2010

What an amazing year it has been......as I look back, I am excited for what lies ahead of us as a family!
Paige turned 11 in January....which means that as I write this, she is a week away from being 12! She is changing on all fronts...her body...her attitude....everything. She is a wonderful girl..and I feel blessed to be her mother. I can't wait to see what this year unfolds like for her and us. I know that as she enters her teen years we will have our ups and downs, but I know that I will NOT repeat my own teen years, and so that is the first indication that this shall go well! :)
June saw me start my bachelors degree in Psychology. I changed from Law as I felt that I did not want to spend any part of my life watching and helping marriages dissolve. Coupled with my legal sciences degree, I hope to work in the court system as an advocate for the under 18 set. They need a voice and the legal system and kids are my passion.
July saw Mark do his last day in the Navy. After 20 glorious years of fighting for our freedoms, standing up for what he believes in, he turned the watch over to a new generation. He did an awesome job and I will always be proud of his service. He technically had two weeks without a job, and is now doing the same thing he did in the Navy, but as a civilian, and earning a lot more money and finally getting the recognition and respect that he deserves....again, I am always proud of what he does!
September saw Ben turn 9. I do not know where the time goes. He was just born a few days ago! :)
Both kids are doing so well in school. Smart as anything and always so kind and good...
Sam has had a good year working and is making plans for his future. He is looking at what he wants to do for college, and is looking at moving out in January into his own place with some friends. While I am sad to see him go, I am also excited for him. It is a new adventure. He has grown into the most AMAZING young man. I am proud to be his mother!
This year saw some sad things as well....Marks Grandma Ruth died just before Christmas...she was 98 and lived a good, long life but it is always heart breaking to lose someone you love. This year also saw Marks brother in law Bill get very ill...as I type this he is counting down his days. Hospice and all in the medical community are not sure how he is still alive. He is dying and there is nothing we can do...we laugh with him..we cry with him...we love him dearly. He is keeping a sense of humour, but I cannot imagine knowing that I was dying....how hard that must be. This year also saw the final end to Mark and Shelbys relationship for now. Mary refused to put Shelby on the plane for Christmas 2009, and that was the last time (and first!) Mark heard from Shelby that year. She emailed him and said that she did not want a relationship with him right now but wanted one when she was an adult. Coming from an then 15 year old, that speaks volumes to us. Mary is a freaking insane nutjob who is doing a great job of destroying Shelby. Mary was divorced for the third time in January and moved a new man into their home in March or April...they are now engaged (God help him)....I have tried to be kind about Mary and our years of her crap, but really...after all these years, I can only say that she is the most mentally unbalanced person I have ever come to know. I pray for Shelby every day...she is going to need our prayers and good vibes in order to turn out to be a normal adult.
Sam turned 20 a few weeks ago....amazing how this four pound, eight week premature baby turned into such a lovely young man. I love him...so much.
My brother asked a wonderful girl to marry him this year, and they will be married in the spring. They will be living in Switzerland (her homeland), and so this means that this year will see us saving our pennies for a trip to Europe in 2012. :) I cannot wait!
And now we are at New Years Eve....and I know that this coming year will be full of adventures and new things. I will get the major part of my degree done this year, the kids will turn 21, 12, and 10 respectively....(you don't need to know how old I will be this year!), Mark will get settled into the new job and become an 'old pro' at what he does...
I wish nothing but success...joy...love...and good things for you all...know that we think of you all often and miss you and love you all so very much....

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Kitchen day...

