Things I've Learned During 2013 Summer Road Trip Insanity (So Far....)

1. Taking The Husband on a road trip must be preparation for taking 3 teenagers on a road trip.

2. Stopping every 1.5 hours for randomness makes me super cranky.

3. Trying to do 18 hours of driving in one day makes me lose it...at the 13 hour mark...in the middle of New Mexico.

4. The fish travels better than anyone.

5. God gives you humor when you need it, especially on I-70 just outside Salina, KS (billboard quoting  
   "The Lord's eyes see all" verse next to Adult SuperStore)

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week is Teacher Appreciation at the kiddos school. There's a cute little theme for every day with a class gift being given at the end of the week. This year's Teacher Appreciation Week took a whole new turn yesterday courtesy of a tornado 1,300 miles away. Two elementary schools suffered a direct hit and rescue crews are still desperately searching the rubble for survivors. And as they search, stories of teachers throwing themselves over students to protect them are coming to light. Stories of teachers calming students. Stories of teachers praying over their students. Stories of teachers doing so much more than teaching.

Teachers threw themselves over their your kids to protect them from 200 mph winds and debris. 

They put themselves between children and a force of nature that no one can even begin to fathom.

They did this because our children are their children. 

They did this while earning a very meager paycheck. They did this while trying to meet the needs of 20-30 children with a budget that supports maybe 5-10 students. They did this while government officials tell them how kids score on a set of tests is the most important part of their job. 

They did this because while they are responsible for teaching our kiddos Math, English, Science, Social Studies and so on and so forth, they feel a responsibility to keep our children safe. One teacher responded to a mom's thank you with "Just doing my job" and I immediately thought, no. No where in your job description does it say "will put your life in danger to protect 20-30 small lives". Teachers are amazingly strong people and one of the most taken for granted professions in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, there are some super sucky teachers in the world, but in our experience, my kiddos have been fortunate enough to have teachers that love them. They love them for the things that drive me crazy and they love them for things that I don't see--like when Thing 1 finally grasps reading comprehension and when Thing 2 was able to break down what The Great Depression was for her class (courtesy of an American Girl book) reading group.

Somehow flowers and a Thank You card seem like such a minuscule gift to a person who would give their life for the life of your child.

Oh, Those Joneses....

There are so many things society tells us we should worry about as a parent in today's world: getting the best education, the best experiences, having well mannered, well rounded children who are honest and ethically grounded, that need to speak more than one language, have a firm grasp on how to serve to their family, friends, community, country, and world, all while participating in at least 3 activities a week. Essentially, society is telling our children "go, go, go, keep striving, be better than The Joneses, keep reaching for the stars!"

Which is all well and good, but what about enjoying life?

What about enjoying what you have instead of worrying about what you don't have?

Why are we all struggling so much to keep up with The Joneses of the rest of the world?

We have some family history that involves a member of extended family who is always trying to be bigger, better, richer, smarter, etc than anyone around them. There's no experience that's uniquely yours, their story is always better than yours, bigger than yours, or somehow they made your story possible. Consequently, they're never satisfied with anything that they have been blessed with. They strive and strive and strive for one thing and as soon as they get it, they're on to the next thing. I think people originally thought that this behavior would get better with age, but it's actually gotten worse. And it's just exhausting to watch this person continue to behave in this manner with total disregard of how it may/may not be affecting those around them.

But it's a great teaching lesson for the kiddos.

The older we've gotten the more we've learned that The Joneses of the World will always be out there. We've come so far from where we were 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 3 seconds ago, but there will always be someone who's farther than we are, based on society's measuring stick and they usually got there in half the time. Currently, we live in an environment of people who waited until they were
"financially secure" or "experienced the world" before they had children and settled in the suburbs. They take worldly vacations, they donate multiple $1000 items to school fundraisers, they own million dollar home and 3 cars, their kids have no concept of cheap macaroni and cheese. It's a surreal environment. But at no point, have we felt like we needed to keep up with them. Sure, I feel like a child picking up children at the school in the afternoons (most of the people I thought were grandparents picking up kiddos are actually the parents of kiddos), but I wouldn't change our life for a second. I don't envy their life, I'm grateful for ours.

I want the kiddos to learn that while they're constantly striving for their next big goal, that they should also be enjoying the life they have. God blesses them every day with something as simple as air and it's so important to me that they get that. I want them to know that having the coolest xyz, or having the most xyz, or the biggest xyz isn't what life is about.

