Sworn

Tim and I got up early this morning, leaving the youngest three snoozing in the hotel room, to stake a spot on the chapel wall overlooking the large open field (I'm sure it has a name and I'm sure that name has initials in order to completely confuse the uneducated, but being an unitiated newby I'll just call it "the field" TF) at the Air Force Academy.  We sat and did our Bible studies from 6:30 am (yes, we got a good spot!) until the new basic cadet action started around 8:00.  We were quite far, but that didn't stop me from popping my eyes out of my head trying to locate Zach through my zoom lens of the camera.  Try as I did, I was unsuccessful.  However, once the oath taking ceremony (OTC--ok I'll stop now) began, we were blessed.  Zach's squadron, The Executioners, ( I was upset about the name until I heard some of the other names...Hellcats, Demons....then I was ok with it.) marched right to the place where we had supposed they would and had positioned ourselves.  Even better, he was in the front row which was critical, because you couldn't see anybody past the second row!  I felt so sorry for the mom next to me who wanted to see her son, but she couldn't make him out in the group.  I tried to help her, but even with my zoom lens was unsuccessful.

Anyway, it was easy to pick out Zach.  He's second from the right:  Love my ZOOM.

 I was impressed with how well they marched.  It must have been intense to learn so quickly!

Here's the Wing Commander. 

 Enough said I think.

We couldn't begin to see him this well, but later this afternoon, I loaded the image on the computer and zoomed in, and this is what I got.

(Pretty good photography, if I do say so myself!)

Comment:  He does not look happy.

I'm going to dream of this face tonight.

It's hard, but we knew it would be.

But still.

I like this picture so much better:

Go Zach!

Inprocessing Day...And How a Cold Can Be a Blessing.

Today was finally the day-- Inprocessing Day.

We've been tooling around Colorado for five days now, getting used to the altitude with it's breathless exertions, headaches, dry skin and extreme temperature changes.

Love the mountains!

I hope to blog about the great time we've had, but I know a lot of family will be curious about how today went, and I want to show them the best that I can.

First, though, I would like to let you know that God saw fit to send me one of the worst five sinus colds I've ever had in my life.  As we rode in the car last Saturday, I thought to myself, "I actually feel relaxed!  Everything's done!  I forgot what relaxed feels like!"

Four hours later I felt the tickle in my throat.

"It's just the dry air."

(It was not the dry air.)

"It's the altitude."

(We were still in Nebraska.)

SO...all week in the mountains of Colorado,

I've been producing copious amounts of snot.

Which, combined with sunshine and dry air, has chapped my lower face and caused my eyes to puff to the point where I look like I've been crying....constantly...

Which brings me to the blessing part which was...all day long...throughout the whole inprocessing, people were patting me, telling me it was going to be ok, giving me stuffed animals (ok the stuffed animal went to Lily who really was crying), telling me congratulations...

to the point where I actually ended up crying relatively little!

It was awkward to say "I'm not crying; I have a cold."

So I just went with it.

Now you have the background.

There is one and only one photo of me where I am actually crying.

We'll have a contest to see who can tell.

(My mom is disqualified; she knows me too well.)

 Here we are at PF Changs last night.

The Last Dinner.

 Signing more forms.

It was very difficult to know where to go until we realized that we should just follow the crowd.

That was the plan.

 Waiting for the "Briefing."

This was right before a guy came up and started giving Lily and me gifts.

Nice guy.

Lily accepted the gifts but refused to smile...

she can really smell a rat, and I think this smile was her last for awhile.

 ...because the "briefing tent" was really the "goodbye tent."

Scoundrels.

They should call it what it is!

 Last Family Picture.

 Hugs.

I just love it when he crushes me in his armpit like that....

it's very snuggly...

and makes me wonder that he was ever my little baby....

 Hugs all around....

 ....one more last....

 ....and when we saw him next....

 ...it was behind a rope...

 That bar code was soon scanned in, and...

 it was over the river (creek)...

 ...and through the woods....

 He didn't even glance at us.

But we know he knew we were there!

We are hard to miss!

 "Move'em on...move'em out!"

 No turning back now!

 Of course we watched until the bus was full.

 Then it drove away.

We are proud of you Zach.

Prayers and letters coming your way!

Go Get'm Zach

There's been a smiling "ray of sunshine" guy in our lives for 18 years now....

Two, actually!

They didn't come as a pair, but they WERE a pair...

didn't take them very long...!

They really went together....

like peanut butter...

and jelly.

First one flew away....

and now...

And tomorrow, here goes the other!

We are going to miss our Zach as he goes away to his new life...

We've loved watching him grow and "do his own thing..."

"be his own man....."

...even now!

Go get'm...

.....little guy.....

Blue's His Color

Thought about it....

Talked about it....

Prayed about it...

(OK...this was just a picture where his eyes 

happened to be closed...but we

 HAVE prayed about it!

  A LOT!)

Zach decided to commit to playing football for the Air Force Academy.

His acceptance is, of course, contingent on getting the nomination,

but we are excited for his decision and trusting God to see what happens.

He enjoyed the support of his coaches, teams (football and basketball), TEACHERS (special shout out to Mrs. Eldredge and Mrs. Breening) and admins...

and sibling support is never to be underestimated either!

Timmy (blue hat on the right)

 is just checking over the paperwork to make sure

 everything is in proper order,

 as a good manager should.

