Just Another Day in the Commander

How many of you who are not from the West forget that Utah and Idaho are even states? Go ahead and raise your hands - I know this happens because I often forget that Iowa and Wisconsin are states. Well I am here to tell you that Utah and Idaho have some of the best scenery in the lower 48 (I don't feel qualified to compare them to Alaska - yet). Today we drove through the Flaming Gorge across Utah and then north into Idaho. During our drive something amazing happened - it rained! I haven't seen rain in six months.

We made a necessary trip to WalMart in Rock Springs this morning, so we got off to a late start, but we still made great time and the weather held out for us again, even the wind died down. We bought each of the kids a digital camera to take their own pictures. They maxed out their memory cards taking pictures of all of the dead game on the side of the road and the cool signs they saw, so then they took off their socks and shoes and staged a sock puppet show. Thanks to a $17 investment called Mickey's Numbers Round Up, the cameras, and the sock puppets we had a generally tear free day.

The late start made us reconsider our final destination for today and we decided to stop in Twin Falls, Idaho, where the kids are currently knocked out after pool playtime. It's about time for me to join them.

Tomorrow we head for the reservation and the break from long days in the car is welcomed by us all.

Like A Band of Gypsies Rolling Down the Highway

Day one of traveling went pretty well. It was a very odd feeling to leave Colorado Springs this morning and try to wrap my mind around the fact that we weren't coming back. It's a surreal thing.

The weather held out well for us. No snow, no rain, but lots of wind. Some stretches of road were having gusts over 50 mph and we even saw an overturned semi-truck stretched across the entire highway (from our vantage point we could see that the driver survived, but I'm sure he was hurt). The wind was no joke. We are so grateful that John's dad, upon hearing that we would be making this drive with two cars in January, volunteered to come out and drive one car so that I wouldn't have to drive. I've been married to John for long enough that his dad knows I would be white knuckled and gray haired by the end of the first day. So, with the high winds a few bungee cords broke free from the load of stuff in the back of John's truck and Papa Joe lost a glove that he had thrown back there, but we were fortunate enough to avoid accidents and road closures.

The bad weather was driving the game really low, so we were fortunate enough to see herds of elk, buffalo, and antelope, which we all think is the coolest thing about driving west.

The kids help up fairly well. Meltdowns started at the end of the day, but praise God for the person that invented the portable DVD player and the husband who booked a suite at a hotel so that the kids could be in a separate room.

So the end of day one finds us at the Holiday Inn in Rock Springs, WY. Tomorrow we drive through Utah and Idaho, stopping in Boise for the night (so that we can wake up and go to Cabela's before driving to the reservation on Tuesday). Is it too soon to be desperately missing my bed?

Goodbye Stinks!

A million things that have been happening in the process of this move that have made me mad, or aggravated, but last night something happened that just made me plain sad -- I had to say goodbye to my friends.
I've made lots of great friends at Fort Carson, and have even been reunited with great friends from other duty stations while we have been here, but my close circle of friends have been some of the best that I have ever had. Friends who will watch your kids at the drop of a hat when you have to go to the ER. Friends who drive up to church only to see that you have just dropped your untouched strawberry limeade and proceed to drive to Sonic to get you a new one before Bible Study starts. Friends that make you laugh so hard you snort. Friends who will miss you enough to Skype you into Bible Study, and friends who, upon hearing about you being Skyped into Bible Study, will say "so that when you talk too much we can mute you".
I'm trying to trust that God will be faithful to deliver me to a new group of friends who are just as awesome, but that doesn't make it any easier to leave this group of friends. Being without them is going to be a major void in my life, and I'll admit, I cried all the way home from dinner last night.
I love you Melanie, Alicia, Lori, Susan, and Kathryn! I'm going to miss you all sooo much!

Hard Lessons

You really get to know God when you become a parent. I was not so gently reminded of this after the loss of G's dog today.
Gunnar has a very realistic grip on death, so when I told him what had happened this afternoon he just wailed and wailed and wailed. It was horrible. Mostly because there was nothing that I could do to fix it or make it go away. I quickly conceded to the fact that pain is a life lesson that has to be learned and that you have to let your children feel pain, but I would go through a million drug free deliveries of Gunnar just to keep from ever having to give me such horrible news again. My heart is just breaking for Gunnar.
So while I was privately weeping over the fact that I couldn't fix his pain it occurred to me that when I'm in pain, God is weeping over it. I'm breaking his heart.
Big difference -- most of my pain is self inflicted. It's generally something that resluted from me trying to be in control of my own circumstances and not trusting God. I really have to stop doing that.
So overall, some hard lessons learned today at Casa McBean, but thank God, tomorrow His mercies are new.

Nine Years and Counting

Why yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is John and I on our quasi-honeymoon in January of 2002. It's difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that John and I have pretty much been connected at the hip (barring deployments, of course) for a decade now, and that we'll be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary on Wednesday.

Most of the friends that we have made post-Italy have no concept of how odd a couple we were in the beginning. I'm pretty sure there was a "Trevino/McBean Divorce Pool" poster somewhere in the 1/508 barracks. No joke. But we're still going strong, laughing until our stomachs hurt everyday, supporting each other goals, and raising our little family. God has been ridiculously good to us.

About Colorado

Keeping it in perspective...

The Top 5 Things That I Am NOT Going to Miss About Colorado...
1. The weather. I don't mind cold, I don't mind snow, I don't mind rain, and I really don't mind warm weather, but I do mind having them all in the same day.
2. Horrible drivers. I know that there are bad drivers everywhere, but there are truly an exceptional amount of them in CS, and the weather doesn't help this issue at all.
3. Having to drive 45 minutes to get somewhere. I hate big cities.
4. The liberal politics.
5. Wanting to live in Alaska!

The Top 5 Things That I Am Going to Miss About Colorado...
1. My friends.
2. The view from my livingroom window (though I'm banking on a good view at Wainwright).
3. Jake and Telly's. I'm pretty sure that there aren't going to be any restuarants in Fairbanks that serve flaming goat cheese.
4. Reasonably priced gas.
5. Focus on the Family. If you live here, you know.

So This is Where We Are

This is a sad, sad blog. I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted anything. Of course, it's no secret what has been keeping me away -- until about two weeks ago I was living on dry toast and Gatorade thanks to the new baby, which does not make for interesting blogs. In November I finally finished my Masters Degree, which means less time on the computer and less blogging in an attempt to avoid homework, and the king of all things that have kept me from blogging is the move from Colorado to Alaska, and that is where I find myself today (and have found myself for the last two weeks) -- getting ready for the move.
A lot of people will tell you that deployments are the worst thing about being a military wife, and I agree, but moving may be it's equal. Not going somewhere new or making new friends, but the actual act of getting your house ready to be packed and shipped, figuring out what you are going to do with no household goods, making sure that every piece of paper is signed, etc. is really the hidden monster in the Army.
Now don't get me wrong, because moving is actually my favorite part of the Army experience (well aside from the uniformed husand and all that entails), and this is a big move for us. John and I have been trying to beg, borrow, and 4187 people to death for about 6 years to get an assignment to Alaska, so we are super excited to be moving. However, excitement is not what I am feeling today. What I am feeling today is exhausted from staying up until one last night getting things in order, fear that the Army is going to send us meth head movers again, and hope that our friends will have mercy on us and invite us over to dinner once we're out of house so that I don't have to eat pizza too often.
Really, I just want this part to be over. I'm ready to be in the Jeep, heading away from Fort Carson (bittersweet though it may be) and heading toward a new chapter in the Army adventure.