Time to pack it all up...

As with all things with the Army, our life is a lot of hurry up and wait, and then HURRY UP!!!

When it comes to moving a military family there are some good things about it, for example, the Army sends in packers to pack up your entire life and then put it on a truck and move it for you.  There are good and bad things about this, as you can imagine, for example the packing can get creative.  What do you mean you wouldn't have packed a trash can full of trash?  Why would you expect all of your kitchen utensils to be together?  What's wrong with finding a few dispersed between boxes of your kids toys?  Anyway, it gets done...and yes there are casualties of items along the way but that's life...don't worry I do have a good hissy fit (perhaps a few) every move.

To get to that point of watching packers like a hawk, you must have your PCS (Permanent Change of Station) orders in your hand in order to go to the transportation office on Post to make any plans of getting your things from one home to another.  Needless to say, this is where the hurry up and wait part comes in.

Bryan has had his report date for work for awhile, and it was at the end of June....the first week of June there were still no orders....but we had a house to move into and we knew the schools that the kids would be attending in the fall.  The kids got out of school at the end of the first week in June, and we still had no idea when we were leaving.  I was able to sign Brendan up for the Extended School Year program in Texas at the very last minute, and he was thrilled because he still got to ride the bus and his teacher was someone he LOVED!  So off he went to school, and then we got the orders, and finally got the transportation orders done.  Let's just say 7 days is plenty of time to get moved!

Exactly one week after getting orders, there were 3 packers in our house packing up all of our worldly possessions, and after 2 days of that, the moving truck arrived and that would be the day we would find out when out things would be delivered to our new house!  Now, we had pulled enough clothes and items to be without a house full of stuff for a week, everything else was boxed up and ready to be put on a truck!

Well, when a crate truck shows up instead of a moving truck, you know that things just went downhill. What's a crate truck you ask......

It's literally a trailer with wooden crates on it that your stuff gets loaded into and then it gets nailed shut and off it goes on it's adventure.  This adventure for our crates will take 3 weeks!  That's what we get for trying to do a move during the height of moving season for the military!  It was a shock to us since we had given them a destination address and no mention had been made that this would be anything other than a door to door move, but oh well!  There was nothing we could do, so I had a good meltdown then sent our things on their way, and then the next morning, we were on our way too!

Off to our new adventure...and yes that is a HUGE mound of dirt in our front yard!  We left mid-progress in our new retaining wall construction!

Lump in my throat..

We walked into the hotel in Florida and waited for the front desk clerk to check us in, she wasn't the most pleasant person to be working customer service.  She went on and on and about how she was having a bad day and everything was going wrong.  I wasn't really interested so I turned around to look at the TV so I could avoid listening to this woman complain, and that's when I saw the devastation in Oklahoma.  I was looking at the pictures of the mangled masses that used to be the collection of things that were people's lives, and that is when the words "Elementary school suffered direct hit of tornado, children and teachers trapped inside" scrolled across the screen.  I had to push the lump in my throat back down...not children in a school, again.

I managed to avoid watching too much news about Monroe, OK.  My heart aches for them, and my prayers are for them.  I care about the events, and what is going on there, but I also knew that back in Texas they were expecting bad weather, to include a threat of tornados, and my heart was sick that Bryan and I were going to be there with them.

The kids are having a grand time with Mammy and Kip, of course they are on their best behavior and putting on a grand show for their grandparents.  The boys are too young to understand the threat of bad weather, Rory on the other hand gets it.  She has a major fear of thunderstorms and tornados.  I guess that would be normal is you went through a tornado warning with tornado sirens and everything at the age of 6.  So my mom guilt really jumped into overdrive with every check of the weather app that I made.  

I'm pretty sure that I have driven my mom crazy with the "checking in" phone calls, and she and Bryan have dealt with my mini crying melt down.  We all made it...

While I don't think that mommy guilt feeling will ever go away, I'm so thankful that my mom understood and said "call as many times as you need to".