About five years ago (or maybe less) Mark had duty on Christmas Day. I did not want him to miss yet ANOTHER Christmas dinner/celebration so I decided we would have our big feast on Christmas Eve. It turns out that when you do that, Christmas Day is a breeze!! No rushing to open presents and clean up because you have to cook...it turns Christmas Day into a nice relaxing, enjoy your gifts, sit around and play with the family kind of day. So that became our new tradition, and we love it!
This year is our first 'retired' Christmas! This means there was no trying to figure out 'duty schedules' in advance to see if Mark would be home this year, no having to put in for leave, no duty days during the holidays. This year, Mark is not only HOME for Christmas (eve, day, AND boxing day!) but he is home for ELEVEN days and it only requires him to use FIVE of his banked holidays days! We so love civilian life! :)
So today after hitting the shower, I shall ensconce myself in the kitchen and start doing the things I can do today! I will be making a chocolate pie (Sam and Ben would lead a rebellion if I didn't serve this on Christmas Eve!), Cranberry sauce (Paige and I are purists and will only eat 'real' cranberry sauce!), a broccoli/cauliflower cheese bake (I am so sick of the 'traditional' veggies for the big feast!), and get my stuffing made in advance.
Tomorrow I will put a ham in the oven, Mark will put the turkey on the grill, and I will put the stuffing and the veggie bake in the oven, cook some corn and potatoes (gravy too of course!) and that will take care of that. It will make enough food for leftovers on Christmas day as well! I bought two lovely loaves of organic bread in anticipation of some lovely sammies on Christmas day, but if anyone wants a plate of food, they know where the microwave is! :)
For dinner tonight, I will be making latkes and bacon and sausages..I think I put on five pounds during the holidays, but it is so worth it! The kids love the food traditions as much as all the other things we do...I look forward to the day when they bring THEIR families home for my big dinners!
So off I go to shower and start cooking!

Hugs to all,

Jaye

Snow day....

Mark and I were woken up this morning at 7:30 am to a banging on our bedroom door and the excited voices of two children shouting "IT'S SNOWING". There are no two words in the world that can get Mark and I out of bed faster than that. We are like the kids when it snows! It still holds that magical bond with us that we had as kids. There is nothing like leaping out of bed and running to throw the blinds wide open and seeing a white world with huge white flakes tumbling down from the sky, racing each other to see who can hit the ground first!

As it was an hour and a half past my normal time to get up (I am up at 6 during the week!) Dexter REALLY had to go outside. I put a robe on over my pj's and donned my snow boots and out we went so he could do his business. I don't care who you are, or what is going on in your life, but there is nothing that compares to the absolute silence that envelopes you when you go out into the snow. There is not a bird to be heard, nor a creature to be seen. I imagine them all tucked up somewhere, looking at me through blurry, sleepy eyes, thinking "Is she NUTS? Doesn't she know it is COLD out here?". I wandered around the yard a bit while Dexter found the perfect spot to go (which usually takes him awhile!) and marveled at the silence and the whiteness..and the sheer magic that is snow!

Mark and Paige have headed out to hunt for a bit. Mark is convinced that the deer go crazy in the snow and that TODAY is the day he will bring back meat for our freezer. I am not holding my breath. I think 'hunting' is merely a justifiable way of getting out of the house and away from the chaos for hours at a time! lolol..I might have to start 'hunting' myself (and pack a good book in my backpack!). I have now showered and readied myself for the day of lazing around, and so I am off to play Wii with Ben. Thus begins our Christmas holidays....snow...family...fun. I can think of no better way to spend a day than this.

Hugs to you all,
Jaye

Christmas break starts right..........NOW!

Paige and Ben enjoyed their last day of school till the new year. They each had a class party (the cake above is what I made for Bens class party!), gifts were given to their teachers (cute tin buckets filled with homemade treats and a $5 Starbucks gift card!), gifts were exchanged with their friends, and report cards came home. Both are doing wonderfully in school and neither has homework over the holidays! YAY!
I too am on a three week break (have already enjoyed one week of it!). I go back to school on January 3rd, just like Paige and Ben! It is nice to be able to relax and not have to worry about any papers due during the holidays.
Mark works till Christmas Eve, working only a half day that day, and then he too is on a one week holiday! It will be nice to have a week off together as a family without any deadlines or schedules to follow.
We will enjoy our big feast on Christmas Eve....a tradition we started a few years ago when Mark had duty on Christmas day so we had our big meal on Christmas Eve. Turned out to be a wonderful choice, as Christmas day was no longer a scramble to open gifts, clean up, cook, and eat. We will go and enjoy Christmas Eve services at 9pm and come home and snuggle into bed and wait for Santa! Christmas day will see us lounging around enjoying our gifts and each other, and the company of good friends. We would like to head up to Mt. Rainier to go sledding during our time off, but we'll see if we actually get around to that! :)
It will be nice to have this time to relax and enjoy time off.
Even nicer is not having to figure out the 'Duty Schedule' a week in advance to know if Mark will be home for Christmas or not...one of the perks of retirement from the Navy!

