Tired Little Guy

This is what happens when Andrew now well over 2 1/2 years old doesn't take a nap for a couple of days and has been busy with his tiny little life. He's had a great time!! This afternoon, they were well taken care of at the base for awhile. I picked them up around 5:00. By the time we made the five minute drive home, Andrew was asleep. I got him out and had him walk to the steps from the garage into the house. This is as far as he got before falling back to sleep. Then, I took him in, washed his hands and he fell back asleep on our bedroom floor. He seemed to get some life back in him after a bath and dinner. It will still probably be an early bedtime for him.

One Tie to Japan

About 6 1/2 years ago, Chris said good-bye to me and our home in Indianapolis and headed south to Officer Training School (OTS) in Montgomery, Alabama for three months. It was an answer to prayer when one of the first people he met and was actually his roommate for a time was Ryan. I actually got to know his wife a bit through e-mail and we got to meet up a couple of times when we were in Alabama visiting our dear husbands. We've not kept in great touch with them over time, but we did get to visit with them one evening when we were passing through Charleston, South Carolina and Chris got to see him last summer at their present base in Japan. I think they had a great time and Ryan and his family took great care of Chris and his crew while they were in town - showing them the sights and helping them experience just a taste of Japan. They have three kids as well and are a loving, Christian family. All that to say, I would love to spend more time with them and I have the utmost respect for them.

So when the earthquake and tsunami hit just south of their current base, I thought of them and wondered how they were doing. I'm so thankful for modern technology allowing us to follow what's happening in Japan and in their lives. I think knowing that this dear family was there made the utter devastation in that country more real and impacting to me. I'm thankful that they are safe, but I'm also thankful for their example as they walk this path of life. I'm also thankful that God has used them to make this experience more real to me and not just something that happened "over there".

Chris and Ryan - Misawa Air Base July 2010

Sing-A-Long

There is nothing like a beautiful spring day - mid-70s sunny - driving through town with the windows down and of course the wind blowing through our hair and with all that, singing at the top of our lungs to our favorite songs - kids and parents included! Oh how fun!!! We have some favorite tunes that we like to sing to. Our most recent favorite is a new one out by VeggieTales called Hosanna. It takes some of today's more popular praise and worship songs (my favorite part) and uses vegetables and kids to sing them (my trio's favorite part) - the best of both worlds! Prior to that, we also enjoyed Absolute Modern Worship for Kids. Again, it's songs that I enjoy with kids singing them (in a voice range that's normal for adults!)

It warms my hearts to hear my kids sing-a-long to words that have meaning and pour out love to Jesus. I also think it's just a bit funny, yet heartwarming Hannah's most recent thoughts. She has asked me a few times as we're singing at the top of our lungs to open the windows so other people can hear our music because it is so nice. I'm so glad she is not hindered and wants to share that experience with others :)

So, if you ever hear vegetables, kids and one out-of-tune adult singing, it could very possibly be the Robey family enjoying a beautiful day!!

Some Harsh Thoughts...

...on the US media.

I have to admit that I do watch the news and it is often these days since it seems like things are happening all the time that greatly influence our world. However, I have to admit that I've made a couple of observations that really, really bother me.

First, it drives me crazy every year about this time when we go to daylight savings time. It never ceases to amaze me as to how many reporters say that we can now take advantage of the "extra hour of daylight". I really want to give them a news flash of their own and tell them that there is not an extra hour of daylight. The days are the same today as they were yesterday. We, humans, have just made the choice to change what hour the clock says it is to be.

The other media incident is much more serious. I like to know what is going on in the world, but sometimes I wonder what reporters are thinking. First, they go into well known, extremely dangerous, even war like situations and then get upset when one of them is hurt or comes up missing. I don't like to see people hurt, but it is hard for me to sympathize when they had the choice to be there and the nationals did not. Second, it seems like reporters use up limited resources that a country has to offer. For example, I recently saw a news story where reporters were on board a plane full of Libyans escaping the horrors there. What bothered me was the fact the the reporters were on board! That space could have easily been used to help a couple of other refugees escape the hardships there. Another example of using up precious resources was this week in Japan. A news crew had to travel nearly half the lengthwise distance of Japan for some unknown reason. I just felt like that was absurd knowing how precious gasoline is to those people right now in the middle of winter. They don't have much of anything right now and here is some news reporter driving across the country using one of their precious resources that they need to survive the remainder of the winter.

Well, thank you for "listening" to my soapbox.... I guess I am as much to blame since I still watch the news. It just bothers me as to the lengths they go to cover the stories.

Planned Spontaneity

When Chris and I were dating, I coined this phrase - planned spontaneity. There is no question as to who the planner is. It's me and Chris could operate much of the time on spontaneity. I love to know who, what, when and where and the earlier I know this the better. However, God has been working on this in my life. We really don't know what tomorrow will hold.

Being an Air Force wife has played a big part in making me more spontaneous. Just when I think I know what things are going to look like, things change. There have been numerous times when I thought I knew what things were going to look like when Chris comes home with a new trip he has to take changing everything. God has a reason for this and even tells us not to worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34), but I must admit that my heart drops just a bit when I realize things are not going to go "my way" this time around.

