Michigan Moms (and Family)

congrats Colleen on the great run.  what a great supporter you have in that girly of yours;)  Sharon oh i'm excited for you!  prayers for your young couple as they embark on their next step in this journey.  tysmom how great is that that they won!  woohoo!  Dune has a few more days in his "training" then back to WA where he likes it so well.  A couple of his buddies are headed out on their first deployment in November.  Praying for them also.  Ok gals suck up all the warmth you can in the next couple of days.  It is Michigan ya know:)

My son is doing well and is thinking or trying to come home for Christmas, My new son in-law is leaving today for BC. My daughter is sad, but yet happy for a future. Please make sure you pray for him. Thanks.

Love the pic of the ladies from the west side, I can't believe that Michmom son had the camera and we talked about it too. We didn't even take a picture. I guess the stories and the wind distracted us. LOL

My niece told me this today......Kjiersten is 5 and Natali is 3.........One of Kjirsten's classmates has a dad in the Navy. Natali calls him a "water soldier" (she saw him in his blue camo the other day)

Shannon, prayers for your SIL, daughter all ya'll too!! Keep us posted!! I was totally bummed that we didn't take a picture of all of us at the Cider Mill. I would have to agree with the stories and wind, lol

It is strange not having Kelsey here now, her room is about empty and needs a good cleaning. I am going to say something to her, she could have at least picked stuff up and thrown some things away. Grrr......I thought I taught her better than that. lol  Now, we have to get it ready for the trip home for Christmas!! It will be good to have Diego home after a year! THANK YOU for your thoughts and prayers! They truly are appreciated!!! We are on fingers!!

I am in Fort Wayne for a national home school soccer tournament. Need prayers for one of our players who fell and heard his arm snap. He is at the hospital right now....kinda slowed our momentum....

Also my sailor called on Tues and said he was going on a short underway....no emails this time.....be back in a short time.

Soccer game in a 1/2 hour....

Lorraine: Our 4H club is going to need a couple names for boxes next month. My sailor will be a recipient of one also. I will need a little assistance. Mollys???

I too cannot believe we forgot to take a photo at the cider mill.  Maybe for all future get-togethers, we all tell ourselves:  Pictures first!!!

Still enjoying my sailor being home, but less than a week left.  :(

I love Water Soldier!

Lorraine, How do we join Molly's Adopt a Sailor program? I looked around for it, and didn't find anything. I am interested.

My son just finished his classes, and the actual "A" school graduation is supposed to be next Friday. So, I boxed up the afghan I had knitted for him (anchors, waves, knots) and mailed it off to him. Once I was back home, I realized, "OH NO!! I never took a picture of the finished afghan!!!" Please. Oh, well. :-/ Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Welcome Chele!  You'll be OK....we're here for you.

Welcome Chele. We've all been there - we understand. Get on often and ask as many questions as you want to.  Where do you live?  I'm north of Grand Rapids - Rockford.  We are all over Michigan and we have get togethers to support each other.

Lorraine; Thanks for the info on Molly's Adopt a Sailor. Found it!

Welcome aboard Chele!!! yep Colleen is right saying we have been there.  got some great tips to get your through your BC.  It's alot harder on us mommas than on our Sailors:)

Lorraine: We were in Fort Wayne and came up 69 and there was Tekonsha!

2nd: Our 4H group meets the fourth Tuesday of the month.....any ideas? We want to pack and mail.

Welcome Chele, we will rides the waves of being a Navy mom with you!

Six weeks from today we will arrive in Hawaii for a visit with our sailor. He will be deployed next Feb/Mar for 6-7 months.

Hi, tysmom, I live about 4 miles east of I-69 and worked in Tekonsha (Post Office) for many years.

Your 4H group could pack boxes the 4th Tuesday of the month and someone could mail them out the next day. That would still be in time. So you need to get some large Flat Rate Boxes from the Post Office, customs forms, plenty of packing tape, and some cards and letters to go in the boxes. When November information is available I can let you know. You just ask your kids to bring the wanted items to the meeting and you all can pack. It's important that you pack things tightly so there is minimal shifting in the box. Also, don't put food with soaps, etc. that have a scent. Liquids should have a piece of newspaper wrapped around them and put in a ziploc bag. Also, don't send anything with alcohol (hand sanitizer) or aerosol.

That Hawaii trip is going to be quite a treat! Have fun planning for it.

I can do that. I send my sailor boxes, but do not need the forms.I will wait till the list comes out in Nov. My sons will be a bit different no APO/FPO.

WELCOME CHELE!!!!  Glad to have ya aboard!! Hoping you joined the other groups as well, they will help out so much! You are surrounded here by an awesome group of moms!!!

Kathy, I am going to register right now. I am looking forward to this year, at least I will know more than one person this time!! I am not sure who I will bring, but just going again will be nice. I will have to get a good picture of Diego printed up!

Happy Monday Navy Moms!  looks like we are safe here in Michigan but sure am thinking lots and lots of all those on the East coast with the storm and the West coast with the quake.  Just shipped off a box to Dune today.  could not use a military box as it was his snorkle gear.  they wanted 72 bucks to mail overnight.  forget it he can wait til that truck gets it there for sure.  Ok enjoy your evening and get some of that fresh air if you have time:)

The wind is picking up.....batten down the hatches. If you don,t have your leaves raked maybe they will blow into the next county!!! lol

Hoping that that nasty girl Sandy hasn't affected you or your sailors too badly.  It's been very windy by us, and so of course we lost power this morning, about 4:30.  Was fun (not really) getting ready for work in the dark and I'm hoping that we have power when we get home.  So my sailor gets to enjoy (!) a power outage while at home.  Oh, boy.  He will probably have to head to a laundromat if we don't get power soon, because he saved up his laundry and he leaves Thursday morning.  Now he just needs some snow before he leaves to make it even more interesting.  Ha ha.  (No, I am not wishing snow on us!)

