New Adventure

If any of you are like me, you are thrilled that the Stringer Zoo has made it back to California safe and sound. But at the same time you miss tracking them on their adventure and living vicariously through them. Well, I have a new traveler for you to follow. His name is Justin, I have never met him, he goes to our church, HHBC. You will not believe what he is doing, he is riding his bike from Oklahoma all the way to Argentina. He is crossing the border into Mexico today. I think you will enjoy his blog, The Nomad Life, I am inspired at his sense of adventure...much as I was with the Stringer Zoo. With my love for maps that I mentioned in my previous post, I think it would be great if he had a map that tracked his route. It will be great to join him on this trip. He stated in a blog last week that he gets 1000 miles to the gallon, his fuel is that which he uses to cook his food, AMAZING.

I LOVE maps

Most of you who know me know that I love maps. I may have even mentioned this in a previous post. For some reason I just love maps. I could sit and read them all day, I know this sounds geeky but it is true. Today on my friend Alycia's blog I saw this great way to visually see on a map who is reading your blog. Please sign in, with this cool guest book. The kids will love seeing where are all of our readers are located... so will I.

BTW, go check out the blog I mentioned above, it is totally awesome. Do I sound like someone who went to high school in the 80's or what?

Taps

The words to Taps
to hear the music click on the picture.

Day Is Done,
Gone the Sun,
From the Earth,
From the Hill,
From the Sky,
All Is Well,
Safely Rest,
God Is Nigh


This is the end of our Military Tribute. Thank you so much for joining us throughout the past week. I hope you have learned something, laughed, maybe even cried but if nothing else you left with a deeper appreciation for the men and women in uniform.


Gob Bless America.

Remember

Please take a moment today and think about why today is a holiday. It is not just about the pool opening, cookouts, and breaking out the white shoes. :)

The reason we have a day off work today is to remember those who have died defending our great nation. We were reminded earlier this week that three of Adam's fellow classmates from the Naval Academy Class of 95 have died in Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom: LCDR Erik Kristensen, MAJ. Megan McClung and MAJ. Doug Zembiec.

These are TRUE heroes and we are eternally grateful for their service.



This video was made for Veteran's Day, but I think it is just as appropriate for Memorial Day.




On this Memorial Day we remember all who have died in service to our great nation. To their families who have been left behind, we are so sorry. Your loved one did not die in vain, and we are so grateful for thier sacrifice. May God comfort you and may you find His peace.

Homecoming

Any family that has been separated for months at time looks forward to this day the entire time. I have heard of many creative ways families have done this with Hershey Kisses, paper chains, etc, some days it feels like it will never come. It is the time that makes it all worth it.

The Homecoming...the sweetest time of all.



I will let these pictures speak for themselves.

Fashion on the High Sea

One of our favorite blogs to read is the Stringer Zoo, one of the members of the zoo is currently deployed on the USS Stennis. A couple of months ago he wrote a post that was informative as well as entertaining about Navy uniforms aboard ship. Due to security reasons I could not link directly to his post, with his permission I am posting it below. I thought this would be helpful after yesterday's videos. Now you will be able to tell what the different color jerseys signify. Scott, thanks for your fashion article.

What color are you?

Today was another quiet day. No watch, no alert, no flight. On the rare days like this, I have the opportunity to switch uniforms for the day. I actually have quite a few uniform options on the ship. First, there's the standard green flight suit--like wearing pajamas to work. I now understand why grandpa Ernie used to wear jump suits all the time! On the green flight suit, I have the option of full color patches or subdued green patches (very tactical!). Option two is the tan flight suit, which we always wear in a desert environment, but it's an option on the boat. The tan flight suit always has tan patches to go with it. On days like today, I wear a flight suit jersey, which is a cotton knit long sleeve turtleneck shirt. Everyone who works on the flight deck who is not a pilot wears a jersey, and the color of the jersey is determined by the individual's job. I mentioned in an earlier post that PC's jerseys are brown. All of the aircraft mechanics and technicians and arresting gear mechanics are green. Safety, medical, and quality assurance are white. Ordnance and crash/salvage are red. Aircraft handlers (those who drive tow tractors) are blue. Aircraft directors (they direct taxiing fixed wing aircraft and all towed aircraft around the flight deck) and "shooters" (officers in charge of the catapults) are yellow. Fueling personnel are purple (affectionately known as "grapes"). Enlisted men and women wear green camouflage or dark blue pants. Officers wear tan camouflage or khaki pants. The jerseys are always stenciled with the job that the person does. For instance, our Aviation Electricians' jerseys say

HS-8
AE
on the front and the back. Many of our jerseys also have a front facing helicopter pictured in the middle of the jersey between HS-8 and the "rate". A rate is an enlisted job in the navy. My green jersey says HS-8 MO, for Maintenance Officer. Most of the officers in the maintenance departments of squadrons have green jerseys. The QAO's jersey is white, and the Ordnance Officer's jersey is red. It's nice to have a little variety in what I wear while we're on the ship. It helps break up the days and their monotony. The only problem is that I really miss having 10 pockets! I often have something (if not many things) in every pocket!! Some day, I'll have to dump out the contents of my flight suit pockets and take a picture. It's pretty ridiculous.