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Blame it on facebook...and school...and life....

It has come to my attention that there are those of you out there that do not 'do' facebook, and therefore have not been able to keep up with the exploits of the Greene family! I do offer my humble apologies and am actually quite surprised that my blog had faithful readers (after all you never commented, and you know who you are!)....I found that facebook allowed me to take ten minutes out of my day to post a few pictures, relay a few happenings and I could keep everyone up on all that was Greene (those who were interested anyways). So..blame my lack of blogging on facebook! :)
I actually prefer to blog, as writing is a love of mine that goes back to when I was a little girl. Words fascinate me. I love them. I love stringing them together like one would put a string of beads together. You can string words together that make a perfect picture, or you can string words together that really make no sense, so there is an art to words and all that is 'writing'. I cannot draw a stick man to save my life, but I can write up a storm!
Our life since the last post...which has been awhile! :) I think the BIGGEST happening has been that Mark is now a retired Sailor! He retired from the United States Navy, Submarine Fleet, after 20 years of service. He had a two week window that he did not have a job before he began his new adventure working for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Yes, he is doing the same thing that he spent the past 20 years doing, only as a civilian and for MUCH BETTER money! :)
Sam will be twenty in four days. I don't know how that happened. One minute I was dealing with the 8 week early birth of this four pound baby boy and the loss of his twin brother and then I blinked and he is 20! He is getting ready to move out of our house and into his own place with three other friends. This is such a bittersweet thing for me. I want him to live with us forever and I want him to GET OUT! :) I know how excited he is to move out. He found his wings awhile back and has been flexing them ever since, but now he is going to FLY...he may fly back to the nest a few times, but isn't that what life is about? You try your wings, you fly back to the nest to regroup and then you try again. Of course, he may NOT fly back to the nest, perhaps that is just wishful thinking on my part! ;)
Paige and Ben are both in the gifted program and attend a school for gifted kids. Paige is in the sixth grade doing high school math...and recently tested AHL (above High school Level) in reading. She is doing wonderfully academically. She is also a normal 'almost' 12 year old. Her body is changing, her attitude is reflecting these changes, and we are adjusting to this new stage in her life.
Ben is in fourth grade, doing sixth grade math and also doing well academically. He is obsessed with building paper airplanes right now, at least until something else grabs his interest and pulls him into its clutches for a length of time. That is how Ben is. He finds something he likes and his life becomes all about that until something else grabs his fancy. Part of what makes him...well..Ben!
I am also in school! I have finished two quarters now and am on a three week break. So far I have all A's but I cannot brag too much as I know that as soon as I get a big head about it, I'll get a b...or worse! I am getting my bachelors degree in Psychology and then my Masters in Marriage and Family counseling. I have an associates degree in Legal Sciences, which allows me to be a paralegal if I want, and I had planned on becoming a Family Law Attorney, but have decided that I'd rather be an ADVOCATE for families than someone who helps tear them apart. We have enough broken families in the world today.....
Marks ex wife is on husband number four...well, they aren't yet married, they are engaged. Her third divorce was final in January this year (after a year long battle over the home that they built together) and in March she moved the new fiance into her home. Quite the stellar example to Shelby isn't it? Mark has not talked to nor seen Shelby in two years now. Mary has blocked every attempt he has made, and last Christmas she REFUSED to put Shelby on the plane for her two weeks with us. Shelby emailed Mark after that fiasco and told him that 'right now I do not want a relationship with you, but when I am an adult I will want one'. Coming from a 15 year old (she is almost 17 now!) that said a lot to us. We know from talking to Marys third ex husband that Mary would go into a two to three day rage whenever Mark would call to talk to Shelby or send her a letter. Apparently she made that home a living hell. SO, Mark made the responsible choice to just let Shelby have the next few years of peace and quite so she can graduate and move on with her life. When she is ready to have a relationship with him, she will contact him. As for her schooling, Shelby is falling through the cracks. Normally a straight A student, she is now pulling in C's and D's. She used to be in the top ten in Cross Country, but now is not even close. Since September, she has been late to 21 classes, and absent from 29, and that is just in four months. We think that Mary is so invested in keeping this fourth relationship from failing that she is neglecting Shelby. There is nothing we can do but watch...and be prepared to pick up the pieces when we are asked to by Shelby. :) We have 18 months left of paying child support and of having to deal with Mary. That time will fly by and then we are done!
Now...on to happier topics! My brother is getting married in the spring and his fiance lives in Switzerland and so that is where they shall be living. Mark and I are planning on taking the kids to Europe in 2012 for a vacation and to see lots of exciting things. On our short list is Switzerland (which will be our base!), Paris, Italy, and Germany....but we shall see how things shape up closer to our travel time.
Last September for my birthday we got a Yorkshire Terrier which we named Dexter. He is adorable and has certainly become a beloved (albeit bratty!) member of our family!
And that brings us to today! We had three days of snow and ice and bitterly cold weather about two weeks ago, and that was it. Now we are in a flood watch until tomorrow due to the incredibly heavy rains! We are still hoping the temps will plummet (currently it is 51 degrees) so that we can have a white Christmas...but I think that might be wishful dreaming! We are all excited about Christmas and have had a flurry of shopping and wrapping and today I start the baking!
I wish each and every one of you a Very Merry Christmas, and I hope to hear from you! Leave a comment, or feel free to email me at k_did@hotmail.com