Well, when 2011 arrived a few months ago, I knew this year would be a year of change, but we had no idea what that might look like. It's pretty for sure that Luke will start kindergarten so that will be a change. However, we didn't know if or when the Air Force would decide we needed to move. So, just a couple of weeks ago, we did find out that we would indeed be moving about 5 hours from where we currently reside. It's a move that God has really worked on my heart about and I feel a peace and even a bit of excitement about this next station. Chris & I began to make tentative plans as to when we would go look at houses and I had thoughts about what the kids could do and not do this summer. All it takes, though, is one phone call for all those plans, no matter how sketchy, to be shattered. That was what happened this morning. Oh, we're still moving, but we will probably take a 6-8 side trip while Chris does some additional schooling. I'm doing fine with the changes, but I must remember that even these can change. It's not easy continually changing, but I am so very thankful that God has worked out the details every other time we've moved (twice with 1 month olds) and He will do the same this time around!!

Momentary Morning Drama

Friday morning began like most mornings, but ended up having a very random event that made me so thankful for safety!!

We have a bi-fold full length mirror on our closet door. The kids have been so rough with it over the 2 1/2 years that we've lived here and we've never had a problem with it - until Friday morning! Hannah barely touched the door and the thing fell off!! Hannah's initial reaction was tears followed by a very quick and tearful, "I'm so sorry Mommy!!". I quickly assured her that it was not her fault, but she was scared and who could blame her?! Then, I took an assessment of the situation and realized how much I had to be thankful. The door had missed Hannah. The door had missed Andrew. The door had missed our vanity. The door barely hit my leg in the fall. God was protecting us. All of those things were in about a 4 foot radius of each other and everything was missed! When I moved the door, I realized how heavy it was (metal, mirrored door = heavy) and if it would have hit one of the kids, we would have probably been in the hospital. If it would have hit the vanity, it would have probably shattered everywhere. Instead, we just ended up with one crack across the width of one of the panels.

So, I think we'll probably say good-bye to this door. When I told Chris, he just said, "I never liked that door anyway." I can't say I was fond of it either. For the time being, there is no door and who knows, I might just like it that way....

You can see our closet there on the left and it fell through that narrow 4 ft gap - missing everything. So very thankful to God for protecting us!

The cracked door. It hit the metal strip that it slid in resulting in the crack.

Name That Garden

I promised the kids a few weeks ago that we would indeed go to the garden show this year. I took them last year and they loved it. And why wouldn't they - Hannah enjoys the flowers and Luke enjoys all the mowers/backhoes/gator displays. So despite the fact that the weekend was crazy busy, we headed down there before I spent the weekend with other ladies. We did indeed have a good time. This year's theme was movies so many of the nurseries in town put together gardens depicting famous movies. The kids had no idea what the movies were, but they particularly enjoyed the "dinosaur" garden so we made sure that we went through that one twice. However, the best moment of the entire day for Luke was when we visited a John Deere dealer. We asked for pamphlets (Luke has spent literally hours pouring over these as we've traveled the USA). I told the guy he was an avid fan of John Deere. He told us to wait and minute, dug around in some bags and presented Luke with a genuine John Deere license plate. Luke was beside himself and made sure it got hung in just the perfect spot when we got home. It was a fun time and we'll miss attending next year's gardens.

OK, so this isn't from a movie, but we are both looking at the camera!

Any guesses on the movies these represent? Answers at the bottom.

A

B

C

D

E

F

answers: A. Lord of the Rings B. Up C. Karate Kid D. The Secret Garden E. Jurassic Park F. Avatar

The Gift

I was given a gift this weekend. It is one for which I'm extremely grateful. I've been given gifts and I think of them and I'm humbled by the giving, unselfish hearts God has placed in my life. This weekend's gift made me remember a similar gift that I was a given a few years ago. I needed to drive about 10 hours by myself with Luke and Hannah. A friend offered to ride about half way with me and then she was going to fly home. I was so grateful for her company, help and time. I still remember that time with fondness. This weekend was along the same lines.

A few weeks ago, they began signing up for our church's women's retreat. I decided I wouldn't go since Chris was busy and I was fine with that. However, I did have a fleeting thought that if someone called out of the blue to watch the kids, I would consider going. Well, you guessed it - God more than answered those prayers. A week or so later, I received a phone call from out of the blue from someone that was willing to watch my trio for the entire women's retreat. I was floored!! (I shouldn't be surprised, though) However, the next day, I got another phone call from someone offering to do the same thing. By this point, I was convinced that I was going and I should be there.

So, this was the weekend. It was such a meaningful weekend to me! The kids had a great time and did a great job for the family that watched them. Plus, my kids had a great time and I don't really think they wanted to come home. They were loved very well! As for me, I was supposed to be at the retreat as it hit close to home regarding some areas of my life that I'd been processing. The overall theme that I came away with was that God does not put suffering in our lives, but allows it to draw us closer to Him and so we will become more like Him. There is so much more to that and some stuff I just need to chew on for awhile and process. I also enjoyed our time of fellowship, but I did come home for the night to sleep in my own bed and just be still. That was as meaningful to me as my time at the actual retreat.

So, thank you to the friends that God has placed in my life to love me right where I am. For that I am deeply grateful!!

Beautiful Mess

I think the picture says it all - they had a grand ole, muddy time!! They were both a mess when it was all said and done, but I think Hannah won the dirtiest contest this time around (you can't see the other side and it's on her face!) What a beautiful mess they make!