PFC Phelps

I grew up next door to a family that very nearly mirrored our own. Five kids, but they have 3 girls and 2 boys, and we have 2 girls, 3 boys. We moved away when I was thirteen, but Alisa and I were the oldest, and bumped into each other again in college. I'm pretty sure we are friends for life, and we often joke that she's my "Oldest" friend, since we've known each other since we were one.

Her brother James (I know him as Jamie), is a US Marine (another similarity), and Jamie unfortunately experienced the ugliest side of the war in Iraq when his humvee was ambushed. Jamie was slightly injured, but lost one of his good friends, Chance Phelps, during the ambush. I remember when this all happened, as Alisa and I stayed in touch, and Mrs. Cooper has been in touch with my Mom, and they share stories about being a Marine Mom. I remember being so glad and thankful that Jamie was safe, but saddened by the loss of this Marine that I didn't even know.

Time went by, and I've followed Chance's story, as Alisa sent me links to the efforts Chance's Mother has made on his behalf. I remember her saying that one of the buildings on the Marine base in California was being named in his honor. I was further moved when I read the story/blog of the Marine that escorted Pfc. Phelps back to his hometown for burial. You can read his account (and not without a tear) at: http://www.blackfive.net/main/2004/04/taking_chance.html .


Now, apparently, this story has been made into a movie for HBO. Alisa has kept me in the loop on this as well. If any of you have HBO, and can record it for me, I would be so grateful.

Here is the message Alisa sent me about the movie:

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/12/25/sundance-movie-trailer-taking-chance/


This is the link to the film trailer of the movie "Taking Chance." It is based on PFC Chance Phelps who was killed in Iraq. Chance was the gunner in my brother's humvee when they were ambushed in Iraq on April 9, 2004.
The movie is set to air on HBO in February.

Just Click Refresh....

Being a Stay-At-Home-Mom has its particular challenges when the time comes to round out one year, and begin another. In the midst of all the holiday chaos, someone had the bright idea to let the kiddos be out of school, so that you have one more (or two, or three, or even four) thing(s) to deal with. Don't get me wrong, my kids and I made some wonderful memories over the holidays. We went to see Santa, we walked up and down the street after dark- looking at the "ho-ho's" (Coen's term for Christmas lights), we decorated cookies, made a Star Wars wreath, worked on a paper Christmas chain garland, and watched oh-so-many holiday videos on TV. (All of this should point out the lengths to which I went to fill the time)....

Anyway, along with the kids being out for school, most of my social circles, Bible studies, etc. were also put on hold during the Holidays, so that we WOULDN'T have that one extra thing to deal with. That worked out great, up until about 2 weeks ago. And then, I realized, I had experienced exactly TWO instances of adult-only time over the course of 3-4 weeks. This led me to some sort of slow and gradual melt-down over the last week, which ended with me sobbing hysterically to Martin, that "I NEED SOME GROWNUP TIME!!!!!!" I proceeded to tell him that I had been sitting at home, clicking "refresh" on my email or facebook profile, in the hopes that Someone, Somewhere would be available to chat. I call people, but they're all busy, and while many of my friends are now SAHM's also, our schedules seldom line up to be able to chat. I was feeling pretty low.

Needless to say, got a phone call from Martin from work today... just checking up on me. Made me happy, I must say. Tomorrow my Bible study starts up again, and things will swing back into normal- at least, until Friday and Monday, when my kids are ONCE AGAIN out of school for a Holiday. Sigh.

I don't write this to make you feel sorry for me, or to get someone to pick up the phone and call me. I write this, because somewhere out there, there's someone else clicking refresh, and waiting.... never fear, my dear, you're not alone.

I-scream, you-scream....

One of our favorite things about Dickey's BBQ, here in Texas, is the free ice cream. That, and of course, Kids Eat Free Wednesdays and Sundays (as proclaimed by the sign hanging in the restaurant, which Mason read at least 10 times yesterday).

After several other attempts to eat at over-crowded restaurants after church yesterday, we landed our little tooshies in a booth at Dickey's and settled in for a good ol' lunch of Texas Beef Brisket. The boys chowed down on the Dino chicken nuggets, sausage and mac-n-cheese; while Martin and enjoyed our beef brisket, along with Martin's favorite- free reign on the condiment bar that includes pepperoncinis, pickles and spicy bbq sauce to your heart's content.

We decided that the boys had killed a healthy enough portion of their lunch, so Martin and I caved, and filled small white styrofoam cups with the delectable, creamy ice cream treat. This also made me cave, and get some for myself. While we watched and laughed at Daddy's (Martin's) forehead sweating from the spicy bbq sauce; we also watched in horror as Coen explored the world of ice cream by shoveling in a huge adult size spoonful of ice cream, right into his tiny little mouth. We were all shouting, "Brain freeze! No, no! Brain Freeze!", but how does one explain brain freeze to a 2 1/2 year old? There is, I guess, no explaining, and we watched (and truthfully, yes- LAUGHED) as the bewilderment crossed his face, and then, in true mommy form, I threw my napkin out to catch the ice cream that quickly left his little mouth. We tried to explain that you have to take LITTLE bites of ice cream, not big ones. But don't we all really just want to gobble down a big bite?

I guess that Brain Freeze is something you have to learn to avoid from trial and error.