Picking Up Daddy

 We decorated the Buffalo.

Soap Box is Mr. Pilot's call sign.  They guys don't get to pick their own.  Some guys have some pretty awful call signs.  I like what Daddy is preaching, so I don't mind this one.

Waiting at the airport

Watching for the plane to land... They flew home commercial flights because other guys were still using the jets.

 Some friends of ours were waiting for their Daddy too.

 "Hooker" is what the guys are called right after they qualify because it is actually a hook that catches and stops the jet on the ship.  You can imagine the play on words some people get with that.  In base housing the windows will often read "Welcome Home Hooker."  Good thing they live in housing where everyone knows what they mean, lol!

 There he is!

 I don't know if he even got a chance to see his sign, they just couldn't wait!

 But, that is understandable.  He is a really cool guy, and we really missed him!

Doing their secret hand shake...

The amount of excitement was amazing.  We missed him terribly.  I almost wonder what the reunion will be like after he is gone for more than half a year.  But I don't really want to think about that right now.
I'll just enjoy having him home now.

My Little Lady, Guys.

My little Belle is turning into a fine young lady!  She has grown and changed so much this year (and I don't just mean physically) so we thought we'd celebrate and let her accompany Mr. Pilot to the Navy Ball.

 Doesn't she look lovely?

I did her hair myself, and was really quite pleased (I was really nervous to start, but Dad says it took me less then a half an hour, free, and beautiful.)

We practiced table manners and conversations for weeks before we told her our plan.

When she tried on the dress she guessed maybe it was for Christmas. When Daddy told her where she was going to wear it, she cried.  I may have cried a little, too.

She had such a lovely time, and even won the table centerpiece.

I think she looks simply Elegant, and no doubt will remember that night forever.

Wonderful Healthcare Alternative

I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it is to see Christians stepping up and offering viable alternatives to the myriad of cultural, state mandated, and biblical hypocrisies bombarding our society. It becomes readily apparent that we have serious problems when our government comes up with "solutions" that look like this:

All I can say is, "Yikes!"

No problem...Bloomberg columnist Kevin Hasset summarizes:

The new law creates 68 grant programs, 47 bureaucratic entities, 29 demonstration or pilot programs, six regulatory systems, six compliance standards and two entitlements.

Okay, maybe a big problem. But again then there's Chrisitan's stepping up and creating ministries like Samaritan. You can see a video about such a ministry here. I hope you get a chance to take a look at this and be inspired and encouraged to know that there are many more ways in which we can overcome because as Christ says,

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Let Freedom Ring!

I have always loved the 4th of July.  Red-White-n-Blue, picnics, watermelon, fireworks, and a late night outside with friends- good times!

I hope we never loose site of what we are celebrating or why we are even in America.  It has very little to do with what is taught in public school, that is for certain.  Brave men and women gave up everything they had ever know to sail across a mass of blue, endured all types of sickness and loss, to worship the God who created them in a free land.  Thank you.

It'll Never Get Easy

I spent two hours this morning consoling crying children and praying for Daddy. He left early this morning for another cross country flight. Over the last 11.5 years of his naval career Daddy has often had to leave for days, weeks, or months at a time. You'd think we'd get used to it and after-all, I did sign up for this military life, right?

With a Daddy like ours, I am certain we will never get used to him being gone.  He comes home from work every day to a bunch of kids who tackle him with hugs and kisses.  The little girls love taking off Daddy's big flight boots and then they can hardly wait for him to change out of his flight suit.  He sits with one (or more) children on his lap until dinner's ready, listening to us rattle on about our day, helping with any missed school work, and telling us about his day. Then we enjoy dinner together with more talking. After dinner and clean-up we all gather around Daddy and sing our favorite songs and hymns and he reads the bible to us. Then, while the children are getting ready for bed, Daddy will study for work.

How could we ever not miss him? He is such a wonderful father and husband.
We are so blessed to have him and are enjoying this time when he only has to leave for the weekend- soon enough he'll will be gone for more than half a year at a time. Only by God's grace will we be able to keep our chins up then.

Will you join us and pray the Lord will always keep Daddy safe in his dangerous job?

We love you Daddy, fly fast!

A great day.

We started the day off like any other, Bible, prayer, breakfast, chores, and a Beautiful Feet lesson. We are absolutely loving Beautiful Feet, by the way. Half-way through our lesson I realized it was September 11th. Instantly regretting that I had not planned out some lesson of remembrance for this day, I decided to wing it. I stopped reading King of the Wind despite the protest of my children. I googled some pictures of the Twin Towers and described to them what I remembered from that fateful day. We talked about the heroes, then talked about the families that were left behind. We talked about what it means to be a martyr. We talked about that email that went around about the guy who was saved because he stopped to buy a band aid on his way to work at the towers and then we talked about what providential means. We talked about daddy and the military and what their role is in defending our freedom. Right as I was running out of ideas Dad called from work and told us to get in the car, they were having a special lunch at the galley for September 11th. Perfect! So we went and enjoyed King crab legs, ribs and bbq chicken, and more teaching of what happened on this day 8 years ago.