Special Olympics

It has been an emotional week, and that was just Saturday - Tuesday!  Tuesday at school Brendan's class participated in the Young Athletes program through Special Olympics.  I thought it was just going to be a small activity session that the parents had been invited to be a part of.  Boy was I wrong!  Walking out to the PE area of the school and what do I see?  The entire student body sitting around the perimeter of the black top area ready to watch Brendan's class!  The tears started flowing right then and there.  For Brendan's class to be supported and cheered on by the ENTIRE school was an incredible sight to see.  I had a very hard time composing myself, but I was thankfully wearing sunglasses and I still had a pack of tissues in my purse from Rory's communion!  By watching the video, I think you'll be able to tell where I almost completely lost it!

I hope you noticed Brendan's 5th Grade buddy who was with him the entire event.  He took the time to get on Brendan's level and walk with him, talk to him and encourage and cheer him on!  I hope he knows what such a small gesture he made has forever made an impact on Brendan's life and left an impression on my heart.

Brendan's teacher Ms. Byse goes out of her way to make sure that her kids are just as involved in the school as every other kid, and that speaks volumes to everyone!  We are so blessed to have been a part of such an incredible school campus and to have such incredible teacher and therapists who have made a difference not only in Brendan's life, but the world!

First Communion

It's hard to believe that Rory is old enough to be receiving her First Holy Communion, but the day arrived, and ready she was!! The dress was picked, the perfect veil with little shamrocks was ready, her celtic cross was hung around her neck and a perfect sash with a white flower and shamrocks that had once been on her baptismal bonnet were now tied around her waist.  She was a little nervous, but ready for the big day!

I was ready to cry buckets, I always cry at First Communion.  It's such a big day in their young lives, but there were no tears on that day.  Perhaps it was because Bryan and I had a direct eyeliner to Rory sitting in her pew with the rest of her classmates, and we could see her chit chatting through the whole ceremony, or maybe it was because just as she was about to receive communion the lady in front of me stood up and I could see nothing.  Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day and it was the day that our little girl was not really that little anymore...

A stepper in the family???

Are you wondering what a stepper is?  Well, you might be thinking of Irish Step Dancing, and of course that would probably be true with a kid named Rory, but not in this case!

Rory has been involved in the Step Dancing at school since the beginning of the school year, and this type of Step has been popular among African American Fraternities, and the focus of the dance is the footwork and arm movements.

They have been practicing for this competition all year and Rory graduated from the beginner class to the intermediate class, and she stuck with it and practiced and practiced and well, see for yourself....she is pretty good! (She's the second one in line)

(For a better quality look you can go to our shutterfly page http://thekilbrides.shutterfly.com/videos/146)

Of course since she had been practicing so much around the house, and since one of Brendan's teachers happened to be the Step coach, Brendan wanted to show off his stuff too!

Rory's team didn't finish in the top 3 (the team that Brendan was dancing with won first place, and I think Brendan helped them with that ;) ) but they did a GREAT JOB!  It is also worth noting they were the ONLY team to incorporate all grades in their team, unlike the other teams which were just grade 4 & 5.  We are sooo proud of them!  They practice 2 days a week after school for over an hour and they have been practicing on Saturday's for past 3 months....great dedication!  Good Job!!!

I'm so glad that it is Sunday and we can put this past week behind us.  Too much sorrow, too much fear, but also lots of love, courage and support.

It obviously started with the unfathomable attack at one of the greatest events, the Boston Marathon.  The event that we would go to as kids, it was the April vacation tradition since the race passed right through our town.  When I was younger I loved just going and clapping for all those people who wanted to run, as I got older I realized and understood the heart and determination and training that it took to get into this race, never mind run 26.2 miles!  Then for some cowards to attack that?  Are you kidding?  The devastation, the people who were injured and the young lives that were lost, that makes no sense.  Having to explain it to an 8 year old makes no sense either.

I kept the explanation short and no details, no mention of the explosion or of the boy that was around her age that was killed.  I just wanted her to know that her family in that area was OK, and that when it happened there were lots and lots of people to help.  I wasn't sure that part was going to work, but sure enough it did!  OK, great keep breathing and lets move on...

Unfortunately that explanation wasn't going to work when I got the news Tuesday that kid at a local high school had committed suicide at the school.  That news was bad enough, until it was made worse the following morning when I learned that the victim was a relative of one of Rory's classmates.  Ok, how do you explain that one?  The question from her was "Where were the helpers for him?, Why would he do that?"  I did the best that I could that whatever it was that I said seemed to work because her response was that she was going to pray for her friend and her family and she would make her a card too.

