If I had the time/money/ability to go anywhere on a whim to sit and write for days on end, I would go to the Olympic Peninsula. The forest is mysterious and magical, and the mountains make a lovely backdrop between the ocean and sky. This is my favorite photo of all; I took it while we hiked to Second Beach in La Push:

It was so nice to have a few days to spend with Lane before he leaves for Iraq. We stayed a day in Seattle, visiting some of his side of the family. We ate dinner in Chinatown, which was one of the main things I had hoped to accomplish. I am on a mission to try every eggplant dish at every restaurant I visit. Japanese eggplant (shaped more like a banana than the large, pear-shaped ones we usually see in our stores) is so wonderful in stir-fry, but the magic is in the sauce. Sheesh, my stomach rumbles just thinking about it. Between eggplant and hummus, I could almost make the leap to being a vegetarian.

We took the Bainbridge Ferry to the peninsula and drove the scenic, winding highway to Port Angeles. What a lovely town! It has everything you need, yet it’s so close to no where in particular. Mere minutes from town, you can be completely surrounded by a wooded wonderland.

We stopped at a local winery – Harbinger – so that I could try some samples. They had a nice selection of reds, and I splurged on a few bottles to ship home to have and to share. My favorites were a table wine red blend and a raspberry dessert wine.

When we arrived at Forks, I had the same giddy feeling that I had when I went to Universal Studios as a teenager. There is something fascinating about being in the same place and recognizing the same things that you’ve seen in a movie.

I’m going to compile all of the pictures from our trip into a photo collage book to send to Lane while he is overseas. It’s going to be a long year, but each day is one day closer to homecoming.

What a joy and privilege it has been for the past year to be involved in the search for Baylor University’s next president. Our efforts were celebrated this afternoon as Judge Kenneth Starr was welcomed formally to the Baylor family at a press conference on campus. As I sat and listened to the speeches, I felt a groundswell of pride and satisfaction in my alma mater & employer.

I hope that I represented the staff well. I certainly felt that my opinions on the search advisory committee were solicited and respected. It’s ironic, though … Despite our best efforts for equal inclusion in sundry areas across campus – not to mention the fact that staff members outnumber faculty by 50% (approx. 1,200 and 800, respectively) – the staff will always play second fiddle to the faculty. I don’t think that is a Baylor-centric phenomenon. I think it’s simply the way of academia. Still, it was heartening to hear the accolades about the diverse input on the search advisory committee and for Judge Starr to make a point to say how much he valued his staff colleagues during his remarks this afternoon.

Earlier today, I had the opportunity to visit with the new president in a more intimate setting along with the current staff leadership. With only a dozen or so of us in the room, he made a point to learn more about each of us personally and even gave me a hug with his thanks for my work on the search advisory committee! I don’t think I’ve ever felt so appreciated or held in such high regard by someone of that stature.*

I truly believe that we are on the cusp of something really fantastic at Baylor. To think that I had even a small role in shaping the next chapter in the university’s history gives me an enormous feeling of accomplishment.

What to take to Seattle this week?

• winter coat: check
• Seattle Sounders vs. Barcelona Major League Soccer scarf (a gift from my brother-in-law): check
• long-sleeve shirts: check
• camera: check
• cards & letters that the boys made for Dad to take to Iraq: check
• plastic vampire teeth that I filched from the boys’ halloween stash: check! LOL

What an exciting week!

Bleach can be good. Ammonia can be good. Mixing the two, however, produces noxious fumes. What do you do, then, if bleach and ammonia live together? You keep them in their respective containers in separate cabinets. You make sure they don’t get jostled and spill. It sounds like an easy fix when we’re just talking about chemicals.

It’s not so easy when the volatile combo is children.

A&J play well together. Ri &Ry play well together. Ri & D play well together, most of the time. D & Ry play well together for short periods, if it’s just the two of them. The problems arise when you combine D with either A or J or any combination of any other two or more. Separating them when they bicker is a short-term solution (albeit, I hear that putting them in cabinets doesn’t go over too well with the legal system). I jest.

The point is that there has to be a better solution, but what?

My brother and I fought like cats & dogs when we were young. Truth be told, I was pretty good at playing the Innocent Sister card, and since he started 95% of our squabbles, in the first place, it was an easy sell. We couldn’t stand each other when he was in elementary and I was in junior high. He changed tactics when he was in junior high and I was in high school: he quit chasing me with intent to cause bodily injury (I was always a few steps faster in those younger days, and it never escalated to fisticuffs); instead, he focused his energies on catching me doing something wrong so that he could tattle on me. Blast that lawn chair at the swim meet that I dropped on my toe and hollered an expletive when he was within earshot! But, I digress. We learned to tolerate each other when I was in college and he was in high school. We finally decided we liked each other long about the time I moved out on my own.

