Thankful Day 21 plus 12 Days of Christmas - Marine Style!

Today I am thankful to have access to the public libraries! I went there this afternoon while That Other Kid was in his karate class (3 hours of PE, HELLO!) and found several books on my list of books to read this week and next. I also found a book about the history of Thanksgiving that I thought would be fun to read on Thanksgiving morning. I am so thankful to have a library that I can use as much as I want to! The area libraries enhance our school studies sooooo much!

Now...onto something fun that I found from one of my new Marine mom friends on Facebook! Enjoy!


MARINE CORPS CHRISTMAS
On the first day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, a D.I. yelling at me.

... On the second day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me.

On the third day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, Three months of bootcamp, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me.

On the fourth day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, Four days of "Libo", Three months of bootcamp, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me.

On the fifth day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, Five M.R.E.'s, Four days of "Libo", Three months of bootcamp, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me.

On the sixth day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, a Six month deployment, Five M.R.E.'s, Four days of "Libo", Three months of bootcamp, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me.

On the seventh day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, Seven seas to sail, a Six month deployment, Five M.R.E.'s, Four days of "Libo", Three months of bootcamp, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me.

On the eighth day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, Eight brand new rifles, Seven seas to sail, a Six month deployment, Five M.R.E.'s, Four days of "Libo", Three months of bootcamp, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me.

On the ninth day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, Nine ladies dancing, Eight brand new rifles, Seven seas to sail, a Six month deployment, Five M.R.E.'s, Four days of "Libo", Three months of bootcamp, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me.

On the tenth day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, the Tenth of November, Nine ladies dancing, Eight brand new rifles, Seven seas to sail, a Six month deployment, Five M.R.E.'s, Four days of "Libo", Three months of bootcamp, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, Eleven general orders, the Tenth of November, Nine ladies dancing, Eight brand new rifles, Seven seas to sail, a Six month deployment, Five M.R.E.'s, Four days of "Libo", Three months of bootcamp, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, the Marine Corps sent to me, Twelve months of training, Eleven general orders, the Tenth of November, Nine ladies dancing, Eight brand new rifles, Seven seas to sail, a Six month deployment, Five M.R.E.'s, Four days of "Libo", Three months of bootcamp, Two yellow footprints, And a D.I. yelling at me!

Confessions

It's Tuesday so that means confession time with Shrinking Jeans. This has not been one of my better weeks. Let's go with bullet points to lay it all out, shall we?

* I'm doing training walks for the Komen 3 Day Walk for the Cure on the weekends now. I have to get up at 4:15 am to be ready to walk at 5 am on both Saturday and Sunday! I'm a night owl so this is HARD for me! Once I get going I'm doing fine but the mental aspect of getting up before the sunrise is hard on me.

* I walked almost 16 miles this weekend and I got blisters on the BALLS of my feet! This is WITH the new shoes and new socks that were supposed to prevent issues with my feet!

* Yesterday I could barely walk, my feet were so sore! On top of that I was exhausted because Sunday night I got less than 4 hours of sleep....after having only got 4 or 5 each night of the weekend! Last night I crashed at 10:30 and I crashed HARD!! The only reason I stayed up that long was because I wanted to spend some time foam rolling my legs and soaking my feet in Epsom Salts!!

* Today I felt more normal! I'm planning to do my boot camp workout that I had wanted to do last night...it will only be Week 3, Day 3, but I am happy to say that I have been sticking with it and doing them...that is a good thing in my opinion!

* I'm doing well with my walk training but as I was telling one of the women on my training walk the fundraising for the Komen 3 Day is what is scary to me! She reminded me that we still have 3 1/2 months so just do what I can to get the word out and the money will come in!

* Since I started these training walks I have been STARVING!! From what a lot of you have said this is normal but I really don't feel like I can afford to eat that many calories! I'm supposed to be losing weight!! I have goals, people!!

* This is birthday week -- my oldest son turned 21 Sunday and my birthday is tomorrow, so this week has been less than stellar in the food department! I celebrated Sunday with dinner out, we went out tonight for his birthday and some friends are taking me out tomorrow night, so I've been eating ALOT of food this week, although I did use a lot of calories this weekend, I'm still behind on my calories spent category! That isn't good!! Having my child turn 21 has been rather emotional for me! Realizing that he is really a GROWN UP is hard for me!! I think not having him home to really celebrate was harder, too!

* Earlier today I got another blow from him....he WAS scheduled to leave for Marine bootcamp on September 19th, but today he got a call from his recruiter telling him that if he passes the physical test on Friday morning (where he has to run 1.5 miles in 13 minutes, do 3 pull ups, and a bunch (I can't remember how many) of situps in a minute then he leaves AUGUST 8th!! I'm not worried about him passing this part of the training so that means he's off sooner than I am prepared for! AGH!! That's less than 2 weeks away!!

* I was ready for September but August....that's too stinkin' soon!! I may need therapy! and lots of HUGS!! I may even need booze and I DONT DRINK!!

