April 5, 2020

I haven't been blogging here much, but I have been journaling during this crazy time. We have been in quarantine since the week of Spring Break. Brian has been working from home since March 12th. Everything has closed so we stay at home. Brian's work hasn't been impacted. He continues to work from home out in the garage. He has all his monitors set up on the ping pong table. So far things have actually been pretty pleasant. We get out a lot for exercise. I've been taking the girls hiking in the Steiner Trails. We've done a lot of art, we're making our way through Anne of Avonlea. I print off work sheets as I find them to keep the girls busy. The school district has only provided enrichment material up until this week, but from here on out it will provide assignments and work on a pass/fail basis.
I've enjoyed having Brian home. We have learned to love each other in a deeper way and we deal with each other's annoying habits and learn patience. I am so grateful for him.

Well, Sam entered the fleet as a US Marine yesterday. He was very apprehensive about starting his new job, but ended up being pleasantly surprised at how accommodating the officers and NCOs were and how thoroughly they explained everything. He now has just one roommate instead of 2 or 30 or 80 as he's had, well, his whole life. I think he'll like 29 Palms. The desert seems to suit Samuel.

I watched Sawyer yesterday. Brian worked from home so we could put out fires, so to speak, around here. So many parenting issues to deal with! Margaret was having a breakdown because she's had too much on her plate and school has been neglected leading to a full on panic attack last week on her way to class. She wanted us to whip her back into shape and help her reorder her life. William was struggling emotionally and making statements that greatly concerned us and friends and that needed addressing ASAP. John is still struggling with anxiety and is missing classes. Sam was stressed about his transition to 29 Palms and needed lots of reassurance. It was a lesson in dependence on the Lord. We spent a lot of time in prayer and God graciously answered! By the end of the day everyone was in a better state, except maybe John, who we never got around to talking to.

I have Bible study this morning. We're studying 1 Thessalonians. It's been good to get together to look into God's word, but I've been a little disappointed with the amount of time spent chit-chatting and wish we'd spend more time digging in. Tasha is attending and we're in the same group. So fun to see her weekly! Even though we're besties and live about a mile from each other, we rarely see each other because of our busy lives. The Bible study group is meeting for lunch at Galaxy Cafe afterwards but I think I'll pass. Since I work Tuesdays-Thursdays-Fridays, I really need Wednesday afternoons to run errands before I get the girls at school.

I ordered a new bed for Brian and I, a mid-century style platform bed. It is supposed to arrive today.

I've grown a little lazy with my running lately. I've been getting in a lot of walking though. I walk the girls to and from school every day and then get in extra walking or running after I drop them off. On the days I watch Sawyer I also take him walking, so I'm averaging about 27,000 steps a day. I'd really like to get back to running so I don't lose my stamina and have to start all over once it's time to start marathon training again. We're planning to run the Vern's 5K next weekend.

Brian and I still struggle with whether we should continue to worship at Hill Country Bible or find another church. There are several things we find disturbing about the way they do things, but we aren't sure if they're grounds for leaving and either returning to Redeemer or finding another body of believers to worship with. Hill Country has been a blessing and it is the only church that meets within our neighborhood, and they do preach the gospel, even if we may disagree on whether or not they rightly divide the Word of Truth. William is going to start attending Austin Stone with Margaret. He much prefers it to HCBC.

I'm off to make lunches for all these people.

Thursday, March 5

My habit is to run after I drop the girls off for school. I was on my merry way when William texted me that he had missed the bus. Instead of my usual fives miles, I turned back toward home thinking I would have just enough time to drive him over to VHS and get back for my day job. When I came in view of our house I suddenly remembered that Brian had take my car over to Firestone this morning for an oil change and I wouldn't have it back till the evening. Thankfully Jana came through and said she could take William. It sure is nice to have Brian's sister and her husband nearby. I never dreamed we'd become so close to them. Most of the time I've known Jana and then Michael, they have lived far from us but about two years ago they moved to our neighborhood when Michael was hired as the worship pastor at our church. We spend a lot of time with them now either serving in ministry together or just hanging out.

My house is clean today. I've got all the shades raised and I wiped down the windows yesterday. The sun is shining in and all my plants are saying hallelujah! 

Just a few minutes to write before I get the girls up and start the school day rush. Brian and I were supposed to go running together this morning but I was too sleepy. I'll put it off till later on today.

