This time last week, I was sitting in a hotel room with my family and the Scarbrough's absolutely having the time of my life with David! Wow - that was already a week ago?!?! How nuts is that?! Here I was just begging those 7 months to fly by and then I wanted this one week to last forever! I know - nuts but...it did get me thinking about the passage of time!
My kids are sure growing up fast. I am in the midst of the small amount of things that I have to do for David's wedding when he should still be running around my house playing with Lego's! Carrie is considered a sophomore in college when she should be dressing her dolls for crying out loud! Ashley is almost done with her tenth grade year and driving when she should still be in diapers! See anything wrong with this picture? The passage of time!!
So - here is my question...what am I passing on to them? Is it just about cleaning and laundry and proper nutrition and perfect manners? Or - have I somehow managed to teach them about a right relationship with God? Have I stressed all the "right" things they need to know before I "shove" them all out the door to live on their own? I look around and see all these parents with little ones driving them nuts and I want to YELL as loud as possible for them to take advantage of the time they have! The laundry will always be there as will the cleaning - actually they both will shrink somewhat!! The job will always be there and so will the bills you think you have to work so hard to pay NOW!! The only thing you can take with you to heaven just wants to spend time with you on their level.
Okay - so I am being sappy which is somewhat unusual for me but that is the stage I am in right now! I will see if I can do better next time!!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
The Aftermath!!
Trust me - this is one blog that you will be thankful there are no pictures to look at! Let's see - I guess I need to go back a few days! Thursday afternoon, the request for supper was the famous "Fulton Taco Dip and Chips" so while the kids went swimming, Dave went to the store for supplies and did the cooking too!! GREAT job, Babe!! After supper, the Scarbrough's ended up leaving around 8 or so which was not easy for Christa! By 9, David was ready for bed so we all joined him shortly thereafter since I knew I was in for a long day on Friday!
To be honest, I was NOT looking forward to Friday at all! First of all, that is a LONG 13 hour trip! Secondly, I had to leave David and that was actually a little harder than I thought it would be! Then, most importantly, I was leaving Dave in NC and that wasn't too great either!!! As a side note, we figured out yesterday that he has been home for less than 24 hours in the last 4 weeks! So - the trip passed with no problems outside of the fact that I had 2 girls in the car and a young man in Hobe Sound who kept saying, "Go faster, Mom!" I had a panic attack every time I saw a cop car!!!!! (Not really, honey - just joking!!) We did make good time and I was glad to finally arrive home at 6pm.
It just seemed like there was no end in sight to the mess in my house all day Saturday! No matter what I did, there was still laundry and still piles and still unpacking and still a MESS!!! What made matters worse, I felt like doing NOTHING!! I think I managed to catch up the laundry and that was about it! Of course, Dave came home last night and so there is more stuff to put away and more laundry to do! He brought home all the stuff I couldn't get in the car plus his laundry! I am so glad he puts his own stuff away and is so helpful!!
So - we are back at home, back to "normal" (if there is such a thing) and back to the rat-race! I wonder if my emotions will ever stabilize again?! You know, when you have kids - teenagers no less - it makes life interesting! Things just never seem to really settle down and there always seems to be "turmoil" of some sort! Now, it is wedding planning time for David and Christa! I know - there isn't much for me to do since I don't have the bride!! At this point, we are all looking forward to school being over for the year. Carrie only has about 3 weeks left, if that, and Ashley has about 5 weeks left I think. I will be glad for it to be over!
I feel that I have done nothing but rattle in this blog but I guess you all can forgive me just this once, right?
To be honest, I was NOT looking forward to Friday at all! First of all, that is a LONG 13 hour trip! Secondly, I had to leave David and that was actually a little harder than I thought it would be! Then, most importantly, I was leaving Dave in NC and that wasn't too great either!!! As a side note, we figured out yesterday that he has been home for less than 24 hours in the last 4 weeks! So - the trip passed with no problems outside of the fact that I had 2 girls in the car and a young man in Hobe Sound who kept saying, "Go faster, Mom!" I had a panic attack every time I saw a cop car!!!!! (Not really, honey - just joking!!) We did make good time and I was glad to finally arrive home at 6pm.
It just seemed like there was no end in sight to the mess in my house all day Saturday! No matter what I did, there was still laundry and still piles and still unpacking and still a MESS!!! What made matters worse, I felt like doing NOTHING!! I think I managed to catch up the laundry and that was about it! Of course, Dave came home last night and so there is more stuff to put away and more laundry to do! He brought home all the stuff I couldn't get in the car plus his laundry! I am so glad he puts his own stuff away and is so helpful!!
