Thursday...what a day

So yesterday was a pretty cool day for me..Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on Fort Riley...we had a town hall meeting with him and about 100 other wives & FRSA's..and I got to ask him a question and got a pretty decent answer so that more then made my day..we also were informed that Ft Riley was getting funding for 2 new schools and funds to revamp another school which we so desperately need on our post...

Then Kristi Anne and I went and did some shopping which is always dangerous for us..got some pretty good deals so that just makes the day better lol...and had dinner at McAllister's Deli since that is our place to eat...

Today is another pretty hectic day for us..have to take Robert to the doctors for his last appt here on Ft Riley before he heads off to school way up north..John has a case management appt and just the general running around I always do...so in between running around..cleaning and packing its just another day in the Moates' household...

Changes...

So this weekend has been full of huge life altering changes...

Kristi Anne is no longer a little girl..she is now 17yrs old and on her way to being a woman which scares the snot out of me to think about that fact...I remember the moment she was born and how small and delicate she was...now looking back at all the time I've gotten blessed to watch her grow up it makes me sad to think eventually she will go off to college and have a family of her own one day...*sigh* I wish I could turn back time for just a moment to see her as she was when she 2yrs old..so innocent..

Robert is no longer a high schooler...he's graduated and is moving on with his life...I have to admit these were some very trying years with him...he's diffently his own person and is very hard headed and opinionated about things..wonder he gets that from :-)...Robert has decided that school is going to be the best option for himself...so he's going to be leaving us soon to go on to higher learning which cracks me up since the entire time he was in high school he HATED school..I'm talking with a passion but hopefully as he matures and realizes that his parent's aren't that stupid he'll remember all the lessons we tried to enstill in him...*fingers crossed*...

I'm not sure I'm ready to see my babies turn into adults...it seems to have happened over night..there are plenty of times that I would love to go back to a memory and relive that moment over and over but I am so very excited to watch them grow into adulthood and hope that John and I have done our best to make sure they are going to be great adults...its been a long and tiring road sometimes but its also had its rewards...so this weekend has been marked by some amazing highs and a few sad moments for me and John when we remember back 7 yrs ago to a 10yr old little girl and a 12 yr old boy and now they're not those ages anymore...I remember the moments when each of them were placed in my arms for the first time...March 16, 1992 and May 14, 1994. I love my children so very much and I am so thankful for them..through a lot of ups and downs and sleepless nights...this song is for Robert and Kristi...we love you both so very much!

It won't be like this for long

It won't be like this for long
By Darius Rucker
He didnt have to wake up
He'd been up all nite
Lay'n there in bed listen'n
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK

It wont be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laugh'n
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
It wont be like this for long

Four years later bout four thirty
She's crawling in there bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clinging to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says what can I do
She says now dont you worry
This will only last a week or two

It wont be like this for long
One day soon we'll drop her off
And she wont even know your gone
This phase is gonna fly by
If you can just hold on
It wont be like this for long

One day soon she'll be a teenager
And at times you'll think she hates him
Then he'll walk her down the isle
And he'll raise her vale
But right now she up and cry'n
And the truth is that he dont mind
As he kisses her good night
And she says her prayers
He lays down there beside her
Till her eyes are finally closed
And just watch'n her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows
It wont be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah this phase is gonna fly by
He's try'n to hold on
It wont be like this for long
It wont be like this for long

What a week...

This week has been pretty crazy...full of highs and lows...between doctors appts and getting a senior ready to move on to the next chapter in his life...and preparing for our daughter to turn 17 its just been a lot...

Tuesday I went with our WTB FRSA to the IACH(Irwin Army Hospital) health advisory team meeting to discuss getting a team together to go speak to FRG's about the signs of PTSD/TBI's and where to find the support and help the spouses need to deal with this...it was kind of nerve racking to speak to people that have never had to deal with this and really it doesn't effect them...but in the end I think we got them on our side of thinking and they have agreed that this is an issue that needs to be addressed so I'm excited to this venture to start..I do know I want to get involved with them and find out about the training...so I can go be apart of the group. I think this is a huge step for Ft Riley to acknowledge the severity of these 2 brain injuries and hopefully will help fight the stigma.

Yesterday we had John's PTSD/mental health eval at the VA..talk about 2 of the longest hours ever imaginable..some of it wasn't to bad but then there were other times when he was describing in details what he had experianced on his deployments it got bad for him..I learned a bit more yesterday about my husband and what he's gone through since like most military wives we don't know the full extent of what our guys have gone through while deployed.

Today is yet another busy day for us...John got selected to talk to the IG about issues at the WTB so hopefully with our new commander certain issues can be fixed..not saying that ALL of the WTB is bad just like every unit there are the bad apples that seem to be there to just get the extra money and think they're the greatest thing to hit a WTB ever...LOL...

