My Favorite Veteran

I woke up this morning thinking of Pop. My Grandpa was a WWII veteran. He flew as a Bombardier in a B-17 named Lightening Strikes. On his eighth mission, his plane was shot down over the Baltic Sea. He was the only survivor of his crew of 10.

"Thousands of thoughts rushed through my mind as I hunt onto my parachute for what seemed like half an hour, though it was likely less. When the wind occasionally subsided, the lower part of the canopy came down into the water, and the waves threatened to collapse it. Was the wind taking me closer to land or more into open seas? Why was I all alone? Where was my crew? What had really happened to our plane, the pilots, the co-pilot, navigator and others? What else might I have done to help them? Just one of them! Any of them.

Fervent prayers for rescue filled my heart. I called upon my Father in Heaven at first quietly, then sometimes my words burst aloud. Soon the top of a ship's smokestack came into view. As it became taller I recognized a big, black swastika on the stack."

My favorite picture. Isn't he handsome?

He was rescued by the Germans and managed to retrieve his escape kit, which included French paper money, a large map (of Holland, Belgium, Germany and France) on a silk scarf, a compass, a hacksaw blade, and water purification tablets. He obtained a needle and thread and hid them behind zippers and the lining of his clothing.

He was loaded onto a train and managed to escape by breaking a window and jumping out of the train. He was recaptured and sent to a permanent POW camp for prisoners of the air war called Stalag Luft III. Pop had received special training for a highly secret unit responsible to oversee escape and evasion efforts of the US known as MIS-X. This training included the manufacturing and delivery of escape aids hidden in parcels, which were specially marked for MIS-X detection, letter codes (cryptography) to set up a system to send and retrieve messages. Pop wasted no time and soon commenced helping to dig tunnels with his "roommates" to attempt escape. Although this attempt failed, he successfully received "hot packages" of compasses hidden in cigarette packs, pieces of maps in between decks of cards, etc. Pop wrote several coded letters to his parents and his girlfriend (Grandma). Their camp was finally liberated by General Patton on April 30, 1945.

Pop and Grandma on their wedding day

Peter, Andy, Amy, Jon, Grandma & Pop at WWII Memorial 2004

"I'll never forget that day when the first tank made it onto the compound, it was swarmed over by the happy POWs. We were free at last...I think about all those who lost their lives...in the battles...in the concentration camps...in the Stalags...in the civilians in the cities ...and that tremendous, horrible number of deaths. I think about what it took to win the war, for our freedoms to survive, and how close we came to Hitler's Nazi domination of the earth. I think of the delicate balance between tyranny and healthy democracy. And I think about our belief in a compassionate Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ and the roles they play in all of this.

Freedom is worth the sacrifice. And that's probably more important than anything else in this world."

Apples Don't Fall Far

I got to be a big sister a lot of times. I loved being a big sister and I loved helping my mom "mother" them. Babies were the best back then. I could hold them when they were happy, and give them back when they weren't. To me, babies were so cute, so soft, so sweet-smelling and just so munchable. They were almost a sensory overload for me. It's hard to explain, so allow me to illustrate:


Here we are Christmas morning. Left to right we have Andy, James, baby Tim, me and Jon. Now, notice that my hands are gently cupping the sides of Tim's head. Baby heads are sweet and small and perfectly round. Now...take a look at my face. I know I look possessed, and perhaps I was - possessed by the cuteness that is little babies! I would clench my teeth together and breath through my teeth.

Babies' arms and legs just had to be squeezed! I couldn't resist putting their heads between my hands and just holding their little pea-heads! And their little, soft, cool fingers. Well, they just HAD to be put into the sockets of my eye...they just belonged there. Don't ask me why because I don't know, but every family member can remember me doing this. I know it sounds CRAZY, but those babies were just physically irresistable to me. I had to hold, squeeze, kiss and munch them. It was like a force of nature that could not be stopped.

Now that I am a mother, I still kiss their soft little cheeks. I still bite my tongue or clench my teeth when the cuteness is overwhelming. But, I must say that I do not put my baby's fists in my eye. I know for a fact I've never done it in front of my kids.

*I found a picture of me doing it as a child. My mom, James and me.*

Imagine my surprise when snapping pictures of Yaks and Diddles the other day I witnessed this:



Fist in the eye.
Heaven help my babies!

Open House

We live in a small town. It's right next to a smaller town. Those small towns are surrounded by miles and miles of wheat fields. We're not near the beach, or historical monuments, or a major airport hub.

It's a great place, but we know that not many of you blog readers will be able to visit us up here, so I thought I would to take you on a tour of our house! Not to be braggy, but just so that you can see what our life is like here! I thought it would be fun. So, pretend you just pulled up to our driveway and walked up the steps to our house and you're haulin' your bags behind you, and Yaks is beckoning you to come in, and Boo is offering you a steaming cup of hot chocolate and Diddles is...crying. Can you see/feel/hear/smell it? Okay then. Come on in!
See? Yaks will take your bags and throw them here in the front closet! What a kid. He's so cute. We confiscated all of his shorts (because it's winter) except for this one pair. Guess what he wears EVERY day?


