Three Cups of Tea

A week or so ago I e-mailed some friends and suggested they read Three Cups of Tea with me.


Well, it was finally available at our library, so I officially started this weekend. Read along and leave a comment if you find something noteworthy!

READ SOON: Make a Difference TONIGHT!!!

Great -- I'm glad I got your attention!

Any ladies in the Cedar Falls area, come join me 8-10 for live music tonight at Cup of Joe. This isn't anything formal. There is regularly live music there on Saturday nights. I just needed an excuse to convince my friends to get out for some time with the girls. This just happens to be where we're meeting. I figured though, why not make this casual hang out more meaningful?

Today there are several Marathon Jams taking place today throughout the country and even overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is the 8th consecutive year that musicians have gathered to raise funds for the Fisher House. This year is extra special, because many musicians serving in Afghanistan will participate as well. Matt is not in the particular city of the jam, but he knows people who are taking part.

I tweeted the other day about The Fisher House. Fortunately I haven't had direct experience with this program, as it provides living areas, "comfort homes" for families who need a place to stay close to their military soldier who is recovering from an unexpected illness, disease, or injury. Awesome program, right? If Matt got hurt / sick, I'm thankful to know I'd have a place to go, free of charge! In my situation I can't help but get on board with a cause like that...

I will collect any donations throughout the week and send them on behalf of Marathon Jam - Afghanistan to the area most needed. Maybe sometime I'll organize my own jam (although I'm not musically talented at all...). In the meantime though, I'll go listen to some music :) (Join me - 8:00 - Cup of Joe).

Another easy way to donate here or here.

Ladies, even if you don't donate -- come hang out! Anyone that finds me downtown tonight can enter a drawing for one of my favorite things. Examples of potential winnings below:

• Zambeezi Fair Trade & Organic Lip Balm from Zambia

• Fair trade scarf (are you a "scarfer?" I'll teach you how to tie one) from World's Window

• Bobble, a filtered water bottle made from recycled material

• Chico reusable bag
  

ALSO -- Many of you have heard of my latest business venture. Ask and see me about Norwex. I am personally donating 10% of sales on orders placed this week specifically to the Fisher House. If you're interested, just find me downtown, e-mail, or call.

Oh, so many ways to make a difference!

p.s. I just called Cup of Joe and they say Banish-Misfortune playing tonight is REALLY GOOD!

Dog on Toilet & Little Moon Too

Last Minute Invites

Well, I had planned on posting something funny or ate least interesting but you get neither. I'll leave with saying that I LOVE last minute invites to things. Keep that in mind - call me up if you have an inkling to do something fun but nobody is around to do it with you! On that note, I'm off to Ames / Ankeny very briefly to see some Army wives. Maybe I'll see you there :)

Happy Pick Your Nose Day

Didn't wish you a Happy Love Day yesterday, so this is the next best thing:

Had to bust out an old favorite... can't believe this was a year ago.

#2 - A Poopy Situation

As you all might know, we are fairly used to not knowing when / where we are going to live, when/where Matt will deploy, etc. It actually works out since I have a problem committing to things anyway. In fact, you will rarely get a straight "yes, I'll be there" answer from me. Thing is, it's not because I don't want to be there / do that, etc. It's because I value commitment so much that I really don't want to tell you I'm going to do something unless I am 100% confident I'm going to actually do it. I want to be able to keep my word.

So, sorry in advance if I give you any wishy washy answers. I've been giving LOTS more of them since jbaby (aka Joella) was born. Plus now I have the "Army" cop-out card to play. The "deployment" card works too. Who's really going to give me a hard time if I throw that one on the table? (trust me, I don't abuse it. Not sure if I've play it yet -- have I?)

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. Matt is hearing rumors of deployment #2. Codeword "#2." Why? You guessed it. It's a poopy situation... Originally rumors where 2-3 years dwell time (time between deployments). Now we're down to 16-18 months. His unit just turned around from their previous deployment after roughly 11 months. Does this sound right to you? I kind of laugh because honestly it still is a hard concept to grasp. It's so strange that it's "normal" for military families to be torn apart every other year for roughly a YEAR at a time.

