Monday, April 25, 2011

Eastertime!

While Christmas and Thanksgiving have long been my favorite holidays, being back near family this year for Easter for the first time since we've been married caused it to rise in the ranks to one my favorite days. We had a very special weekend of new traditions with family and wonderful friends. 

The festivities started with an Easter Egg hunt with sweet college friends and their children...

Let the hunting begin!
Sweet Camille
The extent of Jack's 'hunting'.
Check out Jack's awesome police car Easter basket from his Gilman grandparents. In it was our favorite new book, "Alpha, Bravo, Charlie: The Military ABC Book", from Aunt Savannah and Uncle Will.
Mmmm...two of my favorite things in one treat! Good work, Bec!

and continued with an Egg Hunt and Brunch with sweet Nashville friends from growing up...
Aunt Liese, cousin Lyla, Jack, and Luke
Dad's fun Easter basket contribution
Chilling with the grandparents
Jack loves his Uncle Chad!
Then we had Easter morning with our sweet little family...
My two favorite guys.
Me and my sweet boy
and Easter dinner with all of our Nashville family!
Is this Luke's child, or what?
Sweet Easter baskets from Gammy and PopPaw and Niese and Da.
Coconut Lamb cake (my first cake mold cake), and Chocolate, Caramel, and Carrot Egg-Shaped cakes!

What a fun weekend of celebrating! While the cakes and parties and food and baskets were so very much fun, my favorite moment of the weekend was hearing Luke read to jammy-clad Jack from his Jesus Storybook Bible about the good news of this wonderful day:


"'Now everyone can come home to God,' Jesus said. 'Death is not the end of you. You can live forever with your Father in heaven because I have rescued the whole world." 

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Swagger Wagon

I would say I'm a pretty good driver. With no tickets or at-fault accidents on my record, you might think so too...until you hear that I've been a part of THREE total-loss wrecks in the past four years. What caused them, you ask? Teenage driver changing a CD, random deer in front of Wal-Mart, teenager reaching for his cell phone. (I'm now on the lookout for deer on the side of the road plotting to jump out in front of me just to keep the pattern going.)

Each time I get a new car, I think "Ok, THIS is the car that I'll drive until it dies. And then WHAM - a teenager or deer changes that plan. I'm now officially on a first-name basis with the USAA total loss adjusters...

As a result of these not-awesome wrecks -- this last one leading to my six-week-old infant screaming in the backseat while I tried futilely to open his door that was stuck shut -- I think I have traded in any remaining desire to have a cool, young, fun, car, and all I care about it that it is safe and reliable...and has room for more, awesome little ones when they come along. 

So, without further ado, here is my new ride, complete with curtain airbags and the highest crash test ratings out there:



I am so thankful for my new, safe car, and that God protected my sweet family through yet another big wreck. Here's hoping this one sticks around for awhile.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Training Update: Month One

The first month of Luke's training is now complete, and we have started to adjust to life at the Academy. We have a system down to get Luke out the door, prepared for the day by 5:20 A.M., and another one that is set in motion when Luke walks in the door a little after 5 P.M. to get him ready for the next day (head shaving, boot polishing, uniform pressing, PT clothes washing, lunch packing, etc etc) that lasts pretty much until the moment we head to bed. Our markers of an extraordinary day: if Luke is able to keep up with the instructors on the grueling daily hill runs, and if we make it to bed by 9:30 -- yes, we're old. :)

I wondered if after the first week or two things might become a little more lax, but the opposite is true. As time goes on, more is expected from these guys, and anything less than perfection is met with lots and lots of running. In addition, their law classes are now in full swing, so Luke's nightly routine now also includes me quizzing him on the state code.

As far as his class goes, the recruit numbers are definitely waning -- his class of 53 now has just 38. After such a rigorous process of interviewing, it surprises me the number of people who have dropped out. That said, with the level of intensity of this training, I'm also kinda surprised that this many continue to show up each day. :)

Most people who left just decided they didn't want the job badly enough. Several also said that their families couldn't handle it. The most recent losses, however, have been people who were giving it all they had, but either injury (two torn rotator cuffs, a torn quad, etc) or grades (below a 75 on the law exams) have prevented them from being able to continue. Those are the losses that are tough for the group.

While it can feel frustrating that the instructors are pretty much dictating our time at home with their extremely high expectations, on the other hand, I have a great respect for the motivation behind the demands for excellence. We know from study after study that what brings our guys safely home at night is acute attention to detail, and precise execution of learned tactics. So, we continue to iron and press and quiz and polish and pack lunches, knowing there is a reason for this demanding game -- and in just four more months, Luke will be back to one of his favorite things, this time in a much bigger arena.

In the midst of this schedule, as far as the three of us go, we're doing really well. To be honest, it's been challenging and humbling to trade our life in Homewood -- where Luke was established in his job, we owned a home, and got time together each day -- for Academy life. Luke and I both like to be independent, and in this stage of our lives, we just need a lot more than we usually do. Our families are storing our stuff, caring for our puppy, and putting us up -- not to mention helping love on and care for our little guy, and more recently letting us borrow their cars since mine was totaled. It's amazing to me that even greater than the love we have for Jack or that our parents have for us, is the love our Father has for us. Talk about humbling...

When the days are long, the blessings of now, the hope of the future, and our sweet little guy provide the perspective that though this stage is challenging, life is so very, very good.