Summer of Storms

This summer has been full of storms.

It seems if it isn't in the high temperatures, it is fiercely storming outside.

The end of June we were hit with a hard storm.

We were on our way back from picking Spencer up at Camp Dawson, over three hours away from home. The sky was as blue and clear as could be.

Thankfully mom called and warned me about a storm that was coming through and to be careful. I turned the radio on and sure enough there was a weather warning on.

In just a matter of minutes the sky was as dark as night and the wind was blowing terribly. We were driving through a construction zone and we were two miles from an exit. I pulled off the exit that I was familiar with and drove past cars that had decided to wait out the storm underneath an overpass. I knew there was a gas station just up ahead.

The road was covered in tree branches and by this time the storm was really coming down hard. I made it to the gas station, pulled up and parked and the kids and I jumped out and ran inside. The man stopped us at the door and told us that he was closed because their power was out. I asked him if we could just stand inside for some shelter until the storm passes. He agreed and about that time several other cars pulled in looking for shelter.

We waited out the storm and then went to my husband's parents house for the night. They lived just a few miles from the gas station we were at but driving through all the down trees and debris wasn't fun.

Their power was also out but we made it fun and camped out at their house for the night. The kids played board games, visited with Grandad and Grandma and spent the night tucked in safe and sound.



The next morning we all got ready and started home. The kids were begging for me to run through Tudor's Biscuit World....I told them it would be closed but they didn't believe me.

 I turned the radio on only to hear the craziness that the storm had brought with it. The power was out almost everywhere around us. There were only a handful of gas stations and most stores were only taking cash. I started to worry because we needed gas and I had no cash. A lesson well learned.

I made it to a gas station and to my surprise it wasn't awfully bad. There was a long line but they had attendants out  directing people to what pumps to go to. And the best part, they had a working ATM inside! I filled up the truck on gas and then went to the grocery store.

My mom called and their power was out, so was my sister's power and my best friend's power and water. I received a text from my friend and neighbor. It was pictures of our home and it said, "A big mess but at least we have power!" I was SO RELIEVED to know that we had power.

My parents, my sister Savannah and her two boys, my grandma, my sister Jolena and her two girls (and Natalie who had been staying the night with them and my best friend Mariah and her daughter ended up staying with us. There was a house full but it was fun. I was glad that I had power, running water and a place that they were able to stay, and that it was with us.

The kids spent the days beating the heat by swimming in the pool. I think for days they basically lived in the pool.

The storm did mess up our tree in our front yard. The tree that I tied a yellow ribbon around and promised to not take it off until Jerome is home safe again.

 We headed into July and many still didn't have power or water to their home.

The power would come back on at places, then another storm would hit and knocked the power back out again. It was crazy.

We watched several more storms go through. One time we sat on our front porch and watched the storm blow in.

Another time the kids pulled up the chairs and sat and watched the storm pass through. They watched the sky get dark, the rain come down hard and the wind blow through the trees.



And here we are the end of July, still waiting for a storm to pass.

The kids start back to school in three weeks.

With all of these storms this summer it feels like the kids haven't had much of a summer.

This was taken on our way home this evening.

I had picked up one of Natalie's friends to stay over and we were headed to the store. I saw the sky and quickly changed my mind. So we turned around and headed back home.

Easter Sunday

We all put on our Sunday best for Easter.

Spencer wanted to wear his uniform in honor of his Dad.

I think he looked handsome.

He gets it from his Dad.

We drove to the church my mom and dad go to.

It was good to be with family on this first lonely holiday without my husband by my side.


We spent the afternoon with my family.

The kids all wore one of my dad's tshirts and played barefoot in the creek after dinner.

I hadn't heard from Jerome. I usually do.

I had a feeling he was in route, but not knowing for sure, I only guessed.

By that evening I still hadn't heard from him.

I decided I didn't want to go home to an empty house.

I stayed at my parents house that night.

I sat out on the front porch with my mom and sisters and enjoyed the day as it turned into night.

The kids made sleeping bags out of blankets and slept on the floor.

It was a great day and I enjoyed it. But there wasn't one second that I wasn't thinking about my husband and wondering if he had made it there yet.

Tie A Yellow Ribbon.

I mailed Jerome a letter in just enough time for him to receive it before leaving his training and heading over to Afghanistan.

He read it on the flight over.

In this letter, I told him that we will tie a yellow ribbon around our old sycamore tree and not take it down until he returns home safe again with us.





The kids tied the yellow ribbon around the sycamore tree.

They have proudly told their friends the meaning behind the ribbon when they come over to visit.

 Every time we leave the house or come home the yellow ribbon is there to greet us.







The long yellow strands look pretty blowing in the wind.

Sometimes after getting our kids on the bus and off to school, I'll sit at the table, have my breakfast, watch the yellow ribbon blowing in the wind outside my window and think of him.

