Great Idea, Ox!

Wow! It's been a really long time since I've posted; my apologies on that. Last night, Isaac and I finished our run early enough for me to still have time to clean up the backyard. As I was walking around and shoveling things up, Ox was drinking water from his bucket. Isaac apparently thought this was one of the grandest things he'd seen in some time! He laughed hysterically, and even tried to mock Ox once we got inside for bath time!

Birthday Pics!

I am currently syncing three folders of pictures from Isaac's first birthday to the web. Take a look at them. Soon, I'll come back and actually blog about all the celebratory events and will even try posting some video (if the files are too large).

Rrrr....Rrrr....Rrrr....

Oh my, today has been an eventful one! I was sooooooo excited about it being Saturday, as I have just completed my first week back to school with students for the 2009-2010 school year. My students so far remind me of my first class I ever taught; those of you who knew me then know this is not necessarily a good thing. My plans were to hang out with Robert (Lynn's [my sitter's] son) until she returned from a date with her husband. Then, Isaac was to take his afternoon nap, after which we were going to go to Round Rock so I could pick up the favors for his 1st birthday party! Then we were going to get back in time for me to bathe him and lay him down, not too terribly long after his normal bedtime. I was going to clean house after he'd gone down, something that's been skimped on, but not completely ignored, this week. Weeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllll, we were fine until the leaving for Round Rock part. I tried to crank the Tahoe and didn't think anything of it not starting immediately, as it's taken a couple of tries the last few days to get it to start. The battery's charge has always looked good upon starting, and everything functioned well, so I didn't think anything of it. I tried once.........twice......thrice.......and whatever the word for four times is, and NO LUCK. I let it rest in between tries, so as to not kill the battery. Lynn came back over to the house (hooray for friends!), removed the battery from the Tahoe, and we took it to the O'Reily's just up the street. She put the battery back in. We tried to crank it -- no new results. We poured in some fuel, though the gauge (known to be inaccurate before) was showing 3/4 tank, and the engine cranked! Stupid me, however, didn't leave it running long enough for the battery to recharge. So, we had to repeat the process, only there's no happy ending. Other than God has reminded me what a blessing my friends are, particularly in this time of Justin's deployment. And, as Lynn said, "At least you weren't in Round Rock when this happened!" Below, I'm including some pics from today.

While Lynn and I (ok, mostly Lynn) were putting the battery back in the second time, Isaac thought he'd better give the tires a check. I heard Lynn exclaim, "Oh Lordy!" Apparently, he found the tires to be finger-lickin' good.

I shudder to think at exactly what was introduced to his little body during this car repair! He drank a bottle of milk/formula afterwards, which I know is what is typically to be done when something bad is ingested.So, do I win the Mother of the Year award for letting my child eat tire residue and then eat off my floor? I left a few puffs in the lid on the floor for Isaac to eat while I went to the kitchen to make his bottle. I put the rest of the can on the top shelf, where I thought he couldn't reach. I came back and saw him grabbing puffs by the fistfull. Apparently Daddy picked a good flavor!These things are better than rubber!

Please pray for me. It's hard to not be a complete Negative Nelly in the midst of all this.

Dinner & Dancing

Justin is currently singing in the kitchen as I (Emily) post this video. Other pictures will be posted soon. I LOVE when Isaac does new things!

R&R Update

OK, so we haven't updated while I've been on R&R. I'll try to sum things up briefly. Emily and I had a couple of days to ourselves. As you can see from the third picture, Cole (a friend from Birmingham) sent Emiy and I some ribs from Dreamland Barbeque. Some of my family was able to come in for the weekend. I got to play golf with Dad, Stan, and Robert. The Ft Hood golf course is much better than I expected. Then, Emily and I spent a couple of days in San Antonio. Hotel Valencia was nice. Dinner at Citrus was excellent.