The other unfortunate thing is that most families don't have nearly the support system that we do. I've blogged on that one before. It's disheartening to hear about broken marriages, adultery, irresponsible financial spending, kids getting trouble in school, funerals, etc. Don't get me wrong -- I realize (sadly) that these are the same kind of problems any family may fight. It just seems to heighten things when husbands / wives ALSO have to get through a deployment.

I'm starting to sound like debbie down here (sorry to my mom, Deb, for using that phrase)! The point that I should be emphasizing is not the one I've been making at all. My initial reaction to #2 was not, "oh crap!" Well, maybe the initial one was, but shortly thereafter I realized, "Hey, we can do this." My mind is still blown everyday how God has pulled us through this first deployment in crazy ways. For me, He has provided incredible insight and vision for the future. It's almost as if He's taken my focus OFF the deployment altogether. Think, for example, about if you are trying to go on a "diet." All you can think about is food!

Instead, He has surrounded Joella and me with so much more family and fellowship than I could have asked for. Really, how many young families have TWO sets of loving parents in the same city that are able and more than willing to drop everything to help them? To watch their kids 2-3 days a week, do all the yard work, shovel the snow, run errands, cook, etc.? Plus siblings, extended family, great life-long friends and their parents for that matter? With no added drama or complications of really difficult family dynamics? It's unheard of I think... Like I said, we are so richly blessed.

My thoughts have been overwhelmingly consumed by His purposes and His will for our lives. Sounds holy I know (trust me, I'm not that holy although I wish I were). It is my hope that we can be an encouragement for other families who have to go through the same frustrating transition period. So that they might know that there's more to look forward to than the complaints of deployment. That they don't have to be the ones to pull themselves through it. Someone else is more than willing to do it for them.

Also, perhaps we can help bridge the Army / civilian gap in that a lot of people simply don't know how to help. Think practical. What would any single parent need? Do you know any? What about widows or lonely grandparents? Do you know any of them? People just need to be loved. Maybe it's mowing their lawn. Maybe it's running an errand for them in the winter. Maybe it's cooking a meal. You don't have to be part of some small group on a mission or on an organized meal delivery to make an impact on someone's life (although all those things are great too). Really all you need is to open your eyes / ears a little to see the need...

I feel like I have gotten a glimpse into what it would like as a single mom. I'm so glad that I'm not (so fortunate to be Matt's wife!)

Well, I'll let you know about anything else that comes along with our #2!

Cassie the Therapy Dog

Lately I'm kind of a spaz. I hear about something cool going on and I want to be a part of it. I'm learning I probably shouldn't talk about these things publicly until I ACTUALLY do them, otherwise it's just talk. Sometimes though I just get too excited and go ahead and blab about it anyway...

Therapy dogs -- I haven't taken any steps in this area recently but would love to make visiting different places with therapy dogs a part of my normal week. Actually, Kaeda passed the Canine Good Citizenship test awhile ago. Chaz not so much... What happened to Chaz anyway? That's a story for another day... Anyway, Craiger (my dad -Yes I call my parents by their first names. Have since I could talk. I know, it's weird. And no, it's not out of disrespect. And no, I don't usually call him Craiger - I usually stick with Craig). Anyway, Craiger, errr Craig hooked me up with the right contacts in the case that I do pursue the therapy dog thing officially. Maybe blogging about it will hold me to it. Feel free to ask how it's coming... :)

In the meantime, we have our unofficial therapy dog, Cassie, over at Jane and Jerry's house.(Ash, hope you don't mind -- I snatched this pic from your blog)

The story behind the picture Ashley took? Well, Joella was having one of her bobcat scream-fests, probably category 7 on a scale of 1-10. The scale used to be 1-5 but she outdid herself at about 6 weeks old so we had to move it on up to 10. Anyway, she was mad that she couldn't go hang out with Papa. Nothing would calm her down so finally I used the last thing left in my mama toolbox. The dog. Joella LOVES dogs. I put her on top of Cassie (kind of like you see in the top picture above) and she was instantly quiet. THANK YOU, CASSIE! What a relief. Not only that, but Cassie even slightly nudged Joella's shoulder and got a big grin out of her.

