Chicago Mom's

Thanks for the zip codes ladies.

Welcome MaryK, you will love it here. We all have sailors all over the world and doing different jobs. So we are always talking, talking, talking. LOL

JulieR, I should be mailing the Cristmas Cards on Friday to the ship, the kids are doing such a nice job, which you could see them.

Tracy - Happy 22nd b-day to you and your daughter!
MaryK- Welcome my son is a corpsman currently at Camp Pendleton. Hope you can join us Saturday - we are fun group!

Hi friends, Welcome Mary K proud mom of 2 sailors!!!
I got back from the commissioning of my sons ship and wow it was cool to say the least. They said there was 5,000 people there! I got there 2 hours early had the best seats. My son took me on a tour the day before so that was great. I saw his work area, met a bunch of his friends and looked around the ship. Everyone I met on the ship was so nice!!! One girl stayed with my mom and I and chatted as Drew changed to leave the ship with us, she was so sweet. The ceromony was incredible the first ship to be named after a military person killed in battle. His mother spoke, his dad handed over a telescope to the officer to symbolize the begining of the first shift of a now warship. The comanding officer said he worked with Jason Dunhams family over the 2 yrs of the ship being built and when he was speaking he started to cry which made everyone else cry... All I know is my son is happy and that means the world to me. I added pict to my profile and will try and add one here. This is a pic of my mom, son and his friend I love it because they are all laughing.
I can not make it Saturday I will miss you all.
Take care Paula

MissMySailor Paula, I watched the commissioning ceremony live on navy.mil. Really cool!!

Paula2-What a wonderful experience! Very nice picture, too!!

How cool is that picture. I am glad you had a nice time. I bet is is very emotional, well I know I would cry, I always have a box of kleenex with me. LOL

YEA! Stephen does not have his kidney stones anymore!!!!!

Congratulations on Stephen's kidney stones being gone. Good riddance!!!!!

Pat, it only took 3 months! LOL Now waiting to see if he gets his leave approved.

Nice picture Paula glad you had such a wonderful time and that you got to see your son. Yay on the stones finally being gone... I have good news I got an
e-mail from MSgt. Johnson today. He recieved some cards that the kind. kids
made from my school for the packing party. I was crying my eyes out as I was reading it. How thankful they are to know that people really do care about them. Sent a pic too of the unit in front of the BIG helicopter. I am rethinking my life and how lucky I truely am to live in the USA. Thank you Pat for having the packing party. Know that you have made a difference to those fighting for our country!!!

becky m, Love the pictures on "Oct. for Nov. Delivery" page. Look what WE did!!

Pat where do i find that page??

found the page but didn't see any piocs...am I missing them somehow??

becky, Go to Molly's adopt a sailor group, then to "Oct. for Nov. Delivery" page 11. Love the "Rudolph Noses"

WOW Julie you are busy. I will take some pictures of them and post a few, I am going to mail them tomorrow. They are so wonderful, the older kid write such wonderful things, I had to get a few kleenex's when I was reading them. I should have a little over 300. The sailors will just love them. Some of the kids were asking questions so I hope I get a few replies, I did last year when I worked on the Nimitz project.

Tracy, I talked to the 4th grade teacher and the kids are goin to make cards for Halee, she is going to love them. They tell jokes, that are so funny so the beginning of December I should have them to mail out.

Yes, I do remember that is so hard. What kind of puppy is it? It is so hard to be a mom isn't it. We want to protect our children and never see them sad, it is so hard. When will she be back from deployment?

OMG he is so cute. Well you better keep taking pictures so she can see all the puppy pictures. What ship is she on? Would that be a good name for the puppy. USS??? LOL

cute puppy Julie.I love that name!!! :) Ok so who need cards my kind. kids are making Christmas cards. after I showed them the email and the pic from the MSgt they were ready to do it all over again.

So cute! We lost our dog of 14 years in September so I am a sucker for a new puppy!

Here are some samples that are going out to the USS Kearsarge!

Most of them said how amazing the sailors are and they were sorry they could not be home with their families and that they are very grateful for them serving our country. They were hoping that they would get some Christmas present. Some of them made me cry, they were so moving.

Hey Sarge is not such a bad name. LOL

Hola ladies,

What an amazing job - the letters are so adorable, the response so cool, the trip pics are awesome, the stones gone - yeah! and I will see many of you Saturday. What a busy group we are and its so cool to see how we are now helping our military in so many different ways.

I am going to my first Harry Potter movie without my son tomorrow. Very weird feeling to not see it with him at midnight. His girlfriend said that he mentioned to her that he was feeling funny about it too.

LOL you are right Julie next time for sure Kleenex warning!!!

I just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Leaving for Florida and don't know if I will be on later. So eat lots and see you soon. Have fun at Barb's house!

Happy Thanksgiving week (almost!). Are there any places you know of that might need a volunteer to serve dinner to the homeless or something like that? I'm looking for suggestion for my sailor who lives north of the GL base. He's not coming home, no girlfriend, and always looking for community service hours. Any suggestions?

I'm home too. What a fun evening!! Thanks to Barb for hosting and so nice to meet everyone!! Let's do it again soon!

You know, Paula, it is probably great information but I can't think of a use for it (I already have tons of useless information in my head) Thanks but I think I'll pass!!

Packing party mommies!! We received an email from the Army Chaplain. You can go to "October for November delivery-2010" to read it.