Now, we're back in Killeen for a few more days. I think Emily is planning to post some pictures that were taken at the airport when I arrived. Actually, when Emily arrived. (She was fashionably late arriving to pick me up.) Luckily, my cousins Carolyn and GT Robinson were there to greet me.

Update

Justin called around 9:30 last night to say he was in Kuwait!!! His next stop will be somewhere in Europe, then Dallas, then Killeen! All said and done, we're thinking he'll arrive Monday. He is VERY much ready to be home and I am so excited about him being here!!! Now, for all that housework and schoolwork that needs done..........

one...two...three...FOUR!!!!

Isaac has known how to do the "soldier scoot" for some time now. He began inserting a few attempts to crawl on all-fours towards the end of our stay in Mississippi. He has now begun to crawl on all-fours out of habit! Way to go, Son!

AND.................it won't be very long until his Daddy gets to witness this first-hand!!!

More Pictures!

I currently am syncing pictures from May in Iraq that Justin has sent. Look for the album titled, "Iraq_May." Creative title, huh?

Celebrate Good Times!

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July Weekend, taking the time to enjoy friends, family, and the freedoms we experience in this country that we often take for granted. This past weekend, as well as this weekend, have held some wonderful church services in which our soldiers, our country, and our God were all hailed. I have really enjoyed getting to spend time with my family in Mississippi lately. On July 3, some friends of mine and Justin's from Lucas Grove stopped by to visit on their way back north from the beach! I was so excited to have Jason, Tonya, Danae, and Austin Desjardins spend a couple of nights with us. Celebrating is always fun but is especially so when you get to celebrate with friends you haven't seen in quite some time. Isaac and I last got to spend time with these friends when we went to Kentucky for a few days at Christmas. We watched fireworks in Laurel on Friday night. Lots of pictures were made of Isaac, as Jason had not gotten to meet Isaac at Christmas. Saturday night, we went to Robert's (Justin's brother's) house to cook out and shoot fireworks. I don't care what they say, all my fish was DELICIOUS! Isaac got pretty sick while en route and continued the sick trend while we were at Robert & Julie's. He was a good sport and still let most anyone hold and comfort him. I was a pretty good sport too when I was vomited all over. And all my friends and family were AMAZING sports in helping to clean and care for me, Isaac, and the bathroom. All that said, I am posting pictures from the weekend under our Web Albums. If things with Picasa finish syncing anytime soon, I'm also going to try to post a video of Isaac watching Friday night's fireworks. "Syncing" looks misspelled, but this is how Picasa spells it. Please correct us if you find it spelled otherwise.


Once again, I have really enjoyed this weekend. Thanks Desjardins family for stopping in! My family has really enjoyed hosting you. Thanks to my family for providing all the opportunities to celebrate. And last, but not least, thank you, Justin. Thank you for serving our Lord by being a witness to our country's soldiers. Thank you for clinging to your faith in God even when surrounding circumstances are neither easy nor desireable. You are an amazing husband, father, chaplain, and Christian man.

Isaac is getting to see fireworks for the first time. He was super sleepy, so please excuse his occasional mediocre response. He ended up sleeping through parts of the show towards the end!

Austin, Jason, and Danae Desjardins are watching the fireworks in Laurel. In this picture, either Isaac's hand is REALLY large or Danae's arm is REALLY long!

Tonya and I are watching fireworks and Robert's & Julie's. I can't find a picture of all four of my friends together. So I put one of Tonya and I that I really like, and a fun picture (above) of the other three.

Remember to check our Web Albums for the rest of the pictures from the weekend!!!

Surf's Up!