I made it to Bible study yesterday. I had missed last week because of Hazel's play. We covered 1 Thessalonians 4, the lecture being on sexual purity in the life of the believer. It was very good. After Bible study ended I ran to HEB to get a few things and then rushed home because Trent with Aeromass Glass was coming to replace on of our windows. We love Trent! We were introduced to him when our contractor hired him to replace some windows nearly five years ago when we remodeled. Though he's young, he's very professional and thorough and so quick. He replaced one of the front dining room windows so now our new chandelier looks so much better from the street! He was in and out of here in about twenty minutes. I cleaned house till William texted and asked if I'd come get him. They had ACT  so he finished early for the day. The traffic was miraculously light so I was able to get over there and pick him up and then get back in time to walk over and get the girls from school.

The Scholastic Bookfair is happening this week at school and last night LWBE had a free family event at the school and provided pizza and Menchie's to encourage people to come buy books. The girls have been anticipating it for a couple of weeks. After Brian got home we went over. Hazel and Olive used their own money and each bought three books.

I'll be watching Sawyer today. The weather is supposed to be good so I plan to get him out for some long walks.

I'm reading a book called Making the Corps about a book camp platoon at Parris Island back in the 90s. The training sounds almost identical to what Sam went through except for the location. The Marines are very big on tradition, so I doubt much of anything has changed in the last twenty plus years. I've fallen off my reading because I'm trying to stay up with my R.M. M'Cheyne Bible reading plan as well as my ladies' Bible study lesson and my ReEngage lesson. It hasn't left me much time for recreational reading.

One more week till spring break around here. We're doing  a stay-cation this year. We might spend a couple of days with my inlaws in New Braunfels, but other than that, we plan to just make some day trips.

Last night as I was scrolling through Instagram I saw a picture on the Marine IG page of machine gunners and after reading the description I realized it was Sam's unit. I didn't recognize him, but it was neat to see his buddies hard at work carrying around the Mark 19 grenade launcher.

Well, it's 6:30 and I've got lunches to make and people to get to school.

Brian and I had the best time last weekend! Seeing Sam was the highlight, but spending time with my husband was nearly as good. California is beautiful and the weather pretty much perfect, but how people swim in the Pacific, I do not know!

Sam is doing well. He talked openly of his trials and how other Marines at SOI have picked on him for being stupid, but as he's gradually progressed, they're stopped saying it as much. He works hard to please his superiors in everything and learn as much as he can to be the best Marine he can be. He sometimes seems lonely, but I think he's learning to reach out and befriend others instead of waiting for someone to fill his emotional cup. He is getting so good at the guitar and singing. Once he goes to his permanent duty station and can have his guitar with him he should get really good! He will probably know his orders next time we talk to him.

I had a day off work yesterday because Sawyer was sick. It was good to rest up, go running, go thrifting, and recover from an emotionally taxing last several days. Brian and I gave our testimony at ReEngage Monday night. He took our previous write up of our testimoney from when we shared last year and tweaked it, refined it, and made it fit better with this week's lesson on commitment. Both of us were so tired since we'd flown in to Austin realy that morning and had only 2 and a half hours of sleep, but God gave us grace and it went well. People seemed blessed by what we shared.

Brian and I have been out in California visiting Sam this weekend. We left early Friday morning and he and I had all that day together to sight see and enjoy each other's company since we couldn't see Sam till Saturday. We drove around San Diego a bit. I'm feeling a lot more familiar with it after our trip here in December and all the driving we did that week as well as the running and walking Brian and I did. That trip we stayed in Ocean Breach but this time we're staying up north in Solana Beach, a quiet little town on the coast with lots of art galleries and expensive boutiques. We're in a small, older hotel on the main street through town.
Friday night we walked on the beach and then went to dinner at an Italian restaurant and shared a pizza and wine. We got up early Saturday morning and decided to go for a walk instead of running before heading down to Oceanside to meet up with Sam.
We got to Oceanside a little before he did and looked around a few shops. The Camp Pendelton shuttle drops the boys off in front of a movie theater in the middle of town. We saw a guy sitting out front wearing an army green t shirt, Raybans, and black cowboy boots and thought it must be him. When he greeted us with a loud Evans family "How y'all doin'?" there was no doubt in our mind. We walked out to the pier and then got some lunch at a fish stand on the beach. Sam was hobbling around because of blisters from his 20K hike during the week so we kept our walking to a minimum. We decided to drive up the coast to L.A. He wanted to meet a friend at a guitar store in Forest Lake to play and sing a bit, so we did that. After that we made our way back down the coast at a leisurely pace and were mesmerized by the natural beauty as well as the lovely towns all up and down the Pacific. We stopped in Carlsbad and explored the town a bit before having dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Sam didn't have to check back in until 10 pm., but he said he should probably get back by 9. We made the drove back up to Camp Pedelton North and actually got to go on base which was pretty neat. We took him to the School of Infantry area and sat in the car visiting for a while longer. The base is huge and seems so dark at night because it doesn't have highway lights and it's in the mountains. Sam seemed sad to leave but he's also so good natured that he doesn't let his circumstances weight him down for too long. He knows he's committed to the Marines and will give it his all until the day he is discharged.
Brian and I came back to the hotel in Solana Beach and enjoyed some drinks while reading about the towns we had traveled through that day. We fell asleep in our clothes with the light, still exhausted from the previous day, which was very long.
We're going to pick up Sam again today and spend some time with him before we have to leave. We don't know when we'll see him next. He'll find out his orders this week. Hawaii, Japan, California, or deployment? He is sort of hoping for deployment because of the excitement of it all and the rise in status that accompanies it though he knows it will mean he won't get to join us on any of our summer trips we have planned.
Margaret says that William borrow the car again the other night and went somewhere. What will we do about that boy?!

