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Category Archives: military

First call (calls, actually)

children, daddy, faith, foster parenting, gratitude, military August 18, 2016 1 Comment

Yesterday it finally happened. I was enjoying time with my children and a couple of great friends at my parents’ pool. We were just about to pack up and come home and get ready for church and my phone rang with a local number I didn’t have listed in my contacts. It was DCS Placement! I quickly walked to a quiet spot and held my breath while the lady gave me the details. I told her that I needed to talk with my husband and I would call back as soon as I could. The catch? Chris is in Guam. That’s a HUGE time difference (14 hours to be exact) and he was trying to sleep. It was early morning hours there. She told me that she would continue to try and find a home and then she would call me back if/when she did. I told her I would call her back as soon as I was able to speak with him.

Chris and I had agreed that we would not take a placement without first discussing it and getting a “yes” from both of us. While I waited the 3 or so hours for us to be able to communicate, I prayed like crazy. For any placement, I want our family to be THE place that God would have the child be for the time they need us. I am not so concerned that the child will be a good fit for us, rather the other way around. I want God to be able to use our family, church family, friends to minister to that child. He has to be in control or this whole thing will be a train wreck.

Before I could get Chris on FaceTime or via text, DCS called back. They had found the little girl a home. I was so thankful. Thankful that she would have a place to sleep and more than thankful that God handled the situation better than I would have. In fact, if Chris had been a phone call away, which he almost always is, I would have probably relied on my own logic and arguing to get him to say yes. I don’t know that he would have. We’ve prayed and planned and know that 0-3 years is the age range we feel equipped for right now. But I am a good debater. And Chris, well, he’s a big, ole teddy bear.

That first call came at 3:30pm. When she called me back about 5pm and said “we found her a home,” she was sure to reassure me that they would be calling again. At 8pm, as we pulled into the garage from church, they did call again. This time for a boy, the same age as Foster. I knew I had to say “no”. But that “no” was more heartbreaking than the first call. Thinking of my amazing 12 year old and his friends. The ones who are so full of life, humor, confidence, ideas and insecurities being taken out of their home and placed with strangers? It’s enough to keep you awake at night. Foster said, “I need to start building a room on the house so we could take kids like that. It’s not fair.”

I completely agree with him.

my veteran

daddy, holiday, military November 11, 2014 Leave a comment

When Chris returned from his last deployment, a friend of ours came to photograph the reunion at the airport. It had been six months since the kids had seen him, Jonah didn’t really remember him since he was a little over a year when he left. These pictures of Parker are the ones that really stood out to me. While Theodore, Katie and Foster had run to Chris and bear hugged him, Parker clung behind me and Chris had to convince him to come and give him a hug. He was 3 and a half years old, so 6 months without Chris had seemed like a lifetime.

My husband recently celebrated his 15th year in the Air National Guard. He’s deployed out of country several times and had many weeks and countless weekends away from us and from his extended family. He’s missed birthdays and holidays and graduations. But I don’t think it’s the big things that are the hardest on the men and women who have to be separated from their homes and families, from their jobs and churches, from their own world, I think it’s the little things.

Daddies (and mommies) are supposed to be there when their children go to bed, when they get sick or when they win a board game, when they finally get that book read or that puzzle built. They are supposed to be there for skinned knees and hurt feelings, for when little guys are brave enough to ride without training wheels and can write their name without help.

Daddies aren’t supposed to have to convince their little boys that it’s safe to come and give them a hug.

So to all the veterans out there who have missed the little things for days, months or even years. Thank you so much for ALL that you sacrifice.

family day at the airbase 2013

daddy, Foster, Jonah, Katie, military, Parker, Theodore September 17, 2013 Leave a comment

12 years ago

history, marriage, memories, military September 11, 2013 Leave a comment

It’s the 12th anniversary of 9/11.

I remember reading in my history books about World War 1 and World War 2 and the Civil War and thinking, as a child, that those “stories” were unbelievable. I’ve always had a hard time realizing that there were actual people, families who were alive then and dealing with all that comes with war.

I never would have thought that I would be changed by war or a national tragedy. But, the anniversary of September 11th is weaved into our story.

Chris and I had been dating for 9 months. I knew we were supposed to get married and I was 4 years older than him so I was impatient. I was waiting on the ring, the proposal, the planning (like a majority of 20 something year old females tend to).

The morning of the attacks Chris called me with a frantic tone in his voice. “I’m leaving right now,” he said. I was watching the news and had seen what happened but it was less than an hour before and I was thinking, “Why is the military flipping out over a plane crashing into a building?”

Chris was headed out to another airbase to offer support. He said “Will you marry me?” with urgency. I’ve never been one to panic easily so I just said “Oh no…you aren’t getting off that easy. I want a REAL proposal, with A RING.”

I like to think that when Pearl Harbor was bombed that there was at least one other clueless female out there thinking and saying the same things I did that day. I should have said “YES! Of course! Now go save the day!”

Even though it did feel like it by the end of that day and the end of that week, it wasn’t the end of the world. It was a hard time for America, the beginning of another military and societal struggle.

Except for the 9 months before the attack, Chris and I and our family have been affected by the events of that day. From rushed marriage proposals, to months apart due to military deployments, we feel the effects of 9/11.

So, without realizing it we have become one of those “real” families woven into the fabric of our nation’s history.

I am so thankful that we haven’t had to sacrifice more. That we are all still alive and together.

The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.

Psalm 33: 10-11

finally home

Family, military July 15, 2013 Comments: 3

a little boy’s sacrifice

daddy, military, Theodore June 12, 2013 Comments: 3

Theodore came to me late tonight. He was upset, crying. He looked at me with those big, blue eyes full of tears and said “Daddy didn’t get to see my last baseball game.”

I held him and we talked.

“Why did he have to go?” he asked me and I told him in a way he could understand.

He told me he understood. He said that he knew that Daddy was helping the Air Force to protect us.

“That’s important,” he said “because somebody has to protect us.”