On His Way Home!

Today I heard from my daughter Candice that her husband Thomas is on his way home from Iraq! She spoke to him this morning and he was in Kuwait, waiting for his flight back to the United States. He's expected to arrive in Hawaii sometime this weekend. Needless to say, Candie is excited and happy at the prospect of having him home.Thanks to all who prayed for his safe return. Please remember to keep praying for our troops and their families. They need our love and support.God bless you!

Support Our Troops

My son-in-law, Thomas, is due to return from Iraq any time between now and the end of October. I'm thrilled that this ordeal will be over for Candie and Thomas soon. Tonight when I called Candie I heard something in her voice that I hadn't heard since he left. She was bubbly and happy and rushing to make her preparations for his homecoming.

Last week when I was in Hawaii visiting her, we went to Schofield Barracks where he's stationed. It was exciting to see the "Welcome Home" banners strung out across the entrance and the base seemed alive with families and newly-returned soldiers. As we drove through the housing areas, I caught sight of many homes with "Welcome Home, Daddy" and "We Missed You" signs in the front yard. I guess living in an area that's not near a military base, it's easy to forget the homecomings that are taking place everyday.

On Sunday when I returned home, there was a young soldier standing in the airport waiting for his flight to Hawaii. I watched as a man and his two young children approached the soldier. The man introduced his children to the young man and said to the kids, "Did you have something to say to him?" The two children then said, "Thank you for protecting us. We appreciate it." The kids looked so proud and the young soldier said, "Thanks. It's my pleasure." I will pray for that young man every day because I know that there are family members who will miss him while he's deployed.

When Thomas deployed, I put a yellow ribbon in my tree and promised to keep one there for him until he came home to us safe and sound. I added another one on August 1 for my cousin, Jan, who is now serving in Iraq. I've decided to keep a yellow ribbon in my tree until all our troops are home. I feels it's the least I can do to repay them for all they're doing for us.

Please continue to pray for our troops and their loved ones. Whether you agree with the war or not doesn't matter. They are our brothers/sisters, neighbor, friends, sons/daughters, husbands/wives, fathers/mothers and they deserve our support and prayers.

God bless everyone, especially our troops.

Visiting Candie

Last Thursday I flew to Hawaii to spend a few days with my beautiful daughter, Candie. You can't imagine how much I wanted to go until you understand that two things in this world terrify me: dying in a plane crash and the ocean. Still, with Candie in Hawaii I had no choice but to board the jet and fly over the ocean to see her. It was worth every minute of the fear I experienced just to spend time with her. She picked me up at the airport and even presented me with a beautiful lei when she got there. We quickly got into the car and drove to her condo/apartment in Pearl City. She lives in a high-rise building, on the 30th floor and the view from her apartment is absolutely breathtaking. After I rested for a while, we were in the car headed out to shop and eat dinner. Her friend Stacy joined us and we had a great time talking and laughing.

On Friday while she went to work, I hung around the apartment until she got home. We laid out at the pool for a while, then went in and got ready to hit Honolulu, eat dinner and walk around the International Market. Saturday we headed out to Schofield Barracks, the North Shore and Sandy Beach but our trip got cut short when someone broke the window in Candie's car, opened up the trunk and stole our purses! The damage to the window was costly to Candie and the anger we felt was very upsetting, but not enough to ruin the trip for me.

Sunday we attended mass together and I realized it had been quite a few years since we'd done that. As I became more and more absorbed in the mass, my happiness at being there with my daughter grew and I began thanking God for all the blessings He has given me. I would not have been able to make the trip without the thoughtfulness of my wonderful husband, who paid for me to go as an early birthday present. And the days I spent with Candie were days I will remember for a long time to come.

As for the purse-stealing incident, the thieves didn't take anything of any consequence to me since I had my wallet, cell phone and camera with me anyway. The most important thing is that I the the opportunity to spend some wonderful days with Candie.

Thomas will be coming home from Iraq in the next couple weeks and we are all so thrilled! Please continue to pray for our troops and their safety.

Mama Mia

If anyone has read my profile, you've probably noticed that I list bowling as one of my hobbies. My husband and I bowl on two leagues, one on Thursday night and one on Friday night. The Friday night league is a Sons of Italy league and this is our third year in that league. I really love to bowl and it's not necessarily because I'm good at it. On Friday nights I bowl with two other ladies and this season we've named our team, "Mama Mia". The first year we were "Chicks Rule", last year we were "Oh Chit" (and before you waste anytime wondering, yes that's exactly what we meant) but this year we are Mama Mia.

Barb, Dottie and I have been bowling together 3 years now. For a brief time we had my friend Chris on the team because Barb had shoulder problems. But last year and this year it's the three of us again. The other ladies in the league are Margaret, Anne, Anna and Graciela. The rest are men, including my husband Ray, Barb's husband Dan and Margaret's husband Richard. Bowling with these ladies has been one of the best times of my life!

We have lots and lots of inside jokes, and all it takes is one of us saying, "There will be no regalia tonight!" to send the rest of into hysterical laughter. In fact, sometimes it takes just one word to break the rest of us up. The men usually stand and look at us wondering what's so funny...to be honest, we probably couldn't begin to tell them because it's often beyond our understanding, too. The bottom line is, these women are my dear friends. I know if I had a problem or something bothering me, they would listen and give me their support or advice and I would do whatever they need as well.