Love to you all....

Jaye

Retirement.....

So Mark is about three weeks into a three and a half month 'semi retirement' phase. He officially retires on July 29,2010 but has accrued enough 'leave' from the Navy that he only works two more days between now and then. Which means he is home. With me. All. Day. Long.

He's really trying to keep busy, coming up with all sorts of projects he's wanted to do and hasn't been able to because he's not been home much in the past three years. But those are getting done and so now he's making stuff up to keep busy and slowly going stir crazy. I can tell. He is now sending resumes to everyone AND their dog as well as having now registered with a few head hunters. He turned to me the other day and said "I could not retire and do NOTHING". I thought it would be rude to reply 'well no shit sherlock, cause you'd drive ME nuts'. So I smiled, and patted his leg, silently praying 'Dear Lord, you can have my first born IF..'

All joking aside, it's actually been nice to have him home so much. After all, this past year alone he was gone 270 days! On the flip side, I am NOT looking forward to REAL retirement at 65 when he is allllll done working and isn't going to be finishing with one career and starting another. Right now I know this is a brief respite and soon I'll be wishing for these days back as he heads off to his next job and we get back into a work routine. At 65 he'll be home with me. For real. All. Day. Long. Thankfully I'll be a licensed family counselor by then....which brings me to.....

I start school in June now that Mark is home full time! I am so excited! I had originally planned on Law School after he was home, but after two years of having time to think, I've realized I really DON'T want to invest that time. I love the legal system, but I also love kids and family and all that it entails. Not just MY kids and family, but OTHER kids and the ideal of family. So I want to parley all that into a legal career of some sort. So here is the plan. After three years of doing daycare, I am going to start my bachelors in Psychology (accelerated program gives me a four year degree in two!) as well as simultaneously getting another associates degree (In Liberal Arts this time, I have one in Legal Sciences). I am doing the extra degree because it isn't as 'narrowed' down as the one I have AND I have enough credits that it will only take a few extra months to my original plan to get so...why not....I have the time! The best part? I am able to use Marks post 9/11 GI bill (he has enough degrees, he won't be using it!) and so the Navy is paying for my tuition, my books AND I get a $1500 a month stipend. Yes, I get my schooling et al paid for AND I get a pay check to do it! Yay ME!

