Formula 1 Race

Doug and Dan had the opportunity to go to the Formula 1 Races at the Nederburg Ring in the middle of July.  As I didn't attend I don't have a lot to add except do you see how happy my Danny is?  A boy after his dad's own heart.

  

Congratulations

 2011 Air Education and Training Command Clinical Dentist of the Year

Yep, long title for an award but Doug got it.  In January, we found out that he was up for the 2011 Company Grade Officer (CGO) of the Year for the 59th Medical Wing.  This means he was already awarded the 2011 Dental Group CGO of the Year.  There was a big event for the awarding of the 59th Medical Wing CGO of the Year.  Doug was sooooo excited to have to buy his Mess Dress, but he sure looks good in it.

Doug and the 59th Dental Squadron Commanding Officer Col. Hebert

And you can't escort an officer in mess dress without a formal yourself.

Keep Dreaming

Every once in a while Doug decides we need to go to the Ducati dealership to dream.  Except I know this man I have married.  He never just goes and looks.  He is currently laying down the foundation for one of these beauties to come home.  All I can say is "Keep Dreaming".

Track Day

Doug has been doing track days now for a little while.  Most of the time he just loads up his bike into the bed of his truck and off he goes, but Dan is taking after his dad as far as being a little bike crazy.  Since Doug can't ride his bike and ride herd on the kids at the same time I go out to the track with him about twice a year. 

While Doug is on the track we keep ourselves entertained with lunch, card games, books, and talking to the others at the track.

Doug of course is trying to lower his lap time.

I am trying to keep the boys from injuring one another.

But the best part is seeing this smile on my guys faces.

The Great Bike Build-Off

As with so many of these types of projects, this started with a crash.  One morning in October, 2006 I was headed to Case Western, ready to start another day in the dental school clinic.  Making the left turn down towards the parking garage the road was clear so I decided to pull a small wheelie – bad choice.  During the night ongoing construction left a fine layer of concrete dust on the road surface.  The rear tire spun and slid left, the front tire landed quite sideways and between a lack of traction and lack of skill the front slid for several feet until plastic started grinding.  In an instant I was sliding on my back and watching my beloved blue/white 1991 FZR 1000 slide down then up the hill then auger into the front wheel of a parked car.  12 years of ownership and more modifications than I care to think about and it’s all bent up.  Just look at those poor forks and rim.  Of course one of those mods is a fully build 1040cc motor with ported heads, forged pistons, billet clutch, undercut transmission, stage III carb tuning and several other mods I can’t think of right now so not all is lost.

     After an appropriate mourning period and purchasing a 2001 Yamaha R1, I found a YZF 750 frame with a clean title on e-Bay and much to the chagrin of my wife I won.  Thus was born the decision to build a Yamamonster replica.  E-Bay boxes started flowing in from various corners of the States as I sold off various FZR parts to offset some expenses.  Swingarm, forks, rims, tank, various brackets and pieces.  Eventually I had a rolling chassis in need of a motor.  Thankfully, 750 and 1000 EXUP motors are built on the same bottom-end so the swingarm pivot is a direct bolt-in.  After fabricating the most home-built looking upper mounting brackets from a thin sheet of steel and several crude-looking bolts the bike was starting to look like something other than a mess.

Life continued to get in the way.  In 2008 I graduated from dental school and we moved to Las Vegas for a 1 year residency at Nellis Air Force Base.  Anyone that’s completed a residency will understand the bike basically sat in the corner.  After graduation we PCS’ed to Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Tx and I finally had some quality family time.  It was time to finish this 3-plus year old project.  Using my crude thin sheet metal brackets as a template I took some 1/4” thick steel plates and ground them into some decent looking brackets that weigh 1 lb each with bolts.  Here is a really bad picture that shows the left side bracket. 