I've grown to love these ladies like sisters and love the time I spend with them. Sure, we get very silly sometimes but I thank God for them because they have brightened up my Friday nights immeasureably. The hours I spend with them laughing, talking and bowling are important to me because of who they are.

Please continue to pray for our troops and especially for my son-in-law Thomas who is due to return to Hawaii this month. God bless everyone.

Jury Duty

For the past week I've been on jury duty. For those who are not familiar with the one-trial system California has adopted, it goes like this: you get your summons in mail and are told to call in every night (beginning on a certain date) to find out if you have to report to the court house in person . If you have to report in person, you then drive to courthouse on the day you're told to appear (usually the next day at 8:30 a.m.) and spend the whole day there waiting and waiting for something (anything) to happen. If you're lucky you get to go to a courtroom and (possibly) have your number called to sit in the jury box as a potential juror. Otherwise, you pretty much sit in the courtroom and listen in case one of the prospective jurors is eliminated and your number gets picked to replace them. Once you get to the end of the day (usually around 4:00 p.m.), you're excused and don't have to be on jury duty again for at least a year.

The interesting thing about jury duty is the people you get to meet. I've been in jury duty 3 times in the last 7 years and each time I've managed to meet someone to talk to while we wait. The funny thing is that when I get a summons in the mail, I always think about the imposition, if there's anyway I can get out of it, or possbibly trying to move my service location so it's more convenient. Then, once I actually get there, I start feeling better about the whole thing and begin to enjoy myself. This time, I had actually hoped I might get on a trial but then remembered that I'm due to leave for Hawaii on Thursday.

Since I was assigned to the courthouse in Whittier, CA, I took advantage of the situation during lunch the lunch break and walked seven blocks to the historic district to indulge my love of old, historical homes. It was a cool, windy day and the walk was an easy one (only slightly uphill) and I saw some truly beautiful homes.

I guess the bottom line for jury duty, or any unhappy situation you may face in life, is that life is 99.9% attitude. If you have a crappy attitude, the experience will be an unpleasant one. If you find something positive about the same experience, it can turn out as good as you want it to be.

Please continue to pray for our troops. They need our support just as much now as ever.

Life & Changes

It's been a while since my last post and lots has happened. First, my daughter Candie came and stayed for two weeks. This will be her last visit without Thomas and we're all happy about that. Candie's visit was planned so that she would be here when my niece, Tina, gave birth to her first baby. Tina is my sister's daughter so that means my sister beat me in the "grandmother race".

Tina was due on September 20 but gave birth two days ahead of her due date, September 18. She had a boy, 7 lbs. and 19 inches long. They named him Daniel Michael after his father. Both the new parents are extremely happy and Baby Daniel is very, very loved by all the members of his family. It's been a while since our family has had a new baby and I'm already looking forward to the holidays!

The other big news is that my son-in-law, Thomas, is due to return from his deployment in Iraq. I am busily planning a long overdue wedding reception for them sometime in November.

Last but not least, I just observed the tenth anniversary of my late husband's death. It's hard to believe that ten years has gone by without him, yet my life has changed tremendously in that time. Sometimes I think back on my life while I was married to Dave and it's hard to believe it really happened. The young children I was left to raise by myself are now in junior high and high school! And, the teenage daughter I had is now a married woman! I thank God every day for the strength and guidance He has given me to raise my family. I also thank Him for bringing me a wonderful man to love me and my children and the happiness we share as a family. When I lost my husband, I was never scared because I knew the Lord would take care of me and help me whenever I needed it. My faith in the Lord has never failed me, not one time in my life.

I will try to keep up with my blog a little better. Please continue to pray for our troops in Iraq and their families. They will need extra prayers now that the holidays are around the corner.

Labor Day Weekend & Back to School

I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend. As it turned out, the 3-day weekend was combined with my usual Friday off, giving me a 4-day weekend. It was wonderful to putter around the house and relax for a change. The weekend started off with a Friday morning all to myself while Ray and David went fishing. Since it was so hot when they came back, Ray and I got into the pool and floated around for about 2 hours. It was nice to spend time floating and talking to each other about nothing in particular. We even held hands while we were in the water talking to each other. I got a giggle out of that because I could just imagine the kids' faces if they had seen us!

Saturday we did more of nothing much. It was our Saturday for pedicures so we went, then took our wedding rings in for polishing and inspection. Then I took off to visit my friend Marie for a couple of hours. We had a great time talking to each other and I've decided it's definitely something that we will do more often.

On Sunday we began preparing the kids for back to school. This summer was a very good one and one I hated to see end. Of course, it had to end and the kids started school today. I drove both of them to school and dropped them off before going to work this morning. I'm praying that this will be a good school year for them but, of course, I'm already counting the days until winter break when we'll be able to sit in front of our Christmas tree, maybe with the fireplace going. I'm cherishing every moment of these school days because I know they won't last forever.

Please continue to pray for our troops all over the world. Hopefully Thomas will be home soon.

God bless all the children returning to school and keep them all safe.