A Repeat.

It seems our life with deployments seem to repeat at the exact same times.

His last deployment to Afghanistan we traveled to Fort Bragg about this same time.

It was Easter weekend.

Jerome and I did our Easter basket shopping at the PX on base while Gran stayed with the kids at the hotel.

The kids opened their Easter baskets, dressed in Jerome's Army t-shirts, in a hotel on base Easter morning.

Spencer was eight, Natalie five and Katie four.

I just think it is funny how this deployment is repeating itself.

Just as long as it doesn't repeat the length of time he was gone away from home last time.


In several hours, after I get in bed and get some sleep, I will be waking up to the first holiday I will have to do alone without him here.

We will be going to my parent's church, everyone dressed in their Easter best, sitting in a church full of families with daddies and husbands who are there with there family.

I almost don't want to go.....only because I don't want to see all the families enjoying their Easter Sunday together, I don't want to sit in church and feel the overwhelming feeling of loneliness that creeps in when being surrounded by happy families who have their husbands there, their daddies there for their kids. It is a very lonely feeling.

But I know I need to. I know my mother is looking forward to having her family together in church and for Easter dinner at her house afterwards. I know our kids will enjoy playing with their cousins and searching for Easter eggs. I know that I just have to make the best of it....because that is all that I can do.

Fort Polk, day three and four.

DAY THREE

Friday morning Jerome was still at the base and was going to be busy there for several hours. There really wasn't much to do around the base so we decided to spend the day in Alexandria, until Jerome was free to go.

We went to the mall. Spencer picked out a new pair of swim trunks and the girls a bikini. We had lunch and then headed back to Leesville.

We picked Jerome up and then headed to the hotel so he could shower.

We went to dinner, a place Jerome told us about. The kids were all wanting to try crawfish and alligator, so we went to Catfish Junction.




After placing our order about twenty minutes later our waiter came out to let us know that they had run out of crawfish. The kids were disappointed but Jerome promised them he would make sure that he got them crawfish from Louisianna before they left.

We went back to the hotel, put our pajamas on and Spencer and Jerome started doing what they always do.....wrestling.




I know this is one of the things our kids, especially Spencer, one thing that they really miss when Jerome is gone.

DAY FOUR.

Saturday we slept in, had breakfast at the hotel and went swimming.

We had lunch at a local Mexican restaraunt there by the base.













Then we had to go to the base, Jerome had to pick up some things he needed from his room.

He drove around showing our kids different places he had been for training and what he had done.




Since it was a room full of men, the girls and I stayed outside.

Natalie and Katie entertained themselves while we waited by playing more hand games.




We stopped at Alligator Lake and let the kids play on the playground (there REALLY isn't a lot to do around the base).




At first Spencer was sitting with Jerome and I asking us how much longer we had to be here and that he was bored. I guess he gave up on being bored and decided to join Natalie and Katie.




They were all LOVING Jerome pushing them on this spinning thing.

Then it was Jerome's turn...they warned him it would make him dizzy.




Jerome had to sit down when they were finished with him.

Then the kids convinced me to try it out. They weren't kidding about it making you dizzy. I love how Jerome is laughing at me (I was barely standing at this point).




Then later on our way back to our hotel we stopped at a place called Mud Bugs and Jerome picked up some crawfish. We went back to the hotel and Jerome taught them how to peel and eat crawfish.







Katie wouldn't eat it at first but ten minutes later she was sitting at the table with Jerome and Spencer eating the crawfish. I tried one, it was good....but Jerome peeled it for me.

Katie picked out a few and called them her "family" and gave strict instructions that no one was to eat her family of crawfish.

When they were at the end of the bucket of crawfish, Jerome looked at Katie and said, "You know you are about to lose your family". Katie laughed and shared the rest of her crawfish with her Daddy.

Then we went swimming in the pool and later climbed into bed.

Fort Polk, day one and two.

DAY ONE

Early Wednesday morning we started our long trip to Fort Polk.

We had over 1,100 miles to travel but the thought of all of us being together as a family again, even if just for a few days, made the trip all the more exciting.

Natalie took a lot of pictures on my camera, and I'm thankful that she did.











They all three brought along their books to read, homework to do (we took three days of military leave from school), Ipods to listen to, DVD player, pillows and a blankets.....they were ready for the drive.






Katie was the only one who brought her DVD player. It had a battery life that lasted three hours, after that three hours she fell asleep and slept for a few more hours.






The first day of driving was a long day.

I kept driving until I knew I had to stop for the night. I managed to get eleven hours of driving in.

We checked in a hotel not far from Jackson, Mississippi.

By the time we all had our showers, brushed our teeth and put our pajamas on, it felt so good to climb into bed, stretch out and get some sleep.

DAY TWO

I slept until 8am Thursday morning. I had done most of the driving Wednesday and knew I would be able to make it to the base to meet Jerome when he was able to leave.