Well, not completely. Today, Isaac and I went shopping at the outlet mall in Gulfport, Mississippi with Justin's parents and our niece Katie. Gulfport, as you might guess by the name of the city, is on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Mr. Gene and Mrs. Karon decided to take the scenic route back home to show me the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina almost four years ago. Even now, some areas of Gulfport, Pass Christian, and Bay St. Louis look devastated. It is amazing, however, to see how these areas have bounced back and re-established old business and residential areas. I LOVE the beach and have not been to a beach since the honeymoon in 2004. So I asked if, when we stopped, I could run quickly across the road to stick my toes in the edge of the Gulf. We made a U-turn and stopped on the side of U.S. Hwy 90. Isaac, Katie, and I got out and walked down to the water's edge. Silly me didn't bring a camera, so these pictures were taken with Mr. Gene's new phone. The quality of the pictures amazes me! Katie is a great photographer. Isaac seemed to enjoy his first encounter with the beach.

He was patting the ground. He wasn't sure why it was crumbly.

He was a little confused as to why I was piling this strange stuff (sand) on his legs.

He loved how the wet sand would squish between his toes!Once in the water, we couldn't get him to look at the camera. He was enjoying watching the small waves ripple in towards the shore.I hate that this one is a little blurry. His smile was soooo cute!No, I've not gotten bangs cut in my hair. The wind was making the tendrils of my hair do crazy things.

Happy Fathers' Day!

Isaac just keeps learning new tricks!

We have visited the senior portraits at the end of Mrs. Karon's and Mr. Gene's hallway several times since I've been here. There was not any review of the boys' identites immediately before hand. So what if Justin was 17-18 in the picture? I sure hope Justin's brothers don't mind having their senior portraits posted on the blog! Happy Fathers' Day, Justin! Now you can believe me when I say Isaac recognizes you (or at least your picture)!

Happy June 17th!

Aren't they beautiful??!!!!

I was on my way out the door this afternoon to eat supper at church before Vacation Bible School was to start. Mrs. Karon told me I needed to wait just a minute. So, I came back into the house, where this big, BEAUTIFUL, fragrant floral arrangement was delivered to me! Justin called a local florist and picked them out for me. How sweet is he?! He even had a little message placed in the arrangement. I can't figure any particular significance for today's date, other than it's Isaac's 9-month birthday. I love these really random, thoughtful gestures Justin makes. Thank you so much Hon; you completely surprised me!

What a Trooper!

Isaac is a very even-tempered, hard-working baby. Below is the evidence...

Justin's parents came to visit Isaac and me in Texas on Memorial Day Weekend. They left for Mississippi on Memorial Day and took Isaac with them. This enabled me to finish out the school year, which I am thankful has come to an end. This past Saturday, I came here to Mississippi to spend some time with family. So, yes, I was away from Isaac for roughly 3 weeks! While we were apart, he played with his cousins and learned lots of new tricks. Justin, I apologize ahead of time for the hint of baby talk that slipped into my voice toward the end of this clip!

I can see clearly now...

Several of my friends and family members lately have listened to me talk about getting new glasses. I picked them up last night (the glasses, not the friends and family!), and I like them! They are a bit bold, but they do the trick. The ladies at the Optical Center approved. I wore them today, and no one said anything. I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing. I'm attaching a picture below where I'm modeling the glasses. I've got an awkward expression, but it's the closest to a picture I've taken of myself that I'm going to like. I tried to have a neutral expression, but it's currently storming. A clap of thunder struck that made me jump at the last minute.

Half a Decade!

