In the Persian Gulf

I wanted to update and let everyone know that the Lincoln made it through the Straight of Hormuz earlier today. It was said to be a normal, scheduled passage. What is that, exactly? It was tense but uneventful.

As you can see from this satellite picture of the Straight, it is not easy to navigate an aircraft carrier through. It has 2 traffic lanes, one for incoming and one for outgoing ships. Each of the lanes is 3 miles wide, with 2 miles separating them. (Wikipedia has been my friend lately!). That is not much wiggle room for a floating airport! The incoming travel lane is on the coast of Iran. Even in the most peaceful of times, traveling on a US carrier through the narrow straight is very tense.  You can read about the USS Abraham Lincoln's travel through the Straight into the Persian Gulf here. I am sure more news will follow, but in case you don't follow me on facebook and have been praying, I wanted to let you know that they are through and safe. Thank you for the prayers both for the ship's travel, and for my family and the many others who have been holding our breath this week. The danger is not completely gone, this is a fairly unstable place right now, but the imminent threat seems to have passed. Please do continue to pray. Thank you for being faithful to pray and for your sweet words of encouragement.

Fear

Marvin is underway and deployed a LOT. We have dealt with long and short separations since the very beginning of our relationship. It is a part of who we are as a couple and a family. It is hard to watch the ship pull away, we miss him while he is gone, but we have never feared that he would not come home. I have said often, that Marvin being on an aircraft carrier is the absolute safest place for anyone in any branch of the military. No one would dare to threaten a US aircraft carrier. The problem is that someone has. Iran has issued a threat and the USS Abraham Lincoln, with my husband and many others aboard, will soon face it. Two carriers are in the Arabian Sea right now. This will most likely lead to the first test of the threat issued by a very unstable, very desperate Iran as they pass through a very small area called the Straight of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf. Most think the threats issued were simply empty threats, which is probably the case. The fact that they are most likely empty threats does not seem to ease the fear that settles in during the quiet moments before I pray my heart out. I know without a doubt that my God is in control, and I know without a doubt that whatever happens, He will use it. But this fear is new to me and threatens to strangle the promises that I know to be true. Would you please pray for our brave men and women? Would you pray with me that our carrier passes both in and out of the Straight of Hormuz safely? Would you pray that our carrier will be safe during the time it spends in the Persian Gulf? Would you also pray that the families waiting for the return of our loved ones will have peace, that fear will not overcome our hope?

Snowmageddan 2012

We have survived one of the biggest snowstorms on record for our area. We had about 18 inches at the peak. We had an entire week of nothing but family time as we were completely snowed in! Most of the time with no tv or internet, some without electricity. It was really great to just soak in the people that my children are growing into and to just enjoy each other. At least for a few days:)

Sam was the first of the kids to notice the flakes begin to fall. He was so excited!

These girls are BFFs! They were looking at the flakes on their mittens :)

I love this sweet boy!

It is coming harder and Sam is thrilled!

Michael is building snow castles!

At the end of day 1, it cleared just long enough to glimpse this beauty.

The clearing didn't last long!

Harley absolutely LOVES the snow! It was so deep, he had to literally jump up over the snow to move. He was all over like a big, black rabbit!

This view is almost worth the seemingly perpetual gray. Those times that it does finally clear, I get to glimpse firsthand the true awesomeness of our Creator

The snow just clung to every surface and then the freezing rain weighed it all down

Beauty and stillness 

The snow turned to rain just yesterday and the snow is quickly fading. It has been an experience, the stillness and beauty that surrounds us when the snow comes is truly awesome. I'm glad that it is over though :)

Just Checking In

It has been a while since I last wrote. Mostly because we are in a holding pattern. We are plugging away our days with school. After Christmas, we added a couple of new subjects to our regular routine. Michael started learning Tagalog (Filipino language) with Rosetta Stone. Both the bigger boys have started a weekly journal and added spelling to the mix. We had put those things on hold while they went through the Writing 8 program to help with their handwriting issues. Josh and the girls started sentence school. It is a kindergarten level grammar class that teaches basic sentence structure. It was originally going to be Josh going through it, but my girls are so excited about school, they wanted to be observers. They went from there to active participants and as long as they can keep up and want to be there, I certainly am not gonna tell them that they can't! I love that they love to learn! It helps on the days that Michael doesn't. Most days go really well for everyone, but on those days of struggle, it is nice to see some enthusiasm for learning from someone! Sentence School is by a company that writes our handwriting curriculum. It is called Handwriting Without Tears and we love it for the beginning learners. It is a multi sensory program and it has been great! There is not much time left once school is done, laundry is washed and folded, several meals and snacks are served and cleaned up, and the floor is vacuumed and mopped periodically. We throw Josh's music class, church, AWANA, and a couple trips to the store and our days are pretty filled up. Not very exciting things to blog about! We are still alive and well, just boring here lately :)