I look at the calendar and see November 17, 2016. I check back to my WordPress account and see my last post was written on October 14. So much has happened in the short expanse of time and nothing has gone to print.

I reside in the middle of nowhere. Like, nowhere is there high speed internet. The best I can do is a Verizon Mi-Fi with the closest tower five miles away as the crow flies. I’ve mentioned this frustration numerous times in the past. Thank the good Lord my daughters are within 3.5 and 11 miles and afford me the opportunity to use their internet to download mail and to post blogs. Still, I hate having to leave my home writing venue to do this.

11/11/2016

Earlier today while my wife was at the Lions Hall making the cream for the Mac & Cheese to be a part of the Lions Beef dinner this weekend I started to do some online things. Just checking my email was a lost cause. It was Soooo slow that I packed up everything and headed to the 3.5 mile internet connection. Thank you Kathryn, Jeff and  Abby.  Libby (100 lbs. of Yellow Lab) has been well taken care of this afternoon.

Eighty seven emails were taken care, Blog follows were read and comments made where
pertinent. Now it’s time to review my journal and bring family and friends up to date on what’s been happening in the world of the Rooster.

Working backward today is Veterans Day. Congratulations to all who serve and did serve.

What Americans Don’t Understand About Their Own Military

http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2015/05/what-americans-dont-understand-about-their-own-military/112042/

11/10/2016

Yesterday was the 141st Birthday of the Marine Corps

http://www.military.com/marine-corps-birthday

A Family is separated

Last week my granddaughters husband was deployed to the sand. He and she are both Air Force Captains and graduates of the USAFA.

I’m including a couple of blogs my granddaughter posted, should give you some insight into their lives. Thanks for your service kids.

Today, for about the 100th time, I was asked by a senior leader “How do you do it all ?” What he was referencing was me being active duty, Z being active duty and currently deployed, having 3 young kids, and being pregnant with our 4th. I laughed it off and he pushed, he wanted an answer, as did the 3 other senior leaders I was standing with. I told them we just do it (thank you Nike). It’s what we’ve always known and we don’t have a choice. We have to be great at our jobs both as parents, a couple, and officers in the military. That didn’t seem to pacify them. Here were three men, each having a minimum of 15 years in the military, wanting to know the secret recipe to having a successful family and career.

So here’s the secret recipe that I gave and it can be applied to everything in life.

1. We know that God has a plan and as long as we do our best it will come to pass. He also doesn’t give us anything we can’t handle.

2. We love deeply. We love ourselves, each other, our kids, our lives. Important note: Love and like are not the same thing 

3. We accept everything we are given graciously even if it’s not what we had in mind. This is not always easy and at times, well most times, it takes a while to get the graciously part.

4. We will never sacrifice our family. “BUT Z is missing the birth of your child” they said. True, but Z has to deploy at sometime, he’s going to miss stuff. He also has to deploy to upgrade and to move bases. If he turned down this deployment that timeline would have been delayed and there is a high chance we would be stationed apart in the future because he couldn’t move with us. A small sacrifice to avoid a larger one. We also have done a lot to still incorporate Z intot he family even though he’s not physically with us.

5. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy and we don’t dwell on the hard. Are we in a constant state of survival mode? Some days yes. But what you see as survival mode is our normal.

So when I saw this quote I thought, I am the storm. I dictate how my family will live. I can control what I can and everything else doesn’t matter. So be a storm in life. That doesn’t mean be destructive without regard for others. Take control of your life and live.

-S

A and D have no idea what’s going on. A will notice in about a week that Daddy is gone (pray for me once that happens).

So what’s changed? I now keep my phone volume turned up at night or really any time I’m not at work. My home is also not as picked up as usual.

Here’s to a successful week 2.

-S

So now I feel better having gotten something on paper, so to speak. I close this post out and hopefully will get to something else I wish to share in the next 24 hours. As for right now, I’m off to Jersey Mikes for subs and then Walmart for batteries to light the Christmas candles herself is going to be putting in the window. And yes, I said Christmas Candles. We happen to put Christ in Christmas and if it offends you go read someone else’s blog.