           The second picture was taken 07 August 2010.  Up to this point I had everything together well enough to get the bike running.  Things that I had completed up to this point: 1994 YZF 750 front forks fitted with 1997 YZF 1000 blue-dot brakes then rebuilt, stripped and painted the lower fork legs black.  Front and rear wheel bearings replaced.  1997 YZF750 radiator fitted, stripped and painted black.  Tuned FZR1000 motor with 4 – 2 – 1 Arrow full exhaust pipe, ECU and wiring harness fitted and modified to accommodate the YZF750 in-tank fuel pump.  FZR1000 Fox shock modified and fitted with all rear linkage bearings replaced.  Swingarm polished to match frame (polished prior to purchase).  Rear brake stripped, cleaned and painted black.

From here things started to get more fun.  Bodywork was ordered from Sharkskinz – WSB upper with windscreen, lower and tail section.  Unfortunately, when it arrived this is how the boxes looked – note the crushed area is right over the FRAGILE sticker!

However, Sharkskinz reputation as having the most durable aftermarket bodywork produced paid off.  No damage occurred – Kristen was particularly happy to have these motorcycle pieces in her dining room…

Their arrival precipitated mounting it up, making a couple of brackets and then prep’ing everything for paint, including the front fender and tank.  Unfortunately, because the Arrow pipe doesn’t follow the FZR motor tightly it hangs over 1 inch below the oil pan and I had to trim away almost half the lower fairing.  Again, Sharkskinz reputation held and after mounting the bodywork only required a light scuffing to be ready for paint. 

Determined to keep this a track-only bike I decided to use relatively cheap Duplicolor lacquer pre-mixed paints.  Of course, I had to use the Candy Colors so it still cost about $130 between the silver base, candy translucent and clear coats needed.  But that’s much better than the $600 or so I paid for paint supplies when spraying my TZR250!  Here are some before and after pictures and how my garage was transformed into a paint booth.

          

On 20 September, 2010 I was able to finally take the bike around the block – and nothing fell off!  I also was determined to NOT wet sand and buff out the orange peel texture of the paint.  It’s a race bike for crying out loud!  So 2 weeks later I was happily sanding and polishing the paint on a bike that only needs to look good at 100 mph.  If you look carefully at the radiator opening on the left side you can see the aluminum water bottle I modified to take the place of the radiator reservoir since I needed the space to mount the Fox shock.  I also managed to find a rather rare set of Attack rearsets.  Now if I could just find the Attack manual clutch conversion kit and rear suspension linkage.  Hens teeth, those pieces are. 

A couple other small details were completed, like a seat pad, and I was ready to complete my first track day with this bike.  However, repaving delays at Harris Hill Raceway and Uncle Sam had other plans so in October, 2010 I headed off to Baghdad, Iraq with a newly completed and never properly ridden track bike waiting my return.  Finally in June 2011 I was able to take it to the track.  Other than a couple of minor issues (gauges falling off…) everything worked well.

Since then I’ve been working at making the bike lighter.  First, I just started removing things not needed.  So, the radiator fans are gone – 4 lbs!  The rear brake reservoir was replaced with a small tube – 0.5 lbs.  The chain was swapped for a 520 and a 2 teeth larger aluminum rear sprocket was fitted, saving something like 3 lbs.  The fuel filler cap was replaced with an aluminum cap, 1 lb.  The entire wiring harness was stripped of everything not needed – 1.0 lb.  While rewiring I removed the keyed ignition and replaced it with a lightweight START button, saving another 1 lb.  The speedometer was removed, 1 lb was lost.  As it sits, with no gas it weighs something like 385 lbs.  Next will be a lithium ion battery, saving about 7 lbs.  The dream list includes Marvic/Marchesini forged rims (stronger, lighter), carbon fiber fuel tank (7 lbs lighter), Brembo brake rotors, and the smallest, lightest rear brake caliper and disk I can fit.  Replacing various brackets, including the fuel tank, gauge cluster and upper fairing mounting brackets with aluminum pieces, along with all non-load bearing bolts with aluminum would be a nice touch.  Fairy tale stuff would include replacing all load bearing bolts and axles with titanium.  If I can get it down to 350-360 lbs without fuel I’d be quite happy.  Right up until I crash it, then a new saga will commence.