This got me thinking... Maybe I need a therapy dog in my own life more than I realized. Good thing we have Kaeda! Sometimes it's the only thing that will snap our stubborn little munchkin out of whatever it is she's so determined to get. I've often found myself telling her "Kaeda needs a hug" and sure enough, she'll settle down and give the dog a hug. I think I'll have to get creative soon because I'm not sure how long that's going to work!

2 Weeks with my Soldier

In case you didn't see already, Ash outdid herself again. These are some pictures we are going to cherish for a really long time. See, I told you I had an excuse not to take any of my own while Matt was back :)

Highlights with Matt

Well, here they are as promised! Sorry there are so many. Like I said - we had a LOT of fun.

• Watching Joella flirt with the random guy at the airport waiting for Matt's plane to land. I mean getting his attention from across the room flirt. In short, she likes the guys. We're in trouble...
  
  
• Getting to hug Matt again. When's the last time you went 6-ish months without a hug? (him, not me. I get plenty here. Joella's are especially fun lately with a running start)
  
  
• Asking Joella, "Where's daddy?" and after hesitating only slightly watching her knowingly point at Matt and smile. It was just the first time we were nervous. Matt says he wouldn't have been offended if she had gotten it wrong... Thank you, Ash for all the pictures and Matt for recording yourself reading books so she had a clue!
  
  
• Arranging for Matt to eat his favorite foods while he was back. They mostly revolved around pizza... others were homemade pancakes w/ real maple syrup, fresh homemade bread w/ honey, homemade pizza, tacos with homemade tortillas, Japanese steakhouse, snacks from Roots, Papa Murphy's, etc.

• The drive out to Colorado - haha, I got to borrow Matt's Kindle and read a couple books :) He was lucky it made it back in his bags. Love that thing

• Watching Joella play in the kiddy play area in the mall downtown Denver. She loves being around other kids.

• Meeting up with our good friend, Calais. She made the drive from Boulder to see us at Copper Mountain.

• Watching Matt's bro, Steve, ski for the first time. I convinced him to go out one day with us. I think he's glad he did. We promised we'd be careful about the videos we'd post. He had some good falls... so did I... We agreed we don't like speed.

• Trying to impress Matt with my improved snowboard skills (which are VERY lacking)

• Chillin' in the condo and relaxing with the family

• The drive back. Will never forget it. Jane & Jerry earned their "Papa and Nana badges" that day for dealing with Joella's vomit (twice) and blowout. The last blowout honestly smelled like an outhouse and we couldn't believe it really came from our tiny little girl. Took all 4 of us to clean her up (mostly w/ my bare hands). Awesome.

• Snowshoeing with friends in CF and long night of laughs and catching up.

• A traveling meal downtown CF with good friends. Delicious!

• Catching up with Jane & Jerry's long-time friends and neighbors. Sherrie and Dean have become more like family than neighbors. They're always watching out for us.
  

• Cross country skiing for the first time here in CF, just the 2 of us. So much fun.

• Getting our taxes done and turned in. Yes, it was actually fun this year. Crazy, right?

• Working. Never thought I'd say that but Matt and I work well together. We had fun brainstorming / figuring out how we are going to restructure the biz.

• Playing with Kaeda. Matt didn't realize how much she missed her. Awesome dog... :)

• Catching up with Joe/Les /Conor over homemade pizza. Conor loves to help in the kitchen and spent forever flippin' the dough. Joella had a fit when she thought she wasn't going to get to join in on the fun.

• Watching a couple episodes of Modern Family. That show cracks us up every time.
  

• Deciding I was too sick to take Matt back to the airport (got whatever Joella had) but feeling good enough to make it there and spend the extra hour with him.

All in all, it was a great time. Matt was especially sad to leave again. Here's how he put it. Last time, we had so much stuff to do (pack up, clean our rental, move, get me to Iowa, get his stuff ready for deployment, etc.) that his leaving was almost a relief. It was the end to a lot of work and prep. This time leaving was the end to 2 weeks of pure fun and relaxation. He knows what he's going back to so it's not the anticipation of something new. Instead, it's leaving his little girl behind who instead of crawling away from him can now run away from him. It's knowing that instead of hanging out with us, he's well, not. Sad stuff, I know.

