The year in review.....

It may take me a while to write this one...I feel like this year was at least a decade long!
While it was a long and painful year, one full of emotional ups and downs I can say that I am truly grateful that I had God walking along side me through it...I even suspect that He carried me through a great deal of it.

The year started with my hysterectomy....which believe it or not was not one of the down times...it was a blessing and I am thankful to be free of all that came with having that stubborn uterus of mine! My surgery and recovery went well...despite the two biopsies they had to do afterwards just to be sure.

Just 14 days after my surgery my husband left for a six month deployment...what we were thinking? Well, in the beginning I was trying to wait until he came back to have the surgery....but two months of agony cured me of that thought process...which meant I had a choice to make wait and suffer for 6-7 months and risk the possibility of more biopsies and waiting....just so he could be home for my full recovery....OR have it right before he left, recover with the help of the kids (oxymoron if there ever was one)...but be pain free, So we decided to go for it before he left. That meant the poor guy went 6 months and 2 weeks without any due benevolence......ahh the life of a sailor!

Next came the opening of the preschool. We had worked long and hard for that moment and it was such a blessing and relief to see it come to pass. However, what we did not anticipate was the complications of bringing two people together from two different backgrounds which brought two different meanings to the foundational building blocks of a business. It was a struggle and I shed a lot of tears. I carried so much inside that it started to affect my health and well being.

I truly believe that when my partner made the statement..."If you need to get paid, you need to find another job," my subconscious was relieved. I had been working 12-13 hour days, keeping in things I should have been saying to keep the peace,and was definitely in a state of depression.

At that point I just saw a way out of the oppression....and I prayed and asked God what He wanted me to do and when He answered in His word....Depart from this place Depart from this place...I made a hasty departure. I cut it all off....in hindsight it probably wasn't the best way to leave....but I working with God to fix it:)

Less than 24 hours after being told to find a new job...I had an interview...and then less than 24 working hours later I had I job that today I can say I love and that I am so thankful for.

Days after receiving the new job my husband came home from pac...this was the hardest pac of his entire career for us...it was a miracle that we made it out in one piece. Separation is really hard on a marriage...add inconsistent email communication and there is a huge area where misunderstandings and misconceptions can come in. He had no way of knowing the pressure I was under at the preschool and in our fiances because of the preschool and there was no way I was going to put all of that in an email that the whole seventh fleet may get a chance to read.....so I blogged which made him feel like I was communicating with others rather than him....but the things I needed to tell him I couldn't tell him through email.....so I let steam off here with you my friends.

But he did come home and I am thankful for the healing God has brought. I am also thankful for the healing that has been going on in his relationship with Britt. They are two of a kind and tend to bump heads...he just wants what's best for her and doesn't trust boys her age...he still remembers what it was like....and she wants to be seen as a young woman, an adult and he isn't ready for her to be one....due mostly to the fact that he has missed most of her growing up .

Next, came my families visit...it was wonderful...it really was. Yes, we had one big blow out....but hey we don't see each other that often and I think one every once in a while is a good thing...I just pray that we can all find healing and love in the aftermath(bro and sis's......I will be heading over to our blog to address this...so stay tuned:) But it was a great trip, whose idea was born out of love. About 5 or 6 years ago my mother fell down the stairs and was unconscious in ICU for over 30 days. During a family visit(which was actually suppose to be my sisters wedding day...which THANK GOD it was not:)) we started to talk about my parents 40th wedding anniversary and how we wanted to do something special for them. The first idea was a wedding reception...but we changed that idea because none of us live in NY...so we had a family trip to Hawaii.

It was great and it went very well...thanks to my brothers planning and desire to make sure we all had a great time:) But then it came time for them to leave. I will tell you internets I have cried every day since they left...I miss my family:) It has even had me looking a houses in New Hampshire:( AND made my heart jump when Rick came home with the list of possible orders in hand...one of them for an ANAV on a boat in the NH shipyard...yeah like I could sell my house in this market!

I feel like this year was not such a good year for me in regards to my relationship with Christ...I feel like I stumbled and fell in so many ways....I let circumstances and fear speak louder than His love and Word. I think that is my biggest regret for this year...because He is the only thing that kept me sane this year and I repaid Him by allowing others to crowd our relationship....I am working on forgiving myself.

God blessed us greatly this year to see so many milestones....Josh, Andrew, and Netta graduated from Jr High, OJ and Darius from high school. Josh and Andrew went out for and made the jv football team...then stuck with all the long grueling practices...I am so PROUD of them. Britt went out for and made the Varsity cheer leading squad...she so something and she went after it. Jay and Khat had their baby girl. Shalei and Mike got married, Chantel and Charles got married and pregnant...in that order:) My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. So very many blessings...I am thankful!

