Ryan Update

Several have asked, so here is a Ryan update. The other day, I heard my phone make the little bleep that signals that I have a text message. Being the very hip, cool person that I am, with about three people who text me, I rushed over to see who it was.

And be still my heart.

It was my boy.

He sent a picture of himself in his dress uniform. He had a buddy take it with his iPhone, so the photo is a bit fuzzy. He is not allowed to wear the jaunty beret indoors, so no hat for the photo.

I have never had the privilege of seeing him in his dress uniform. It just blessed his Mama's heart to get this photo because he knew that I would want to see him in that uniform. When he lived at home, he refused to dress up. Ever. Wearing a polo shirt was 'getting all dressed up' for Ryan. urgh....

My little text bleep thingy went off again the next day. This time he was telling me that he was struggling with his run again. They still have to do PT and he has a certain amount of time to run two miles. The hip that he injured last summer has been bothering him and he hasn't been able to finish the run in time. His sargeant told him that if he didn't pass the next time, they might discharge him. He has another test on Thursday morning.

So, we have been praying this week that he would pass the test if God wants him to stay in the Army...and that if God wants him somewhere else, he would not pass. To be honest, each time he has these tests, I'm torn about how to pray because there is a part of me that just wants him out of harms way. I would rather not face deployment, ya know? But as I pray, God realigns my heart with His and I know that God has a perfect plan for Ryan.

Today...another bleep! And this time it was exciting news. Or as our family (great lovers of quoting movie lines) would say, "It's a major award!"

Ryan's text was:

"I got presented for excellence today by the company commander, Col. Reed and got a medal for it." There was a photo included...

He said he was told it was rare to get one and he was so excited Apparently, he was recommended for this because he volunteered to help out for a special ceremony. From the serious lack of details he gave me, I *think* it was for a building dedication ceremony and a lot of high ranking Army personnel were there. I have no clue what he did to help.

Hopefully, that excitement will motivate him and help him forget about his hip tomorrow when he takes his running test again. It definitely made me feel better about praying for him to pass the test! Thank you God, for your unexpected rewards and encouragement!

The Road Trip

I meant to post about our first day on the road but we arrived at the hotel too late. So here is a recap of the trip down to South Carolina and back.

We knew we were heading almost directly through Washington DC and I really wanted to show the kids some of the monuments there. We didn't have time to walk to all of them but we did drive by some and hopped out for a photo op. Most of the photos were taken as I was driving, hence the crummy quality.

Very cool rock formations through Maryland and Pennsylvania

Still lots of snow left in PA

And then on for some fun...I was able to meet two of my bloggy friends in North Carolina. Jeff and Taylor have bugged me to no end about meeting people I've 'met' on the internet.

Lisa and Kristin

Our husbands...who were good sports about meeting Internet friends

Lisa has a Kate, too. Isn't she adorable?

Lisa and I have a plot for Jake and Kate to marry--haha. They are both from Guatemala. This was their reaction to each other. The matchmakers will have to work a bit harder!

We managed to corral all of our kids for a photo.

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Sunday was our last day with Ryan. He was able to stay overnight with us at our hotel on Saturday night. We had originally been told we could have him stay with us on Friday night and planned to start for home Saturday evening. But in the Army, things change. Frequently. We were told after we got there that he could spend Saturday night with us, but not Friday. Sigh... We decided to stay an extra day so Ryan could get off the base, spend some extra time with us and wear civilian clothes for a few hours. (You have no idea how bad he wanted to wear 'civies.')

Jillian and Molly liked to feel Ryan's hair stubble

Ryan started to look very sad about his time with us coming to an end. His Mama's heart started to break.

Katie crawled into Ryan's lap for some snuggle time

Inevitable good-bye.

I think I cried most of the way through South Carolina. It was so hard to leave him there.

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We traveled through the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley on the way home. The mountains really DO look blue.

We knew we were getting close to home when we started to see snow again.