Mich......sorry about the loss of power, that stinks! Wishing T all the best when he heads out on Thursday,  we know it has been great having him home for a while!  Prayers for safe travels for him!!

We did well, no power losses in our immediate area. There are in surrounding areas though. We have to put our lawn furniture away, cushions were blown off and forgot to put out the garbage and recyles this morning, but will have it sit until we get back.

Dealing with some severe back pain and this is really poor timing. I can barely move, tried to go for a massage for the first time, but the gal had just gone to lunch. I guess I wasn't supposed to get one. I will take some meds for this long trip and get it looked at when I get home. When it takes you three hours to get showered, dressed, feed the dogs, put your shoes and socks on to get out the door to get some errands done, well........maybe time to get it looked at. The left side did this too, back in Feb 2011, I went to Urgent Care, they did X-rays, and a C-T and show 'nothing.' I never went back, now the right side is doing the same thing, will go and see what may to wrong, ruptured disc maybe.....who knows.

Prayers for us tomorrow as we travel down to Norfolk!!! Thanks, will check i when I am able. NO SNOW!!! Please!! lol

Sharon - prayers for safe travels and for your back.  Have a wonderful time. 

Sharon, have a safe trip. Can't wait to hear all about it. Hope it warms up for you.

Sharon, have a safe trip.  And hope your back is better soon.

We have power again!  Right after we got home from work and hooked up the generator.  LOL  No complaints there, though.

WooHoo!!! It is official......................we welcome back our Sailor and the other Sailors and Marines on Sunday, 04 November!!!!! We are soooooo excited to be able to say now!! Can't wait to put my arms around my son........er, Sailor!! It has been one long deployment!!!

Thanks for the travel and back prayers. The back will need them, I will be taking meds just to be able to move. Long drive to Norfolk.......from our door to their door it will be about 841 miles. Well worth every mile!!! Thanks again!!

Safe travels and happy reunion Sharon!  Hope your back doesn't act up.  Take tissues!

Moms, a favor to ask:  My SIL's sister teaches 2nd grade.  Her class needs addresses of soldiers/sailors to send letters for Veterans' Day.  She'd like them by Friday. If you think your sailor (or another one whose address you know) would like an appreciative note from a 2nd-grader, send me a private message with their address.  Thank you in advance!

A new chapter has begun.  We dropped our sailor off at the airport this morning for his flight to Hawaii.  He should be landing in about 15 minutes.  Such a happy/sad occasion.  I didn't cry (!), just gave him several big hugs.  One fun touch: the United employee at the gate (great maternal figure, even if she isn't a mom) said to him, "Good luck, sweetie!" and also gave him a hug before he boarded.

Michimom (Nuke Mom--MM), my heart is with you.

My son is in Hawaii. We are going there in a month. He will be deployed at the beginning of next year.

tysmom, enjoy! 

Kathy B, glad you now have power.  We had no power on Tuesday and you really realize how much you depend on it for everything when you don't have it!

Would love to make the WOMC lunch, but dang it, I have to work that day.  Enjoy!

Michimom - I know it probably took everything in you to not cry.  I'm proud of you.  Kathy, that was a long 3 days for I bet.  Glad you got power back on. 'Cause it is getting cold out there!

Sharon, I hope you are feeling better for next Sunday, right?  It's not tomorrow I hope.  Glad that your husband & Korey got there finally.

Have a great time at the luncheon Kathy & Sharon.

Hope everyone has a great rest of your weekend.

Sharon - have a wonderful time!  I'm sure it will be crowded and crazy! I have been watching the news posts from VA about the ships that have been coming in over the weekend in anticipation of the big 'E' finally coming home.

Continue to pray for your pain....for relief.

Adding my thanks for their safe return, Sharon, and prayers for your back to hold up for the day and duration of your visit. We look forward to hearing more!

Yvette, it still might be cheaper to get an Orlando flight with a rental car from Orlando to Jacksonville. Not sure of your sailor's age, but some rental companies require they be 21. Good luck. Travel can be a headache. I just purchased a flight from Maine to Detroit for Scott to be home the end of December. Wasn't expecting him home so soon but will take every visit we can get, even for just a week. It would have been cheaper out of Boston for him but I didn't want him to have to fight traffic.

Yay, Sharon!  Yes, hope your back holds up and you all have a great homecoming.

Lorraine, having experienced traffic in Boston, I am sure your son would appreciate not having to fight it to get to the airport.  Ick.  Yvette, hang in there and keep checking on flights.  Something will come up.

Watched part of the live stream of the Big 'E' homecoming before I headed off to church and now have looked thru pics.  There were 137 ladies in the 'New Mom' tent waiting for their sialors to meet their sons/daughters for the 1st time!

How sweet to come home from deployment to a new little bundle of joy! So glad the Big E returned home and that families will be together again. Did I understand that this is the final trip for the Big E? Do these sailors now all get split up and sent to other duty stations?

Yes the Enterprise is being decommissioned.  The official ceremony is in a few weeks and then the process begins.  According to the Captain they will stay with the ship for the initial process and then be reassigned.  The whole process of taking things of the ship that can be used by others, then down to Newport News to remove all nuclear fuel, etc. will take a number of years.