Thing is, we signed up for this. It doesn't make it any easier, but we weren't surprised by the deployment or that he would be away for the year. Tough situation, but I'm thankful for what Matt's doing. I can't help but be giddy when someone asks me about Matt because I'm so thankful for him! I've got a pretty good guy :) I'm also thankful that God has used this time to strengthen our marriage more than ever and mature us in new ways. We've got a pretty good God too, huh?

Finally the Pe_is is gone

Disclaimer: this is a long post. I think it's funny enough to read, but if you aren't familiar with twitter it might not be AS funny...just a heads up.

Finally the Pe_is is gone.

Hang man and if you guess an “N” you win.

No, not Matt. Yes, he’s gone and yes he has one, but no, he is NOT one. I’ve never even called him one. Not even in our worst of fights (we don't have many these days). Not that that would give him being one any validity. Point is – he’s nowhere near what my idea of someone described as a “penis” is.

One of the followers on my twitter account has a picture of male genitalia as his profile picture. I don’t like looking at it. If you have twitter, don’t look – or do actually, but I already got rid of them, hence the name of this post.

Skip to “JUMP HERE” section to save time.

Want to hear my bout with technology this time? I tell you, I really was born in the wrong in the generation. Again, so thankful for the IT super techy husband that I have. I teasingly tweeted that he is my virtual assistant and does my work for me while I sleep. It’s actually fairly true. I’m sleeping and he fixes my complaints in his free-time remotely. Yeah, while he’s DEPLOYED IN AFGHANISTAN. While he’s saving lives and being the honorable soldier that he is, he’s ALSO taking care of his wifey back at home who seems to find herself in all kinds of IT trouble on a fairly consistent basis.

What this time? The dang penis, that’s what. I’m sick of the word. If you would have asked my parents when I was in kindergarten if I would ever blog (assume they had a way to know what that was back then) about the word penis they would have died laughing. I was the mute child. In fact my kindergarten teacher (Mrs. Kelly, still probably one of my all-time favorites) even asked my parents at conferences if I ever talked at home. Yeah, there’s a Craig factor (if you haven’t met my dad – you need to keep an exaggeration factor x 10 in mind), but my mom can back him up. Her word’s pretty darn good.

Being on twitter is like letting people in on your inner monologue. Some people just don’t have one. It’s fun when you think other people might actually be interested in yours. I used to think that nobody would want to hear mine. Now I’m starting to wonder. There’s a lot of stupid stuff that goes on up there – makes me wonder if other people go through these trains of thought or if I’m the only one. Maybe if I’m transparent enough someone will think it sounds familiar and think what I have to say is slightly funny because it's true. That's usually when I laugh at stuff. Or maybe I’m a complete nutball. Either way…

JUMP HERE IF YOU WANT TO CUT TO THE ACTUAL FUNNY PART: (leave a comment if you appreciate me trying to save our blog readers time)

A few lines from the e-mails between matt and me. They give you an idea of how I just don’t “get” stuff right away when it comes to technology. Give me a pattern, a formula, a set of instructions of exactly how to do something, and I’m golden. If there’s room to mess up on a computer, I’ll find it.

Me:FB [facebook]-- i swear i did everything i was supposed to link them [my tweets to FB] but still no tweets as far as i can tell... tried twice to link tweets to our blog.

1st time ... linked it no problem. the format was so ugly it looked like my tweets puked off the page. Had [it] to go...

2nd time i got craftier. then gave up and tweeted about it. originally i copied the code from your widget and replaced … it created a second widget but all my tweets were up in your updates still so it looked like my tweets where coming from you and that i had no tweets. i'm sure you don't want to be associated w/ my lack of IT expertise tweets so i'd advise on some advice to the wifey... :) realized this finally and took the widget down altogether because it just seemed weird.

Matt: Dude, you seriously crack me up. I was busting out laughing as I read your email. Here's my attempt at addressing some of the issues...

