Congrats Cousin!

One of my two favorite cousins (her brother is the other one) is graduating from high school this weekend!  I am so excited to fly out at 5:00 am tomorrow (not the 5:00 am part) to be with her and the family for a week.

Rachel and I at her Christmas Story production. 

We love chocolate pudding.  It's a given when we are together.

Easter 2010 with Todd the Easter Bunny at the O' Club.

Thanksgiving 2011 - Bacon wrapped turkey!

Rachel is an amazing girl and I am so thankful for her friendship.  I wish her luck as she em-barques on the next chapter in her life - college! She is such a sweet hearted, caring, and sincere person that loves the Lord; you can't help but enjoy life when you are around her.

Love you, Rachel!

Thankful

Paul's unit has a secure website that features news, video updates, and pictures.  I was looking through some of them today and noticed this picture.  

This is of Paul's Regimental Colonel. 

 I am so thankful that God has brought us under the authority of a praying man!  You may think, "Sara, this guy is just praying over his food." However, I see it as him still making time for God and being thankful even in the little things.  He is in a leadership role over the entire 6th Marine Regiment and that job comes with lots of stress and decisions to be made.  This man has a lot of weight on his shoulders.  It was such an encouragement to me to see this photograph that I had to share.  

To give you perspective on his duties, check out this link: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Marine_Regiment_%28United_States%29

Go Home!!

I had just finished mailing off a care package to Paul at the downtown post office.  I was sitting in my car at the exit of the post office parking lot with my windows rolled down.  It was a gorgeous day and I was in a great mood. I see a lady walking towards my car when I hear her her yell:

"Gooo Home!!!"

{insert ugly mean face}

Really?  

Just because I have a VA license plate you are going to yell at me to "Go Home"?

I could see if I was driving like a maniac you would assume I am a terrible VA driver (and I would agree with you that VA drivers are scary). 

However, my car was stopped.

Start of rant:

I must assume that this lady is sick of people "polluting" her beloved ND.  There are many people here like that and I even hear their moaning at work.  They are tired of all the "outsiders" coming and turning ND into a place where they can't leave their car running while they run into the store or leave their homes unlocked. 

What they don't see is how well their state is economically.  Houses sell here in less than a week and most of the time over the asking price.  I have never seen so many restaurants and always packed too! People eat out here multiple times a week because they can afford it.  Shopping is a favorite thing to do here as well. New cars, new jewelry, new boats - you can see it everywhere! And if they don't have it here, then drive to Minneapolis to Mall of America to get it. 

This state has "outsiders" to be thankful for because they are bringing money to the state.  Granted it is ND oil they are coming for, but these people are helping build a strong economy.  If no one came to ND to explore and capture the oil, then North Dakotans would not be "living so high on the hog".  Honestly, their opinion of the state of our country is so skewed because of the riches they are experiencing right now.

End of rant

So before you decide to yell at some stranger through their open car window because they have "outsider" plates (I highly discourage this as it is very offensive); please think about that person.  You have no idea why they are even here!  I wish I had the nerve to yell back "I'm here because my husband is fighting for your freedom to yell at me" or "I would rather be at "home" with my husband, but he is in Afghanistan". 

Instead, I drove off shaking my head saying "Just another day in North Dakota..."

One Third!

News:
So this week marks the one-third mark of Paul's deployment!

Yippee!!

Reflection:
It has progressed quite quickly for 4 months.  I know that God has given me strength and has kept my mind off of the time apart by staying busy with school and work.  He has brought individuals into my life that are such an encouragement and are uplifting.  I am so thankful for them, even though most of them live many states away.

There is of course the ones that don't understand whatsoever and you just feel like slapping them for whining about their spouse being at work for too long or gone for one day, but then I slowly put my hand back down but then you just laugh it off.  ;)  The other one is the pity pat - I hate that!  For your information, pity patting someone does not make the person feel better.  I know you are trying, but it isn't working.  I am not a basket case, nor have I been that way this entire deployment, so I don't know why people automatically assume deployed spouses are unstable and need to be dealt with gently.

Even though Paul and I don't communicate as much as we thought we would, we still have maintained open communication.  I am just so thankful for email and satellite phones!  I can't even imagine the couples in WWII and before trying to stay close during censored mail that was a month or more delayed.  I look up to these people so much! 

As of now, Paul and I are looking forward to RR (rest and relaxation) for two weeks sometime in the future.  We don't have dates yet but we are looking into destinations.  Paul gets flown anywhere in the world so I think we will take advantage of a free airline ticket to somewhere exotic.  He deserves it. :)

Week in Pictures

Easter Outfits

I came home to this!

Inside...

Hugs and Kisses from my hubby!

Lucy loves popcorn and sometimes it gets caught in her fur. :)

Before: I attempted to sew a "play outfit" for Lucy so she wouldn't bring so much dead grass inside with her.

 

After

She loves it (and looks so dumb)!

"Stop taking pictures and throw the ball already!"

Honesty

A few weeks ago I was back in Idaho for my sisters wedding.  While there, I was able to spend a little time with my very cute nephews.  

The oldest one says the funniest things and has quite the imagination.  I am excited to see what he grows up to be as he is quite the talented young boy. 

Anyways, we were making funny faces for the camera.  

After taking the picture he asked to see it (don't you love digital cameras?).  

His remark: "Aunt Sara looks like an Angry Bird!". 

It must be the eyebrows.

Honesty. Got to love it. 

GoodReads

I have been reading a lot lately and absolutely LOVE it! Oh how I have missed reading for fun due to the hectic school schedule. Although I am finishing up my Masters, I have found the time to read and have no regrets about late night "quiet time".

I wanted to share a website my friend shared with me.  It is called GoodReads and is amazing!  You can rate books you have read and it will generate recommendations based on your critique. There is also a section where you can give your honest opinion of the book and justify your rating.  For example, I really enjoyed Tim Tebow's "Through My Eyes", however, I am not a huge football fan so I noted there were some sections that were "dry" to me.  That is nothing against Mr. Tebows book, because obviously it was written by a football player.  What did I expect?  I therefore kept my rating 5/5 because it was inspirational.

If I still haven't convinced you of the benefits of GoodReads,  I hope the single fact that it serves as a way to catalog what you have read this year will justify it's worthiness.

Happy Reading!