I guess that's all...I'm sure theres more but I need to go so I can #Tworkout some before bootcamp!!

My Baby is 21!!

How could this be? I went to bed one night and the next the day I went into the hospital and after 11 hours of grueling labor complete with pitocin, epidural, and lots of squeezing the life out of hubby's hand That Kid was born!

I blinked my eyes again and he was sitting up, crawling, running (he never walked...it was always running!) and talking!






I blinked my eyes again and I was teaching him how to read, write, tie his shoes, and master all types of "school" stuff! I homeschooled him all through high school so I was blessed enough to watch him learn and grow throughout his school years!






I blinked again and it was time for him to learn to drive!! Oh my, that was scary! It's still scary but I've gotten used to it! Yes, I taught him to drive, then we proceeded to buy him his first car and watched him drive off in it. Talk about scary! As he went from a teenager to a young man I watched him and stood in awe that this man/child was created by my hubby and me.





His first time out driving! Whooohhooo!!



First car...thanks to his grandparents for offering such a great deal and us buying it!




This was him at his 18th birthday party! We rented a boat and went out on the lake. Look at that hair!!



His first time to vote - I was quiet pleased with him for taking that opportunity although many his age don't bother!



This is my favorite picture from his Senior Pictures. It captures his personality pretty well, I think.



How is it that in 21 short years he has gone from a baby who needed EVERYTHING to a young man about to leave our home and serve our country in the USMC? Although I am having a VERY difficult time accepting that my "baby" is about to leave the nest I am immensely proud of him for making a decision that will not only better his life but our country's.

From the time I started this blog I have always called him "That Kid". It was a nickname we came up with as a baby for him, but now that he is a full-fledged adult and about to become a Marine I have decided that I'm going to call him "My Marine".

I love "My Marine" and I pray that your life is everything you hope and dream it will be over the next two decades. You have brought many years of joy to my life, even if I don't always show you!! Love ya, baby....Mom

So Much To Be Thankful For

I'm staying up far too late once again....although I am tired I have much on my mind. Tonight I am thankful for my oldest son, who is right now down in Houston. He drove down there today to visit a friend of his who was admitted into a mental institution on Thursday because he threatened suicide. It really shook That Kid up and seemed to shock him tremendously. He had just talked to him a couple of days before and he seemed to be just fine. I texted him tonight and asked how his friend was and his reply was "Not good. He's in a really bad ward. They are hoping to move him somewhere else soon." This is very sad to me. Here is a young man in his early 20's who feels he has nothing to live for. From what I understand he comes from a typical middle class family. He went to a private Christian college (that's where my son knows him from) so he obviously has a Christian background or he wouldn't have attended this school.

I think what concerns me the most about this situation is that there are young men and women out there that are in their early 20's that don't feel they have anything to live for. They perceive their lifes worthless. They maybe don't know what they want to do with their life. They don't have a goal. They don't see themselves in college but know they have to do something to get an education to start a career to start being a grown up and living in the real world. College is not for everyone but most people (myself included) feel that you need a college education in order to get into a decent career these days. Unless you just stumble into something you need to start your career and build up before you start making enough money to support yourself and (later) a family.

I haven't talked much about this lately but That Kid dropped out of college. He went to college for 3 semesters then decided he didn't want to continue "wasting" money and time for a college education right now. He has always hated school. never really been a "book learning" kind of kid. I homeschooled him and he made good grades but I geared his education toward that of a non-book learning kind of education as much as I felt I could. Knowing what I have learned over the past 5 years I could have done better but....hind-site is always better right??

Anyway, That Kid has decided that for now, the best option for him is to join the military. This scares the ba-jeebers out of me. When he first mentioned it I freaked out! I couldn't believe MY KID wanted to be a Marine. Now that I have had 8 months to mentally prepare myself for this I know that it is the best thing he could do for himself. Right now he doesn't really know what he wants to do for a career. He doesn't really feel like he has a direction to go. He doesn't really know what makes him tick. All he knows is that he HATES college and he HAS to do something with his life! He is about to turn 21 and I am having a hard time with this fact too. My baby is not a baby anymore. He is a MAN who is about to tackle the most difficult task of his life. He is about to join the toughest branch of the military and become of the most respected people in this country. He has decided to take matters into his own hands and do something with himself and become someONE!

Thinking about the situation with his friend makes me sad. BUT...thinking about the fact that that could be my son makes me even more sad. Thinking about how he has decided to not just sit around feeling like he can't do anything to better himself and has decided to join the military makes me PROUD of him. Although him joining the military freaks me out on a daily basis still I have come to accept that this is the best thing he could do for himself right now. It gives him direction, purpose, and something to do not only for himself but for our country. He will be a fine Marine and I will be praying for his safety daily.

I pray that my son's friend will recover fully and find a purpose to his life soon. Will you join me in this prayer??

**PS Sorry if this post is disjointed and makes no sense. I am tired but felt it necessary to get it written and posted. Hopefully it makes enough sense that you will understand what I was trying to say.