So - we are back at home, back to "normal" (if there is such a thing) and back to the rat-race! I wonder if my emotions will ever stabilize again?! You know, when you have kids - teenagers no less - it makes life interesting! Things just never seem to really settle down and there always seems to be "turmoil" of some sort! Now, it is wedding planning time for David and Christa! I know - there isn't much for me to do since I don't have the bride!! At this point, we are all looking forward to school being over for the year. Carrie only has about 3 weeks left, if that, and Ashley has about 5 weeks left I think. I will be glad for it to be over!
I feel that I have done nothing but rattle in this blog but I guess you all can forgive me just this once, right?
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Homecoming 4
I thought I would post some pictures of some of the activities yesterday! We managed to get around and head to the mall around noon or so. The first priority of the day was to get David a cell phone. Mission accomplished although it seemed to take forever!! Walking around that mall was like walking around a Marine Base - everywhere you looked there were Marines! It was interesting to see the ones that David just nodded at or the ones that he called out by name and stopped to talk to and introduce Christa to!
We came back to the hotel and the kids went swimming again - this time with David! These girls have to be nutty - it's just a necessary part of life!!
I think in this picture, everyone is just hanging onto David!! Poor guy!!
Because I am such a great Mom (not!), I brought along all the necessary items to provide David with his first home-cooked meal. After a quick stop at the local Wal-Mart, I had the fixings I needed to have the whole hotel smelling good! The menu was - Roast, Potatoes, Carrots and Onions along with green beans, cottage cheese, rolls and ranch dressing (specifically for David)! Well - it was all for David but we all enjoyed it!! It was funny - we came in the room after the mall trip and David just stopped and inhaled deeply!!! I think he thought it smelled pretty good! He said they didn't get stuff like this in the MRE's he has eaten for 7 months!! What do you think - I couldn't get the camera fast enough - he had his food half gone before I could snap the picture!!
One of my most favorite parts of the day - having all my kids in one spot being "normal". Christa was down the hall with her parents and we are all missing Josh (especially Carrie). This is one of my favorite pictures so far! Where I was taking the picture from is the small kitchen in the hotel room and I was leaning on the counter! I had to just lean there for a few minutes and thank God for his blessings to me and my family!!
David had to be back at base this morning by 7:30 so his dad took him there and he will be done shortly after noon. The "girls" may be going to a wedding shop in a while so that should be fun! Christa and her parents are headed back home this evening and the girls and I are leaving in the morning to head home. Dave is going to leave on Saturday morning! I probably won't post again until I get home! Please pray that I survive that 13 hour trip!!
We came back to the hotel and the kids went swimming again - this time with David! These girls have to be nutty - it's just a necessary part of life!!
I think in this picture, everyone is just hanging onto David!! Poor guy!!
Because I am such a great Mom (not!), I brought along all the necessary items to provide David with his first home-cooked meal. After a quick stop at the local Wal-Mart, I had the fixings I needed to have the whole hotel smelling good! The menu was - Roast, Potatoes, Carrots and Onions along with green beans, cottage cheese, rolls and ranch dressing (specifically for David)! Well - it was all for David but we all enjoyed it!! It was funny - we came in the room after the mall trip and David just stopped and inhaled deeply!!! I think he thought it smelled pretty good! He said they didn't get stuff like this in the MRE's he has eaten for 7 months!! What do you think - I couldn't get the camera fast enough - he had his food half gone before I could snap the picture!!
One of my most favorite parts of the day - having all my kids in one spot being "normal". Christa was down the hall with her parents and we are all missing Josh (especially Carrie). This is one of my favorite pictures so far! Where I was taking the picture from is the small kitchen in the hotel room and I was leaning on the counter! I had to just lean there for a few minutes and thank God for his blessings to me and my family!!
David had to be back at base this morning by 7:30 so his dad took him there and he will be done shortly after noon. The "girls" may be going to a wedding shop in a while so that should be fun! Christa and her parents are headed back home this evening and the girls and I are leaving in the morning to head home. Dave is going to leave on Saturday morning! I probably won't post again until I get home! Please pray that I survive that 13 hour trip!!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Homecoming 3 - Wordy Details
Good morning all! It is not calm and quiet here but I am sitting on the bed just relaxing and to be honest, this is a relaxing activity for me! Also, if I don't go ahead and blog about this now, I will forget all the things that made this so interesting - NOT!!!!
