More than one birthday

Sara loves her daddy.  He brings her peace and a sense of security.  She will miss him.

Sara wasn't the only one who's had a birthday lately!  Greg joined me at the ripe age of 36 on Saturday.  He celebrated by taking the kids to the COSI and dropping me off at the temple on the way.  But before we left, we celebrated with presents and apple pie.  You can see a picture here.  (Due to technical difficulties, I can't post it on my blog this exact second.)

I love Greg.  I am grateful every day, many times every day, that I married.  Best thing I ever did.

Worry

Sara sits on her dad's lap as he signs his updated will.

Greg leaves this Friday at 3:30 in the morning.  He is going first to El Paso for combat skills training.  The training is not structured in such a way for us to visit him there before he goes overseas.  We will say good-bye Thursday night, and that will be that.

After training in El Paso, he will be stationed at a base in Qatar.  From Qatar he will be traveling to Army bases throughout the region checking on various engineering projects.  Some people have asked if I will visit him in Qatar, and the answer is no.  Sure, Qatar is not a war zone.  We even have friends that live there.  (Hi, Tyler and Mary!)  But a deployment is a deployment.  It's military life and work 24-7, site-seeing with family certainly not included.  (His year in Honduras was technically not a deployment.  I used that term sometimes on my blog because it was easier to understand than "short-tour PCS.")  Even if I traveled all the way to Qatar, he would not necessarily have time/be allowed to see me, and he probably wouldn't even be in the country.

So we will say good-bye Thursday night, and that will be that.  Until sometime in August.

I know people wonder if I worry about what will happen.  I'm not always exactly sure what they mean by this questions, but I assume they wonder if I worry about what could happen to Greg.

I guess I do. I mean, since we updated our wills and powers of attorney and all that stuff, we talked a lot about worst-case scenarios.  So it's not like we haven't thought about the worst that could happen.  But our discussions all seemed pretty theoretical.  Though I will say that there is real peace that comes from knowing all of your affairs are in order, especially concerning your children.  I highly recommend this, whatever your situation is.

I wish Greg were going to be safe and sound on the base in Qatar the whole time.  The travel itself from base to base worries me, and I'm not too excited about some of the places he could travel to.  But, at least so far, I don't worry about it too much.

To be honest, I worry more about myself.  And my ability to handle things.  I'm not talking about if some big crisis happens.  Like most people, I can rise to the occasion in a crisis.  I'll deal with it when it comes.  I worry much more about small crises and mundane tasks.

Like,

1. Saturdays
2. Getting enough sleep
3. Remembering to collect and take out the garbage and recycling on Sunday nights
4. Dinnertime 
5. Losing my wallet
6. Losing my phone
7. How I will "catch up" on life if a sickness or something unexpected throws us out of our routine
8. Computer problems, even very minor ones
9. Snow
10. A billing problem with Tricare
11. Adjusting straps on strollers and car seats
12. The yard
13. Resetting the wireless router
14. Passwords
15. Clogged toilets
16. Church
17. Bugs

Worrying about Greg almost feels like a luxury, an emotional indulgence that I can't afford right now.  I am more concerned with my own survival and that of my children.  Maybe that is selfish.  Maybe it's a defense mechanism.  But it's the truth.

So if you ask if I am worried, the answer is yes.  

But it probably has more to do with my toilets than my husband.

Christmas Eve

A joyful Christmas Eve cousin nativity!  Luke as the innkeeper, Evan as Joseph, David as the shepherd, Mary as Mary, Eliza as the angel, and Baby Sara as Baby Jesus.

It was a happy Christmas Eve.

David and Mary, disappointed that we don't have an electric train under our Christmas tree, spent the morning arranging the wooden train tracks in, through, under, over, and around the presents.  Sara, of course, joined the fun.  It was truly a labor of love.  And magical to watch my children work together.

In continuing with the train theme, we visited the holiday train display at the Cincinnati History Museum in the old Union Terminal.

It was so cold, brrrrrr, that we didn't take any pictures outside the terminal.  But we saw the building in miniature twice--as part of the history of Cincinnati model (very cool exhibit!) and also in Lego!

As expected, the train display was festive but crowded.  We especially enjoyed the rest of museum, which was surprisingly interesting.  We look forward to returning when we have more time.

It was the perfect way to spend the morning.

Later that afternoon, when the kids returned from playing with neighborhood friends, the siblings exchanged their Christmas gifts.  Greg and I also had Christmas Eve books for all of the kids to open.  These were Sara's first Christmas presents, so, of course, this became all about Sara!  (Mary finished that blanket, and David thoughtfully picked out some bath toys for Sara because we have none.)

But I must add that David and Mary got each other very thoughtful presents.  They have really begun to understand gift-giving.  They have been very thoughtful about gifts this year.  Now that the desire and understanding has emerged, I definitely need to nurture that in them!

It was fun to open these thoughtful presents apart of the chaos of Christmas morning.

That evening Greg's brother Chris and family came over for a Christmas Eve celebration.  It was wonderful!  We shared a yummy ham dinner, exchanged gifts, acted out the nativity, enjoyed the traditional family dessert, and sang Christmas carols.  It was such a great evening.  I am so grateful they came over and we could spend that time together.  (A quick note:  The dress Sara was wearing was one that Eliza used to wear!  And Mary too.)  They are such a good family.

Wow.  It was a really great evening.


After the cousins went home, it was time to get ready for the big day!

David and Mary hurried to bed.  Mary was determined to be asleep well before Santa's arrival, and David was quick to turn off his light as soon as he heard the sleigh bells.

Then it was time to get to work.

And everything was ready.