Are You Sitting Down?

You military wives know that when you hear those words over the phone or in person, "Are you sitting down?" it could mean one of a myriad of things from your active duty husband...a quick deployment, a future deployment, "I'm stuck in xxx because the jet is broken," a much longer debrief than expected, an unexpected diversion to another town due to bad weather, a quicker move, a change in duty location, difficulty obtaining orders, or any other thing that could possibly happen in the military...to include good things too (the others are just more dramatic!)!! And in the 4.3 seconds that the question is uttered and you sit down, they ALL go through your head...and then some!!!

Okay...so, rewind to April 8, 2009...the phone rings, I answer it, it's Cody. Not unusual for Cody to call me here in the middle of the day to ask how things are going and tell me when he will be home, so I think nothing of it. We are to leave the next day to go to Harrogate, York and Newcastle for Easter weekend. Here's the conversation as best as I can remember it:
Me: Hello
C: Hi
Me: Hi
C: Are you sitting down?
Me: (heart beats fast...because, there's that question! I immediately think, he is having to fly out now for something and won't be going to Harrogate this weekend. Jackson and I will just go ourselves...but what a bummer!) Yeeeees?.?.?
C: The squadron's closing.
Me: Okay. When? (I'm thinking within a year's time...nothing moves fast with the military!)
C: By the end of the year.
Me: December?
C: Well, more like September.
Me: Okay.
C: (now, knowing me well...he follows up with this) I don't have any more details.
Me: Okay. So we're moving.
C: Probably.
Me: Okay. But I was just starting to like it here!
C: I know. I'll be home in an hour or so.
Me: Okay. (And then, I get off of the phone and realize that means we must leave our church here. I start to cry...and then, like every other time we move, try to pull myself together.)

So...now...I have you hooked!! And, by now, you're asking the following questions:
1. So, why is she waiting until NOW to blog about this??
2. What is going to happen to them??
3. Where will they be going??
4. When will they be moving, if they are moving??
5. Will Cody be flying again??
6. What happens????

And, believe me, those questions have been going through my head for the past 2 1/2 months. Before I go any further, I just want to say that Cody and I have felt at peace about all of this and have been praying and completely knowing that God has a plan for us, and this was included and that we can always trust Him to take care of it. Remember, I'm convinced that this assignment, for me, has been a lesson in trusting God with everything, and this situation put all of that to the test...and it's only just beginning!

So, fast forward to last night...because last night, it all came together and I can now answer ALL of those questions for you! God answered our prayers and gave us the desire of our hearts. And, I believe, He did it with a smile on His face and the words, "Here you go, my children...enjoy!" As of last night, we are officially in "speedy move mode," as Cody will be part of an August course back in the US to requalify to fly the F15C Eagle...at RAF Lakenheath in England. What does this mean...it means Cody will be operational for the USAF again and we...will only have to move 8 HOURS DOWN THE ROAD!!!!!!! We are hoping to do a "door-to-door" move, so no airplanes, boats or household goods arriving in a different location than we are or getting lost somewhere in transit!! Our prayer is that it will be a much smoother move than our move here a year and a half ago...but then again, there's only room for improvement in that category!!

Telling Jackson has been interesting...I think he's a bit confused...but what two-year-old wouldn't be!! He keeps picking up individual toys and asking me if he can take them to the new house. Bless his heart! He is so sweet and so incredibly adaptable. He seems to think it's pretty cool that a big delivery truck is going to take ALL his toys to the new house! We'll see how that all goes on moving day...which may be 3 weeks from now!!

So, if you've never been to Cambridge, we'll be all of 30 minutes from there, and London is just a mere hour or so from us! We'll keep you posted as we get "posted" somewhere else!

I will end this very long post with a video that Cody has put together of all of our adventures here in Caledonia...which is the "poetic" name for Scotland.

Cool Flypast #3?, 4?, 5? ...

I am what you call a proud fighter pilot's wife! Cody has had so many incredibly flyby/flypast opportunities here, it's amazing. Although I haven't been to all of them, (well, or any of them...shame on me!), I've seen them over our back yard or on YouTube! Cool stuff! Here is the website to the latest one (I couldn't figure out how to embed it and the "insert link" wasn't working!) that he just got back from...a trip to Estonia to do a flyby for their National Holiday...he met the country's President and Prime Minister!!! When watching the video, he is the lead Tornado in the third set of twos...in other words, you'll see two helicopters, two Grippons, and then the two Tornadoes...he's on the right initially and then as you watch them fly off, on the left. Enjoy...Jackson and I did!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRTR33W0sO4

(Oh, in case you wonder where Estonia is...it's somewhere near Russia. Here's what a website said: "Estonia is in Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland, between Latvia and Russia." Just a little geography lesson thrown in there...or maybe you already knew where it was...sorry...my geography is simply horrible!!)