Cathy A, See you Thursday! Mary and Julie are coming too.

Thank you Barb for hosting! Pat and Julie it was great meeting you! And everyone else...always fun! I am jealous about the VFW! The USO is hosting a thanksgiving dinner at Great Lakes - Ruth let me know if you want the info.

We are celebrating my moms 65th and thanksgiving all rolled up into one day this Thursday. Should be interesting...I am in charge of buying birthday decorations and am hoping once I hit the store to figure out something very creative...stay tuned...this is one event that will probably have some very humorous photos. Thanks for the cookie link. I may order some for Thursday.

Coco, do please post or send me the USO dinner info, too. Not sure what he'll do, but no excuse to be alone on Thanksgiving! I love the USO! They're one of my favorite donation places.

Wishing all of our sailors and their families a blessed and happy Thanksgiving!

Hi Ladies--it's been a while.

No trip to Chicago for Thanksgiving to see the child. She still has the long leg cast, off the pain pills--living off of Tylenol, still checking out her gallbladder issue--being scheduled for an ERCP the week before Christmas.

"V" still hasn't transitioned over to the RCU as of yesterday--so she is still at the VA.

My daughter is sounding more herself and not as depressed as the first couple weeks in RCU. Which has taken a big weight off of me--as it was making me miserable! I just gave her over to God & said you look after her for me and the peace has begun to settle in. Just made it so much easier hearing my daughter sounding like her old self again!

She told me there are over 3000 recruits that will be spending the holidays @ BC... So there are many families near & Far seperated for the holidays because of their desire to serve!

May God Bless all of our military service men & women where ever they may be & a Blessed Thanksgiving to all of you!
Tracy

Pat can you please post the address to the vfw again. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Hi Becky,Villa Park VFW, 39 E. St. Charles Road, Villa Park, 60181. Hope to see you!!

Hi friends, I read here every day and miss you guys. I woke up this morning teary eyed and missing my sailor in a bad way!!! We were close like glue when I visited him for the commissioning 2 weeks ago and now he has been back in Norfolk since Tuesday and has not called even though I have called and texted! Oh How I want to hug him again.....

Happy Thaksgiving to you and your family!!!

My son needs a wife! He was so looking forward to the VFW and totally got the message wrong--he thought it was from 5 to 8, not 8 to 5! He called me at 4:45 to tell me he'd had the worst Thanksgiving ever because he just realized his mistake. He told me from now on to tell him military time for everything. I wanted to cry--he was going to Wal-mart to buy something to cook. Any daughter out there that needs a boyfriend?!!!

OMG!!!! What a GREAT time at the VFW today!!! So nice to meet Cathy A. and family. And to see Sally and Mary there. We all passed around our cell phones. My phone was used for 115 minutes!! Lots of happy families, I'll bet!!

Ruth, I looked for your son and I'm so sorry he missed the festivities!!!

If anyone gets the chance to go next year, DO IT!!

Oh the VFW sounded like it was a great time!!! I will try and go next year.

Please excuse me if this was already noted here but I am so tired I forgot.
Are we having a packing party for the December group??? I know the ship by date is the 11th. Paula

What a great experience...next year unless my family does an early Thanksgiving! So we celebrated what son my aptly called a "birgiving" on Thursday. That is a birthday and Thanksgiving all rolled up in one. My navy son did not call...very sad face...and I was hurt/annoyed/happy to learn he called my parents on Wednesday evening. I called, I texted, I emailed and I facebooked. I think he is avoiding me for a very specific reason and I really wish he would get past it, pick up the phone and (figuratively) face me or just simply text a hello.

Hi, hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving! The weather in Florida was 80 everyday, it was wonderful to see my parents. And Stephen called and is an E4 now and receiving his metal this Friday so I am very proud of him. But he does not think he can come home for Christmas with this mess with Korea, so far no one has been issued any leave, makes me sad he really wanted to come home. He has not been home for almost two years.

Michelle thanks for your call before I left for vacation that was very sweet.

Did everyone have a nice time at Barb's house?

Tracy I have the cards for the two girls I will be mailing them in a day or so. How was your Thanksgiving?

Thanks Mary, I am very proud of him. I am glad you got to talk to Dan, it really makes your day when you hear from your sailor. Bravo Zulu to Dan, he did a good job, that is wonderful. Well Stephen will hear the first of the year where he is going, they are putting together a special team (if it goes through) in Italy so he signed up for that so he would stay in Italy for another 6 months. We skype yesterday for around 2 hours, he makes me laugh he just keeps talking and then I tell him honey I do not have anything else to say and I want to go to bed. LOL our time is so different he is morning and I am night.

Whats been going on in Washington? Been in Floriday (temp 80 everyday), hopefully nothing bad.

Debbie congrats for your son!!! I bet he worked so hard for that and you are so proud of him!!!

Coco I am sorry about your son I hope he wakes up and calls you to talk things out. I can only imagine how this makes you feel.

Sally looking forward to the packing party in Feb. Will it be at your house and can I help in any way?

Mary good news about Dan's test like you said it is good for him to know he passed it.

Paula I am glad Thanksgiving went well and I hope X-Mass does as well. Your in my thoughts.

So happy that my son made E-4!

YEA Chitown, your son made E4, so did mine. I know you are very proud of him. Pretty soon the will be running the ship. LOL

Julie how have you been doing?