Once I have my degree, I am going to work as an advocate for children and families within the court system. For the kids in foster care and DCS situations as well as kids caught in the middle of a divorce gone bad. At the same time, I'll be getting my Masters in Psychology which at the end of THAT degree I will choose a family/marriage counseling license or a simple counseling license. I already know I'll be choosing the family/marriage counseling license as that is really my passion. And who knows...after that, I might just go for my Doctorate...and be an old tree hugging hippy chick who teaches Psych 101 at the local college! :)

All in all, life is good. Mark and I both have a new path to travel down and are looking forward to all the adventures that are sure to follow!

Hugs to you all,

Jaye

Holy Week

It's 'Holy Week'. Our 40 days of Lent, of giving something up is almost to an end. I gave up alcohol. Mark gave up soda. Ben said he'd give up school! :) On Friday, we are supposed to fast for the day in remembrance of the day Jesus was crucified. Those of you who know me, know that I spent 30 years in a very claustrophobic religion that didn't allow room for thought or individuality. So having escaped from it, I spent ten years not being religious..but being quite spiritual (yes, there IS a difference!). Now, for the past four years Mark and I have been attending NewLife, a non denominational Christian religion. This is our first year of giving something up for Lent. And while I really like the idea of observing Jesus sacrifice, I am not so sure I am wanting to fast! It sounds like I am really making a commitment to a 'religion' and that just sits wrong with me. Then I think, this isn't about a commitment to a 'religion' but to a way of life. A life of living my best. Of reaching for the stars and fulfilling my dreams. Of leading in areas I can teach and being a student in areas that I can learn. It's about being a good wife and mother, without giving up so much of myself that I become a shell of myself. This is all so different from my past 'religious' way of life...and I like it! So maybe I'll fast, maybe I won't. But what I do know is, if I decide to NOT fast, I am not going to feel guilty. I am not going to be hauled in front of the Church body of pastors. Because something I've learned from NewLife is that MY faith is MY business...and THAT is what it should be about!

Holy week ends with Easter Sunday. Around our house, it's not so much a religious day as it is a family day. Yes, we'll go to Church in the morning, but before we go, there will be the egg hunt, and this year, instead of the Easter Bunny leaving the kids baskets for them, they are going to have to go on a scavenger hunt for them! There will be chocolates and new movies and ham and lamb and lots of good things to eat.

This week is a far cry from this time of year in my 'old' religion. It wasn't a week about your faith. Or about family. It wasn't about fun and laughter and loving God. It was about guilt and sadness and being beaten down emotionally.

I sure like my New Life! :)

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Quintuplets....and choices...

Four years ago, a gal in our church and her husband went in for infertility treatments. They had done this once before and it resulted in a single baby. Keep in mind that at this point in time, the couple and their two year old lived in an 800 square foot home, mom had no degree but was going to start her own 'at home' daycare center in order to add to the families finances, and Dad was in the middle of an apprenticeship and not yet making decent money.

So, on with the infertility treatments..only this time around, they ended up with five embryos! FIVE! Her fertility specialist as well as her ob/gyn suggested a 'fetal reduction' in which two or three of the fetuses would be chosen to be terminated, thus giving the others a better chance at survival. This woman (I'll refer to her as C) prayed long and hard and on the morning of the procedure, decided this was not something her faith would allow her to do and she chose to carry on with a quintuplet pregnancy and all that would involve. God Bless her for that as it was NOT easy. She spent the last five months on complete bed rest in the hospital, and the babies were all born prematurely...but healthy! YAY!

Our church leaders had met with them while they were making this tough choice, and told them once they decided to keep all five babies that the church would support them through prayer, and do all they could to provide for them financially, whatever that may be. Sounds good right?

