On Thursday, we took Jeremiah and Sarah on a tour of Ft. Leonard Wood.  We drove around the neighborhood, the elementary school, the gyms, pool, bowling alley, movie theater, parks and mini golf course.  Jeremiah got his hair cut at the PX… that won’t happen again.

We introduced the kids to a few important terms:

PX  (Post Exchange) - A little like a department store or a strip mall.  There’s a food court, pharmacy, Sprint store, barber shop etc.

MiniMall – This is the new location for Military Clothing Sales (uniforms).  It also has a Military Pro shop (cool gear), Class 6 (liquor store), Starbucks and Taco John is coming soon.

Shoppette – Convenience Store. The one we stopped at had a Blimpie sub sandwich shop too.

Commissary – Grocery store. Don’t forget to tip the baggers.

Joel ran with Jer while Sarah and I waited at the finish line.  The race volunteers were the first to notice Jeremiah turning the corner towards the finish line.  They yelled, “Look at that little guy!”  Most runners got a few polite claps. But everyone really cheered for Jer.  I was so proud of him!  His goal was to finish in under 27 minutes, he finished in 24 minutes 15 seconds! He’s going to do a 5k next.

How to make Ranchup. A tutorial by Jeremiah age 7. Video by Sarah age 6. Background noise by Mom age 31…

GPH Handbells

Jeremiah reluctantly took another bite then said,

“How can eggs make you smart? It’s not like they tell you something you don’t know.”

So you think you can beat me at bingo?!

Yesterday the kids and I enjoyed/endured two hours of free bingo. Jeremiah takes his bingo playing very serious… Sarah not so much. Each of us won once. The prizes: Three $10 Wal-Mart giftcards. Awesome! The night before I had gotten upset about spending too much of our grocery money. This took care of that worry.

I know, I know I shouldn’t have worried at all. God always provides.

Bingo!

I found this watercolor of a dragon guarding his treasure in Jeremiah’s backpack yesterday. I’m terribly impressed with it. I think I might have to frame it.

Jeremiah got the Good Citizenship award for his class. Which I guess, is a big deal. He got an award and a free Qdoba meal and [this is the big part] he got to bring home the class field day banner… which I will have to post a photo of because occasionally this is a mom-blog.

In addition, I’m obligated to share this photo too.

“Maybe they saw a mom that is a Marine who goes into space and plays baseball games and always gets home runs…”

Wow, that would deserve a new washer and dryer.

It is past our bed time. I’ve had an exhausting, frustrating day…

And I am completely in love with this little man. Just being with him makes life seem so much more bearable.

Page 62.

I do so like
green eggs and ham!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Sam-I-Am!

“Wake up Jeremiah. Wake up. You have to go to school today. You only have 18 years of school left.”

Glad to be home with my babies.

About War:
“Could you ask the Army something? Are they ever going to be done with wars?”

About Seeing Jesus in Heaven:
“I don’t think my eyes are big enough to see all of Jesus. He’s so big! He’s bigger than the world! I’d need eyelashes that are nine inches long!”

There comes a point in parenthood when telling friends everything about your children becomes more like gossip and less like a mom talking about her day.

Of course they were in his pockets. How could this many leaves fit into one little boy’s pockets? Oh yes, I washed several pair of his jeans. All stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey with colorful autumn leaves.

You see, Jeremiah collects leaves… with a passion. Each time we step outdoors, my children rush to a pile of leaves and declare each one beautiful.

As I painstakingly gathered the soggy remnants from the washer, I couldn’t be irritated… I tried, but no.

You see, I have a little boy. A boy who puts beautiful things he finds outside on the ground into his jeans pockets. And that, my friends, is just what I always wanted.

“Don’t worry. I will keep you safe and even if it is dangerous in there you won’t get killed or anything.”

This worried her even more. She hadn’t even considered the possiblity of death.

“Oh Sarah, don’t be afraid. I will hold your hand all the way up and all the way down.”

Seminary starts tomorrow. He says he beats me because he gets to go every day. I only get to go once a week. It’s true. He wins. They get crayons, P.E. and chocolate milk.

We met Joel’s brother downtown on Friday night and took the kids up in Reunion Tower. [aka "The Ball"]

On Saturday, we went to THE coolest Wal*Mart ever.

Coffee shop, sushi bar… mmm sushi samples. Well I liked them anyway. Jer tried some too…

Here’s the verdict:

Two Thumbs Down!

On Saturday night, we stayed at the Renaissance Dallas Richardson Hotel. A beautiful hotel. With the most comfortable bed ever with six amazing pillows. Great shampoo and soap, real half&half and real coffee mugs with the in-room coffee maker, fantastic workout room, friendly bellman named Christopher who has a five year old, 1 year old and baby on the way… and no free wi-fi. Argh.

Oh and this cute little sign near the ceiling in our room:
“Do not hang items from sprinkler head. This will cause flooding.”
When I see signs like this, I always wonder what disaster caused someone to put the sign up in the first place…

More photos after the jump:

Now that is a cool McDonald’s!

Here’s a photo of me and my little one enjoying the coffee cafe at Wal*Mart.

Little Side Note:

I didn’t know they made Frozen Dog Food… ice cream anyone?

P.S. We found my camera in the car… silly Sarah.

After going in, I saw two men praying in the corners. I tried to hurry Jeremiah along so we wouldn’t bother the gentlemen. Jer quickly kneeled by the Sri Lanka flag and prayed a brief whispery prayer.

As I was trying to coax my little ones out of the chapel, one of the men came and asked Jeremiah what country he was praying for. We told him then he gave both kids high fives and told them how cool it is that they were praying.

After we left AGTS, Jeremiah asked about Sri Lanka. He wanted to know if there is a war there because he had prayed that God would keep them safe today.

I admitted that I don’t know much about the country, but that we could read about it when we got home.

I forgot about the prayer until I went to Google News and saw this article on the top of the page.

I read the headline to Jeremiah:

“Over 50 Dead in Sri Lanka Fighting, Bombing.”

“Wow.” He replied. “Good that I prayed for them.”

P.S. For the record, Jer prayed for Lebanon too…

On Saturday, we visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial. It was almost midnight, but the memorial was far from abandoned. Families and small groups walked down the solemn sidewalks. People took photos. And a group of children asked a park ranger questions.

“So it was eleven years ago? Wow ELEVEN years ago. How many people died? Wow!”

They asked the questions as if the bombing happened eons ago. As if they were at an ancient battlefield where the loss of life is mearely a statistic in the glossy brochure. It was not personal to them.

It is personal to me.

Jeremiah and Sarah enjoyed their visit. As much as two little children can enjoy such a sad occasion. They saw the field of empty chairs which represent each life lost. The little chairs made them sad. Little chairs stand for little people. Little people who never grew up.

They took chalk in hand and drew their own memorials in the children’s area. Jeremiah drew a picture of what he thought the building might have looked like. Sarah drew a mountain and a cross.

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