Please pray

I ask for your prayers for my friends whose husbands are leaving them for Iraq. A lot have already left but many are still to come. My heart aches for them and the best thing we can do is pray for them. I am on the women's ministry team at church and we are trying to meet the needs of these women. I pray they will reach out to us as many become hermits during this difficult time. I feel getting out of the house is the best medicine and will make the time away from our loved ones not seem so long. I got a chuckle from a chaplain's blog. It is quite entertaining yet seems to be resourceful. No big plans for this second weekend of autumn. The cooler weather is a blessing and so Simba and I will be enjoying some walks, without me sweating like a pig. Oh and I purchased another ticket to Montana.

Grass still needs to be mowed

It feels so good to getting back to my routine. View some of the Montana photos here. Last night I mowed my lawn and today I cleaned house. My lawn is so green still. Guess it may be November and I still may be cutting grass. My piles of mail are getting smaller. I can see my kitchen table now! I had a great time seeing family and friends. I am making plans to go back for Thanksgiving. I have a friend getting married that weekend as well. I'll be there about 2 weeks for that trip. Then hopefully in Dec. I will be off to China to get Gracie. I found her ladybug crib set here. So many exciting things are happening. I am excited for fall. I love this season. I also love being around trees again! In TX, it was hard to tell fall had arrived because there were not a lot of trees. TN has many trees and I hope to make it to Gatlinburg to see the beautiful changing of the season. Hope you are enjoying this season wherever you are.

WOW

Extreme Makeover was more than I could have imagined. They did a GREAT job and I am so proud to be married to a service member. They emphasized the war and the good things we are accomplishing, even though there are casualities. That is a part of war.
I finally made it home. I have unpacked but my piles of mail are still covering my table. I also haven't posted any photos from my trip. I may post them on another web site but will add the link here so you can see how beautiful Montana is! It is still in the 80s here and I am sweating a lot again and having bad hair days. Frizz city! At least I had 4 weeks of good hair days while I was in the land where there is no humidity.
Well tonight we are having our chaplain wives get together. The Special Forces chaplain wives are hosting it. We will be having what our soldiers eat in the field: MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), Monkey Meatballs, Ruphage (veggies), Animal Bites (meat sandwiches) and Jungle water to drink. We are suppose to dress in camouflage. It should be fun! So I am getting ready for that and trying to clean today and get through my mail. Getting back into my routine feels really good. Simba and I will probably go on a walk if the rain quits. She seems to have eaten a lot of treats while I was away. At least she was a good girl so I don't mind so much she has gained a few extra pounds. Now we will just have to shed them.

Clarksville Extreme Makeover is season premiere!

ABC will air the EXTREME MAKEOVER-HOME EDITION filmed here in Clarksville on Sunday, September 25th. It is the season premiere and is a two hour episode.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/index.html

Also my brother said I should post what all is going on in Gardiner. Kelly & Rob had to make beds in Yellowstone since the park is so understaffed. Also Trent is goofier than ever but I love him like a brother :) I could go on and on by why should I? Pretty boring small town stuff.
I will be flying home on Friday. It has been a fun vacation but I am ready to get back to my normal routine and I am sure my Mom is ready to get back to hers.

Waiting

We are still waiting on our referral, which is a photograph and medical report on Gracie. The agency says we should be getting it in Oct. or Nov. We could travel as early as DECEMBER!! OH NO! Am I ready for this? I am getting nervous and excited all at the same time. I am sure if she came today I would be ready. I guess it is the fear of the unknown. I will keep posting if I hear new news.

Running the road

We ran to Glacier National Park and couldn't go over Logan Pass because of 13 inches of snow! Trees were down and they couldn't snow plow the road. We did go to East Glacier & spent the night and had breakfast at Lake McDonald Lodge. So beautiful. Then we went to St. Mary's and that was so beautiful. On our way back south, we stopped in Great Falls and met with Dave Castner and his bride. He was the best man in our wedding and also was Lance's roommate for a year in Missoula. It was great catching up with him. Then we went onto Helena and spent the night there. We toured the capitol and went to a couple of museums there. Such beautiful buildings. We put 1000 miles on the vehicle! So we are not just sitting at home. Tonight I am taking my neice Kylee to a Keith Urban concert in Bozeman. I am looking forward to that. I haven't been able to see her or Brit since I have been here. We are hoping to spend some time with them this weekend. It is getting harder to get them with activities in school and such. Well Lance bought his Christmas present-a softail deuce Harley! He is so excited about it. He has been wanting one for awhile and finally made the plunge. We are off to Billings this weekend for a family get together. So it will be good to see everyone. It has cooled off into the 50s & 60s but looks like it may warm up to 70s this weekend. BBRRRR!! I am chilly but just layering up!