Well..flash forward...these kids are almost four now..and CUTE CUTE CUTE. My issue? MOM. She whines about EVERYTHING. She went onto her blog a few years ago and BLASTED the church for not providing them with a new home. The church did NOT say they would give them a new home, they SAID they would do what they could for them financially....what this ended up being was over 50,000 dollars towards their new home (which is a HUGE home btw..easily a 400,000 dollar home!) as well as providing them with a list of volunteers..let me repeat that..VOLUNTEERS who came in AROUND THE CLOCK ...yes, 24 hours a day, in shifts...for a YEAR to help with feeding, bathing etc...a local 'cook for a day/eat for a month' business here in town also gave this family meals for a YEAR. FREE. Montel Williams gave each of the kids a college scholarship fund..and the local news has followed them since pregnancy and has been able to donate alot of things (five car seats...strollers..diapers for a year blah blah blah). But still....this woman complains. The kids keep her up at night..the kids are being too loud..she has a headache...the kids are getting into everything and WHY oh WHY can't she just have five minutes to herself.....today is her Bday apparently, and she went on her facebook and posted how two kids pee'd their beds..another one pooped on the floor and they are ALL just being HORRID and it's her BIRTHDAY..can she not have ONE DAY of peace?

My answer to that? Uh..NO. You CHOSE to have all five babies..AFTER you CHOSE to go for infertility treatments and KNEW the odds of having a multiple birth! Did anyone say it was going to be easy? nope. Does anyone fault you for having a 'I need a few minutes to myself' day like all of us mommies have? nope. But for the Love of ALL that is Holy woman, YOU CHOSE THIS LIFE. You actively went out and pursued this...and accepted the risk..and chose to do it. If you couldn't afford to have six kids, then you shouldn't have had SIX KIDS (the quints plus the one they had). Don't whine because no one bought you a house! Mark and I have five kids between us and we bought our own damn house! Don't whine because your day is so busy, WELCOME TO THE REALITY OF BEING ALIVE! Yes being a mom means you are going to be crazy busy...but this was a CHOICE you made....

Gah...drives me nuts when people make choices with their own free will and then bitch and moan about it after it doesn't turn out as rosy and 'storybookish' as they thought it would.

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Parents...sigh

Thursdays are early release days here in Central Kitsap School District. This means the kids that I normally get at 330, get here at 2 on Thursdays. A half hour later, I need to load everyone up in the van and go to the school and get Paige and Ben (they catch a bus at THEIR school, ride for 40 minutes and get dropped off at the school near our house). All the kids were lined up getting ready to go out the door and one of my daycare kids POWER puked all over the front entryway. LOVELY. Thankfully he managed to get it mainly on the area rug, which means I tossed it outside, hosed it off and will throw it in the washer tonight. State regulations require that children who puke at daycare need to be picked up ASAP by their parents and cannot return for 24 hours. Keep in mind that this is the 'problem' child I have. He is fourth grade...nine years old. I have been asking his parents since September to have him tested both mentally and physically by his pediatrician as there is something going on. As a mother and as someone who has worked with kids for years, I KNOW there is something wrong. He doesn't have the basic academic skills every fourth grader should have. He is incapable, or unwilling to follow directions. His parents could really care less quite frankly. No testing has been done. These are the parents who asked ME to show up at his parent/teacher interview...and these are the parents who made a dental and medical appointment for the younger child and then told ME I was taking him ( I said no!). So I call up dear old Dad and say 'C has just power puked. He has no fever, but the State requires that he be picked up ASAP'. Dads response? "Oh just lovely! Just wonderful! I'll call J (his wife) and see what we can do. I'll get back to you". It isn't that he has a tough boss (he works for his dad as a mechanic!) or that his wife can't get off work (she is a bus driver and her routes can be taken care of by other drivers). It's that they just REALLY don't want to be bothered. It breaks my heart.
They are the kinds of people who should never have had kids. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

I can't WAIT to close daycare at the end of June and head back to college! Yup, I am headed back to get my bach...YAY!

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Season of giving up....

The Lenten season is upon us (that's the fancy way of saying Lent!). For those of you who don't know..or who knew but have forgotten, Lent is the 46 (40 not including Sundays) days before the Easter season (and you thought there was nothing beyond 'don't wear white past labour day'!). We've been going to our church, Newlife, for about five years now..they have always celebrated Lent but I was always 'eh..not this year...not for this girl'. And so the years passed by. I've grown into my spirituality considerably in the past five years.