Uh....What?!?!?!

So today I'm walking out of the grocery store with Jackson helping me push the cart. He is wearing his University of Texas track suit...which I think is so cute on him. It is orange because, for those of you who do not know, the UT colors are white and burnt orange. A middle-aged man turns to me as we're walking and says, "Looks like he (as he points to Jackson) just got out of Guantanimo!" and walks off laughing.

Here's my question...what should my response to that comment have been???? I believe I just simply smiled and said "Oh"...you know, because I was slightly caught off guard by someone telling me that my two year old looks like he just got out of a maximum security prison!!!!!!

And, just so you can envision what he looks like in that track suit...here is a picture of him on the day he wore it to the aquarium here not too long ago.

I may be biased, but he certainly doesn't look like a convict to me...but just simply a two-year-old in an orange track suit.

Happy Birthday, Queen Elizabeth II!

(Music playing is actually called "God Save the Queen")

"That was cool!" That was Jackson's comment as he watched his Daddy take off this morning and head to Buckingham Palace to be a part of the RAF flypast for the Queen's Birthday celebration (here's some interesting info...the Queen's Birthday is actually 21 April, but they do an entire "Birthday Parade" in June every year). Below is a video of the flypast. Cody is on the left wing of the Sentinel (it is the last formation of three before the Red Arrows at the end of all the jet/airplane formations...looking at the video, you will initially see him on the right of your screen prior to seeing Buckingham Palace). Jackson and I watched him on the British television news station here!!



I agree with Jackson..."That was cool!"

Growing by Leaps and Bounds!!

We are very excited to announce that we have a new niece born May 28 and a new nephew born June 8 in our family!!

My brother, his wife and 2 year old son welcomed Amy Caroline into the world on May 28...our first niece!! I'll tell you, I had a blast buying little girl things for her!! Apparently, our sweet little nephew is very protective of his baby sister...as he should be!! That's the way big brothers are supposed to be.

My sister and her husband welcomed William Jack into the world yesterday evening...their first child and our fourth nephew!! They are excited to become parents and are awaiting going home in a few days. Both sets of grandparents saw little Will about an hour after he was born.

We also await the arrival of another niece, but the timing is in God's hands, as my brother-in-law (Cody's brother), sister-in-law and two nephews are going through an adoption process right now! We are so excited to meet her when she comes to the United States.

God is so good!! He is bringing so many blessings of joy into our lives right now. It's amazing to look at family pictures from a year ago and notice how much they have and will change in just a year's time! Congratulations to ALL of our family. We are grateful and thankful that God answered our prayers (and is continuing to listen to them) for healthy mommies and babies throughout the entire process!!

And for a little baby laugh...here was our conversation in the car today:

Me: (as I'm watching a dad push his triplets in a triplet stroller) Oh wow!
J: What?
Me: That daddy was pushing his triplets, that's three babies all born on the same day!
J: There are lots of cows too.
Me: (I simply bust out in laughter!)

Funny thing is, there were no cows around us at the time (although seeing cows on a ten minute drive here is not unusual, as we live in the countryside). Not quite sure what he was thinking about ... just goes to show you how quickly a two-year-old's mind can change subjects!!

Bath Time Conversation

The most recent conversation that happened last night after bathtime:

J was getting out of the bath and looks at his hands...which, I might add, he usually does after getting out of the bath, but the conversation was different (and humorous to me) last night.

J: AAAAAAAAAA!! JACKSON'S HANDS ARE WRINKLED!!!
Me: Well, that's because you were in the bath water for a long time playing.
J: Mommy take the wrinkles off! (as he pushes his hands in front of my face)
Me: Well, I cannot take them off. They will just disappear on their own.

Five minutes later:
J: (hands under the running water in the sink)
Me: What are you doing?
J: Jackson's trying to wash the wrinkles off.
Me: (giggling) Putting your hands under the water will only make the wrinkles stay and give you more wrinkles.
J: (turns off the water and dries his hands)

And...that was the end of that lesson. I truly don't know if he ever understood that the wrinkles were caused by the water...and I only say that because we have that whole "Wrinkles-are-caused-by-your-hands-being-in-the-water-long" conversation about half of the time he takes a bath...so about every 4th day of the past year. And, if you think about it, it really is kinda' a strange phenomenon...so what 2-year-old wouldn't be concerned and/or intrigued by it.