Happy Anniversary Justin!!! I realize that with our time difference, it's already 30 May for you. For those of you wondering why I picked a picture where my eyes aren't completely open, this is one of the few shots where Justin actually smiled! Love you Hon! Wow, life has definitely been an adventure the past five years! Our dating days were definitely adventurous, as we weren't very outward about the fact we were dating. With Justin being a youth minister, there were always tons of teenagers to speculate and try to play matchmaker. We were trying to keep the fact that we were dating somewhat of a secret, as we didn't want things to be awkward at church if for some reason we didn't work out. I love that I made Justin break his rule of "No dating church members!" A quick note in his defense: I was NEVER in his youth group :) .
Shortly after our first anniversary, I graduated college. We decided this was the time for Justin to go back to seminary. I had never really moved before, so the whole moving thing was adventurous. We had actually planned on Justin going to seminary in New Orleans, but Katrina changed those plans. Right around our second anniversary, Justin got his first pastorate at Lucas Grove Baptist Church (Love y'all!). What a change from being a youth pastor! Sometime in 2007, we began to feel that God was calling Justin to be a chaplain in the military. At this point, we weren't exactly sure in which branch he would serve. After much prayer, God told us Justin was to be an Army chaplain. We filled out all the paperwork, he was approved, and June of 2008, Justin left for training at Ft. Jackson, SC. At this point, I was roughly 5.5-6 months pregnant with our first child. With much help from family, I found a house near Ft. Hood, TX. Justin finished CHBOLC (chaplaincy training) early September and arrived here a little under two weeks before our son, Isaac, was born. Justin left for Iraq in December. Life has DEFINITELY been an adventure due to deployment. Life hasn't always been easy, and there will be many more tough times along the way.
Life has definitely been exciting the past five years. I am blessed to have a husband whose faith in God is rock-solid and who is an encouragement to me, spiritually and emotionally. Thank you Justin for the past five years. I look forward to many more together...even if it means you living past 80!

My Future's So Bright...

Let's start off with an EXTREMELY belated (well, only 15 days!) birthday greeting to my brother, a.k.a. Uncle Z. I dressed Isaac in his "I Love My Uncle Z" onezie on my brother's birthday. Isaac does look a little unhappy, but he is preparing to eat. If you've ever seen Isaac around mealtime, you know how anxious and excited he gets once he figures out it's time to eat. It looks like Isaac is reaching out to the camera to give Uncle Z a hug...how sweet! These are some really cute pictures Lynn took while keeping the babies one day. She bought all three boys a pair of sunglasses designed for infants. They look so cute! As you can tell, Isaac seemed to enjoy wearing them, even if his friends didn't. Kudos to Lynn for managing to have three babies at least partially wearing sunglasses simultaneously!

What a sweet smile!


Poor child! He didn't even mind when his Mommy didn't get his glasses on all the way.

It is almost time for school to be out. Justin's parents came to visit this past weekend and have taken Isaac back to Mississippi with them. They've done this to help free my schedule these last few busy weeks of school...and I'm sure it's also so they can enjoy time with their grandbaby! Both sets of parents (mine and Justin's) have been extremely helpful in so many ways during the deployment.

Speaking of deployment, I realized something really neat just the other day. I was feeling kind of bummed about Justin not being here to celebrate our fifth anniversary. I got my planner out of my purse so I could update it. While doing so, I realized that I get to erase the "2" in the hundreds place of Isaac's countdown chalkboard and change it to a "1" on our anniversary! Coming to this milestone will definitely help when it comes to spending the rather significant milestone without Justin. Having friends over for supper will also help this Friday. I'm so glad Friday has seemed to work better for everyone than our initially scheduled day!

I'm uploading Justin's April pictures to Picasa Web Albums. Apparently, most of them in the "March_April Iraq" album were from March. Some of the ones in the new album I'll create are going to be duplicates, but there are also some new ones.

Sweet!

OK, I know some of you are wondering exactly how sleep-deprived I am for posting this picture. As part of my Christmas gift, Justin gave me a box of Godiva truffles. I love, love, LOVE chocolate! Anyway, we exchanged gifts early while his parents were still in town for Thanksgiving. A few days later, we had an evening at home where we cooked, talked, watched a movie, etc. That evening, I had one of the truffles and told him I was going to save the rest for a special occasion. Well, the special occasions were the 14th of each month, the date on which another month of the deployment had passed. The last truffle (chocolate souffle -- yum!) was delicious, but seeing this empty box was even sweeter. We are five whole months into the deployment! That's almost half-way!!!

Veni, Vidi, Vici!