Homecoming

HE IS HOME!!!!!

Ok, Doug has been home since May 3rd but can you blame me for not updating the blog when I could be doing much more interesting things like staring at him, taking him with me on every boring chore, and basking in all his at-homeness. 

Let's see if we can make a long story a little shorter.  I had a tentative arrival date of May 4th with the understanding that this was probably not going to happen so I kept it to myself.  On the morning of the 1st I received an e-mail stating that he was in Kuwait waiting to move out to Germany.  Tears of happiness were mine when I realized that he was out of Iraq and on the move.  Again I kept it to myself as he could be delayed anywhere along the way.  Later that day I received another e-mail saying that he was in Germany.  Again, tears.  I e-mailed back to tell him that once he reached US soil he was to call me. 

May 2nd I had a doctor's appointment when I received a call on my cell phone (I had been sleeping with the thing for days).  Now I feel that taking calls when you are interacting with others is just rude, but for this call I asked forgiveness for being rude and told my doctor that I had been waiting for this call for seven months.  I couldn't get the hello out before I was crying.  Doug was on the other end of the phone saying that he was in Baltimore and would be on the plane the next day that would bring him finally home.  He had to stop to ask me if I was driving because I was crying so much and he was concerned.  I assured him that I was safely sitting with my doctor making him very uncomfortable with my blubbering.

 As I picked the boys up from school I was able to tell them that their Dad would be home the next day.  Oh the excitement.  We cleaned house, made posters, picked out clothes to wear, and planned a special welcome home meal.  We were ready.  Until of course Doug was 30 minutes early getting into the airport.  As we ran (literally ran) through the airport to meet him, I couldn't believe that my well laid plans to meet him at the gate had been foiled by the efficiency of the airline.  (Who knew????)  But at the end of the day Doug was home where he belongs.

You can hear the happiness in Dan's voice in this video he made.

I am So Proud of This Man

I feel it is time to brag on Doug.  He probably doesn't but since he isn't here, he really can't do anything about it.  Although his deployment is winding slowly down and he feels like it is Groundhog Day everyday, he is still trying to make a difference where he is and maybe leave a small legacy.  Throughout his deployment he has been in a position of advising, assisting and training Iraqi dentists.  He also works in a limited capacity with American troops that deploy quite frequently. 

 Instead of practicing his napping skills or getting the high score on solitaire, he has been working on providing expanded literature for the Iraqi dentist in the form of donated text books and current dental journals. 

 He has also been recognized for his service to the American troops.  Since these troops deploy frequently they don't always receive the preventative care that they could be receiving here in the states.  Doug has taken his "down time" to provide that preventative care to these soldiers.

The latest of his activities is going to be speaking the the Boy Scouts of Iraq.  He will be presenting on dental health and careers.  Needless to say, I think this is really cool. 

Although having him gone is hard on all of us, we are proud of the work he is doing, his willingness to go when his country called, and his work ethic that doesn't allow him to do less than his best.

My Valentine

Yes, I know that it is early for this post but what is a girl to do at 4 in the morning when she can't sleep and she is missing her Valentine.  Doug should get a good chuckle out of this since we are not a romantic Valentine's Day couple.  We celebrated our first Valentine's with a romantic date and since then we have been homebodies, deciding to make it more of a family time than a couples holiday.  But as I looked over some of our family pictures I found ones that featured parts of Doug's personality that I loved the best.  So bear with me for a moment while I expound.

This is Doug's "I'm smiling because you're making me to" face.  He makes this face whenever I tell him "You love me, you couldn't live without me, you wouldn't even want to try!"

I must have said something to make him chuckle here since that is the smile I get when he is amused with me.

This is his typical picture smile but I love that I got to lean back into him while he wrapped his arms around me.