It was, after all, Timmy's YouTube

 account that started everything.

"Proper?"  

I think I may have been watching a little

 too much "Downton Abbey."

Kindly excuse my formal diction, if you please.

He's a good boy.

He'll do fine.

Blue is a great color on him.

And I don't look too bad in houndstooth either...

but I digress....

.....and to digress further, I  haven't gotten a facelife or lost weight.

I'm just using Zach's arm to hide my jowls.

Done digressing now....

Go Zachary!

We love you.

"These Are Good Days, Mom"

"These are good days, Mom."


This is what my 17 year old son Zach said to me this morning.


YES....it IS a snow day today.  And contrary to what you would expect, Twin Cities Metro snow days are extremely RARE, despite the fact that, well...we live in the Twin Cities, which is in Minnesota, which is way further north than I EVER thought I'd live.  This is maybe the fourth or fifth in the thirteen years I've been sending kids off to school.  


And I did make a big delicious breakfast of bacon, egg and cheese casserole, coffee cake, strawberries, hash browns with onions AND orange julius's for everyone's leisurely dining pleasure.  


AND, basketball practice was canceled tonight.


AND Zach hadn't done all his homework for today, although he was just getting up to do it when the phone rang this morning.  Some people just have all the right moves.


AND...we have our health.


ALL these things are great, but something in his tone of voice told me that Zach meant something more.  He meant that these are precious days when we are all together.  Soon it won't be so.

  
His older brother Andrew (on right-circa 2000) decided yesterday which college he will attend.  I thought I'd feel a burst of relief, but now that the decision is done and the commitment made, I feel sad, because it's really going to happen.


  He's going to go.  

And what's more, he's going to be happy there....somewhere else....somewhere without ....US.


How in the world can that happen?  But it will!


"These are good days, Mom."  


and we neither one speak it but in our hearts we say, 

"And they are few."

Football Ups...Cause There've Been Enough Downs (No Punt Intended)

Here's a Star Tribune link about Andrew and Zach and the Zephyrs Football Team and a Kare 11 News segment about the game last night .


The thing that astonishes me are his arm muscles.


Where do those come from?


Star Tribune Article


Kare 11 News Video: Andrew is second one interviewed.

Sanibel Stories: Beaching It

It was a dark and stormy night on the tropical island....

OK...it was pre-dawn, and it wasn't stormy,
 but it still was rather surreal.  
The beach is a strange place to be before the sun rises.  
Seriously.
  I see why they used it as a symbol of the subconscious in that movie with Leonardo DiCaprio that I can't quite think of the name of...Inception....that was it.  
The ocean in the dark is Mystery.
  The beach is In Between, it is Transition, it is Unknown. 
It's hard to tell where the sand ends and the water begins. 
It kind of freaked me out!

It didn't freak Zach out, though. 
 He was out for the prize...
he was hunting for the big one...
the big conch shell that is.

Slowly, imperceptably, it lightened.

It was still hard to see anything. 
 The shells appeared monotone, a dull grey.

It was at this point that Zach realized that the big one 

wasn't happening this morning. 

 There was nothing bigger than two or three inches across.

So he planted himself right here....

....and refused to move an inch.
  He was there to "go big or go home," 
and he quickly suggested that we all go home....
repeatedly...
he even went so far as to text his dad to come get us. 
 Meanwhile...

The girls were having a GREAT TIME! 
 So what if there weren't any conch shells worthy of my bathroom shelf?  
I don't even have a bathroom shelf!  
It was cool to be there...and check out the sand dollar in my mom's hand! 
 At this point something magical happened....

...all of a sudden.....

everything lit up and colors popped out all around us!

Delightful!

I bet that's what happens in Heaven.

Of course it was also clearly evident that some of the shells we had found were...

well...

still occupied!

"I do believe it's a hermit crab!"

"Mom...can we keep him?"

"I'll call him Harry!"

"Grandma....check this out!  My new pet!"

"Come on out crabby crabby crabby...."

"Come on out Harry!"

"See mom, he knows his name!"

"I can't believe I have a hermit crab."

Me:  "Back in the shell there buster.  

You aren't coming with us."

It was back in the ocean for Harry.

But not before some show and tell...

...and photo ops!"

Tim showed up because Zach had texted him. 

 Which meant that I had to go wait in the car. 

 We weren't sure if we were EXACTLY legally parked...

These "friends" had to go back...but all in all...

...considering it was our first time shelling...

...it was a good haul.

Now here is some beach worthy activity in Zachary and Andrew's book.

Andrew never did get up before sunrise and go shelling. 

 It's ok. 

 I've learned to just say that sometimes whether I really feel it or not. 

 It's ok.  It's ok.  It's ok.  

Here you try!  Say it!  "It's OK, It's OK, It's OK!"

Now say it and mean it!

You need to work on this. (cue eyebrows)

p.s...I'm a full believer in right and wrong and absolutes.  The "OK" should only be applied in non-ethical situations.  Absolutely. Please.  Thankyou.

Men on the beach.

Boy showing off on the beach.

He'd like....

...to show you.....

....how it's done!

And this guy...

...wouldn't quit....

....until he was a...

....skimboard expert!

You can see that the foot injury wasn't so bad.

It didn't stop him anyway.

Little does!


"Hey...where's DAD????"
"Dad!  Show us what you got!"
to be continued....