Woo hoo! I've finally conquered the Picasa (Blogger web albums) conundrum. Apparently, I downloaded a version of Picasa newer than their instructions for how to handle things offline. Changes were made to the security settings on the album of pictures Justin sent, and now they should be ready for you to view! Just remember, you get to the albums by clicking on the "My Picture Albums" link on the right side of the page. You may not need that reminder; I just know I forgot how to access the albums without being signed in. As I learn more about the pictures, I'll add any appropriate explanations as Comments on the pictures. Enjoy!

Picasa

Oh my goodness! I have FINALLY downloaded the program Picasa, which is used to post pictures to the blog. I've even imported a ton of pictures from March and April in Iraq. I've even synched them with the web...but I can't figure out how to make them public! Hang in there, all...as soon as I figure it out, there are several really interesting pictures from Iraq you will be able to see.

Sunrise and Sandstorms

On Easter Sunday, Justin lead the Sunrise Service for his battallion. Below, you can see that the service was well-attended. Worshipping God is always an awesome experience, but especially so at a Sunrise Service on Easter morning, as you're celebrating Christ's resurrection. Particularly so when you're so geographically close (comparatively) to where Jesus and other Biblical figures actually walked. I'm not sure who took the picture, as Justin should be leading the service and SGT Ross (his assistant) is actually in the picture (nearest the camera on the right).
Sandstorms are a common occurrence at Q-West, as they are in most of Iraq. The sand there, Justin has mentioned before, is extremely fine, almost dusty. He says it's nothing like the sand I know. This particular sandstorm blew in quickly and fiercely. Justin had time to climb atop something and catch the billows before they completely stained the air. What a powerful image!

Forgive me if I've misspelled anything in this post. I am up a little after 0200; Isaac is teething and possibly has a cold. Either way, he is blazing hot with a fever. I gave him Tylenol before bed and just gave him another dose 30 minutes ago. Isaac cut his first tooth today, which is probably why he's been restless and neither of us has gotten solid sleep the last three nights. As soon as he'll let me take a picture of it, I'll post his newest "first." Good night (or morning)!

"Widgets"

For those of you unfamiliar with blogging, all of the nice things you see at the right side of every page (our picture(s), Justin's address, etc.) are called widgets. Justin pointed out that I had a picture of him and me, and a separate picture of Isaac. He said I should update it with another picture from my computer, so I've done so! I can't believe I didn't think of this before.
I just spoke with Justin. He seems to be doing well. I received a letter from him not long ago telling me about some of the bible studies he's been leading. At some of them, he and his soldiers have been joined by some Kurdish Christians! This is super exciting for Justin, as he's always had a heart for this people group. He had to do a study in seminary, during which time he also filled me in on a lot of Kurdish history. I have to say, I am very happy for Justin to have this opportunity. God opens so many doors. Who would have thought Justin would get to minister to people other than his fellow soldiers? I did have to laugh when Justin told me about a mild language barrier. He said that one of the Kurdish gentlemen in attendance said, "We really have to stop and listen to you. Your accent is not like that of many English speakers!" Justin's Southern Mississippi accent isn't particularly strong but is apparently still detectable. Justin says he's taken some really neat pictures of recent sandstorms. He's sending them to me on a DVD. As soon as I receive them, I'll post them on here.

Happy Easter!

Isaac seems to have had a good first Easter. I'll post pictures with details from our day below. In a way, it was a bittersweet holiday without Justin. I took comfort in the fact that we were celebrating the same Savior across the miles. All in all, it was a good day.

I tried to use the timer on our camera to get a shot of Isaac and I together. This is the best I could get, as he was getting sleepy and spent most of the time diving for his thumb, which was behind my back. He's wearing the outfit Uncle Stan & Aunt Brittney gave him before he was born. I'm wearing a dress for which my mom got an amazing bargain -- what a shopper!