This picture has a special place in my heart. This is the face I most commonly see.  As you can tell I am talking and Doug is ever so attentive.  I can just see the thoughts running through his head.  "I wonder when this will be done?  Will I have enough time to do thus and so with my bikes after this?  Maybe if Kristen stopped talking we would get this over faster."

Our half smiles always speak of contentment to me and a soft comfort with each other.

Again a pretty forced smile on his part but as you can tell I'm happy to be where I am.

As far as the very first picture, that is Doug's "I'm pretty happy with myself" smile.  I usually see this one when he has done something that he thinks is particularly witty but with which I disagree (but still makes me laugh).

And although to most people this wouldn't be a love note, for us it is.

State of the Douglas Address 2011

Hello all. In the tradition of this time of year, I’ve decided to send out a State of the Douglas Address. Now, for those that are worried this will become a political speech, do not fret. I just figure since I’ve continued my lifelong tradition of doing a poor job of keeping in touch this is to let everyone know how things are going. Of course, in today’s always-connected world it begs the question, why haven’t you been paying attention to Facebook?

So, how’s Iraq, you ask? Well, we’ll get there. But first, let’s look at how I got here. Way back in October, I flew to the City of Brotherly Love and then hopped a shuttle to the Garden State in order to spend the next 10 days at Fort Dix learning everything necessary to survive in any combat situation possible. Okay, fine, it was to learn enough basic combat skills so as not to embarrass myself while around those that DO know everything necessary to survive any combat situation. We all worked hard and learned a lot, sometimes painfully. Like the day we spent on Urban Ops and my fire team somehow left their #4 rear sweep man out in the street with the bad buys. Yep, I was the number 4 man. I mean, really?!! When you’re one of four, you only need to remember 3 others and you forget the one guarding your back – poor form. Needless to say I was captured by the insurgents. During our debrief everyone thought they did really well until the insurgents (our Cadre) brought me out at gunpoint. Good thing they were paint guns. Yep, they still didn’t realize I was gone – ah, yes, the fog of war bit us hard! The Cadre therefore gave us the opportunity to enjoy a “morale march” in true Groucho Marx style in full battle rattle – makes the thighs burn!

We seemed to learn well from our mistakes and on the last day our flight was one of the top teams during the final full-on simulation. After graduation, I snuck home for a couple of days so I could enjoy time with family and, most importantly, ordain Matt to the Priesthood. Matt had turned 12 two days after I left for my training. Then it was back to New Jersey to wait several days for a flight to Norfolk, where I got to wait for several more days. There’s not much worse than being alone on a naval base over a long holiday weekend with no transportation. Mind-numbingly boring doesn’t come close. Thankfully my brother Tyler and his family were able to visit from Raleigh. We spent time at the docks looking at some big boats, watching the newest carrier, the USS George Bush, being parked next to the oldest carrier, the USS Enterprise. Time was spent hanging out and holding hands with my rambunctious nephews and the visit ended with Tyler and I making holes in targets with handguns. Overall, not a bad way to sit and do nothing – thanks younger Bro!

I finally left on a jet plane with 400 of my, um, closest friends and made an uncomfortable midnight flight to Sheffield, Ireland at which time we were all invited to disembark and go through customs. All 400 of us. And yes, we had to take off our boots, just to sit in a rather large waiting area which luckily had WiFi capabilities. The only problem was it had no capabilities to support 400 soldiers trying to connect at the same time. Oh, well, just another uncomfortable 4 hours waiting, and then squished back into the plane for the long flight to Qatar. Landed about midnight, processed in and couldn’t sleep, despite having been up for well over 36 hours. So, I grabbed the laptop and enjoyed the amazing night time desert smell while chatting with Kristen. A couple days rest, another uncomfortable flight in a C130 with more passengers than seats and SrA Tamisha Glenn fetched me out of my holding room in Baghdad, Iraq.

