There are days when you feel like a cog in the wheel of life...a small part in the grand scheme of things....and then there are other days.....
Today was one of those other days. Mark and I woke up very early (4:30 am!) as he has duty today, which means he will spend 24 hours on the boat. So anyways...we got up early..he to get ready for work, and me to make his breakfast/lunch/dinner/breakfast (remember the 24 hours on the boat part?).....at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am, I cannot, will not, think or see beyond the shadow cast by the light above the stove...so...once food was secured, I somehow found my way back to bed...bumping into things along the way..but back to bed I went... after 20 minutes or so..just as I was getting back to sleep, Mark calls to me to 'come outside and see'....Now...at 4:30 am whatever it is one wants to show me, it had better be close to God himself! I stagger out to the living room...put on Marks now abandoned slippers..and go outside...and as I looked outside...the world stood still....
Now, one might stop right here and say "For crying out loud, it's only SNOW".....but for some reason...maybe I've never lived in a place that can be counted on for a regular snowfall...maybe I still have some aspect of childhood wonderment...whatever....I still catch my breath when I look outside and it is snowy and the snow is coming down.....ever notice how very quiet and still it is when it snows? How clean the world looks? Feels? Ever notice the smell of the air? It SMELLS like snow...like clean water..... anyways...the world is a different place....and all of a sudden...in one moment...I stop feeling like a cog in the wheel...I feel like an Island all to myself...standing on our two and a half acres....unable to see another person (other than those in my own house!)...with the world clean and clear...and white...I feel like I am in a snowglobe....insulated from everything for just a moment in time....and it's a nice feeling..even if just for a day or two...so today...I was in a snowglobe...just the kids and I...living our lives without sense of the rest of the world.......
Tomorrow will be another day...the snow is melting...no more snowglobe...but it sure was nice for a day!

Hugs....
Mark, Jaye and Gang

Here is a picture of the kids singing in the kids choir at Church on Sunday. The picture is a bit dark, but ben is in the third row center...while Paige is in the fourth row left (red striped sweater). They did awesome! Ben wasn't planning on being in the choir, but after seeing Paige sing during the first service (we went to both morning services) he was quite excited about being in the choir for the second service! The theme of the service was 'When Ordinary People do Extraordinary Things' with the subtitle, "Ordinary Kids Sing".....they all did really well...of course, most of the littler ones were busy waving to mom and dad and not doing a whole lot of singing. Two of the girls were 'signing' all the songs and so Ben was busy watching them and copying the hand signs they were doing, it was quite funny! After church, a bunch of us (quite a few from the boat go to Newlife) went out for Mexican food for lunch....VERY yummy! This coming Sunday (Christmas Eve) will be a special service called "Christmas with Grace"...we are looking forward to this! Less than a week to Christmas! We have a party we are hosting on Thursday for Marks division on the boat (Sonar!)...we will be having it at our house and are so looking forward to it....then on Christmas Eve our home starts to fill up with friends and 'family' and we will have a house FULL Christmas day! YAY!!!

The kids are all enjoying their time off from school. Sam had a sleep over last night with five of his buddies. We were going to have this sleep over on the weekend, but with no power (for 30 hours!) we felt it best to postpone it till yesterday. My baby is 16 now! I can't believe it! He will start his drivers ed in the new year.....look out world, here comes Sam with a CAR! Yikes!

Hugs to all
Mark,Jaye and Gang

Nine years ago today, I was at work. Mid afternoon, I looked up and there was a sailor (MY sailor!) in full dress uniform with a dozen roses! I was surprised because he hadn't told me he was coming up to visit (Mark was in WA and I was in Canada). He handed me the roses and said "I came up to take you out for dinner"....needless to say, all the gals I worked with were just GAGA over Mark in uniform.....it was like a scene out of An Officer and a Gentleman!

After work, I went home and Mark was waiting for me (by this time he had a key to my place and alot of his own stuff there....jeepers..looking back, maybe I should have been charging him rent! haha)......we went to the next town from mine (Mark was not in uniform by this point in time....and NO, it wasn't because I ripped it off him when I got home!) and found a really nice Mexican restaurant on the waterfront....Mark was being a smarty pants and ordered his dinner as hot as they'd make it....he was warned by our waiter that it would be H-O-T...and Mark said "it's never hot enough for me!" lets just say, it was MORE than hot enough...in fact, Mark went through several pitchers of water!

After dinner, Mark suggested that we go for a walk along the dock (pier to you Americans!)...it was a nice cold crisp night, and all the boats were decorated for Christmas with lights of all colours.....so Mark and I were walking along hand in hand talking...and then...Mark just wasn't beside me....I looked around and he was down on one knee with a ring. I remember seeing his mouth moving..to this day I have NO clue what he said. All I could think was 'whatever you do, don't drop the ring into the water' (and you all thought I wasn't a romantic!).....of course, I said YES!

So here we are...nine years later...five kids...two cats (one of which has been replaced twice)...a lizard....a house....six moves....shore duty...sea duty.....one advancement....two re-enlistments....college.....whew.....we have kept busy!

Today is also my Mom's bday. I won't say how old she is...I will just say that like fine wine, she gets better with age (or is that whiskey?).....We haven't gotten along all that well throughout my life..and we rarely see eye to eye....but she is my Mom and I love her dearly.....
So..Happy Birthday Mom (even though you won't be celebrating it...I will think of you!)....

Hugs to you all....

Mark,Jaye and Gang

This coming Sunday, Paige will be singing in the kids choir at Church! She will be singing at both the 9am service and the 10:30 service (we go to this service normally)....of course I will be videotaping it and I'll also take the digital camera so that I can email a small clip of her to anyone who wants to see! Just email me (pinger29@web-o.net OR k_did@hotmail.com) and I'll make sure you see our singing sensation! Also, Mark is going to be signing up to head to Mexico in June (if he can get leave!) to go with a large group of men from our church to build 3 homes there. It only takes $4000.00 to build an entire home for a family!! Our church is trying to raise money to be able to build three and we already had one person give enough for one entire home! How awesome is that!!! So here is a shameless plug..if anyone wants to donate an amount to this worthy cause (every dollar helps!) you can send it to us and we'll see that it gets to the right place OR you can go to the Newlife website (Newlifekitsap.org) and donate directly there...just be sure to denote that it is to go to the 'me case et su casa' fundraiser!

Hugs to you all!
Mark, Jaye and Gang

Sams 'Golden Birthday' (16 on the 16th) is just around the corner. He will be having a sleep over with a group of friends next friday and on Saturday, when Mark comes home from duty, he is taking all the boys to the rock wall climbing gym! Sam has wanted to do that for quite some time and as our neighbor owns it, we get a sweet deal! We let Sam open his gift from us early as Mark is going to be on duty when we have Sam's party. Sam has wanted a keyboard for a long time now and so we thought this would be the perfect gift. He has mastered quite a few songs in just a few days and is now composing his own! I think we are going to have some wonderful music in our home in a very short time. Just think, years from now, we can all say we knew him when! :)

Hugs and Love,
Mark, Jaye and Gang