Sunday was quite the interesting eventful day! We got up to get ready for church and the fun began. We found out that David was definitely coming home and would be arriving on Tuesday at noon. So we began to make hasty arrangements for both us and Carrie. She was with the choir and about an hour after she left Christa's house for their next service, we found out the homecoming details. It was pretty fun there for awhile!! Anyway, Christa and her Dad went to get Carrie Sunday afternoon and Dave and I decided that we should probably go ahead and start on our journey. We left Hobe Sound around and traveled up 95 to just across the Georgia line and spent the night! We got up on Monday and started off on on the rest of the journey. Carrie and Christa and her parents were headed this direction also. Monday the homecoming plans changed about 4 or 5 times so it was an emotional day to say the least! We arrived at the hotel and got all checked in and unloaded. THEN we found out that David's flight had been cancelled and he would not be arriving until Wednesday at the earliest! I thought I was going to die!! Finally around 7 or so, I received a phone call that said that David WAS on a flight and he would be arriving at 2:55 on Tuesday! The rest of our group finally arrived here around 8 and so we got together for supper and then took the girls downstairs to the heated pool to spend some energy!!
Tuesday morning - oh boy, where do I start?? We got up and started getting everyone ready for our big day. Christa sent me a text to tell us that David had called her from Ireland so we had proof that he was actually on his way home! At that point, we still believed that he would be landing at Cherry Point at 2:55 and would be on base at Camp Lejeune by about 4. The girls made their posters, we ate lunch, wrote on the windows of the vehicles and headed off to base at about 1:30. Then the fun really started! We got to the right spot for where the buses come in and they had a place with coffee, donuts and pizza for the families! The longer the afternoon went, the more the families showed up. They had tents set up outside since it was raining off and on and was a little windy! We had a really nice Staff Sergeant that kept us posted off and on as to the progress that our Marines were making! He came in the room and said that they had landed at Cherry Point and the noise was unbelievable!! Around 3, we decided to head outside for the rest of the time. We got out our own chairs and sat under a tent and the waiting really began then. There were more changes than you can imagine! They land, go turn in their weapons and find out that the charter buses are not getting there until 5!!! To make a long story short, (oh wait - too late for that, right?) we sat and waited until the word came that the buses were almost to the main gate of the base! We were standing along the street and before long, a lady turned and yelled that the buses were coming! There were four buses that turned and past in front of us and David was on the 3rd one - we found that out a little later!! We headed towards the Marines that were coming off and Ashley spotted him first! You have never heard such screaming in your life! He was immediately attacked by Christa and then his two sisters and then his dad and then his in-laws and then finally, his short little momma!!!!!! Of course, then there was more waiting as these guys had to stand around and wait on the semi to bring their luggage! It arrived, it was unloaded in a matter of minutes by some fast moving Marines and we headed off with David to our hotel!
It was the best thing in the world to gather in the hotel room and stop and take a few minutes to just thank God that he had brought David home safely! There were no dry eyes let me tell you!
We got to bed but I am afraid that didn't last long! His body is on the wrong time! Anyway, we were up around 4am talking and looking at pictures. I went back to sleep and his dad got up with him. I think they ate and went out for a bit and then down to play some pool and who knows what else? He pretty much had everyone up by 7:30 with his hyper ways!!! I must admit that I missed that!!
So - that's it for now! I feel so much better to have this all down in writing and to share it with those of you who have prayed so much for our family! I am sure I will have more to post later on!!
Sunday was quite the interesting eventful day! We got up to get ready for church and the fun began. We found out that David was definitely coming home and would be arriving on Tuesday at noon. So we began to make hasty arrangements for both us and Carrie. She was with the choir and about an hour after she left Christa's house for their next service, we found out the homecoming details. It was pretty fun there for awhile!! Anyway, Christa and her Dad went to get Carrie Sunday afternoon and Dave and I decided that we should probably go ahead and start on our journey. We left Hobe Sound around and traveled up 95 to just across the Georgia line and spent the night! We got up on Monday and started off on on the rest of the journey. Carrie and Christa and her parents were headed this direction also. Monday the homecoming plans changed about 4 or 5 times so it was an emotional day to say the least! We arrived at the hotel and got all checked in and unloaded. THEN we found out that David's flight had been cancelled and he would not be arriving until Wednesday at the earliest! I thought I was going to die!! Finally around 7 or so, I received a phone call that said that David WAS on a flight and he would be arriving at 2:55 on Tuesday! The rest of our group finally arrived here around 8 and so we got together for supper and then took the girls downstairs to the heated pool to spend some energy!!