Now, to answer the question, how’s Iraq? Right now it’s cold, wet and muddy – winter is the rainy season. For those that want to know what I’m doing here, I’ll be brief. Actually, I have to be brief since I can’t tell you too much. My official job is to train, advise and assist the Iraqi dentists that support the Iraqi Special Forces. Unfortunately for me, we’ve been doing this for several years and I’ve had some wonderful predecessors that have taken a run-down facility with eager but poorly equipped and trained dentists and have turned it into perhaps the highest tech facility with the best trained Iraqi staff in the country. There’s not a lot for me to do, which isn’t helped by my natural inability to be a good-idea-dude and general lack of administration skills. However, we’re doing the best possible, I’m learning a lot and enjoying the experience. I also spend a few hours each week working on American soldiers at the American Dental Clinic. It actually seems like I end up working with my Medical Advisor counterpart more often than not – who knew gunshot wounds (in Iraqi soldiers) could be so much fun! My favorite was the one that entered at the back of the neck and exited his chin. I got to diagnose and emergent treat a broken jaw. Opps, I mean train, advise and assist the Iraqis on how to treat a broken jaw. It’s definitely expanding my medical knowledge and training. Unfortunately, that’s about all I can tell you about what, where, how and why we do.

I’m able to attend church here weekly. Although we have enough on this base to form a branch, because of its physical size, we’re split into a couple of groups. Apparently not everyone has exclusive use of a brand new Ford F150 Crew Cab to make the 15 minute drive to church. We have about 10-15 members each week, depending on missions, with about half from one Guard Unit from Utah that works in my area. Who’d have guessed, a bunch of reservist military from Utah are Mormon!

One of the bad things about being here this time of year is I’m missing out on all the “free” vacation time, especially since we work 7 days a week with Friday being a “slow-down” day. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and now MLK. At least all the activities provided by the military, USO and Iraqi leadership do a good job of entertaining and reminding us were 7000 miles away from family and friends. For a while it seemed like every week there was yet another famous performer or group passing though. Robin Williams, Tops in Blue, Joan Jett, Lance Armstrong, Hooter’s girls, and the list goes on. I wasn’t able to make it to many shows (see work schedule above) but it’s greatly appreciated.

One thing we do often is go out to the range and shoot some seriously cool weapons, and I’m not talking about just the regular military issue M9 and M4/M16 either. Things like the 240 Bravo, SAW, silenced MP9, hand-held mortar launcher, and my favorite thus far would have to be the HMMWV (hum-vee) mounted mini-gun. Oh, yea, 3000 rounds per minute, with tracers. Not to worry, video was taken and will be shown when I return, complete with my goofy grin – sorry, I can’t send it electronically.

Perhaps the most rewarding event was when I helped out during a Wounded Warriors event. This is a program to help the healing process and re-integration of wounded soldiers. 7 American soldiers that left Iraq on their backs with various life-threatening injuries and flown out of Iraqi strapped to a medical bird were brought back by the non-profit organization Wounded Warriors Project, in coordination with the military. They were all amazing guys and fun to be around. During their time with us, they were shown a couple of amazing demonstrations then the guys took them out to the range and let them “blow s--- up” for an hour. You should’ve seen the smiles, and not just from the Wounded Warriors!