There are actually two entrances to our house. These stairs go down to the garage, which our whole house sits upon. It makes our house look really HUGE and borderline ostentatious. I promise it's not. It's just tall. Since we are renting this house ("borrowing it", as I tell the kids), we want to take special care of it, so no shoes allowed. That's why you see this dumping ground of SHOES here. We need some sort of shelving unit to keep our shoes organized. Suggestions?


This is the front room. It's an "open floor plan", which has some weird spaces. This is half of the room. Kindof our "front room". This is the other half. I'm not sure what it is supposed to be. Perhaps a dining room? We use it to play ball and to dance and to race back and forth. That sliding glass door leads to our backyard.Here is the backyard. It's got a nice, large deck that the kids can ride their bikes. There is a really steep hill that should make for some fun sledding in the winter. Over the hill is the soccer field for the Jr. High School, as well as a park!


Laundry Room, Bathroom

Our front room has this partial wall with a double-sided gas fireplace that you can see in this photo. I'm sure there is a name for that type of fireplace, but it's one of my favorite features of the house. It's cozy and warm, and can be enjoyed from TWO sides. I love it! Plus, Santa has a place to come down. The kids are excited about that one! On the other side is our Kitchen/Living Room.
Here's the Kitchen. I love it as well. Tons of cupboard space and lots of counters. It's bright and cheery and I love cooking in it. We almost tossed our large kitchen table in the move, but I'm so glad we kept it! It fills this space perfectly! We have a little computer station where we can Skype you when you aren't here. Sniffle.


On the other side of the kitchen table is this additional area that we turned into our Family Room. Our TV sits above the fireplace and we hide toys behind the couch.
These doors open to this little "breakfast deck", and this is the view out the front. It's overcast here a lot...and windy.
Up this large staircase (I'm sure to lose all my baby weight with all the stairs I have to climb every day) are the bedrooms. There are four on one floor, which is awesome. I wish more homes had four bedrooms on one floor.
Hallway.
Yaks' room. The owners have a girl and a boy, so they painted one room blue, and the other purple. PERFECT. Kids' bathroom

Boo's Room
This room functions as Diddles' room, an office, and a toy room! It also houses my "crash bed", which I put to good use when I have newborns and they are up all night long. It's just easier. Keepin' it real here, friends!
Here is a view of the toy closet/crawlspace. It works perfectly!

Master Bedroom. I'll sleep in here all night someday...


Master Bathroom with DOUBLE SINKS! Why would a couple need two sinks? I dunno. A shower, a toilet room and a walk-in closet. Boring. The coolest feature of this bathroom is THIS. A jetted tub! Josh filled the tub with a ton of bubbles and then turned on the jets for the kids' bathtime! It was as good as Christmas morning!

So, there you have it! A tour of our house! One should probably not conclude a tour with a bathroom. I'm not a professional, as you can tell by this tour and my photos.

Thanks for coming to visit today. Come again soon!

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween! Well, you can imagine that with our move, we didn't have as much time as usual to devote to the planning and coordinating our Halloween festivities. Josh has been busy at work learning the ropes of his new job, and the stress and busyness which that includes has kept him pretty occupied. Nana and Papa were wonderful in letting the kids choose a pumpkin from their garden before we left, which they delivered to us. They've been anxiously awaiting the carving party since then!



They also bought a costume for Diddles and cute Halloween t-shirts for Yaks and Boo. Thank you!

"Hi. I'm a pumpkin."

We did our best here in the costume department with what we had on hand, and what the kids wanted to be. It's honestly been the LAST thing on my mind - thank goodness they are young and don't care. Up until Halloween, we were all going to go as Pirates, but Boo revolted at the last minute and demanded to wear Yak's Captain Hook coat (which was actually meant for Josh). Mutiny! It was a bit of a dramatic mess, and Yaks (the tender heart) finally let her just have the coat.

So, here was our feeble attempt at Halloween this year:

This is Jolly Roger. Isn't he the cutest captain you've ever seen?


Gunpowder Gertie - Don't let that smile fool you. Her temper was pretty explosive.

One-Eye Wanda - Her diapers are pretty explosive. The other day Boo said, "Diddles, you do a great job pooping!" She does indeed. The partial crew - Boo had to be cameraman.
My whole costume came from my closet! Isn't that something?

"I don't wanna be a pirate!"

The End. I told you it was feeble.

Pay Day

Isn't it funny that when you feel that you can stand no more, something comes along to prop you up and keep you going? When you audibly beg your baby to give you more than five hours of sleep or you'll just shrivel and die, Diddles sleeps for seven hours. And on days when your older kids are fighting and bickering and need naps because the wind kept them up all night, your darling baby chooses to do this:
Be still my beating heart, look at those dimples! The best part about this pay day? Diddles smiles the widest for her sister, Boo. Now THAT is beautiful.