Day 13: The Bamboo, The Dance, and Pics from Iraq

Well we have made it to day 13. Almost 2 weeks already. I'm not going to lie and say it's been easy for us, but we are making it. Thank God. We've had a couple of rocky days here. First, Valentine's Day happened. That was a tough one for me, with all the lovey-dovey advertisements on the TV.

But thanks to my thoughful husband, who left me a beautiful bamboo on my front doorstep, it got better. Attached was this note: "I love you! Keep this away from the cat. Love -D."

Now you, the reader, who is not familar with my household, or my cat, may wonder... Let me say this. I've got a cat, whom I rescued shortly after those huge hurricanes swept through Florida and made their way over to New Orleans. She was tiny, black and ohhh so cute. Notice the word: was. Oh.. she's still black. That's about it. Her name is Bella. That is short for Belladonna. Yes, the poison. She likes to think she runs the house. She doesn't care who gets in her way, if she wants it, she gets it.

Now... this lovely bamboo my husband just got me is not the first bamboo my husband has sent me from a deployment. When we first moved to Florida, he was called away on a deployment shortly after we moved into our house there. He sent me a bamboo, just because, with a note that says, "Just something to get us started in the new place. I hope this will grow like our love has. I love you always. Love -D." (And yes, my sappy self has kept this note..hehe) It came in a beautiful chinese vase, and was tiny little bamboo stalks, with tiny little leaves. Well it grew. And grew. It was full and green...until...we got the cat. She ate it. All of it. Nothing but bare stalks left. I was so sad, that I cried. I kept trying to revive it, because it meant so much to me, but I finally gave up in defeat.

Have I got the best husband in the world or what?! He got me a new one for Valentine's Day. He could have gotten me a stuffed bear or a bunch of roses, but he remembered that bamboo and gave me a new one, and even a bigger one! Here let me show you.

My Valentine's Bamboo

Ok, also this week, my daughter had her first middle school dance. Doesn't seem possible somehow. Sometimes I have to say to myself, "Yes Mom, she really is 11." ... So Friday was the big day. I spent all night Thursday running around looking for the "right" dress for her to go to it. She could have worn jeans, or any outfit she already had, but for her first dance? No way! So we got the dress, the shoes, a sweater and even a matching necklace. I am thankful that my girl isn't like some of the girls I see out there. You know the ones... the 11 year olds going on 18. My girl is 11. I couldn't be more thankful for that. Also, my girl has a heart of gold. She went with this boy in her class that she has made friends with. A lot of the other kids tear this boy down because of his differences, my girl holds him up and reminds him of his strengths. I couldn't be prouder of her because of that. She also defends him. She was telling me a story about a boy at the dance who tried to be mean, my girl got in his face and told him to go away. And he did. What my girl lacks in size, she more than makes up in spirit. Let me show you how cute she looked before we left for the dance..(psst...Grandmas, if you right click on the pictures you can save them to your computer...)

Miss N. giving me the model pose before the dance.

After we got to the school, I met her dance partner, and his father. Really nice people. Sometimes I'm so impressed with the simple things. I was very impressed by his father. A really big guy, but very soft spoken, and from what I could tell, soft hearted. And it was torturing him as much as me, to send his boy to the dance. hehe Well let me show you a couple of pictures of them together.

Not to be outdone by his sister, Z also got his picture taken before the dance... here it is:

This is Z saying,
"Miss you Daddy!"

Yesterday was a little tough too. I wanted to take the kids to the movies, so I tried to get online to see movie times, only to not be able to. I was on the phone with technical support for over an hour, for them to tell me in the end that it was a city-wide problem and would be fixed within 24 hours. (Sigh) So, I took the kids to the new movie The Spiderwick Chronicles. It would have been a fairly good movie, minus the crying babies and bratty kids. Doesn't anyone respect anyone, anymore? If ever I went to a movie and my kids were whining, I would LEAVE the theatre.... But no, these people stayed, and I think I missed a good 30 min of the movie. So, I was stressed out, and we still had to go grocery shopping after the movie. And we were going all right until checkout, where we dropped a bottle of soda. A glass bottle... and it went everwhere. After that my nerves were shot. And if I could of had a hug, it would have been heaven.

But today is a new day. And I'm good. The kids are good.

I even got some pics from D. Let me show you...

As I get more of them, I'll post them.

But now, I think its time to go do something with the kiddlets and do my best to enjoy my day. And as always, I remind you to pray for our troops. And pray also for our military familes.