Blowing off some steam

This squadron illustrates so much of what was written in the article we posted a few days ago, they decided to have a little fun while out to sea. Naval aviators work hard and play even harder as you will see demonstrated below. Thanks to the Sun Kings of VAW- 116 for having fun and entertaining us at the same time.

I just want to warn any parents of little ones that the first video is set to a Black Eyed Peas song and there are a couple of bad words, remember this was made by Naval Aviators after all.:)

The Difference

Title: Military spouses 9/1/2001
The Difference
by retired: Lt. Gen. Edward J. Heinz

Over the years, I've talked a lot about military spouses ... how special they are and the price they pay for freedom, too. The funny thing about it is most military spouses don't consider themselves different from other spouses.

They do what they have to do, bound together not by blood or merely friendship, but with a shared spirit whose origin is in the very essence of what love truly is. Is there truly a difference? I think there is. You have to decide for yourself.

Other spouses get married and look forward to building equity in a home and putting down family roots. Military spouses get married and know they'll live in base housing or rent, and their roots must be short so they can be transplanted frequently.

Other spouses decorate a home with flair and personality that will last a lifetime. Military spouses decorate a home with flair tempered with the knowledge that no two base houses have the same size windows or same size rooms. Curtains have to be flexible and multiple sets are a plus. Furniture must fit like puzzle pieces.

Other spouses have living rooms that are immaculate and seldom used. Military spouses have immaculate living room-dining room combos. The coffee table got a scratch or two moving from Germany, but it still looks pretty good.

Other spouses say goodbye to their spouse for a business trip and know they won't see them for a week. They are lonely, but can survive. Military spouses say goodbye to their deploying spouse and know they won't see them for months, or for a remote, a year. They are lonely, but will survive.

Other spouses, when a washer hose blows off, call Maytag and then write a check out for getting the hose reconnected. Military spouses will cut the water off and fix it themselves.

Other spouses get used to saying hello to friends they see all the time. Military spouses get used to saying goodbye to friends made the last two years.

Other spouses worry about whether their child will be class president next year. Military spouses worry about whether their child will be accepted in yet another new school next year.

Other spouses can count on spouse participation in special events .. birthdays, anniversaries, concerts, football games, graduation, and even the birth of a child. Military spouses only count on each other; because they realize that the Flag has to come first if freedom is to survive. It has to be that way.

Other spouses put up yellow ribbons when the troops are imperiled across the globe and take them down when the troops come home. Military spouses wear yellow ribbons around their hearts and they never go away.

Other spouses worry about being late for mom's Thanksgiving dinner. Military spouses worry about getting back from Japan in time for dad's funeral.

And the television program showing an elderly lady putting a card down in front of a long, black wall that has names on it touches other spouses. The card simply says 'Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. You would have been 60 today.' A military spouse is the one with the card. And the wall is the Vietnam Memorial.

I would never say military spouses are better or worse than other spouses are. But I will say there is a difference.

And I will say that our country asks more of military spouses than is asked of other spouses. And I will say, without hesitation, that military spouses pay just as high a price for freedom as do their active duty husbands or wives.

Perhaps the price they pay is even higher. Dying in service to our country isn't near as hard as loving someone who has died in service to our country, and having to live without them.

God bless our military spouses for all they freely give. And God bless America


To learn more about the Service Flag pictured above just click on it.

Interruption

I need to interrupt our week of military tributes to share what happened this morning.

We were awoken this morning to the sound a winds like I have never heard before, we get a lot of wind out here in Oklahoma but I have never heard anything like this. It really did sound like a freight train was coming towards us, I was thinking"what is happening?" The kids were asleep in their beds and as I woke up to the wind I heard the girls screaming for "Daddy"(he had already left for work) and Emma screaming "what is going on?" Andrew slept through the whole thing. When we looked outside there was stuff everywhere. Our grill blew across the yard and was in pieces, lawn chairs were snapped in half and other things were strewn about. We went outside to clean things up and then the rain started.

After I took the kids to school I was chatting with my neighbor and they heard the noise too. They confirmed the sound I had heard at 6:45 this morning...the train. They have shingles off their roof and a tree snap off right at the trunk. That same tree fell on another neighbors boat and caused it to roll into another neighbor's yard. We think it must have been a straight-line wind or a plough wind at the beginning of the storm front. Whatever it was it woke me up in a hurry!

I am so thankful we are all OK.

Update: When I went to take a picture of the tree they had already cut it down and cleared the debris.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.