Let’s see, I guess I would be remiss in not recounting my tale of stupidity. So, for New Year’s Day, some JAGs, the Medical Advisor and I went to hit golf balls into a lake from the roof of one of Saddam’s palaces. No, that’s not the stupid part. While there, I was invited to run with them at the Disney half-marathon - in a week. I laughed and said ‘Sure, why not?’ After all, I’ve been doing my little P90X workout every day and haven’t run a step since September, what could possibly go wrong? Thus begins the stupidity. Why does my brain keep thinking I’m 20 when my body constantly reminds me I’m, um, no longer 20? So, I start the 13.1 mile slog with about 500 other insane people and about 5 miles in I start thinking, hey, this isn’t so bad even if my hamstring won’t loosen up. Then my left knee decided to start ache. At mile 6 I realized I was slowing down because it no longer ached. My knee hurt. I started to do the walk/run thing for about 2 miles and when even that started to hurt, I walked for a mile, ran about 800 meters and had to walk another mile, tried again and got about 100 feet and my knee pretty much gave out. I ended up walking/limping the rest of the event and couldn’t walk straight for several days. Luckily I did no permanent damage to my knee; it was just aggravated from a very minor patella plica (synovial fold behind the kneecap). Just to top off my shame of walking nearly half the event, one of the JAG we golfed with beat all the Ugandans and won the event outright. So now I’m thinking of how to avenge my stupidity, by properly running a half-marathon. I just need to work on my knee’s endurance and actually stretching beforehand. Yep, I think this is what’s called Pride before the Fall. I’m sure this cannot end well.

If you’ve stuck with me this long without switching channels, you are to be congratulated. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. I think I speak for all of those deployed when I say your support, letters, e-mails, Facebook messages and news from home are greatly appreciated. While watching your favorite Super Bowl commercial this year, please raise a cold, frosty mug of root beer for all our deployed troops, and know I’m excited to see what Valentino Rossi does on the Ducati but I hope home-town Texan Ben Spies hands him his butt on the Yamaha!

//SIGNED//

Capt Douglas Holmes

SOITT Dental Advisor, Baghdad, Iraq

Douglas' Athletics

On New Years Day Doug along with a few others went to the top of one of the Palaces on base and hit a few golf balls into the lake.  Needless to say, Doug thinks he needs to practice a little on his swing.



At the same time he was hitting golf balls into the water he was talked into running in the Disney Half Marathon.  He felt he was prepared to run 13 miles this last Saturday by not running in the last 3-4 months.  The stinky thing about this story is that he was able to run the first 5 or 6 miles without a problem.  Only after the 6 mile mark did his knee decide that it wasn't up to running anymore.  Now us mere mortals would have figured that you would need to train up to such an event.  Not my husband, he is upset that he couldn't run the entire length.  Now he is on a mission to complete a half marathon.  It should take him a few weeks to work up to it. 



Half My Heart is in Iraq

There are so many products, saying, and memorabilia peddled to the military members and families that it seems sometimes that everything is a cliche.  So when I first encountered this saying on t-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers, and anything else you could plaster it on I thought it was kinda bitter sweet.  One of those almost adolescent sentiments that makes girls say "Ahhhh" in that wistful way. For the life of me, I could not begin to comprehend the feeling these words invoke.

You see, it is like my heart literally has been torn in half and he carries part of it with him.  He is never out of my thoughts or dreams, prayers or wishes.  To the point that I feel like an open wound walking around, just barely able to put a dressing on it so I can live a "normal" life.  Most of the time I don't think I adequately cover the hole that is left. 

And the knowledge that this is temporary does not seem to make it hurt less.  Yes, I know he is doing his job and I am more proud than words can express.  Yes, six months is a short time to be apart considering the length of time other military families are separated.  Yes, he is as safe and secure as one can be in such conditions.  Yes, he is having some amazing experiences while he is away.  But no, this does not make it any easier for me.  I repeat these things to myself, to others who ask how I am doing, and to my children when they need to be reassured.  But to say that these facts lessen any of the longing I have to be with my husband would be a lie. 

And this truly surprises me.  Doug and I have done the ships passing in the night for years and years.  It has only really been since arriving in San Antonio that he has been able to be a fully active part of the family.  Throughout his education we tried to have as much family time as possible but the reality was not much was possible.  The boys and I have carried on in those absences and I assumed this would be much the same.  Silly, silly girl that I am.

I don't know if this gets easier, when this gets easier, or if I even want it to get easier.  All I know is that I take one day at a time and sometimes one hour at a time.  Doing my best.