The next year brings so many changes...Britt will graduate, turn 18, and go off to college...all within a 3 month time frame. I will finish my BA and start my masters. Rick will ride a boat as his own for the last time (or so we think....you never can tell), and Becca will start high school...and these are just the changes that I know of:)

My Layout....

Ok, so my brothers and sisters and I have a family blog that allows me to change the background and layout....and it is with blogger also....but mine won't let me change it.

The generic ones offered really don't suit my personality...lol Does anyone have any advice on how to change the layout to one not offered by blogger?

Facebook.....

So I have been a member of several Internet boards for military wives, submarine wives, and christian women for several years now and have been blogging for about a year. My husband never understood what it was all about and just never understood it...UNTIL

Until his graduating class had their 20th reunion...yes he is old... he will be 39 in less than a month which brings him closer to 40 than I am:) After the reunion invites to facebook were flying and he begrudgingly joined....now he is on there daily...he even let our youngest daughter get one...wow.

So he is getting to know people he hasn't seen in over 20 years....and now I think he gets it:)

Why is it????

Ok my friends I am slightly irritated about several things today....but I will release some steam here about the most mundane item on my list right now...because the others would just be airing dirty laundry!

Why is it that people with monster trucks feel it is necessary to come to almost a complete stop when going over speed bumps?!?! You must be thinking really Jill this has gotten you irritated?

Let me explain ......our community has about a billion kids running around every day....so from the main street to my house there are 6 speed bumps.....where I park at work has speed bumps every 25 yards or so.....for 6 floors...so as I have to follow all these big truck driving people as they go painfully slow over the speed bumps...I have a lot of time to think!

They are TRUCKS people....big v-8 having engine trucks...they are built for a little bump in the road here and there...there is no need to come to a complete stop and then ease over them. Put your foot on the gas and go!

I can say this because I drive an Armada....which is fitting seeing how my husband is in the Navy....let me know if you got that one!?! It is a monsterous v8 engine having affair...I ride over curbs sometimes just so the poor thing can see some real action. So I just glide over the bumps...I don't rush at them like I am in a cross country race...I just approach them and glide. Let's say it together...GLIDE For Pete's sake I go over them faster in Rick's car and its a low to the ground sports car...GLIDE I say GLIDE!!!!

I spend more time waiting at traffic lights in Ewa (they have been times...all of them on Fort Weaver Rd are 4 minutes each people....4minutes) and waiting for lolo's to meander over speed bumps than I do blogging these days!

Only in Hawaii....

You see we live on an island that has to depend on it's own resources to exist.....

Twenty billion Christmas lights Wasteful
Twenty million air conditioners running Comfortable
Family and friends at the house Joyful

NO ELECTRICITY ON THE WHOLE ISLAND PRICELESS

Yes, internets....the entire island was without electricity for 9 hours last night...some still don't have electricity.

Thankfully, I had gotten up from the table to make dinner when the notion came to me...because I had just taken our turkey pot pies out of the oven...so we had dinner. Sheila and I were sitting at the table working on center pieces for the teen social tonight when the lights went out...so that ended the process right there.

We all ate dinner and chilled for a while. Then we ended up with all five teens who spent the night playing cards by candle night...while we went to bed.

I thought about taking pictures....but I couldn't find the camera in the dark....and ummm it was dark. I mean REALLLLLYYYYY dark......imagine the whole island with no power.

Tweezers....

Apparently, my tweezers and hair spray are also fair game like my socks and panties. At this point my eye brows are threatening to take over my face....but I refuse to buy yet another pair of tweezers. I am going to have to rig some kind of system to attach them to my counter in the bathroom....

I hate barf....

So I am crazy busy working through lunch today and my cell phone rings....yes it is the YMCA day camp calling me...Zach has a stomach ache. So I wrap as much stuff up as I can and throw it in the car and head off to pick him up. Just as I get there he runs to the bathroom and as he is sitting there he is throwing up.......

Once we got home he set up camp on the couch to watch tv in the living room...something he knows he can only do because he is sick. At this point lets just say that my washing machine and clorox are very busy today:( Rick and I have managed to juggle our schedules so that we can stay home with him tomorrow.

Other than that the other kids are wrapping up their last day of school and getting ready for their Christmas break. Tonight Britt is going to the ballet with the cheerleaders and Josh and Becca will probably veg out.

Rick goes on leave tomorrow and standown begins. Me...tonight I have to teach a class and tomorrow I have a presentation at one of the high schools.