Thursday, February 27, 2020

I'm waiting on the girls to finish eating their oatmeal and brush their teeth before we head out the door for school. Brian left a bit ago to take John to cross country practice at the high school. He plans to stop in at a job site out in this area then he'll come home and work from here. I love when he works from home. even after 23 years together we still never run out of things to talk about and our time together always feels like a date. Maybe it's because we've spent so much of our marriage surrounded by little ones that times alone still feel like a treat.

William is still here. He rides the bus still because he doesn't have a license or car yet. He was on the verge of getting his license earlier this month when he decided to "borrow" our my car in the middle of the night and go meet someone to fight. I don't know what teenage boys fight about, but the fight went sour and two boys stole his wallet and Airpods in the process. The Airpods were eventually returned but the wallet wasn't, so William has to get a new permit before he can take his driving test. Raising teenage boys isn't for the faint of heart. 

Brian and William spent last weekend building a slide for the girls' tree house as a gift for Olive for her birthday. Brian couldn't find one to buy that was long enough to go off the tallest side of the tree house, so I joked that I was surprised he wasn't going to build one. I guess he took that as a challenge and designed and built it!

Hazel has a play at school today with one line - "The bad cat?!" Brian is working from home so we can both go watch it. 

I recently found my collection of old blogposts from back when I was on xanga and was inspired to get back to blogging. How sweet it is to go back and read about our day to day activities. Those days were long and exhausting but I would go back in a heartbeat to taste them one more time.

I'm sitting here in the kitchen with Olive while she does her weekly homework packet. Hazel went to after school Bible study with friends and the boys aren't home from the high school yet. Margaret still lives here about half the time. The rest of the time she's either staying over with Claire who lives with her grandfather, or with our friends the Koplins who have a ranch on the other side of town. We don't see her much these days with all the stuff she does: college classes, nannying, Bible study, church, and friends.

Brian and I fly out to see Sam on Friday. It will be about two months since we last saw him, which by military standards is a very short time, but we want to visit him before he gets sent to his permanent duty station which should be next week when he graduates from School of Infantry. There's a strong possibility that he'll stay stateside, but there is still a chance he could be sent to a base outside the US for the next year or three. We want to be prepared. He sounds like he's doing well. We get to talk to him every weekend, usually for several hours. He's happy enough. He goes over to the music stores near base every Saturday and Sunday and spends hours playing guitar with other Marines.

I watched Sawyer all day today. He's the 10 month old that I've been watching a few days a week since August. He's a cute little fella and his parents are super chill for first timers which makes my job a lot easier. The weather was pleasant so we spent a good amount of time outside today.

I'm trying to get back in the saddle with running since the Austin marathon a week or so ago. After walking the girls to school I ran five miles. I'm not sure how often I'll plan to run now that marathon season is past. I pretty much ran all year round after last year's marathon, but I'm not sure if I want to do that or not.

Brian and I are leading a group in the ReEngage marriage class at church again this year. This is our third time through it. We joined about two years ago when our church did a pilot program for those who might be interested in leading a group the next time around. Brian and I needed some marriage help so we jumped in thinking maybe we could get help and in turn help other couples. We have been so encouraged and challenged each time we've gone through it. One of the most difficult parts is that Brian and I have had to share our testimony each semester. It's hard to share a testimony when your story isn't finished and you're still in the thick of things. We are scheduled to share on Monday. There are about 70-80 in this semester's group and I don't LOVE public speaking. I'm glad Brian and I will have our weekend together in Cali to practice.

Well, William just got dropped off by a friend and John's bus just drove by, so I'm going to wrap up so I can get dinner made. Hopefully I'll be more diligent to keep up with this blogging thing this time.