I don't write for sympathy, but for purging.  And maybe someday these words will help someone else who feels the same.  For I know that I will make it.  That my love will come home.  That we will hug, kiss, laugh, fight, tell stories and stupid jokes.....that we will live life.  But just now I wait.

News from Doug

There is a lot of experiences that Doug has that he either can't share or only share parts.  We call these his secret squirrel experiences.  But once in a while I get quite a few details.  Here is a picture and his explanation of it.

This picture was taken on the roof of the incomplete 500,000 sq ft Presidential Palace near Baghdad International Airport (built courtesy of the American tax dollars sent in the "Food for Oil" program...) and the building in the background is called Perfume Palace, built for Saddam's mistress who became his second wife.  She never lived in it.

Grampy, Doug wanted me to make sure you knew that the uniform he is wearing is the Army's ACU's.  He has to have special Air Force tags made but he is allowed to wear it because he is assigned to an Army unit.  Also he can't wear the unit patch on his uniform because of more secret squirrel stuff.

Happy Birthday Douglas

Ever since we have been married I have tried to do something special for Doug's birthday.  You must admit having a birthday in December is kinda a gip since Christmas is right around the cornor.  So I really try to make a big deal of his day.  There have been years were I have had to cajole co-workers to go just a little longer so I could set up a special dinner in the work cafeteria, or shopped like a crazy woman for the ingredients to a dinner he wanted.  I have written embarrassing posts on this blog or let his birthday be a secret when we have gone out to dinner because the last thing he likes is to have random strangers sing happy birthday to him.  Most of all we have spent them together. This is the first one in 11 years I've missed. 

So what do you do for your husband that is 7,000 miles away on his birthday.  Well, you think of him all day long, you get to those long overdue posts so he can see what his family has been up to, you let the rest of the world see the only picture that you have received from him since he arrived in Iraq, and you thank God that he is in your life.  It's not much of a birthday but it's the best I can do this year.  Have a happy and safe birthday my love.

We Have Been Busy....Promise

I am usually so good with the picture thing, but the past weeks we have been so busy that I haven't had time to take the camera out.  Bad, bad me.  Just so you believe me here is a run down of what has been going on.

After many prayers, Doug's training ended on time and he was able to fly back home for two days.  He was home to ordain Matt in the Aaronic Priesthood with Papa in the circle.  (Did I mention my wonderful, crazy parents flew in for less than 24 hours?)  I am so blessed that with Doug gone I still have the priesthood in my home.  Monday we put Doug back on the plane for New Jersey.  I won't lie.  It was one of the hardest things that I have had to do.  I stood there with my boys wrapped around me, burying their faces as they cried and I tried to smile when Doug looked over his shoulder as he walked down the jet way.  I could go my entire life never having to do that again.  The boys and I took a much deserved day off.

Tuesday came and with it was my first pack meeting as Cubmaster.  What?  You didn't know that I was Cubmaster on top of being Ward YW Camp Director.  Don't worry, it is a really new calling.  Although it was a short meeting no one was hurt and no one fell asleep.  That counts as a success in my book.

The rest of the week was filled with preparations for the YW Halloween Carnival Fundraiser.  We thought that since Halloween was on a Sunday this year it was the perfect opportunity for the young women to have a fundraiser.  It went so smoothly thanks to all the help from the YW Board members.  Every class was in charge of three games and I took care of the food.  We had tons of donations and made some money.  But the big thing for me is that it seemed that everyone had a really good time.

Now I get to brag on my boys.  Report cards came out this last week.  Matt and Nate both got straight A's and Danny made AB honor roll.  I am so proud of all their hard work.

So on our upcoming calender is a court of honor for Matt, an awards assembly for Nate, an air show, YW roll fundraiser, a scout parent meeting, Thanksgiving, and another pack meeting.  Hopefully I will do better with the pictures.

Deployment

I know that every deployment is different as the people who deploy and those they leave behind.  And although at this time I don't seem to have the right words, I do want to remember.