It was a really nice trip. It was sooo wonderful to see Ryan but equally hard to leave him again. He will be staying at Fort Jackson for the next phase of his training which will last for 13 weeks. He then gets two weeks leave and will be able to come home for a visit. After that...he will be sent somewhere--we have no idea where.

Graduation

Showing support for her soldier brother!

Proud Army Sister and her gear to prove it

He did it! Ryan graduated today! Today would have been my Grandpa's 89th birthday. He served our country in WWII and would have been so proud to see Ryan graduate. We thought it was pretty amazing that Ryan graduated on my Grandpa's birthday.

Jeff was not feeling great but was able to make it...thank you so much for praying.

We got to the stadium almost two hours early so that we could get decent seats. Poor Jeff was having a hard time staying in his seat because we could see the troops out at one end of the field. I asked him how he was doing and he said it was so hard to know that Ryan was a few hundred yards away but he couldn't just go down and see him.

Promptly at 10AM, the ceremony started. There was a band today playing patriotic music and of course yesterday's and today's events were started with the National Anthem. Hearing it never ceases to give me chills.

I was frantically trying to find Ryan in the view finder of my camera to no avail. It frustrated me to no end. After loading the photos onto my computer tonight, I eventually found him.

And there he is...front row, guy in the middle

After the ceremony, (and yes, we jumped over all the seats again to get out of there) we went out to find Ryan. We searched and searched. We found his platoon and got momentarily distracted by a large group circled around a young couple. It was a guy in Ryan's platoon, down on one knee in front of his girlfriend. Oh my goodness...it was so touching. A bunch of the guys in the platoon were standing around with their cell phones raised, taking pictures. As the sobbing girlfriend nodded yes, the soldier slipped a ring on her finger and the crowd was whooping and hollering. It was so cool.

I wasn't quick enough to catch the proposal, but here is the happy couple.

We still needed to find Ryan. I finally decided to go look in the spot where we had found him the day before. Sure enough...there he was, visiting with some sweet friends from Mass. who had come to see him graduate. I told him that his dad was dying to see him, so we headed back to the group. I saw Jeff suddenly see Ryan. He handed everything he was holding to the person next to him and started to run toward Ryan. I'll let the next series of photos speak for themselves.

"You look good, son."

A father's love

Oh great...now I have a big ol' lump in my throat again. I think it is going to stay for awhile.

Ryan finally got to leave the base after 10 weeks. He said it felt weird--in a good way. :) We took him to lunch for a big burger and then tonight we went to dinner at a place where he could have a steak.

Time always passes too quickly and soon it was time to take him back to the barracks. Jeff was able to go inside and see Ryan's bunk. My mom had volunteered to take all the kids back to the hotel so that Jeff and I could go with Ryan. It was so nice to have him to ourselves for a little while!

The phones, where the infamous and precious phone calls are made

Friends from church in Mass.

My aunt and uncle - who are always a huge hit with our kids

We love you, Ryan!

Amazing Day...

Thank you all SO MUCH for your prayers. Jeff did not make it to Family Day and is still sick. His fever broke around 6PM, though, so we are hopeful that he will be able to make it tomorrow for Graduation. I am heartsick for him that he missed today's events. We tried to take pictures and video--but of course it's not the same as seeing your son.

I had trouble sleeping last night--SO excited!! Would I be able to see him? Would I recognize him? They all look the same from far away. Would he be different? So many things I was wondering about...but mostly I just wanted to get my arms around him.

We arrived 90 minutes early for the opening ceremony. There was a looong line of traffic trying to get in. We eventually arrived at the field where the festivities were to start. My heart was pounding--not only from excitement, but from the stress of getting everyone dressed, ready, fed, and to the base. ha. I am SO thankful that my parents and my aunt and uncle are here and they pitched in and helped. The day would have been much more challenging without them!

Ryan had called the night before and told us where to sit so that we could see him. We filed in and found seats. There was some rousing patriotic music to get everyone even more pumped. Tension was in the air as we anxiously waited for the moment when we would see our soldiers.

