Saturday, January 31, 2009

My visit to Georgia




My week in Georgia is coming to a close, and it has been such a great time. When I was invited to come in November and booked my flight none of us knew that is would be Anthony's final week here with his family before going on his 5 week pre-deployment. He leaves tomorrow, and I feel bad that I took time away from Chelsea and Ethan. I really appreciate however having this quality time.
The first few days were spent with Chelsea showing me some of Valdosta, going on base to do the grocery shopping, and picking up lunch to take on base for a picnic with Anthony, since he had to work.
On Wednesday and Thursday Chelsea and Anthony went to Savannah Georgia to have time together, which left me to have grama time with Ethan. We had this opportunity to decorate the house, make Valentines, bake cookies, make a gumdrop tree, go for walks, play basketball, blow bubbles, watch Elmo, Ethan's favorite and hopefully creat fun memories. I know it has for me. Needless to say this almost two year old wasn't the only one who needed a nap mid day.
Anthony and I had time to go out on a tour of the base, for ice cream, and lunch another day.

It brings me great joy to know my children are happy & raising happy children. I just hope that each moment is treasured since time goes by so quickly,
and these precious little ones are grown up.













As you can see, boys truly will be boys.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Back to school

JoAnna, Rodney & Lauren left on there trip to school in Rexburg Idaho, which leaves the house and the pace very solemn. Rodney only stayed for a few days to get things settled before having to return here for his Marine duty which kept him in Portland for a week. It was difficult for Lauren to be without him, in fact it is the first time being away from home, and at a new school that made it all the more difficult. The good news with all the flooding going on in Washington was Rod's duty kept him here in Portland rather than the scheduled trip, therefore he could leave a few days earlier and surprise Lauren last Sunday night while she was at JoAnna's apartment for dinner. Its good that they all have each other close for extra strength and comfort.
JoAnna was so excited when she left here to get settled into her new apartment, however last Saturday she got a real bomb shell dropped on her with an eviction notice for the end of Winter semester. She signed the contract the end of May 2008 for both winter and summer, but in August the house was sold and has been renovated so they want allot more money for summer semester. The sad part was she only had a copy of the contract that she sighed, not the copy of the one with the previous owners signature, so they will not honor it. That is business. Needless to say what started to be an exciting adventure, soon turned out to be a nightmare that she is learning allot from., but with the help and support of Peter we are in hopes that she will win this battle. Who knows what will happen, but this is an experience that she will never forget.