I’m not comfortable praying out loud. There. I said it. I hear others pray over dinner and family gatherings like our Uncle John and my brother-in-law Brian and I wish that I could be as eloquent at prayers and blessings as them. I’m not. It’s weird for me because public speaking doesn’t bother me at all. I have given speeches in front of huge groups, spoken on TV, performed in plays, given presentations in front of executives at my job, but still, when I try to pray out loud, I clam up. I am sure it is one of those things where practice makes perfect, but I feel inadequate. I know this is ridiculous and there is no such thing as a bad prayer. However, it doesn’t change the way I feel. I don’t even pray out loud when I am by myself.
Instead, I pray on paper. I’ve always been a writer and I do use that term loosely. I love keeping journals, writing stories, even making up stories on demand for my kids. I’ve always like writing things down; jotting down feelings and things that were good about my day. While I have never been a dedicated journal keeper, I do write down my feelings and thoughts, often on scraps of paper that end up getting stuck in a book somewhere or tossed away. This is also how I pray. I write down my prayers…prayers for my family, friends, myself; prayers for people I’ve never met. I’m comfortable there, expressing myself silently on a piece of paper. Someday, I hope I find my voice. I’m working on it.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Playing Catch Up
I guess I am seriously behind in my blogging. It has been a busy time to say the least. We got to Ft. Lewis January 20th and Cory immediately had to sign in to post in order for us to be able to get on post housing. For some of you, I’m sure it is quite the shock that I decided to live on post as it is something I have always been hesitant to do. However, after only one evening of rush hour traffic on I-5, right off post, it was a pretty easy decision. So far, it has been a pretty good one. Lila’s school is only a couple of a block walk and there is a huge lake within walking distance as well which is pretty awesome, or at least it will be when the weather warms up.
So, when we got to Ft. Lewis we had to stay in guest housing for a little over a week, which basically amounted to living in a one bedroom studio apartment with 4 of us. It was a little crazy to say the least, but we consider ourselves lucky that it was such a short time. We have friends who have spent months living in guest housing or hotel rooms with their families while they waited for on post housing.
Our house on post is pretty nice. It is actually bigger than our old house square footage wise and has a garage which is nice, although I have yet to be able to park in the garage since our belongings were delivered. We’ve been in our house for over a month and unfortunately, the garage has been the overflow space or the “we don’t need that immediately and will get to it later” space. We finally started working on getting it organized this weekend and hopefully, I will actually be able to use it before too much longer. So, while our house is technically bigger than our old one, it is smaller as far as living space because it has TONS of storage. I think I could turn my laundry room into another room if needed. Plus, there is this HUGE storage room off the laundry with shelves all the way up one wall. It is super-nice; along with my walk in closet which I LOVE.
We moved into our house on January 31st and Cory left a week later to go back to Georgia to pick up his truck, the dogs and his Uncle John who made the trip back here with him. It was a long and tiring trip for them, but I think they enjoyed spending so much time with each other. However, I think 4 days in the truck with the stinky dogs may have been a little much for them. I have to put huge thanks out here to our friends Katherine and Keary in Athens who watched our dogs for us until we got settled and Cory got back to get them, which ended up being about a month. It is rare in life to find such wonderful friends who will put up with you, much less your pain in the butt dogs, who pee’ed on everything in their yard repeatedly (I hope they don’t send me a bill for dead plants) and who repeatedly dug under their fence to escape. Kat and Keary, we love you guys and can’t wait to see you this summer when you come visit us.
Since we have been here we have done quite a bit of exploring. After our trip across the country, it doesn’t seem like much to jump in the car for a couple hour jaunt. We have visited Seattle where we visited Pike’s Place Market which attacks your senses as soon as you walk into the place. It is a combination Farmer’s and Fish Market, completed with fish throwing and tons of vendors selling everything from clothing and toys to handmade crafts. It was wild to say the least. We HAD to stop by Beeker’s Handmade Cheese, home of Oprah’s favorite mac and cheese. We didn’t try the mac and cheese, but their Flagship Cheese, is fantastic.
We also visited Portland and made a trip to VooDoo donuts thanks to a recommendation to my very dear (and not forgotten) friend Jennifer. I can honestly say she is the best friend I ever forgot and the donuts were delish. I know that the idea of bacon on a donut may sound weird, but the maple bacon bar was phenomenal. We also visited Powell’s City of Books which is a multiple story bookstore that covers an entire city block. It was spectacular and is full of both new and used books. They have a children’s section that is the size of your average bookstore, so Lila was in heaven. For those of you who know of my fondness for reading, you can only imagine how excited I got…kid in a candy store excited doesn’t even get close to how I felt. We spent several hours perusing books ranging from Ferdinand the Bull to Furniture Building for Dummies. The bookstore is organized just like a library, so everything is easy to find.
There is also Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. It is beautiful and has a beach right on Puget Sound where you can picnic. They also have a 5-mile drive through old growth forest which is beautiful and on Saturday morning they close the road to auto traffic and it is just open for pedestrians and bicyclists. I definitely have it on my to-do list to ride there at sunrise. It’s not a long ride, but gorgeous and I think you can make it longer by driving through other parts of the park. There is also a zoo and aquarium in the park. We are considering getting annual passes for both as they are fairly reasonable.
