The lunch was sandwich choices that were from Panera bakery, ( ttp://www.panerabread.com/ ), a very popular resturant here in FL. There were chips , fruit salad, soda, water, coffee and they also made these yummy peanut butter chocolate brownies.

The ladies I rode with to the reateat decided we should go to the Super Target on our way home. We tried to but made a wrong turn and did not find it! Bummer!!!

Overall it was a very nice getaway! Just what I needed! AND it only cost me 20$!!!

Oh, it also looks like John did not get the job. SO we are still going to be here for awhile. At least until December most likely. It is just not the right time yet and we are pretty OK with that.

round one

The interview last night went well, but it was just round one. They are going to select 3-4 canidates to do a second interview with. If John gets chosen that interview will happen Friday or Monday.
We are hoping to hear soon!

Quick Update

Just thought I'd pop in quick and give an update! We have not sold the house yet. The market here is very bad! We are looking into other options should John get a civilian job. John does have an interview on Monday. This job is in Mt. Vernon Washington, not too far from CV! Being close to her again would be incredible!! We also have alot of extended family in Mt. Vernon. That is where Johns Grampa grew up. So say a prayer for John on Monday please!

If he gets the job I will have and incredible amount of work to do!!! We have to leave behind most of our furniture because we still have a housefull of stuff in storage back home!

If he does not get this job there are not any other prospects in the near future.

In His TIme

The other interview John was hoping for did not come through. It is disappointing, but we know that it means God has something different for us. In His time we will know what it is! It is hard waiting , but God has been so faithful in the past and we are trusting in that!

Update

Surgery went well and I am starting to feel almost normal. Still tired some. The surgeon said this surgery was not as involved as the one last year. I am not really having much pain, so I don't need the vicodin they gave me.

John is home safe from his interview. He feels he did very well , but says the competition are great canidates also. There were 5 of them altogether. They said they would tell him by Friday, So we are anxiously waiting to see if he got the job.

More later!

Jackie and Grandpa

This is a picture of Jackie, who was in the sledding accident earlier this year, on her graduation day. This is not a good quality picture, but she looked beautiful!! She will be attending college at PLU after spending some of the summer working in Alaska.

Pictured with her are her and Johns grandparents. Grampa and Gramma had a wonderful day that day too! Jackies older sister had brought them over from Auburn WA for the event. Grampa and Gramma are 94, they looked wonderful !! Sadly the morning after this was taken Grampa passed away.
We miss him very much but he was surrounded with family and left this world realitively peacefully. He lived a long and wonderful life and was a sharp as ever !! We Love you Grampa!!

Gramma and Grampa would have celebrated their 68th anniversary this year! They are amazing!

Possible job

Just a quick update! My husband has a job interview in Walla Walla, WA on tuesday!!! Unfortunately this is the same day I am having some breast surgery, but I told him to go anyway. My sister-in-law, that happens to be in the area visiting her son, is going to stay long enough to go to the hospital with me. I had this same surgery last year on the other side so I know what to expect and everything should be fine. Nothing bad is going on in there, they are just being cautious so nothing does.

There is someone that is intrested in the house too. Hopefully that wil come through! PRAY!!

Job Hunt!

Our first open house is this weekend, hopefully it will bring people in. The market is slow here as I am sure it is in a lot of places!

My husband found out last week that Admiral Fallon wants to cut back CENTCOM staff by 1/3 and so my husbands job may end sooner than we anticipated. (CENTCOM is the headquaters for the war) He wants it completed by May of next year and the reservists are one of the first ones he wants to cut. So as tours end jobs will go away. Anyway my hubby is more determined than ever to get a civilian job. He is in for several. Most are in the NW where we want to be. Please pray one comes through at the right time!! This is all weighing very heavy on my husband right now and he is the most stressed I have ever seen him in 18 yrs. of marriage. Pray also that I am the helpmate he needs! The "therapist" as Sandy put it in a post. We need the house to sell too so we can move easily if a job comes through.

Thanks in advance for thinking of us!!

House for sale!

Hi All! It has been awhile! Well we put our house on the market! My husbands days doing AF military tours may be coming to an end and we want to be ready to be able to move should that happen or the coveted civilian job comes through! Here are some pictures of what I did to the house to get it ready for showing. We are now trying to survive in a "Sears Catalog"! LOL!!