That situation was beyond difficult because the reason that child decided to take his own life was because he was being bullied, and recently Rory has had to deal with being bullied...I know what your thinking, in 2nd grade?  Yes, it was mild but it was still something that should have never happened and I had to restrain my Mama Bear instincts as not to let loose on this child who I have let into my home and her adult guardian who hasn't a clue and almost needs a frying pan to the head to get it.  Rory has dealt with the bullying situation well, and thank goodness her teacher has been vigilant about it and keeps me in the loop if anything goes on.  In the end, on Wednesday evening,  we had talked about a terrorist attack and a suicide, dear lord please let that be it.

Ok, so that wasn't it...a horrific explosion happened in the town of West, TX, which is about 70 miles north of where we live.  Homes were lost, lives were lost and the majority of those losses were first responders, the helpers.  When Rory heard about this, her little mind went into over drive and she remembered when we lived in Kansas and there was the devastating tornado in Joplin, MO.  We went to Target and used some of her gift cards that she had been saving to buy some items to donate that were needed for those residents.  She said that we should go and buy things that those people needed too, and donate to them.  Unfortunately, Rory has been sick with a miserable fever since Thursday, so we haven't been able to do that yet, but she keep reminding me too, so I think we'll be getting that done this week.

All in all, it has been and emotionally draining week for everyone.  In the end, our family is safe, especially after the manhunt in Watertown, MA where Mom works everyday.  The sense of euphoria and gratitude to have the situation over with was amazing, even from almost 2000 miles away.  For us in our house, the takeaway message is, with the right attitude we will overcome.

World Down Syndrome Day 2013.....in the books!!

It has taken me 3 weeks to put together and process all of the emotions from March 21, 2013...what a magical and wonderful day!!!

Last year I decided to start this "little" project of making Down syndrome awareness ribbons and hoping that maybe 50 friends and family members would wear them on March 21 and show support and raise awareness.  I was blown away last year when I made over 100 ribbons!  I figured I would do it again this year, and maybe I would make 80 more?  Oh how surprised I was...180 ribbons later, I am still shocked and overwhelmed!  This is just a little snap shot into what my "ribbon world" was like!

I put a post on Facebook asking if people might be interested and sure enough, the requests came pouring in....and I was so happy!!!  I also asked Rory's teacher and Brendan's teachers if they would wear ribbons.  Brendan's teacher is so phenomenal that she set things in motion for that day which were bigger dreams than I had!  Bigger meant making 90 ribbons for all of the staff of the school to wear on March 21!  Away I went and happily cranked them out!  I also made information cards for the teachers on resources that they could use in their classroom on that day.  Here is what that delivery looked like...

The kids teachers also did a little research on their own and found out that the campaign for World Down Syndrome Day was "Lots of Socks", so their thought was..we can do this!  Sure enough, here is the message that got sent out to all of the families who have children that attend the school..

It's one thing to get these messages, it truly is another thing to see it carried out.  I wondered no more on March 21.  Dropping Rory off at school and I almost became a lump of nothing when I saw kid after kid wearing their crazy socks, and also to see the staff wearing their ribbons!

 Oh my Oh my...socks socks were everywhere!  What an incredible show of support!  My cheeks hurt from smiling so much!

Another incredible event of the day took place during morning announcements at their school, this was another grand idea from Brendan's teacher...

I was so proud of my kiddos!  Rory helped to write the script and Brendan, well Brendan was in charge of being cute and charming!  I was so touched by the staff who saw me and commented on how well Rory described Down syndrome and Brendan, such a wonderful morning!

When I came home after that to check in on Facebook, wouldn't you know there were so many pictures people were sharing of themselves and their family, friends and co-workers wearing their pins.  I now present them to you....

I promise you that our family will never, ever, take the love and support of our family and all of our friends for granted.  No one ever HAD to wear a ribbon, they all wanted to.  It's all of them who spread awareness and acceptance of Down syndrome.  This has never been a journey that we have been on alone, and we never will.

From the bottom of our hearts, a sincere "Thank You" to all of you who have been with us on this journey, we couldn't do it without you....