Summer's Finally Here!!

We kicked off summer with our first annual Welcome Summer Party  last week (we had one of these every year growing up and I wanted to continue the tradition in my family). The party's theme was "luau" and some where the tropical gods knew that we were celebrating because the day turned out beautiful. Sun was shining, children were rejecting my pulled pork and chicken salad sandwiches asking for PB&J instead (in time they will drool for my culinary skills!), luau music was playing, and of course, water games were in full swing.

We gave the kids bubble activities.   I guess we should have specified that you blow bubbles OUT not inhale the solution through the pipe, 

hilarious to watch...icky to taste. 

The thing that cracked us up is that kid after kid made the same mistake. They sucked in then ran for the house gasping for water.

Amusing all around. 

Next came the water gun fights. My husband was so kind as to make targets for the kids to shoot at, but, one kid "accidentally" squirts another, and you know how it ends. 

The next activity was punch balls. Can I tell you how much I enjoy watching kids try to hit other kids with balloons only to hit themselves in the face because the balloon is attached to a rubber band? 

   This is the brave group waiting for the water balloons they saw getting filled up all day. I told them to line up while I explained from the back deck how to play the next game. Oh, the fun I had watching them scatter a few seconds later as I unleashed the bucket of balloons I had hidden next to me. The other kids were wise to my little plan and opted to stand next to me on the deck, they knew that you stay were the balloons are at all costs. In the end it was an all out balloon war which resulted in a lot of wet children eating their ice cream sundays out side.  At that point, we figured that they were wet already so we might as well go all the way. I had them all go to the front yard and warned that dripping children were given a "no reentry" into the house but they were unfased. We set up an obstical course in the yard and they did that until it just dissolved into CJ (my little brother) spraying all the kids. They loved it. Everyone went home tired, wet, and so happy that summer is finally here. 

Thanks for filling up like 150 water balloons mommies! 

   

And thank you CJ for the 45 minuets you spend squirting a group of 15 screaming kids, to quote him, "that is every grown up's dream"!

you are God's tender mercy...

First off, THANK YOU. I am deeply touched by the out pouring of love that I have received. Thank you for the e-mails, FB comments, and phone calls. Knowing that there is a network of people out there thinking about my family and  sending us prayers or positive thoughts and words of encouragement is truly strengthening. I appreciate the advice and wise counsel that you've shared with me and it has given me a lot to think about. This blog and FB have been such a wonderful vehicle of connecting my life with the lives of people that I have known since I was a child but rarely see as well as keeping my current circle of friends in touch with one another's daily events. I love reading through people's blogs to see what is making their lives tick as well as sharing a bit of my life with those who want to bear witness to it. So thank you for being a part of this with me by reading my blog and sharing your thoughts and input as well offering glimpses into your lives through your blogs.  

When my laptop was stolen it had almost two years worth of journaling saved on it. Since I got my new laptop last week, I have been sorting through e-mails, blog posts, snippets of feelings and thoughts I wrote and saved on my husbands computer, and our home computer all in the attempt to recreate what was lost. I am so grateful that I have this blog. It has photos and antidotes about the daily perils of motherhood and I have shared where my head and heart where along the way. The thing is, while going through the posts for journal recreation, I noticed that the last time I posted something about the family was almost two months ago. I also noticed that for every two post that are published, there is a post saved as a draft. I usually write something then think that it isn't really in line with the spirit of the blog or it is too personal and keep it to myself. So I am thinking about making two blogs. Keeping this as a place to document all the little adventures and moments of daily family life to be bound together at the end of the year (like a photo album with commentary) and doing another one that is more about how I am processing the world. Should I just keep everything together and censored for a family blog format or should I separate the Bartlett Family Blog from a blog that is more my rambling observations, attempts at learning life lessons, and just documenting my internal journey? Can the two go together, or are they too conflicting in purpose? 