JRROTC part two

This morning Scott had a drill meet at his High School. It was early so my husband took him. He said they did a great job. Here are some pictures. Scott looks pretty sharp!!

Spring Break

Jackie, my son Scott and Jackies friend Becca

Jackie, Becca, and Dad

Three of my kids and their cousins

We have had a nice spring break! Last week we found out that Johns Dad was bringing his sister Jackie to FL for spring break. She is the sister that was in the bad sledding accident.

They flew into Jacksonville to Johns brothers house on Saturday and drove to our house on Monday. Jackie looks great!! You would not know by looking at her all she has been through these last few months! She has to wear glasses now to help with double vision. They are hoping the vision will clear, but if it does not they think they can correct it with surgery. Her hearing in her left ear is permantly gone. She is back playing tennis and her music and has received a nice scolarship to PLU in Tacoma WA.

It was wonderful to see them ! On Tuesday they went to Orlando to Disney World and we met them there on Wednesday to go to Sea World. We spent to night at their hotel and went home Thursday. We had a great time!!!

New Couch

Here are a few pictures of our "new" couch and chair a friend gave me. We love it!

Last Soccer Game

Hi Guys !!

This morning we spent at soccer games for Emily and James. It was their last game and they got their trophies. We also had a "picnic" on the grounds.

I then spent the next 3+ hrs at the urgent care because Emily was complaining of an ear ache (after the games) She has a raging ear infection in her right ear and she still played soccer this morning. She must really like soccer! Now Em and I are home relaxing watching Peter Pan. John, Michael and James are at Barnes and Noble, (that could be dangerous!) and Scott is at a B-day party for a friend.

I will try and post some pictures. In the distance in one of the pictures of James you can see our new sanctuary going up. I hope this works! Enjoy!!! --It did, only I thought the pictures would be after my post. Also the colors on the soccer ball coincide with the colors in the Wordless Book witnessing tool. Cool huh!

Love you All!!!!

I'm here!

Just wanted to pop in and say hey to everyone! I am still here but as busy as ever! My husband was gone again this week out of country, but will be home tomorrow. Yea!!! He will just have to recover from jet lag before Monday!

CV blogged about my sister-in-law and I am happy to say she is home and on the road to recovery! It will be slow going, but I called to check on them Tuesday and Jackie answered the phone! That was a neat suprise! She sounded great and a friend was staying with her while her Mom ran some errands and checked on getting her schooling going again. She tells me she has been offered two scholarships. One is a music scholarship at EWU (Eastern Washington University) They want her to play drums. She is very good at drums and the piano. I don't think she will be playing tennis this spring though. She is still not seeing very well yet after surgery, but teachers said her Mom or friends can read her assignments to her and she can dictate answers.

Anyway she is doing well but still needs our prayers!

Life here is as busy as ever but we get a little break tonight. Soccer pratice was cancelled for two of my kids- because of RAIN!! Yea! Much needed rain and cooler temps!! It looks like we will have cooler temps for a week or more. I am liking it! It feels a little like "winter".!

Daddy will be home to help with weekend activities and he is looking forward to it!!

I guess that is it for now. I will try and write more often. I always have good intentions!

Duped!!!

Boy was I duped good today!! I am mad and hurt, but calmer now!

I recently decided to look into finding part time work as a Medical Assistant. I have not actively
worked in that role for about 5 yrs., but with our property tax going up 2000.00 dollars this year I am looking for extra income.

Anyway I answered an ad for a Medical Assistant in the paper and faxed them my resume and cover letter on Monday. Yesterday they called and said they were an ENT , cosmetic surgery office, and set up an interview for today.

To make a long story short, I arrived at the address given to me and it was a freaken STRIP CLUB!!! I immediately left and called my hubby in tears.

He could only talk to me because he is still in SC, BUT he comes home tomorrow!! Yea!
There is nothing we can really do about it except call and complain to the newspaper so they can cancel the ad. Anyway I have wasted a big chunk of my day on this!!

Aside from that the New Year is going well so far. We had a wonderful time with my husband in SC during Christmas break and made it home safe and sound after buying two new tires. He comes home tomorrow and we can get back to "normal"family life. He is applying for jobs in the beautiful NW (Washington and Oregon) in hopes of moving back closer to family and the wonderful mountains. He has been applying all along but there are a couple of good prespects right now.

Well I guess I am done venting!!