Having a rip roaring time

We had a great time at the Tongue River. There were about 20 people there and we caught fish, had fun boating, camped and laughed until we cried. It was so much fun. We went into Yellowstone National Park yesterday. We were able to see a mama moose with her baby (yeahoo!!), elk, buffalo, coyote, swans, eagles, and the scenary is breathtaking. The sunset was also to die for. We ate at the world famous Enos in West Yellowstone. You cook your own steaks there so I cooked for everyone. It was fun.
I would like to take the time to thank those of you who are sending comments my way! Wow! What a blessing to know there are folks reading my blog. And it is ALWAYS so good to hear from far away friends. I miss you all too!
Well today we are off on a shopping excursion to Bozeman. Fun! Fun! Take care and hope you are enjoying the cooler weather.

Here fishie, fishie

Today we are off to town to pick up my aunt who is flying in from Seattle. Tomorrow we leave to go camping, boating & fishing. So I hope the fishies are getting prepared. Hopefully it won't be too hot because they won't bite if it is too hot. I'll let you know how the trip goes. Still having a great time. Great weather. Great fun. KBar pizza is awesome! I miss having homemade pizza. YUMMY!

Food tastes better on vacation

Doesn't the food taste better when you are on vacation? I don't know what it is but it always does to me. I am enjoying Montana, seeing family & friends. Last night we went for dinner at Mammoth Hot Springs, which is 5 miles from Gardiner into Yellowstone Park. There was a beautiful bull elk with a bunch of cow elk surrounding him. It was really neat to see. The elk will start to bugle soon and that is always amazing to me. You can hear them for miles talking back and forth to each other. Tomorrow we are going fishing, tubing & water skiing. This 80 degree weather is great! No humidity! I haven't been really cold yet so that is good. I was invited to go swimming in Yellowstone River. That might have been a little chilly. Someone called that refreshing. I guess it depends on who you talk to. Thank you for checking in. I will post some photos when I get a chance. This dial up connection is super slow.

Montana bound

Well I am in the process of packing.
Do I pack for warm weather? Yes, it has been in the 80s-90s.
Do I pack for cool weather? Yes, it gets in the 40s at night.
Do I pack for camping? Yes and boating and fishing. It may be nice or it may rain or possibly hail or snow. How in the world do I fit everything into 2 suitcases? Very carefully! I will be borrowing clothes if I get too cold and probably will. It will be worth it though to see the beautiful mountains and to cool off. It has to be close to 100 degrees today here. And muggy! WHEW! I am off to a battalion picnic with no shade. Fun. Fun. It will be fun but hopefully the kidos won't get too overheated because I know for sure I will.

Karen says....

more comments folks! My forever friend Karen asked how many people sent comments to me on my blog. I had to tell her the truth and said NOT MANY! So send me a comment on what you want to see blogged and/or how you are doing.
I am keeping busy, getting ready to go to Montana. Boy will it be nice to be in cooler. What a hot summer! WHEW! I will probably get to MT and freeze but it looks good now. We will go camping, boating and fishing for a week so I am definitely taking along some jeans. I know I will be chilled in the mornings and evenings. Last week it got down in the 40s in the evening! YIKES! It has been in the 80s during the day so I will get warmed up then, I hope! I am looking forward seeing friends and family. My aunt is flying in from Seattle to go camping with us over Labor Day. She hasn't been camping in a while and is looking forward to doing that. She is scared about getting on the boat but she will do just fine. Simba will be staying in Nashville so she doesn't have to travel. Friday I am going to dinner with some ladies from our church. Saturday I am going to a church conference and then to a back to school back to volunteer. So I will have a busy weekend.
Take care and I hope to post some photos in MT. Karen wants a photo of a Montana sky. It is so beautiful that a photograph will not do it justice. She'll have to come out there with me sometime.

Paratroopers

What a great opportunity I had yesterday to watch soldiers jump out of an airplane. One of these soldiers is our new neighbor, who is in Lance's unit.

Good times....good times

Fun times with family in Charlotte

Where are you?

Well some of you know but some of you don't. I am still in NC!! My husband's sister, her husband and daughter will be coming this weekend from MD and I haven't seen them in over a year. So I stayed here an extra week to see them. I hope I know my way home! I will have been gone 4 weeks. I have had such a great time here though. The kids are growing up so fast and they all are so different. The kids go back to school Friday. Oh so soon yet they are complaining about being bored. Oh to be a child again. I helped Kyle in his office yesterday. That was a good change of pace. He LOVES to give me a bad time about anything and everything so that opportunity was wide open yesterday. He is terrible! But I hope it is all in fun. Lance's Uncle Paul drove 1 1/2 hours to spend the night last night. It was great seeing him and it is great he is living so close to family. Well the pool is calling me so I will end for now. Hope you are having a great summer!

The Rope

Hope this blesses you as it has me.

http://www.ticz.com/homes/users/bob/The-Rope/The-Rope.htm

London

Kyle just called and they are all fine. Having a great time with the kidos. Pops drove from Maryland today to spend a few days here. It is great seeing him. I'll post photos when I get a chance. We are off to go to dinner.

Good times...good times 

Friends are such a blessing! 

Julie & Shawna in Charlotte