Isaac was very sleepy, hence the previously-mentioned thumb sucking. He went to sleep watching "Storytime With Daddy," a series of stories Justin read with Isaac before he left, as I finished getting ready. He is covered with the blanket Grandmother (Justin's mom) made him.

After church, we went to Rick & Diana's house (some friends from Sunday School) for Easter Lunch with their family and other friends. Rick has just gotten back from Iraq in the last month. He's holding Isaac in the picture below. Isaac took to him instantly, pulling on his nose, biting his finger, and otherwise letting him know he was an o.k. guy.

Isaac had just been presented with his first Easter basket. The Easter Bunny left it this morning, but Isaac didn't get it until this evening. He was too sleepy this morning, by the time we were ready for church, to pay any attention to the basket. The Easter Bunny left Isaac two cans of the melt-in-your-mouth cereal bits, one can of sweet-potato-flavored bits and the other corn-and-cheese-flavored bits. The Easter Bunny also left three eggs with some objects inside to help tell Isaac about Jesus's Crucifixion and Resurrection. The first egg contained a piece of our rose bush (thorns to represent the crown of thorns), the second egg a rock (to represent the tomb cover), and the third was empty, to symbolize Jesus rose again and is alive still today. It's never too early to begin teaching such important concepts.Isaac was puzzled by the empty egg. The other two eggs rattled and had something inside. Please ignore the huge strand of drool. This picture was just too cute.

Before anyone is alarmed, the Easter Bunny picked a very tender portion of our rose bush to include in the pink egg. Isaac listened intently as I read parts of the account of Jesus's crucifixion from Matthew. Thank you Rick & Diana for inviting us over. Thank you everyone for your prayers and concern. We truly are blessed!

Look Ma....No Hands!

This afternoon, when I went to Lynn's to get Isaac after school, we played in the floor for a little while. Isaac was getting very frustrated that his friend, Daniel, was crawling around. Isaac can't quite crawl yet. However, he did have a small victory today when he sat up on his own! Well, we helped him up, but he kept his balance.

Sitting up with just a little bit of help...

This is just a random picture of Isaac and I that I really liked. It was taken at Justin's parents' as we were passing through on our way to Tennessee for my Ninnie's funeral in February.

Photo Overload

My apologies...until I figure out how to get Picasa (the program Justin used to create online photo albums) on my computer, I'm going to have to imbed pictures in blog posts. This will be a rather lengthy post, as Justin just sent loads of pictures. I LOVE seeing what's going on where he is. I'll do my best to explain pictures, given the captions he sent to me for each picture. The pictures are not listed in any particular order.

These pictures were taken during a sandstorm. The color on the pictures is correct. The dingy air prevents a lot of necessary activity from happening!

This is a picture of a "C-hut...," what I'm guessing is the sleeping quarters at some of the outlying areas.Good Times -- Below are some pictures of the guys doing recreational things.

Justin with some of the guys from Diablo (D) company. For those of you learning military lingo (as I'm still doing), Justin's battalion (1-12 Cav) is broken into 7 companies: A, B, C, D, E (Easy), E (Echo), and HHC, the company to which Justin is attached. Justin is responsible for ministering to all companies in his battalion. There may be an F company, but I don't remember.

Ping-Pong with guys from Diablo
Basketball in the alley
SGT Ross on defense...Go Ross!
D Company playing soccer with Iraqi interpreters


Vehicles -- Below, SGT Ross (I think) is inspecting one of the vehicles Justin travels in, an MRAP (don't ask what that stands for).


Some of the guys riding in an MRAP -- Justin is at the far left, closest to the camera. The color is off on this picture, as I had to manually adjust the exposure to be able to tell a little more about the picture.

Justin and some of the other guys from 1-12 are getting ready to cross the river. Justin and SGT Ross are front & center. I just LOVE this picture of Justin in full "battle rattle," as Jess (or probably Will) has dubbed it.

I hope I haven't completely overwhelmed you with pictures. I will keep them coming as I receive them and am authorized to post them!