mindless musings.

My brother has made it safely to Kuwait. He e-mailed me and said he was eating a lot, working out a lot, and sleeping the rest of the time. They should be leaving for Iraq any day now. A friend from high school, Therese, is married to a Marine who is in the same division as Matthew. She told me about this thing called motomail, and it is amazing. It is a free service to Marine families, and you essentially type a letter online and enter all of the Marine's info, and they e-mail it over there, print it out, and deliver it to them within 24 hours. Amazing.

I have officially decided that I may be walking 13.1 miles on April 26! (Mal, please don't freak on me!) I can run 1.5 mile without a problem, but after that it is crazy hard. I'm thinking my best bet may be to run a mile, walk a mile. I have no idea! I know there will be a lot of adrenaline on race day and also all the bands and cheerleaders will add to the excitement, so I may get a sudden burst of running stamina. I'm still training 4 days a week so... we will see.

Lastly, my birthday present "spa day" is in the works. However, it will be more of a "spa 2 hours" than a whole day! I think I've decided on the heavenly massage and feet of a goddess pedicure. Ohh just the thought exhilarates me. I'm looking at May 2. That is the Friday after the run, so I'm sure my feet will still be in need of a good pampering.

Well we are about to go over to some friend's house for dinner. I'm looking forward to a fun evening. BTW, SA is in the stage of full blown teething. I am beside myself as to what to do to help her. She wants to nurse constantly, bite constantly (another story for another day). I've tried the little teething tablets, and can't tell a difference. Baby oragel seems to help for a while and allow her to sleep, then it all starts over again. In my humble opinion, the first few teeth they get are always the hardest. It's so wild I am just now realizing again that we again have another baby. Does that make sense? With T-Pup being 2.5, we've been out of this baby cycle for a while. Now we're teething, starting cereal, getting ready to introduce foods... we really do have another baby. Amazing.

So long, farewell.

My brother.

My brother Matthew is leaving on Saturday for his first deployment. He is with the 1 Battalion 9 Marines Weapons Company (the 1/9) and will be serving in Ramadi, Iraq. They are flying from Camp LeJeune, NC to Maine, from Maine to Dublin, from Dublin to Kuwait, staying in Kuwait for 4-6 days, from Kuwait to Baghdad, and from Baghdad taking trucks into Ramadi (several hour drive). He will be there until September.

"Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation." Psalm 91:14-16

We've talked several times this week, and I prayed with him last night on the phone. I cannot express this adequately, but it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I believe wholeheartedly that he has a huge call on his life, and that call has yet to be fulfilled. I pray that God uses this experience in Iraq to draw him closer to Himself.

Please pray for Matthew and his fellow soldiers. Please pray for the families of those who are serving.

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16

so sleepy!

Wow I am so exhausted. I don't even know why! Sam woke up this morning around 6am, and I was excited to get up with her. I opened all of the blinds and sat in amazement as it continued to snow. We probably had a scant 2 inches, but it was so pretty. When the boys finally awoke, we got dressed and drove to "Paw Nae-Nae's" house. They live a little more in the country and this morning had acres of undisturbed snow (as opposed to our little house in suburbia). Whitney took some amazing pictures of T-Pup, so hopefully I will be able to get a few of those on my computer soon :).

Anyway, we came home and ate lunch, and I then took a nap with Sam. I feel more tired now than before I laid down. I warmed up some coffee from this morning, but just the warmness of it is making me want to crawl back in the bed. I am meeting Maria in about 50 minutes for our 2 mile run. I can't believe that I have completed all of the training for the week! I feel so proud and SURPRISINGLY not sore! I LOVE that!

Also, the day before I started WW (by the way, weighing in tomorrow morning) W took a picture of me with his iPhone. I took a picture of me yesterday with my phone, and wow. When I showed W, he was like "I told you so!" but I can't see the change. In the picture I couldn't miss it. Praise God He is helping me through this!

Going to get ready now. 2 miles, here I come :)

back to normal

In this picture, T-Puppy is shaking Sam's hand saying "nice to meet you!" :)

Thank you Jesus, we are for the most part back to normal this week. T-Pup is much better, and we are accomplishing the usual daily tasks around our house. I am also so grateful that Sam did not catch the virus.

So, Hillary had a good night last night winning Ohio and Texas. On the cover of the New York Post this morning, it said "Hill, Yeah!" which cracked me up, but not quite to the point of an audible laugh. I just don't really know which direction this election is going in, and I don't have a clear idea of who I will vote for. Off the top of my head I say John McCain, of course, but that thought is followed by an "eh" and shoulder shrug. We'll see.

Almost time for lunch, so off to prepare it.