And that was just the two of us! How am I to manage five?

Tomorrow marks one month since Lane left “for real.” He was away for training for a few weeks before Thanksgiving, then a few weeks between Thanksgiving – Christmas, but he actually left Texas on Jan. 10. Most days are full of their own adventures and routines that I don’t have time to mope around and pine over him, but when the house is quiet and I can’t sleep, then I really miss him more than ever.

I’m very excited that I get to go visit him for a few days next week before they leave the country. He’s getting an off-post pass, which means he can leave the base to go around town. I’m flying up on Wednesday and coming home Sunday. (Y’all please pray for my mom & MIL who are tag-teaming with the boys in my absence!) It will be nice to spend time with his side of the family in the Seattle area. His eldest auntie is 97!!

What will be extra icing on the cake is our trip to Forks and Port Angeles. Yes, I admit that I hopped onto the Twilight bandwagon. Granted, it isn’t the most well-written literature I’ve ever read, but the story is intriguing and the characters are relatable (Is that even a word? It is now.) to me. We’re going to stay at a B&B in Forks on Friday night, explore the area – maybe First Beach and La Push – on Saturday, then an early dinner at the restaurant where Bella & Edward’s first date was filmed – the Bella Italia – in Port Angeles before driving back to Seattle that evening. I told the girls in the office that I would resist the urge to point at people in the restaurant, labeling: “money, sex, money, sex, sex, money, cat …”

I also promised the boys that I would take some good snapshots of Lane that we can print for their “Army dolls,” which are plush camo people with a clear sleeve to insert a photo on the face. They each received a doll when we went to the family briefing shindig in California. This way, they can snuggle with their soldier whenever they miss Lane.

I thought I would share some snippets of conversations that I’ve had with a few of the boys in recent days about what they want to be when they grow up:

Ri: ” I want to fly a plane – no, a jet – and it’s gonna have fire-flames on it. And it’ll go ‘zooooom!'”

Ry: “Well, I’m not gonna have a jet. I’ll have a – What is it when you fly into space? – [My response: “A rocketship?”] – Yeah, a rocket, and I’m gonna fly to Mercury. [My response: “I hope it’s a really thick rocket, b/c Mercury is REALLY hot!”]

Ri: “I don’t want to marry when I grow up.”

Ry: “I do want to marry when I grow up. My mommy [his wife] and I will live in California, and you’ll have to fly on a plane to visit me, Mommy, cuz I’ll be far away.”

A: “I’m going to be a chocolate scientist and live in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I’m going to discover new flavors of chocolate. I’m going to build a house totally out of Legos and all the furniture and everything will be made out of Legos.”

Three of the boys got in trouble today at school/daycare and are subsequently grounded from video games this weekend and not allowed to “camp” out in their rooms, as is our custom on Friday nights.

Ri had gone nearly two weeks without a daytime peeing episode, and three times this week, he’s done it again. He also took off running down the hallway when he was supposed to line up. Ry got in trouble for saying potty words and acting like a baby instead of following his teacher’s instructions. I should be glad that they don’t bite or try to set things on fire, right? Argh – sometimes I just have to keep perspective when it seems like everyday, someone is in trouble.

D. is grounded from the bus for a week b/c he got his 3rd infraction today (standing up & crossing the aisle/switching seats while the bus was moving … first 2 were for fighting). Apparently, it doesn’t matter how far apart the infractions are; they’re cumulative. So, this is the 3rd one of the year.

On a positive note, they all did great at Parents’ Night Out at my folks’ church tonight. I had psyched myself out for the babysitters to tell me that they had problems, but thankfully, they all got high praise.

I’m mentally exhausted from the day. I warned the boys (the three little ones, in particular) that if they wake me up while it is still dark outside tomorrow morning, then they WILL be grounded from tv all weekend.

I’ve been sick for a week-plus. I think I caught a virus on top of the sinus infection for which I’ve been on antibiotics for seven days. Ugh. When Lane calls, which is just about every day since he is still stateside, I want to put on my chipper face and tell him not to worry; things are hunky-dory. Instead, I feel like saying, “Come home and take care of me! Waah!” That wouldn’t do either of us any good, so I don’t say it.