It's not about The Joneses.

It's about the little moments that add up to the big moments. It's about working to live, but not living to work. It's about being compassionate. It's about having faith. It's about being grateful. It's about being honest with others and more importantly, yourself. It's about the simple things.

So while they're reaching for the stars, I desperately hope they look around and enjoy the view of the world at their finger tips.

Hope Comes In Weird Packages

The kiddo's brains have started Spring Break this week, even though their actual Spring Break doesn't begin for another week. In their defense, now is the usual time of Spring Break, but their new school starts later in the year, therefore Spring Break is later than they're accustom to. Anywho, essentially what this means is they've got stupid. I love them. But they've just gone stupid this week.

My 14 Months of Our 10 Years of War in Iraq

**The photos aren't in chronological order because I tried to sort them, lost my temper, swore, & decided it wasn't worth the frustration :)**

The backstory: The Husband sends me an email with some German reporter's email address and asks that I email him for the pictures he took of their latest mission. I send email to German reporter. He responds with "Yes, I have the pictures, but are you aware of the events of the day? I don't want to upset you with the pictures." Hmmm. I email The Husband and he says "Oh, yah, we got hit by a VBIED (Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device) that day and he's got picture of it I think." Great. Send email back to German Reporter that says "Yah, so we've been doing this for a year at this point, we've lost Soldiers, it's been rough, but I crave pictures of his life. Good parts and bad. I need to see him. I need to see him doing what he's doing. I need to know that he's doing what he loves." The reporter send the pictures with a note about how fearless The Husband is and how he's one of the greatest Leaders he's ever met. This picture was included. After deployment, the Husband explained that the reporter didn't want to wear protective gear and they told him that was a stupid decision, but they had to go. Out and about they find themselves taking enemy fire and as they're trying to figure out which rooftop the fire is coming from, the Husband hears a cardboard box panting and freaking out next to him. The reporter is hiding in the cardboard box (that's whats in the upper left hand corner of the picture). 

Sometimes Other Mommies Are The WORST

This morning, after walking Thing 1 to his classroom, Thing 2, Sam-I-Am and myself continued on to her classroom. Typically, the routine is walk to classroom, drop off bag, disappear onto the playground after a 2 second "BYE MOM!". But this morning was different. Thing 2 was clingy. So Sam-I-Am and I hung out for a bit asking her random questions about playground etiquette. "What's up with the swings? Oh, they're wet in the mornings. What is the game they're playing over here, it looks like tag. No, we're not allowed to play tag anymore because people were complaining about falling down and then this one kid scratched his face on the ground after this bigger kid tagged him hard and he fell down, so then the teachers said no more tag. That's called Scramble. (Insert 4 minute explanation that essentially sums up to the same thing as tag)."

Roller-coasters are supposed to be fun, right?

So here you are, standing in front of what appears to be the coolest roller-coaster ever, aptly named: YOUR LIFE! You're anxious, but so excited to experience such a thrilling ride. Sure, part of the coaster is covered and you have no idea what's going on in there, but you just KNOW it's gonna be awesome. You find yourself running to get on the ride because you just don't want to wait another minute. And just like that, you're buckled in and so begins your ride.

Hey! Do you remember...?!?!

Yesterday, while out running errands, the kiddos and I passed an Army truck waiting to get towed by another Army truck (insert budget jokes here). The kiddos were so excited to see "real Army guys!" and were bantering back and forth about what they might be doing out this way. We talked about how there's a National Guard Armory, a Navy Base and other military things around here, so it's not uncommon for Army guys to be out and about, this was just the first the kiddos were seeing them. Then there was a silent pause and quietly Thing 1 said "I miss Army." Silent pause. "I miss Army too" from Thing 2. Followed by another silent pause.

Knowns, Unknowns, and Hopes of TBI

Nothing is more uncertain than the future. Nothing.

See, The Husband has a mild Traumatic Brain Injury that we call his Mushy Brain and there are many things we know about it.

Am I a Good Mommy?

I think there comes a time while being a mommy, you question if you're doing the job right. If that moment hasn't come for you yet, it will. If it doesn't, you need an ego check and that's a whole other topic. Honestly, if you don't have this moment daily, I'm envious. I question every move I make as a mommy. "Milk or juice? Well okay so she's had 3 glasses of milk today already and seriously, how much milk does one kid need? But juice is full of sugars and sure, I spent the extra money and got the 100% juice, but again, how much is too much?!?!? Sigh. Water it is!"