Our Family

We've been back at Fort Lewis for a week now, and I must say, it's been a bit strange to be here and not be able to go "home", and instead be staying in a hotel. But it doesn't feel as strange as I thought it would. It was sort of a depressing drive from Idaho Falls to Fort Lewis, because once again, we had to say goodbye to some of the dearest people in our lives. We had just done this two weeks earlier in California, so it was a lot of goodbyes very close together. But as always, I am excited for the times we will get to see our loved ones again, and that helps me through the goodbyes. And I am excited for the near future as well! We have just a short time left here at Fort Lewis, and then we will get on a plane, spend about 12 hours aboard, and get off in Korea!

Every time we face a big change in our lives or have to say goodbye to our loved ones for a time, I have to face a personal struggle that is caused by the awareness of the passage of time. For some reason, this is one of my biggest challenges. It is one of the few things that has the potential to make me really teary for awhile. I guess there is something about knowing that years, months, weeks, days, and moments are constantly passing and we can never relive those moments once they pass. It's really not a bad thing. It's actually wonderful to see kids growing. It's great that as our parents grow older, their lives can be enriched by new little ones in the form of grandchildren, and that we all grow wiser as we grow older, and get to have new experiences. But thoughts of the passing time come with both happy and sad feelings, and the struggle for me is which feelings will be stronger. I always want the happy ones to come out on top, of course. :) So like I said, this is a challenge, but I do believe I am getting closer to mastering it. It's not that the sad feelings are going away. It's just my perspective of them changes little by little, and I'm getting better at feeling both the sadness and happiness at the same time, and being okay with that. And that is a good feeling.

Here are some pictures that remind me of one my favorite activities we did as a family in the few months we were living in our house after Mike returned from Iraq. We would put the kids in the stroller and go for a jog together. We didn't do this as often as we should have :), but enough to make some great memories. We would just jog near our neighborhood, and whenever we got back to the house, Avary wanted to play soccer in the backyard. It was so fun to kick the ball around with her. It's nice that she's young enough that it doesn't matter that we are not athletically gifted.:) Sam would sit on the grass and explore the yard a little bit. Sometimes he would get in on the soccer action too. We usually ended up wet, and a little muddy, but it was worth it.



This is on the trail near our house. The tree broke in a windstorm, so they were able to stand on one side of the trunk like that.