Celebrating Uncle John

Thanks to Claire's suggestion, I made Uncle John a t-shirt tonight.  We are celebrating his wonderful outcome.  Now to get him to wear it tomorrow at Piedmont Hospital.

Deployment Projects

So with David gone, I've been trying to do some projects around the house to keep busy. It's been pretty fun. When I was recovering from pneumonia, I started making this blanket. It took a LONG time, but I actually finished it! Turns out it looks almost identical to one Mom made back when she was near my age. Crazy?

I also found some cute paintings at Home Goods, but they were expensive, so I snapped a picture and recreated them. I'm not a great painter, but I really enjoy having things around that I made, even if the idea was borrowed from someone else.

A little more recently I finally decided to make some new pillows. I've never liked the pillows that came with my couches. In addition to being giant, identical, and slightly too well-matched to the sofas, the fabric reminded me of The Jetsons. So I made some new ones, and I love the way they turned out.

I spent a long time wandering around the fabric store, before I could find something that seemed right. Then I stumbled on the discontinued designer fabric samples. I found these two perfect patterns that went together nicely, were super cheap, and I didn't even have to cut! Cutting has always been my least favorite part of sewing.

I'm slowly making little improvements to our apartment that make it feel more like ours. I've found it's really hard to make purchases for the house--like curtains that we still dont have--without David's input.  and vote of confidence. Luckily these craftier projects are actually easier with the whole place to myself. It's nice to let fabrics and the sewing machine and paints take over for a few days without getting in anyone's way. Hope y'all like my little projects.

Happy Birthday Katie!

I thought this would be a good venue to wish Katie a very happy birthday and share some of the pictures that show why we love her so much!

Katie, I will always be envious of your mad spoon-balancing skills, but it's other gifts that I most hope to be able to learn from you. I am so glad to have you as a sister. I can't believe my very own big seester is now a rockstar mom of TWO precious boys, just don't pull any of the tricks on them that you used to use on me. I don't know about William's temperament yet, but I think my pal Benjamin would probably be as traumatized as I was if you told him he was going blind because he couldn't see the colors in the bathtub bubbles. Thank you for gracing your whole family with another year of your thoughtful heart and happy spirit. I hope this next year is one full of joy and adventure. Let the birthday extravaganza continue!

No More Hong Kong

A small comment in a meeting on Wednesday led to a curious phone call that ended up giving much more information than we were seeking. The key director of recruitment and enrollment at SCAD Hong Kong put in her immediate resignation on Wednesday due to some family matters. She had only been working with SCAD for a few months, but she had to give 4 months notice at her previous job, so the plans for what she was going to do had been in motion for a long time. I met her when she visited Savannah during training, and she is incredibly sharp. However, she was also the key to the momentum that inspired my trip. Without the leadership in place, sending me over doesn't make much sense anymore, so at four o'clock today I got the call that the trip is off. I--or someone else--may go later in the year, but not soon. Crazy, no?

So now what? I had every hour between now and Monday carefully planned to allow time to get through my mountain of tasks and preparations. Now I don't really know what to do with myself!

As my good friend Christy Miller taught me (Katie and Melissa will understand): God is weird and we are tweaked. I feel like this whole experience has been a really sweet gesture from God. I really needed something to propel me and keep my mind off of these long months away from David, which has been accomplished. I needed to know that I was capable of doing all the things that come along with international travel alone--packing, planning, booking a trip, calling credit card companies, etc. I've now seen that I can manage it. On the other hand, over the last week or two it's become increasingly apparent how unorganized this trip was going to be. The travel arrangements were in place, but my day-to-day experience of being in Hong Kong was still, and would remain, a mystery until I was living it. Needless to say, I was struggling with not being able to control the entire situation. Now it seems so clear that this was God's plan all along. The trip has served its purpose for me, and it didn't matter that so many details were scattered. I'm certainly disappointed that I don't get to go. I love to travel, and it's been a long time since I've made a big trip, so I was thrilled to have this opportunity. But to be honest, my relief outweighs my disappointment.

It's been a particularly difficult few days. Whenever someone is killed near David, the Internet goes offline there to keep the information from leaking, so I am painfully aware when the fighting is bad. The last few days have been like that, and I expect that to be much more common now that it's spring--the peak fighting season. David and I have been blessed to have a fairly cushy deployment experience, as far as these things go, but it has been infinitely more difficult than I could have imagined. I think we will look back on it as a deeply rewarding experience, but the continued prayers and support will be greatly appreciated!

I just wanted to share the news that my trip is cancelled, and give a little update. It's been too long since there have been posts to this blog! I got a special request from David for more pictures of the kiddos. He misses everyone, and he has said many times how much he wishes he could have been around last weekend to extend his congratulations to everyone and meet those boys (and play with Vale).

Dali!

It's "M" week at Vale's school. Ms. Stacey gave them mustaches yesterday. Vale is channeling her inner Salvador Dali.

Bunco Cheese Board

Thought you might like to see these pictures from my "Bunco" style cheese board.  They are not great but it gives you an idea.  It was fun that John and I worked together as a team on this project.  The girls really enjoyed it.  Melissa, thanks for the idea.  Pinterest, thanks for the pictures!

I spoke too soon

You know how I said 1000 times one or twice over Christmas that the last thing I needed was a dog?

Look who showed up on our porch this morning - hungry, tired, scared, and as cute as can be.  We've named him Ernest. As in Ernest Hemmingway.

Thankfully, we have sweet neighbors who loaned us a collar, leads, and a crate for the night.  And, one of my friends wants him and is okay with giving him back if his owners show up.

He's the sweetest dog we've ever met - he loves, and I mean, loves, Vale and let her hold him pretty much all day without trying to get away from her.  We wish we could keep him, but we know it's a truly bad idea.  Giving him up tomorrow, however, will not be fun.