We ate our breakfast, packed up our suitcases and reloaded ourselves into the car.

Then we were on the road again.

This time, knowing we didn't have as long of a drive to go and that at the end of the day we would all get to see Jerome.....we were all really excited.






We made it through an awful hail storm that only lasted about 5 minutes but it felt like it lasted forever. The sky was beautiful, the weather was beautiful.....I couldn't have asked for better traveling weather to drive in....minus the hail storm.

Spencer was the official window cleaner.

Every time we stopped to fill up the Escape on gas, I filled up while he cleaned the windows.

Spencer took this picture with my cell phone as we crossed the Mississippi River....

We made it to Louisianna finally and the driving was completely different to what we had had for the past thirteen hours.

We drove through miles and miles and miles of farm land.

It was very flat, you could see the sky and the land go for miles and miles.....not like the mountains we are used to.

It was very pretty, I kept watch of the gas tank, making sure we had plenty of gas to get us where we were going. There was one long stretch of road that seemed to go on forever. The gas tank was down to a fourth of a tank and there was nothing but farmland as far as you could see. I was beginning to worry that we were going to run out of gas in the middle of nowhere.

Finally we came to a little country gas station along the road. I was very relieved.

We all got out to stretch our legs. I filled the tank up while Spencer cleaned the windows. Then we all went inside to grab a snack. It was hot out so they all three picked Choco Tacos ice cream to eat.









Natalie and Katie were loving having the wind blow their hair all around and having some fresh air. They played hand games in the backseat while I drove. It made me happy listening to them.....it reminded me of when I was younger and doing the same hand games with my sisters.





We passed a fresh Pecan and Praline shop. The kids all begged to turn around and go back. It was just a little country store alongside the road.

We bought two pecan pies, a large bag of fresh pecans, and a bag of sugared pecans and pralines. I knew Jerome and his fellow Chiefs in his room might enjoy a fresh pecan pie and I also knew my mom would love to have one too. I'm freezing the pecans and saving them for Thanksgiving this year.

The elderly woman in the shop was asking where we were from and the kids all happily told her where we were from and why we were traveling to Louisianna. She then told them, "Well, as my Mama would always tell me.....you are on the last leg of your trip here".

Once we got to Alexandria, LA I knew we didn't have that much further to drive.

We passed an older man, a farmer, along the road who had a stand set up selling fresh strawberries. I knew Jerome didn't get much fresh berries and knew that he would love the strawberries. I bought a whole flat of strawberries....I knew they would happily be eaten.

We stopped for lunch in Alexandria and then made our way to Fort Polk. I had planned on checking in our hotel, getting a shower and meeting Jerome looking not as "wind blown hair, driving for hours" look as we did.

As it turned out his convoy was heading into base right as we were headed into town. He called and wanted us to just meet him there. He wanted our kids to be able to see everything, the convoy and it's troops coming back from a long day at the range.

I made it to Leesville and the sight of all the yellow ribbons tied on all the trees in town was a beautiful sight to see.





I have never seen so many trees with so many yellow ribbons.

It was just beautiful.

We made it to Fort Polk and saw the convoy Jerome was with as we pulled in. He told us where he was and that we had to stay in the car and he would come to get us when he was finished.

We were all looking for him. Finally we found him among all the soldiers and convoy trucks.









Once we was finished he came to get us. We all had lots of hugs and kisses for him.

Then he took us to the MRAP that he drives and took the kids into it to show them where he rides and some of the things that he does.





























We all left the base. We went to the hotel, we all took showers and got cleaned up and then went to dinner.

Jerome had to be back at the base that night. He wasn't free to stay with us at the hotel until Friday.

It felt so good to feel like a family again.

To feel home again.

No matter where we are in this world, being together just feels like home.

141. the feeling of being all packed up and starting out on a long journey in the early morning.

142. sleepy kids in the backseat

143. my helper, the navigator, Spencer, who sat up front with me the whole time

144. crossing the Mississippi River and knowing we are closer to Fort Polk with every mile

145. driving through all the farm land in Louisiana will make you thankful for a little gas station alongside the road after miles and miles and farmland

146. the warmth of the sunshine in the South

147. watching the kids enjoy an ice cream from that tiny gas station

148. being asked where we are from, because of our "Northern" accent 

149. glancing over to see Spencer enjoying reading a book during the drive

150. long hair blowing in the wind

151. the sound of the girls hands clapping and rhyming games behind me

152. remembering playing the same games with my sisters

153. arriving in the town near Fort Polk and seeing all of the yellow ribbons

154. the feeling that swells up inside that comes from these yellow ribbons

155. looking at a convoy and trying to find my husband in the middle of it

156. seeing him for the first time

157. the sound of our kids voices yelling "Daddy" out the window

158. being a family again

(I love the words and music in this video below)