Me: well, apparently i don't know how to DM [direct message on twitter so that only a chosen recipient gets the message]. tried with a very bold statement (dumb) and it ended up on FB and our blog. deleted it. but it's on FB... awesome.

actually kind of funny. and i'm not TOO embarrassed but wouldn't mind getting it off FB. even if other people do see it. i mean. i'm not ashamed of my statement though. and the fact that it shows up as "DM" looks like i did it on accident. which i did. which is also funny. i need to blog all my twitter adventures...

Me again: at least we fixed the tweets getting to facebook. may have proved to be a bad idea...
love you!...

Me again: oh, so i deleted it[tweet from FB & our blog]. not sure if you can trace it somehow. i'm guessing someone had to see it. went something like this:

"DM@mattslyk really don't want to limit (allow) people to follow me but i don't want giant penis people following me like they are now. solution?"

ME again: yes, that was on our blog and FB. thing is. i totally have to blog this eventually... because it is so polite but bold. i don't want penis' (not sure how to pluralize that word) following me, as in … people OR images of them... PLUS, i went to try to figure out how to delete them / have them un-follow me. instead, i just looked at their profile which showed me a bigger penis. not only that but now my most recently viewed page also shows me a picture of their profile picture. of a penis...

dang this technology thing…

Me again: well. got rid of the penis. kind of. i figured out how to block the image. not sure if it blocks it for others who look at my followers -- i'm guessing it doesn't. i blocked some girls' image that i don't know as a test first. had to look at that stupid penis again to click on it to get rid of it. i guess it applied some sort of filter for me. thankful to be rid of it ... i still would like to know how to block followers.

Well, now you have my inner monologue. Not sure if you wanted it. Most of my e-mails to Matt end up resembling my inner monologue. I guess that’s how we communicate when he’s gone for a year… he’s not lacking my thoughts these days :)

Please comment if you know how to block followers on twitter without requiring me to “allow” people to follow me. Matt suggested I google it, but I got sick of technology for the time being…

Oh and still to come: highlights of our time with Matt during his R&R :)

Excuse for no pictures

Well, Matt has come and gone and I didn't take a single picture. It felt so awesome to simply enjoy each other and not deal with the camera. I couldn't have asked for a better 2 weeks with him.

I won't leave you empty-handed. Well, yes I will, but I won't leave you empty-eyed. This is Banga. aka Jo-Jo, Roebanga (there's an "e" in there, right, Banga? maybe not...), joseph, take your pick. I've known him for maybe 8 years now and still don't know the best way to introduce him but we call him, "Banga." I have a way of convincing my friends to do things. I convinced Amber (who claims not to be outdoorsy) to work at an outdoor Bible camp (EWALU) one summer during college. Haha, lots of rain and cooking our own meals over the campfire. Thanks for sticking it out, Amber!

There we met "Jo-Jo" -- that's how he introduced himself then. We liked him so much that we decided we needed to scheme a way to make him friends with our best friends. Somehow we convinced another best friend, Ben, that he "needed" to live with Banga since they were both transferring to ISU. It worked. Throw in a few more friends like B&K (who I also introduced thankyouverymuch) and it sealed the deal. Soon enough he's getting invited to stuff without Amber or me there and even playing a major part in weddings :) Success!

I'll get off my bloat box (yes, Matt. I KNOW that's not the usually term used. I know you think I meant soapbox but really I didn't - love ya!). Anyways, I'm off the box.

My point is that Banga rocks. My point for today is that Matt got to see him both on his way in and out of Afghanistan. Banga is also deployed, but with a unit out of Iowa, not out of Texas like Matt's. Matt said it was really great to catch up with him both times. I'm sure it had to be so refreshing to see a really great friend in a not so great place. Last time I got to see Banga I think it was 2007. That's way too long ago. I jokingly said that it was the "end of our friendship" because we both knew that with all our moving we most likely wouldn't be able to see each other for a long time. Sadly, it's partially true but I got to live vicariously through Matt so that will have to do for now :)

Oh, and btw -- it's so fun seeing friends abroad. It reminds me of the time I randomly ran into Calais unexpectedly in Italy and also got to vacation with Ash in Spain. Maybe those are stories for other days...

Watch our upcoming posts for highlights from Matt's R&R :)