A Man in Uniform - Hot cha cha

Yep, I am a sucker for a man in uniform - especially when he's mine!


I had a lovely weekend in SC visiting Chris before he leaves the states on Saturday, July 5th. I also spent a few nights with my little brother, Dig, and his girfriend, Sumie, and her three kids, Mika, Kenji, and Emily. Great fun and what sweethearts - the whole lot of them!

And when I got home, I found out that my Dad had stacked all the wood!

DH'S FIRST POST

Hello everyone. This is my first post. Not much to say; just that our training here at Fort Jackson is almost complete and I have qualified on my M-16, so I can officially go forward with my deployment. We will finish up our Army training on Tuesday and use Wednesday for some administrative stuff. We're not sure what we'll be doing Thursday and Friday(hopefully some time off), then hop a plane to Kuwait for more training Saturday Night. But, the big news is for this week-end. My beautiful wife is flying down to visit. I'm really looking forward to seeing Carol tomorrow night for dinner and then spending more time with her on Saturday and Sunday. Below is a video of me shooting a .50 caliber machine gun(it was lots of fun). Enjoy.

Pronouncing Beijing

A long, long time ago I had my learning experience in correctly pronouncing the verbs "to eat" vs. "to be" in Mandarin.

Check out this entertaining and informative video on how to correctly pronouce Beijing.

First fruits of summer and DH's carbs

Delicious were these golden cherry tomatoes!
Not quite so delicious is the food Chris is eating on post.


Navy chili mac is apparently tastier than Army chili mac (pictured left). Can you say "carbs" along with me?






Something tells me those ribs were A-OK. But why so many forks? Must be some hungry men.

Full Battle Rattle

Here he is, in all his glory, otherwise know as "full battle rattle" comprised of:

• M-16


• 60 pounds of body armor


• Kevlar helmet (complete with crooked chinstrap and goggles)


• Elbow pads


• Knee pads


• Camelbak for hydration

Two years and waiting

Today marks two years that our application (a.k.a. dossier) to adopt from China was received in China. When we started the process, the wait for being matched with a child was a year, with rumor that it may go to 14 months. Oh, how terrible, I thought. Currently the wait is two years and 5 months, and all signs point to the wait increasing. My guesstimate is that we have another 15-24 months wait ahead of us.

Today, I am trying to reflect on my feelings about the wait... but I find that I can't, or is it "won't", reflect all that deeply right now; certainly not in the office while I write this post.

I incessantly keep track of the rumors and watch the progress (albeit slow) being made. Each month another batch of prospective adoptive parents are matched with children. Six to eight weeks later they travel to China to get their child. How truly wonderful for them. One day it will be our turn.

I miss my DH who is off in training to deploy to Afghanistan. I could use a big hug from him right now.

Alright, I've done it. I've shed a tear or two.

Mowed grass. First time. Ever.

Friday night I mowed the grass for the first time ever in my life. Actually, I do recall mowing a few strips of grass when I was about 14, but my Dad took the mower away from me because I mowed too crooked for his liking (Happy Father's Day, Dad). DH had told me what I needed to know, and I turned down the suggestion to mow the grass once myself. Lying around and eating bon-bons overrode that smart suggestion.

OK, so it went like this:

It didn't take too, too long to find the primer button and then off I went.

Several minutes later it died out on me. I called the George Technical Support Line (thanks little brother) and learned all about mulching mowers, checking the height of the blade, going slow, mowing half strips, not flooding it, etc. Mind you I already knew some of this... in theory.

Off I go mowing again, and it dies again. At this time the Lordos Technical Support Team shows up - in person - including the ever helpful 2 year old, CJ, who informs us "It's not working." Hands-on help and a few more tips and the mower and I are off and running... for a second or two.

One last valuable lesson I learned on my own and that is this: Check to make sure there is gas in the mower.

Kids, get out your Crayola crayons and color my face Radical Red at the end of my first time mowing. Yes, it's in the box of fluorescent crayons.

Frosty Father's Day!

Buy a Frosty this Father's Day weekend, June 14-15, and 50 cents will go to the

Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption!

You could be giving a child the gift of a family.Rockin' Frosty! (Warning: Music ensues!)

Adoption Status Update

Rumors are that this past month (May) the China Center of Adoption Affairs matched babies with families whose applications were received up to and including January 20, 2006.

Gone. Wah.

I dropped my DH off at the airport this morning. For those of you who know what a tough a$$ I am (as opposed to a delicate flower), I will tell you his deployment started to sink in yesterday. I found myself prey to several cries and at least one temper tantrum. Alas, I will see him again in a few weeks when I go to SC for a weekend visit.

Got wood?

Hot stuff! Thanks to DH and his splitting, I'm set for winter! Wait - I've got to stack all this!!