Day 1

Made it through today and kept my mascara on. Well, mostly. :)

A little note about after Clay left last night. We sat in the car for a bit after he said goodbye. Jonathan started talking about how he hoped Daddy had a shield. (I don't think it really sunk in for most of the kids until Clay checked out his weapon).

I asked him, "who was stronger than all the guns?"
"The army"
"Who is stronger than the whole army?"
"Jesus"

So we had a little talk about putting our faith in our Savior and if we kept praying, He would keep Daddy safe so Daddy doesn't need a shield. (I guess he must have picked that up from the Book of Mormon armies.)

Clay texted me when they were on the plane so Christina and I watched his flight take off from our bedroom window. That was hard to see him actually go.

Ethan didn't want to go to sleep or sleep much last night. Can't say I can blame him. He's still in our bedroom and just being able to listen to someone else breathing in there at night is comforting. It's hard to resist the urge to have him just sleep in the bed with me but I know we both sleep better when he's in his own bed.

The internet was out most of today so I didn't get to update my blog like I wanted to but I did get all 3 bathrooms cleaned and started taking down the Christmas decorations. When Jonathan got home he told me that we hadn't had our "own" Christmas yet so I wasn't supposed to be taking the decorations off the tree. I guess our surprise trip to Colorado didn't quite sink in all the way like I was hoping.

Christina's ortho appointment went well. I guess he wants to wait until June or July to do the oral surgery because she'll be out of it for several days and then she won't miss as much school. She gets her bottom braces on in March at her next appointment.

Now for tomorrow's fun with Ethan. Clay gave him a blessing for it before he left. Hopefully they will just do it then and not have us come back another time. We'll see.

Sorry if I'm getting too detailed about my life right now. Clay's not hear to be my sounding board so I need to unload it somewhere.

Clay sent a text tonight to let me know he made it to Kuwait. He'll be there for a few days before finishing his journey. Hopefully he'll be able to call soon and tell us about his adventures. I know he flew from here to Detroit and then was in Hans, Germany before heading to Kuwait.

Well, better finish paying bills and Ethan says he's ready for bed.