Zion's critters

Zion decided that if he earned the trust of the critters,

then they would know where to come for food in the winter.

Despite the fact that critters have made it through the winter for thousands of years...
it is still cute!  

Originally, he was discouraged because the food would be gone, but we never saw anything eating it.

Three days later - we get a peek of this little guy having an apple snack on the lawn mower......

Mia was pretty interested too...

Now, he is a brave little buddy - just sitting on the porch like he owns the place.

and we are talking about guns again.....

I just don't know, really, what is the answer....

but here are the things I do know.

1)  I grew up around guns

2) I knew there was one on the top of my parents wardrobe

3)  I knew not to touch it

4)  I never did

5) I never even tried to

6)  they were used for hunting, but they were also there for protection if needed.  No one ever broke into our house and my dad never went on a "man hunt" looking for criminals - but I remember two specific things about my childhood clearly.

* one time there was an escaped convict labeled as "armed and dangerous" and my dad got his gun ready.   I felt safe and secure.  I felt confident that my dad would protect his family.

* another time, when I was older - I was cold in the middle of the night.  We had a linen closet in the hall and I got up to get an extra blanket.  Also in the linen closet, (for some reason) was a can of furniture polish.  When I pulled out the blanket, the furniture polish hit the floor and my dad was out of his room in what seemed like 2 seconds.  He was ready to protect his family again.

and lastly,

7)  NO ONE for my 19 years living at home EVER stole a gun and killed anyone.
     NO ONE ever accidentally shot a sibling playing with guns.
     NO ONE ever shot anyone at school
     There were NO issues with guns

The flags at my kids schools have been at half-staff more time than I can count from gun related violence.  Are my kids growing up in a different "America" than I grew up in?

I guess they are..... so the question for me is:
What happened to the America I grew up in, and can we get it back?

I found this blog interesting....   READ HERE

Many, many prayers for those affected this week by the violence at the Navy Yard.

9 -11 memories

Just as my grandmother can remember details of WWII,

and my mother knows where she was when Kennedy was shot....

I will never forget the moments of the morning of September 11th, 2001.

We were stationed in Port Hueneme, and Zion was just a few days past one month old.

Mike was getting ready for work and, in mother of a newborn fashion, I stumbled to the recliner
and methodically clicked on the TV.

There was only speculation then, as live images of smoke from the first plane crash was being shown.

And then the second plane -

and then although hours pasts in front of the TV,

it seems like slow motion as your heart catches
up with what your brain has already accepted.

Being near the DC area this year brings me closer to those emotions of 12 years ago.

We have past memorial "chunks" of cement in several different places, including the hospital where Michael had his surgery last month.  

The hospital is overwhelmingly huge, and yet, with a background
as a nurse, I can imagine the halls crowded with dusty people and the panic as medical personnel worked for hours in what I call, "auto-pilot".  

It's a state where your training takes over your emotions,
and you just do what you need to do.  
But the emotions do come, later.

The planning for the museum and memorial have been years in the making.
And there is even a series about it on the History Channel.

You can view some clips HERE and HERE.



I want to go to the museum, and then, I don't.


Visiting the Civil Rights Museum this summer in Montgomery has had me in a constant state of wondering all summer.   It has disturbed me,
stirred me,
provoked me,
caused deep emotion inside of me.







But ultimately, confronting hard things, processing them, letting go of bitterness will create in us something better.

Flag flown over the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, HI

First day of school - 2013

When the boys were little -

(as in here....)

I started taking pictures of them holding up their fingers for the grade they were going into.

This is my last year - since Michael will be a jr. next year, 

and well, of course, he doesn't have 11 fingers.

so after BEGGING HIM - he did it.  

 first day of 8th grade

first day of 6th grade - and last year of elementary school

And here is another thing -  my blog is public, and my kids are on here.

I started blogging in Guam, and it's small - and you eventually pretty much meet everyone on base anyway.   So the couple of random times that a stranger said, "OH MY GOSH!  I READ YOUR BLOG!"   it was kinda strange, but didn't really freak me out.

Now that we are in a big public place - I'm going to say this only once - cause I ain't playin' -

If you have stumbled across my blog and you don't know me - stay away from kids.

I am a normal person unless you mess with my babies - and then I turn 7 kinds of crazy.

Seriously.....