We were the last ones to leave the galley and my curious children were amazed by the conveyor belt thingy that carries away dirty dishes in a galley. By now I am ready to head to the door. Everyone is staring at us, as they always do, it looks like 10 people just had a food fight at the table we ate at. These people are waiting for us to leave so they can close up and here we are making a scene around the dirty dishes. My husband is awesome, he adds to my embarrassment by picking the children up to let them stick their head inside and get a better look at the thingy that is taking our dishes, one by one, into some curious unknown abyss. It was all I could do to keep them from climbing into it (including my husband). I feel like the workers are staring at us, and I am thinking enough is enough, lets go. But no, my husband asks if we can go inside the kitchen to have a better look. Yes, they are definitely staring at us. I am secretly agreeing with what I imagine is going through their minds, they must be crazy. One lady finally nods. Not waiting for any other answer Mr. Pilot busts through the door of the scullery and gives us a grand tour of all of the machines. He is an expert after all, since he had to crank (that means he had to take a turn working the galley for 3 months when he was on the ship). No one said a word to us as we enjoyed our impromptu field trip.

Next, we ran over to the commissary to pick up a few odds and ends. We did our math lesson while deciding which was the better deal, the baby carrots or the regular carrots and other practical problems. Then, in the check out line, we had our lesson in character training. There was a little old lady in front of us at the checkout struggling as she unloaded her cart onto the conveyor belt. Dad nudged Boy to help her empty out her cart. Boy didn't even think twice, he just did as he was told. The lady sang him praises and was so grateful, it made Boy's dimples show. When we were about to leave the manager of the store came to us and asked if she could borrow Boy. She took him off to the side and told him how she had seen what he had done and how impressed she was. What a reward. Then she slipped him $2. Now his dimples were blushing. He rushed over and was just beaming from ear to ear as he said "thanks for telling me to do that, dad." How fitting for our current memory verse, Ephesians 6:1

When we got home the children were eager to finish up our Beautiful Feet lesson, so we did. Then Boy brought me a dead fish and asked why it smelled funny. Then we learned how to build a trebuchet just because we felt like it.

The day carried on just like that, unrestricted by mounds of laundry or dishes, not limited to pages in a workbook restrained by a clock on a wall.
Sometimes the old way of thinking creeps in and I wonder if I am "doing it right". I am far from perfect and sometimes we have bad days. But I have my feet set upon a Rock and I know, my God is Sovereign. We are teaching our children when we sit in our house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise up. His grace is sufficient.
Yes, this was a good day.

Time for TEA!

Stand up for what you believe in or you’ll fall for anything. Isn’t that a country song?

We recently read a post from a fellow biblical world view poster talking about what we could do personally to be informed about, and get involved with, the current political movement.

As I read this post, I remembered that Mom had forwarded me an email from the local homeschool group about a TEA Party in Jackson. I had only a one day notice, but I was pumped about getting involved from the blog post I had just read. Plus, they were providing free food. That alone almost always draws my family in…

We loaded up and drove the two hour (not quite) drive. I didn’t know what to expect. I had a vision of a blazing hot parking lot full of red, white, and blue homemade posters and maybe even people chanting or something. I was really surprised to see the very nice shady park with people sitting around listening attentively. We pulled up our lawn chairs while our children played in a dried up creek (pronounced crick by my wife) bed while we joined in the listening.

The talks were primarily about healthcare and the infringement of individual liberties. The parties represented were Primary Care Physicians and Doctors, Small Business Owners, Congressmen, and Ordinary Folks. They talked a lot about the massive legalese of the HR3200 (the Healthcare Bill currently being debated). Seriously, they had a copy; it was about 5 inches thick. They spoke about how centralized healthcare will stifle efforts of current Physicians Practiced, Medical Student Retention, and Research and Development. They talked about how making healthcare bureaucratic will make it more expensive (more taxes) for individuals and how it will remove individual choice in people’s health decisions.


The big picture here is there is a lot of mud making America’s vision cloudy. The people of America are being taken advantage of and the devastation is being glossed over. We are frogs in the pot of water. We must jump out before it is too late.

As an American, I encourage you educate yourself on what is happening in the American government. Don’t just listen to the news headlines or your favorite newscaster’s opinions. I know you are busy, I know you are tired. I understand it sounds like a lot of mumbo jumbo. We have to cut through it. It is our responsibility. It does affect us, each one of us. It affects our children, and their children. Race, gender, socio class, and political affiliation are irrelevant here. It is all about the principals.

Make a stand. Read up on what is going on, write a letter, make a phone call, and talk about it.
Go to a TEA party.
Then write a blog post.

-Mr. Pilot

For More Info

I found this quote:
"Skepticism about government is exactly what the Tea Parties are all about. They are named not only for the Boston Tea Party, nor for a memorable scene in Alice in Wonderland, but for the acronym TEA: "Taxed Enough Already." TEA is a truly popular sentiment in America that represents those who think that government is too big, costs too much, regulates too much, and needs to be smaller, cheaper, smarter, and do no more harm. It's a bonus that tea parties remind us the government is a Mad Hatter that is as mad as a March Hare, and that we'd like to knock it on the head and dump it in Boston Harbor."

Why Go to a TEA Party

Info on Healthcare