I have to say that the Pacific Northwest is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, even if it does rain A LOT. We are surrounded by mountains on pretty much all sides and when the sky is clear, you are constantly surprised when suddenly you see these majestic mountain ranges in the distance. The view of Mt. Rainier or Rain-ier is spectacular, especially when the sun is setting. Due to the clouds and distance, it seems to be constantly changing shape and color, depending on the time of day. Lila has been studying it in school and has told us we will be in big trouble if it ever erupts, not from the lava, but from the melting glaciers that will basically flood everything with mud. Good times!!! Apparently, not only do we have to worry about volcanoes (Mt. St. Helens and Rainier), but also earthquakes, although it has been years since either happened. On a good note, we hardly ever have thunderstorms or tornados.
So, I’ve tried to put a lot in one blog, so hopefully I haven’t rambled too much. To all our family and friends, we love and miss you.
So, when we got to Ft. Lewis we had to stay in guest housing for a little over a week, which basically amounted to living in a one bedroom studio apartment with 4 of us. It was a little crazy to say the least, but we consider ourselves lucky that it was such a short time. We have friends who have spent months living in guest housing or hotel rooms with their families while they waited for on post housing.
Our house on post is pretty nice. It is actually bigger than our old house square footage wise and has a garage which is nice, although I have yet to be able to park in the garage since our belongings were delivered. We’ve been in our house for over a month and unfortunately, the garage has been the overflow space or the “we don’t need that immediately and will get to it later” space. We finally started working on getting it organized this weekend and hopefully, I will actually be able to use it before too much longer. So, while our house is technically bigger than our old one, it is smaller as far as living space because it has TONS of storage. I think I could turn my laundry room into another room if needed. Plus, there is this HUGE storage room off the laundry with shelves all the way up one wall. It is super-nice; along with my walk in closet which I LOVE.
We moved into our house on January 31st and Cory left a week later to go back to Georgia to pick up his truck, the dogs and his Uncle John who made the trip back here with him. It was a long and tiring trip for them, but I think they enjoyed spending so much time with each other. However, I think 4 days in the truck with the stinky dogs may have been a little much for them. I have to put huge thanks out here to our friends Katherine and Keary in Athens who watched our dogs for us until we got settled and Cory got back to get them, which ended up being about a month. It is rare in life to find such wonderful friends who will put up with you, much less your pain in the butt dogs, who pee’ed on everything in their yard repeatedly (I hope they don’t send me a bill for dead plants) and who repeatedly dug under their fence to escape. Kat and Keary, we love you guys and can’t wait to see you this summer when you come visit us.
Since we have been here we have done quite a bit of exploring. After our trip across the country, it doesn’t seem like much to jump in the car for a couple hour jaunt. We have visited Seattle where we visited Pike’s Place Market which attacks your senses as soon as you walk into the place. It is a combination Farmer’s and Fish Market, completed with fish throwing and tons of vendors selling everything from clothing and toys to handmade crafts. It was wild to say the least. We HAD to stop by Beeker’s Handmade Cheese, home of Oprah’s favorite mac and cheese. We didn’t try the mac and cheese, but their Flagship Cheese, is fantastic.
We also visited Portland and made a trip to VooDoo donuts thanks to a recommendation to my very dear (and not forgotten) friend Jennifer. I can honestly say she is the best friend I ever forgot and the donuts were delish. I know that the idea of bacon on a donut may sound weird, but the maple bacon bar was phenomenal. We also visited Powell’s City of Books which is a multiple story bookstore that covers an entire city block. It was spectacular and is full of both new and used books. They have a children’s section that is the size of your average bookstore, so Lila was in heaven. For those of you who know of my fondness for reading, you can only imagine how excited I got…kid in a candy store excited doesn’t even get close to how I felt. We spent several hours perusing books ranging from Ferdinand the Bull to Furniture Building for Dummies. The bookstore is organized just like a library, so everything is easy to find.
There is also Point Defiance Park in Tacoma. It is beautiful and has a beach right on Puget Sound where you can picnic. They also have a 5-mile drive through old growth forest which is beautiful and on Saturday morning they close the road to auto traffic and it is just open for pedestrians and bicyclists. I definitely have it on my to-do list to ride there at sunrise. It’s not a long ride, but gorgeous and I think you can make it longer by driving through other parts of the park. There is also a zoo and aquarium in the park. We are considering getting annual passes for both as they are fairly reasonable.
I have to say that the Pacific Northwest is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, even if it does rain A LOT. We are surrounded by mountains on pretty much all sides and when the sky is clear, you are constantly surprised when suddenly you see these majestic mountain ranges in the distance. The view of Mt. Rainier or Rain-ier is spectacular, especially when the sun is setting. Due to the clouds and distance, it seems to be constantly changing shape and color, depending on the time of day. Lila has been studying it in school and has told us we will be in big trouble if it ever erupts, not from the lava, but from the melting glaciers that will basically flood everything with mud. Good times!!! Apparently, not only do we have to worry about volcanoes (Mt. St. Helens and Rainier), but also earthquakes, although it has been years since either happened. On a good note, we hardly ever have thunderstorms or tornados.
So, I’ve tried to put a lot in one blog, so hopefully I haven’t rambled too much. To all our family and friends, we love and miss you.
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