Day 71

Sorry we missed your call today, Daddy! I left my phone in the car when I ran into some one's house for a minute. I was so upset we missed each other.

Good news is we have sold almost 400 shirts! That is amazing for one battalion in one week... with the guys not here to buy the shirts themselves! The lady printing the shirts for us kept telling me how impressed she was with the orders. She also said she couldn't wait to see them printed because they were going to be beautiful! I can't wait either! I'm just upset we will be in Texas when the shirts come in. I'll be chomping at the bit to see them!

Luke went to camp today. We were up bright and early this morning. Luke was so funny because he got up and got dressed faster than a speeding bullet! At breakfast, he said to me, "Mommy aren't you glad I wasn't naughty like I usually am in the morning?" As a matter of fact, I am!

It took us almost 45 minutes of waiting to drop him off this morning. Parents are not allowed out of the cars so you pull up to their "pack" number and drop the kids off. You would think this would go smoothly. No way! Not when there are over 300 boys and only a long one lane winding road to get to the park. They were letting in about 6 cars at a time to drop off and come out before letting another batch in. Pick up was even worse! I was there over an hour this afternoon. I was afraid I was going to run out of gas sitting there waiting.

Gracen wasn't much help either. We brought paper to draw on this afternoon while we waited. I promised her earlier in the day I would help her draw a princess, prince and castle. She didn't forget my promise. She sat up in the front seat with me and critiqued my drawing ability. She cried when I drew the first princess. It wasn't pretty enough. So I carefully drew another one. When she was happy with that, I breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly handed the paper back to me and said, "Now draw a prince." UGH! Luckily, I got that on the first try. The castle was a little more difficult. Little did I know it had to fill the entire paper.... and have a moat! Again, we had over 45 minutes to wait and it was interesting! When I was finished, she promptly crawled in the backseat and colored (ie scribbled) all over my drawing. Oh well!

Luke was upset when I finally picked him up. He had a rough day. The camp is a boy scout camp and most of the little boys in his group were in the same pack. He said they wouldn't play with him today. Poor boy said they played Duck, Duck, Goose and only the pack leader picked him. I felt so bad for him.

On the drive home from picking him up and seeing how sad he was, I started thinking about our life. Well, military life. We have been here almost 4 years. Luke has been in the same school for 2 years. Soccer for 4 seasons. Same preschool for over 2 years and church for over a year. I only saw one person I recognized at this camp today. Hearing Luke not having any friends there, just proved how hard military life is on a kid. The close friends we have had over the last 4 years have mostly moved on. People rotate in and out so quickly. I know my children will not grow up with the friends they do have. At Gracen's age, I met my best friend I ended up going to college with. Even the other day, Luke asked about some kids we use to do things with. I told him they moved away. He looked so upset. Like I had kept something from him and he had missed out on saying goodbye.

I know I'm rambling on now. I guess I'm just ready to make roots. To have friendships I will be able to count on for years. To have an answer when asked, "Who is your emergency contact if something happens to your child and we can't reach you?" I had no one when asked that last night. All of my "emergency contacts" are out of town this week visiting family. Honestly, its a little scary to wonder who would they call.

Okay, rambling again. I need to get the kids into bed. Another early morning tomorrow. Maybe we will try and be at drop off 30 minutes before they open the gate. We'll see.... that's really early!