Having come from a hard core, bible thumping, do it our way or get out religion, I spent a good 10 years not a part of anything religious after I left a 30 year career in previous stated religion. Until we started going to Newlife. Mark wanted to go. Lets get that straight right from the get go. He suggested it several times in fact "hey..heard about this great church some of the guys on the boat go to, we should try it out'. Uh huh..sure..THIS Sunday? But we have plans THIS Sunday...and so it went. Until ONE Sunday we made the leap to go. Looking back, I think..no, I know it was God holding me back until this particular Sunday, because He DOES have a sense of humour! So we start out for Church and I have a laundry list of things "I better not hear from the Pulpit!". If they tell me 'if you aren't one of us then you are going to hell' I am OUTTA there. Ditto on the whole 'we are the ONLY true religion', 'women are lesser beings' etc etc. I am surprised I even made it out the door! I walked in and was actually EAGER to find a reason to leave! I'd show organized religion! Oh yes I would! Don't fail me now moral high ground!!

The sermon that day was 'The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse'. If you aren't a 'religious' person, this means nothing to you. If you are, then you know that having come from a bible thumping religion to hear a sermon like this was like a KABLAM from God himself. I had never heard this teaching taught quite this way! I sat, mesmerized for the hour that we were there. Barely breathing...just listening. I forgot my list of 'they better not say' s. I left there feeling encouraged and uplifted and HAPPY! Even on a GOOD day, discussing a relatively MILD topic like 'WE are the good guys and everyone else is going to die, when they do who's house do you want' in my old religion, had left me feeling down and depressed and guilty for all I HADN'T done that week. Here I was...having heard one of the most doctrinal topics in the bible discussed and I was HAPPY! What the junk? Is THIS what religion...no, SPIRITUALITY was supposed to be about?? Mark asked me on the way home what I thought and all I could say was "I think we need to go back next week and see what ELSE they talk about". Like I said, that was five years ago! And thus is how my spiritual life has grown...how I have gone on a walk with God that is truer and more meaningful in five short years than the other 30 years I'd spent with the other folks ever was...and that is how we get back to LENT!

So this year, I was actually WAITING for them to announce the start of the Lenten season! I was all prepared. I knew how I was going to 'help out' and I knew what I was going to give up. I am giving up alcohol. Makes me sound like a raving drunk...to 'give' up something like booze, you'd have to be right? Nah...but I DO enjoy...REALLY enjoy my cold crisp glass of wine on a Saturday with a good SVU marathon on! So..gone is the wine for the next 40 (46 if you count Sundays,and I kind of think I can't drink on Sundays but not the other days if I want to count this as 'giving something up') days.

Now Mark is giving up Coke. Soda in general actually. No wine, no soda. Should make for an interesting time over the next month and a half! lol...now, I sorta feel guilty when I sit down with a diet coke in front of Mark...note, I said KINDA. Cause I am giving up WINE, I don't have to give up coke too, just because he is. Not my fault that he isn't a drinker of any kind and can't 'repay' me by sitting down with a nice cold crisp glass of white wine. Anyways...I look forward to 'giving up' something, even for a small fracture in time...I figure it's the least I can do for a God who so HUMOUROUSLY showed me the way back to his path...

Hugs to all,
Jaye

Is there a greater sacrifice...or does it ALL count....

Ok...gonna ramble a bit here....bear with me! :)

