WOW

That is the only word I can come up with to explain the phenomenon of yesterday. I asked for help and God sent many wonderful people to my aid. Thank you, Lord. Thanks to everyone who has helped and to those who have committed to help, you are all so wonderful and kind and we (the kids and I) appreciate your generosity.

Just WOW and THANKS.
Shannon

Brotherly Secrets....

Well, this is one of many posts about Jay, and today about Marc. As I have told many people, you can find out the updates on Jay by coming to my blog and searching "Jay" in the search engine in the upper left hand corner.

Tomorrow will be 10 days that Jay has been gone... and really I did not expect to talk to him for a few weeks, but I have spoken to him on 2 different days!

On Sunday, while I was helping out at the shop (Fringe), which was just a one time thing, I was petrified that I would miss his call because I had my hands full, no pockets in which to put my phone so I left it open on the counter with the ringer cranked up! And he called! 1st thing he says is that he only has just 3 minutes and so we have to be brief. BRIEF?!?! I have not seen him for 5 days and have so much I still want to say, 3 minutes isn't even gonna scratch the surface. But we cover the following:
1. He has sent us letters but still does not have a return address and won't for another week, but promises to send it when he gets it. Which is good because I have been jotting down schtuff and adding daily to a letter that has grown to over 7 pages and am wondering if it will be a novel by the time I get that address?
2. He says not to come for family "day" bc it is really just 3 hours. But in my Mommy mind I am thinking "Don't tell me what to do, Mister. I will find the cheapest overnight flight and I will be there." So, we will see how that one turns out.
3. He is missing all of us and his life in general, but knows that this is just for 4 years and will be getting allot of great things from this, so he keeps going. Please, if you are a praying person, pray for his continued strength.

So, today I forget to my cell phone with me to a meeting thing, and guess who calls? Yup! Jay!! I have been tethered to my cell phone since he left, fearful that he would get one chance to call and I would miss it, and sure enough as soon as I do he does! Marc told me he had called and left him a message and I tried to call him back, no luck. Then I insisted on hearing the message (bc I just wanted to hear that he was okay) but Marc said "no" because it was private and too bad for me! UGHGHGH. For years these two have been fighting like a cat and dog and they pick NOW to have brotherly secrets! Darn near drove me crazy till I finally got a message from Jay. Luckily, he had his phone for the whole day, so he sent text messages while I was at camp and we talked at 6 and again just before he went to sleep, so I could croak out a lullaby (my voice is still bad...). No new news except that he had his phone because they are moving to the barracks and he had to take all personal things with them.

So that is it. I know he called allot of his friends today and even his Grandma (who was so happy to hear from him). So, this update may not be necessary, but will remind me to post them here when they happen.

Keep in touch and let me know if you need Jay's address once I have it, via e-mail I will send it to you.

Shannon

One of a pair....

Well, the day has finally come... The day I have known about for months (probably really have thought about for years since Jay joined ROTC and loved it) and still do not seemed really well prepared. But how does one prepare for the final growth path of a child? I know he will be coming back, but today he leaves to take the final journey of becoming an adult... on his own.... without me to guide, push, pull and direct along the way... which is good for him because it is truly his. Bad for me as I try to deal with all this heartache and extra emotion. All the cliches' in the world do nto describe nor compare the pain of my heartbreak and even though I have known this was coming, I want to postpone it until I am ready, which, would be never. So, God, in his infinite wisdom, has made Jay strong enough to decide and stick by his convictions. And I realize (at this unGodly hour of 4:30 AM) that as this will be one of his final growing stages into a man, it will be one of my many lessons in life about pain, grief, heartache, submission, acceptance, patience, and many more things I am not even able to think of at this time. Later will be Marc's turn and my heart will break all over again, but I am putting that away for now, one heartache at a time please. All I can do now is pray, entrust him completely to God, write (which strangely does seem to help)and cry when it hurts, bc holding it in seems to hurt more? I will update here about Jay, because he says he will remember to write everybody but has asked me to keep everyone posted when I get his letters, so I have found another useful reason to blog and maybe will remember to blog more often. If you are looking for info about Jay just type in "Jay" in the search area of the main page and the blogs about him will come up and you will not have to wade through all the other ramblings of my mind when it goes out without a leash.

Since I am up this early, maybe i should go work on something? I know I am not going back to sleep anytime soon and it is too early to get ready for work... ho hum.... maybe some fresh coffee and that Dee Henderson novel can help me forget my heartbreak for awhile.

Happy Stitchin'
Shannon

To Please or Not?

A little more than a week ago I was chatting with my DH and mentioned that I had started noticing that people rarely say "Please, Thank You, Or Your Welcome" anymore, not anyone, younger than I nor older than I. I have always tried to say please and thanks, bc I think it is one of the last remaining threads of manners that I grew up with. (And there were several rules that my Step Mom made us follow, such as: no passing gas in public, please excuse yourself and if you are not able to, please say, "please, excuse me"; do not interrupt, softly touch someone on the arm to let them know you would like to speak with them; do not chew with your mouth open and do not talk with your mouth full of food, these go hand in hand and do not need further discussion... just to name a few). When I was a kid, I thought she was just being callous with us, but really she was trying to teach us to be educated in a non formal setting so that we would be able to cope politely and respectfully in life. Another reason to say please and thanks is to show the other person that I do respect, appreciate, and care for them, even if they are strangers they are still God's child. So, to proceed on, I started really listening and watching people as they went about their days, and I mentally noted that only about 10-20% of the people ever said please when asking for something and almost nobody said thank you except for some of the same 10-20% that remembered to say "please". During the actions of my busy day I come across allot of people, young and old, formally educated and not, those making 6 figure incomes and those who live at the poverty level, and the results of my 10-20% were not completely from the affluent end of the scale, those folks also stated their requests without a simple please on a regular basis; and not just to their employees, but to their children and acquaintances. This leads me to think that no longer are parents teaching their children about simple manners and makes me wonder why? Are manners out of fashion? Is it politically correct to be rude? I think that manners are an important part of our civilization and of being civilized (not who has the most technologically advanced cell phone), so I will make it my point to infer please and thank you every chance I get and hopefully those I come in contact with will "get it". ....

Early Morning .....

I love early morning around my house..... I am the only one up, except for the 4 legged kids who are just nagging to be fed. Anywho, I am the only one up, coffee is making, and today I just stood on my patio and wondered and all the beauty God gave me to take in daily. I have never really appreciated nature until recently. When I was younger, I hated to be outside (still do not care for bugs much). Now, I like early morning, dew on the grass (hard to believe that was how God watered the earth before the Fall, huh?), the sun is an orangey-red color that I like, the birds are singing in the large tree that provides great shade for our home, and all is right in the world. (Almost asking for trouble there, huh?)

AND some mornings, it gets even better, I have a few minutes to sew before I take the boys to school! Yipee! Today I opted to post here, but this is still good, as I have off work today, so I will sew for 15 minutes when I come back.

So, have a great day, enjoy your early morning, no matter when it starts, and praise God for all that HE is given!

Happy Stitchin'
Shannon