Tuesday morning - oh boy, where do I start?? We got up and started getting everyone ready for our big day. Christa sent me a text to tell us that David had called her from Ireland so we had proof that he was actually on his way home! At that point, we still believed that he would be landing at Cherry Point at 2:55 and would be on base at Camp Lejeune by about 4. The girls made their posters, we ate lunch, wrote on the windows of the vehicles and headed off to base at about 1:30. Then the fun really started! We got to the right spot for where the buses come in and they had a place with coffee, donuts and pizza for the families! The longer the afternoon went, the more the families showed up. They had tents set up outside since it was raining off and on and was a little windy! We had a really nice Staff Sergeant that kept us posted off and on as to the progress that our Marines were making! He came in the room and said that they had landed at Cherry Point and the noise was unbelievable!! Around 3, we decided to head outside for the rest of the time. We got out our own chairs and sat under a tent and the waiting really began then. There were more changes than you can imagine! They land, go turn in their weapons and find out that the charter buses are not getting there until 5!!! To make a long story short, (oh wait - too late for that, right?) we sat and waited until the word came that the buses were almost to the main gate of the base! We were standing along the street and before long, a lady turned and yelled that the buses were coming! There were four buses that turned and past in front of us and David was on the 3rd one - we found that out a little later!! We headed towards the Marines that were coming off and Ashley spotted him first! You have never heard such screaming in your life! He was immediately attacked by Christa and then his two sisters and then his dad and then his in-laws and then finally, his short little momma!!!!!! Of course, then there was more waiting as these guys had to stand around and wait on the semi to bring their luggage! It arrived, it was unloaded in a matter of minutes by some fast moving Marines and we headed off with David to our hotel!
It was the best thing in the world to gather in the hotel room and stop and take a few minutes to just thank God that he had brought David home safely! There were no dry eyes let me tell you!
We got to bed but I am afraid that didn't last long! His body is on the wrong time! Anyway, we were up around 4am talking and looking at pictures. I went back to sleep and his dad got up with him. I think they ate and went out for a bit and then down to play some pool and who knows what else? He pretty much had everyone up by 7:30 with his hyper ways!!! I must admit that I missed that!!
So - that's it for now! I feel so much better to have this all down in writing and to share it with those of you who have prayed so much for our family! I am sure I will have more to post later on!!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Homecoming 2!!!
Here are just a few pictures that I managed to snap in the midst of the very unorganized chaos!! This was the first bus that was rounding the corner!
This is Christa finally being able to plant one on her man after a long 7 months!
Somewhere in this mess is Christa, Carrie, Ashley and Dave!
This is David with Carrie and Ashley!
There are probably a whole lot more I could say and post but to be honest, my food is getting cold and I am so tired my eyes are playing tricks on me! I am sure I will post some more tomorrow but for now, David is home and that is ALL that matters! Praise the Lord!
This is Christa finally being able to plant one on her man after a long 7 months!
Somewhere in this mess is Christa, Carrie, Ashley and Dave!
This is David with Carrie and Ashley!
There are probably a whole lot more I could say and post but to be honest, my food is getting cold and I am so tired my eyes are playing tricks on me! I am sure I will post some more tomorrow but for now, David is home and that is ALL that matters! Praise the Lord!
Homecoming 1!!
I am going to start numbering these blogs from now on to see if I can prevent anyone from getting lost!!
So - it is 12:35 and we will soon be headed out to the base. The posters are made and the windows of the vehicles are about to be properly MARKED! Our Marine called Christa this morning early from Ireland and is on schedule to arrive in the US at 2:55. As to when we actually see him, time will tell!
Thanks so much to all of you for your prayers!! Please keep them up! I promise that more pictures and blogging will be forthcoming so check back on a frequent basis!
Monday, April 21, 2008
A Quick Update
As of this moment, although I am so tired I am not too positive of anything, it looks as though the Marine of our family will be on USA soil sometime tomorrow after noon!! We are ALL in North Carolina now and trying to get everyone settled down and ready for bed so we can get some sleep!
Check back tomorrow evening sometime and I will see if I can update this blog with information that you might find interesting!!
Check back tomorrow evening sometime and I will see if I can update this blog with information that you might find interesting!!
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