I friended a friend of Moms on facebook about a year or so ago. Mom worked with this gal..I really don't know her...but we 'seemed' to have a lot in common...both about the same age...both with younger kids..and her husband was about to be deployed for his first 'real' time. He's national guard...which means that for one weekend a month..and two weeks in the summer he 'played' war. And. Got. Paid. For. It. ONE weekend a month. TWO weeks in the whole summer. And. He. Gets. Paid. Don't get me started on that.....anywho...so I was being all supportive of her..and sent her a huge packet of materials dealing with deployment. Some of it was the 'reality' stuff..pay issues...where to go for answers etc...and some of it was the 'emotional' stuff...cycle of deployment...stuff for her two girls to have to deal with a parent being deployed. All the good stuff that as an Official Navy Ombudsman I can get my hands on and hand out to families...even if they aren't Navy! Good stuff....
Good enough....he goes over to the sandbox (as we military folks affectionately call 'over there') and he gets shipped back after two months. Why you might ask? Because he couldn't FREAKING HANDLE IT. He gets paid for YEARS and YEARS to 'play' war...a PAY CHECK people. Then when he gets called upon to actually DO what he's been paid for for years, he can't 'handle it'. Not only that, he ends up not going HOME and becoming a productive member of society once again...nooooo..he lands in a VA hospital in Texas with PTSD. He's STILL THERE. Eight months later! Who's paying for this you might ask? WE ARE. Tax payers! His wife posted that 'yay, he might be coming home soon'. YAY indeed. Wanna talk sister? MY husband is retiring after twenty YEARS of standing up and doing what he's been paid for. While your husband was doing his 'real' job and PLAYING at war (meaning pulling in REAL money while ALSO getting a pay check from the Gov't for his 'hoo rah he man warrior weekends'), MY husband was pulling in shitty money, sacrificing holiday after holiday with his family...spending MONTHS without contact with the outside world and his family...and guess what? No PTSD..no hospital...nope...nadda...
But what REALLY pisses me off????? what this post is REALLY about? She just posted this morning that she got a new fancy coffee maker AND got a military discount!!! WHY??? She gets a 'military discount' because WHY???? Because her husband 'pretended' to be a hero?? I say she should get a pretend military discount and let us REAL Military wives reap the benefits!

Ok..I gotta get off my soap box now before I get all Holier than thou...after all, this IS the first day of lent...and I HAVE given up alcohol for it. Maybe all I really need to do is stop reading posts like HERS and I won't WANT to drink! :)

Hugs to all!!
Jaye

So much for Blogging!

So I had good intentions in staying on top of my blog. That failed miserably..I see my last post was December 28th....yay me! :)
So a quick recap of whats happened since then to bring you all up to date and then I PROMISE (ok, my fingers are crossed!) to be better with this! :)
Our Christmas holiday was fabulous! My brother and his son came and it was our very first Christmas together ever! As Aaron and I didn't celebrate the holidays as kids due to our mothers religious choice, we have been looking forward as adults to celebrating together and this was the year that our schedules were clear to do it! YAY! We plan on doing it alot more often!
Paige turned 11 in January..I can't believe she is 11. Time has flown....wayyy too fast!
My laptop screen went Kaput...so Mark took the screen off of it, got a free OLD (think big boxy thing!) from a buddy and hooked the two up and viola! Ben now has a perfectly functioning computer....we did our taxes and VIOLA, Mommy has a new MacBook! YAY for tax returns!
Sam is working at Target and doing a great job...really nice to see him being responsible on a regular basis...even if he HAS locked his keys in his car twice! Ahahhahaha....
Mark goes on Terminal leave in mid April..and retires fully from the Navy July 31,2010. We are SO excited about what lies ahead..and as of this moment, we have no clue what that will be. He's looking for a job and we are very confident he will be doing the civilian version of what he does now...which means I'll still have no idea what the man does to bring home the bacon (he's probably a pole dancer at a sailor bar!).
Mary is now 'officially' divorced for the third time. What a winner...or loser..depending on how you look at it! :)
Mark and I both traded in our old cell phones and bought the new Droid. LOVE. IT. We can not only call people on it, we can do email...go online..you name it! :)
I am going to start school in June!! YAY!! The Navy is paying my tuition...paying for my books AND paying me what I make doing daycare..YAY me! I'll be getting my bachelors in Psychology...my long term goal is to work with kids within the court system. And YES, I am quitting daycare! :) It was a GREAT job to have while Mark was out to sea so much..but now I can get back on track with my own career goals!
And THAT folks, is it!

More on a regular basis, I promise (crossing knees and toes now!)

Hugs to all,
Jaye