I get to work on a couple new projects with our FRSA..one I'm super excited about is almost like an "Adopt a Warrior" program..we're gonna get with the local VFW's and kind of pair up a warrior and an older vet and hopefully have them meet up once a week for lunch..coffee..whatever...I know guys like John can't tolerate large crowds so maybe a one on one meeting will work better and it'll help the older vets feel needed and apart of the healing process. And then we're also working on a caregivers day for our WTB spouses at Worlds of Fun so hopefully that'll shape up so caregivers like me can have a small break from our warriors...

This weekend is going to be kind of rough...Kristi Anne turns 17yr old on Saturday and Robert is done with high school...my babies aren't so little anymore...wish there was a way to go back to when they were little...and cute and not obnoxious teenagers..but can't change it so on to a new chapter of life...Robert should be leaving for school in a couple weeks depending on a few factors he'll be local so we can still torture..err..visit him and Kristi Anne will be working almost all summer...

What a week already...I need a vacation :-)

Mother's Day...

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful caring moms out there..to the biological moms, the step-moms, the soon-to-be moms the foster moms...the moms who were/are adopted by the kids...and the mom's of the 4 legged furbabies...hope you ladies have an amazing day...an old Irish Blessing for all the mothers in the world...

May your joys be as bright as the morning,

And your sorrows merely be shadows that fade,

In the sunlight of love.

May you have enough

happiness to keep you sweet.

Enough trials to keep you strong.

Enough sorrows to keep you human.

Enough hope to keep you happy.

Enough failure to keep you humble.

Enough success to keep you eager.

Enough friends to give you comfort.

Enough faith and courage in yourself to banish sadness.

Enough wealth to meet your needs.

And one thing more: enough

determination to make each day a more wonderful day

than the day before.

Life as we know it...

I can't believe another week is done...sometimes I wish I could just stop time and relive a good day everyday. This week has had its up and downs like every week here. Hubby got told he's gonna need some sort of surgery on his spine(yeah Army)...either a very invasive surgery that involves deflatting the lung and going in and doing a lot of cutting or something that involves almost like an internal TENS unit which seems like the best option for him..and it comes with a remote control so I can shock him whenever I want...bawahahahahahaha..err....ok

Robert is done to his last week of school before graduation and then off to who knows what..he doesn't seem to know what he wants to be when he grows up...hopefully he can stop making bonehead decisions and grow up a bit and then he'll be doing so much better!

The weather here has been beautiful this week..minus a thunderstorm last night which of course had hubby freakin out for a bit which in turned messed with my sleep..blah! And today is the NAMI walk for mental health, super excited about this..hopefully Family of a Vet can start educating people about the effects of PTSD and getting the stigma associated with it to slowly go away..so off to Topeka I go this morning to sit with Stephanie to hand out info and talk to people..YEAH us! I'll post pictures about it later today..

After the walk it'll be a long drive back home and then we start working on pitching more junk...how on earth did we accumlate so much junk?? ARG!! But we're making a dent in the stuff...I hope...well think...who knows!

He's dead...now what??

So I've decided to really not write about the death of bin Laden...simply because that man has taken up 10yrs + of the news, the lives, and the deaths of to many Americans(both Military and Civilians) along with thousands of innocent people around the world and he doesn't deserve anymore attention...he's dead

What I worry about the most is the ones that are coming up..the ones that feel its their duty to step up and take his place...the ones that feel that they must retaliate against the US and cause more death, destruction and terror. They are the ones we have to worry about..the unknown is worse then knowing your enemy and right now we are in the unknown.

And as long as our country isn't unified we will always fall back into the sense of feeling we're "safe"...we as a country are no longer safe...most people seem to forget that almost 10yrs ago we were attacked and had 3000 innocent men, women and children murdered on our own soil...and yet people complain about having to not carry their shampoo bottles on to planes, complaining about the extra screening at the airports...let me ask you would you rather go through all that or go through another horrible terrorist attack where more people could end up murdered? I think the other is the lesser of the 2 evils...

We allow ourselves to be fall into a false sense of security and this time is no exception...do we think that bringing our troops home will stop the terrorist? Not really what has happened has given them the opportunity to avenge the death of their fallen leader...and that will eventually happen when we're not prepared and expecting it...now a lot of people can dismiss this as me being paranoid and not sharing in the joy of the recent events and that's fine...yes I am worried about the future and yes I am thinking of worse case scenarios just because I remember 10yrs ago...I have to care of my wounded warrior everyday and I have a very visible sign of the war on terrorism.

I hope and pray I am wrong and that the rest of the Al Quada just kind of slinks away into the shadows and stop their terror on the world but given their history I don't see it happen...