I dreamed that the doctor gave me a prescription for a steroid shot and sent me home with the syringe to administer it myself! Yikes! In the dream, I was psyching myself out to take the shot, and I was counting “1 … 2 …” then one of the boys would pipe up to “help” me count, which would just mess up the sequence, and I’d have to start all over. Craziness.

I’ve had a few of those deer-in-the-headlights moments lately when it dawns on me that I’m raising five boys and my husband is gone for more than a year. My mom has been beyond fabulous in her willingness to step in and help out. She even comes over to help with laundry!! She’s a dear, indeed. Last night, a friend from church offered to bring the kids home from kids’ church so that I could just go to bed and not have to get out again. Praise God for helpers like that.

Quite frankly, sometimes it’s overwhelming to think beyond just getting through today, or this week. I realize that the odds are stacked against us to raise five boys to adulthood who don’t smoke, drink, do drugs or get someone pregnant. Out of morbid curiosity, I did a cursory search for some stats in that regard. Did you know that 70% of kids ages 15-17 have oral sex? Most of the stats I found for teen pregnancy were specific to girls, which is understandable but unfortunate. For example, 40% of females become pregnant by age 20. The web site that provided that statistic also noted that a quarter of sexually active teens will contract an STD. Unfortunately, the one stat I could find related to teen fathers (1:15) references a 1987 study, so that is hardly current information.

Sobering, to say the least. I guess the best any of us can do as parents is to love our kids, talk openly with them (I’m leaning toward an illustrated medical guide to STDs), set boundaries, get to know their friends and – last but not least – pray.

Since I was such a sourpuss last night, I’ll share a couple of kid-isms today:

I kept wondering why Ryan was praying for Daddy to be safe if he gets in a car accident, then it dawned on me: “Dear God, please help Daddy be safe when he goes to a wreck.” A wreck. Iraq. D’oh! Time to revisit the world map tonight.

Last night, Riley told me that when he grows up, he’s going to get a gun to shoot all the bad guys in the war. I sat down on his bed and explained to him & Ryan that – yes – Army soldiers are trained to use a gun, if they have to, but there are lots and lots of ways that the Army works without using guns. I told them about how Uncle Victor helped to build schools, hospitals and roads for the people who live where the bad guys blew up things and hurt the people who lived there. The Army is helping to make it a better place for those people to live. I explained how Army people are also doctors and pilots and use computers – like Daddy.

I would certainly support them if they wanted to go into the Infantry, but I also wanted to expand their worldview a little to understand that not all Army jobs are direct combat positions.

I think it might be better for my mental health if I start counting from zero (today being his travel day and actual “Orders” beginning tomorrow), rather than counting down from 400 days to when his deployment is supposed to be over. We all know how delays happen, and I can already imagine the sinking feeling when I get to Day -1, then Day -2 … and so on … if he’s not home in exactly 400 days.

Today went pretty smoothly, all things considered. Jeremy told me at least four times that he missed Daddy already. It’s going to be a long year, but we’ll get through. We’ve already been blessed with awesome friends at church and work who have provided meals and babysitting, not to mention the tremendous blessing of having my folks nearby. My mom reported for duty at 0530 this morning so that I could drive Lane to the airport without getting the boys up & ready. She also went with me to pick them up from kids’ church tonight, which was a great help.

Also, a friend at church told me this morning that she was bringing us dinner tomorrow night. Awesome! I love it when someone says, “I’m doing this for you.” It totally takes away any feeling of being a burden on people when you realize that they truly want to help.

Speaking of dinner, I’m so proud of myself for how I rescued leftovers today. The boys are pretty good eaters, on the whole. Aidan doesn’t like many veggies (ok, he likes raw carrots and nothing else), but he knows that he has to eat a little of everything. (We don’t have a clean plate rule, but I don’t allow them to call my efforts “yuck” or refuse to try something, even a bite or two.) On the contrary, three of the boys would rather have salad than french fries, given the option. However, none of them are particularly fond of stew. There’s just something about big chunks of veggies and meat … I have to admit, it’s not on my all-time fave list, either. Anyway, we had some stew in the crockpot that my mother-in-law was kind enough to prep for us yesterday, and I put it in the fridge until today, when I planned to heat it up for lunch. No one liked it. So, while they were busy playing this afternoon, I blended the leftover stew in the food processor and made it into creamy vegetable beef soup. It was a big hit at dinner with grilled cheese sandwiches! Mom: 1; Yuck: 0