Suddenly there was a loud explosion and we saw various colors of smoke rising from the ground. More and more grenades were thrown, colors looking very cool. And then....out of the smoke, the first figures of our soldiers started to appear. Everyone in the stands was on their feet, clapping and yelling wildly as we strained for a glimpse of our beloved family members.

There was a fairly brief presentation and FINALLY they excused us to 'go find your soldier!' OK--I wanted to run. However, we were in a line that was not moving. At all. After about five minutes of frustration, my dad and I looked down the bleachers and pretty much had the same thought at the same time. I said, "Let's go for it...climb down these babies and get to a part of the line that is actually moving, for cryin' out loud." So we each scooped up a little kid and down we went. We finally burst out of the stands and started searching. And searching. We couldn't find him! I tried to call him on my cell but the call wouldn't go through. So, we just started walking and then all of a sudden I heard, "MOM!" I whirled around and there he was. I threw my arms around him. Boy...did he feel good there. I didn't want to let go and neither did he.

He looks amazing.

Even without hair.

Even in his regular fatigues, he looks quite dashing in his black beret.

We spent the day seeing where he has slept the past 10 weeks, where he ate, etc. We went to the main PX (where the lowly guys in boot camp were not allowed to go) and tried to eat. There is a food court there and I haven't seen that many people crowded into a small space since we were in China. Seriously. I couldn't breathe. We finally went outside to an outdoor tent that was selling hot dogs, thinking that we could buzz through that line. It was already 12:30, so the kids were tired and hungry. (Did I mention that we arrived at our hotel at 10:30 and they had to get up at 7AM? Put toddlers in: hot sun, long line, no food, no drinks, and what do you get? Yeah...imagine it. Oh...and don't forget that they also had to go potty.) They actually weathered it fairly well. 90 minutes later...yes....90 minutes!!!, we ordered. We planned to get hot dogs.

They were out.

The only food they had left were these HUGE kielbasa things which looked like heartburn on a plate. But what could we do? We had already waited in line for 90 minutes while the sloooow workers painstakingly made. each. kielbasa.in.slow.motion. We ordered five and they made each one separately rather than putting five together and then putting the condiments on them all at the same time. It was excruciating to watch them. Seriously.

Well that was fun.

Most of the day was just spent hanging out with Ryan. We found a less crowded place for dinner and then went to church. There was a short program with the same singer who had performed at the opening ceremony. He is very talented and used to sing with Lee Greenwood. Very touching, patriotic songs for soldiers and their families. He ended with "I'm Proud to Be An American" and I think there were a lot of wet eyes in the pews. At the very end the chaplain called the soldiers and families to the front to lay hands on and pray a blessing over them. It was so cool. I think what blessed me the most was looking over and noticing that Chloe had stood on the pew behind Ryan and had placed her little hand on his shoulder. So precious. One very sweet thing about soldiers is that they learn to allow their mom's to put their arms around them. Since everyone is being treated that way, none of the guys seem to mind.

Speaking of sweet...Ryan handed me a card today that he bought--thanking me for raising him and for all I've done for him. Oh my goodness....it took my breath away. Some of the card was already printed, but he had added his own personal thank you. Wah...... I love that boy!

Now I know you all just really want to see pictures, so I will go through them now and attach some to this post. I'm not going to do any post-processing, so they are just straight out of the camera and might not be all that great. Just sayin'....

Can't wait to see our soldier!

Anyone? Anyone?

"Come on! Let's get this show on the road!"

"Ooohhhh...what was that LOUD BANG?"

Cool.....

Here they come!!!! (Now that just gets your heart pumping, doesn't it?)

Do you see Ryan?! Me, either.... :)

Ensuing bedlam after families are told they can go find their soldiers

Jake salutes Ryan...badly..as in placing his hand in the middle of his forehead...

...which totally cracked Ryan up

I need more hugs...

Molly gets her hug

Hugs for Grandma

Chloe finally gets to see her Ryan. The bear is Bobo, which used to be Ryan's. Chloe has been faithfully babysitting it.

Posing with Grandma and Grandpa

Ryan and Nick (some of you wrote to Nick)

Letters from HOME

Sweet moments

Gotta have the T-shirt