The really intimate feelings I have just can't be expressed properly in type. Those things go in my journal. There is something about the smell of the leather cover and the scratching of pen across thick parchment paper that adds weight to the words being written. Those words are personal and not open for public review. But I can sense a lot future blog posts that are written as I try to process what is going on around me and inside of me and sharing it makes me feel less alone as I go through it. I also get so much from the feed back I receive. I love it when someone says something that makes me go, hmmm, I hadn't though of it from that perspective before. Everything is really crazy in my life right now (on so many fronts) and that is reflected in how jumbled my thoughts and emotions are. Writing helps me sort it all out and really look at it so that I can figure out how to grow from it. And, maybe by sharing it with others, it will help them grow in some way too. I just don't want to overwhelm these blog followers with too many posts that are just -thoughts by Shama if they are just interested in reading a light hearted family blog.  Just something I'm thinking about. 

Who does THIS at 35???

So Jon and I have a little announcement....

Jon is joining the ARMY

  He is ready to be all he can be

I am completely serious. He leaves in about 4 weeks for officer training camp in San Antonio Texas and will be gone for almost 11 weeks. He is signing on for a three year commitment and will be stationed at Madigan on Fort Lewis base about and hour from our house. We have been researching this option for about two years now for a couple of reasons. 1-getting his Doctorates degree was really expensive and we have about $82K in student loan debt all of which the military will pay off during the three years he's in 2-Jon has wanted to be trained in clinical pharmacy for a while now but he would have to go back to school and do a residency and that just isn't an option for our family and 3-who isn't curious what Jon will look like with a military hair cut?

The recruiter has tried to get him to take different posts all over the United States but in the end we said that we didn't want to move (let me be honest, I didn't want to move) and that we would only join if they could make that happen. It didn't look like there was even the remotest possibility until two weeks ago when they called and said that the one post in the world we would be willing to accept had an opening. 

So I am entering the land of the military wives. In over 12 years Jon and I haven't spent more than 4 days a part not to mention that he is an amazing involved father, so this is going to be tuff all around. I am still kind of adjusting. We are scrambling to put in a new security system, finishing putting up trim and base boards, clean out the garage, get the yard pruned, fertilized, and ready for summer, as well as shoring ourselves up emotionally to be separated. I have seen my friends do it. I have always admired their strength and their positive attitudes even when they spend months as a single parent. I guess I will learn if I am made of such stern stuff. 

I could use some input on how and when to tell our 7 and 4 year old that daddy is going to be gone for a while as well as some coping strategies that you mom's who've been through it have used. As a parent I am open for input on how to keep this separation from being traumatic for the kids. Personally I need to know how you keep yourselves together when everything feels totally overwhelming. There has been a lot of upheaval and trauma in my personal life recently so this comes at at time when my emotional tank is running on low. Jon is my healing balm. Jon is my snuggle at the end of the day that reassures me that no matter what else is going on in our lives, in that moment, in that space, everything is just right. Where am I going to find peace like that when I don't have his arms to curl up in? 

L*O*V*E

For me there are two ways of loving others. The first is the general sort of, loving my fellow man, kind of love. You know, do no harm, lift up whenever you have the opportunity, seek to see the good in people, the golden rule type of love. There have been times in my life when I have been too self absorbed, too insecure, or too selfish to take the time to love those around me in this way. I have always been ashamed of those times; when I put someone down instead of building them up, when I have not gone out of my way even though I knew that the smallest effort on my part would mean so much to another. In those times I prayerfully ask forgiveness and try to live my life in harmony with the directive, “love one another as I have loved you”. This kind of love is the general mission statement for how I want to live my life. While not always easy, it doesn’t take an emotional toll.


The other kind of love, well that is much more personal and comes with a huge emotional price tag: unconditional love. To love without condition…that’s tough. That means that I am called to love even when the love isn’t returned. [That kinds of sucks] I am called to love even when the other person doesn’t do anything to deserve it. [Seems sort of unfair, don’t you think?] I am called to love even when the other person doesn’t want to be loved by me. [Why take the time?] I am called to love even when the other person is careless with my heart. [Couldn’t pick only those who can appreciate me…even a little??]I am called to love even during the times that I don’t like the other person. [Where’s the fun in that?] I am called to love even though it makes me feel exposed and vulnerable. [There is no joy in being crushed by someone] I am called to love because it isn’t my love that I’m sharing, it is God’s. It is not of my creation. The power of loving someone no matter the cost, no matter the outcome, is divine. That is the lesson I learned today.