I am a Marine's Mom

I proudly display my son's picture for all to see. It is on the counter where I work, it is the most conspicuous on the wall at home.

I am the woman you see in line at the store who has an American Flag pin, a "My Son is a Marine pin", and a red, white & blue ribbon with the blue service star in the middle.

I am the person driving the car that is in front of you with the magnets that say "Support Our Troops", Proud Parent of a Marine, and a blue service star, a yellow ribbon attached to the top of my antenna.

I am the one with the grocery cart full of cereal bars, beef jerky, flavorings and additives for water, Twizzlers, Jolly Ranchers, and Skittles so my son and his fellow Marine brothers can have a little piece of home while in a strange and far away country.

I am the person you see carrying boxes to the Post Office so my son and his fellow Marine brothers know there are people in the states that support them.

I am the one you see with tears in my eyes whenever "The Star Spangled Banner" is played or sung before a ball game.

I am the one that has tears in my eyes when the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag is said.

When you see my son's picture when you come into my place of business and ask me who it is and where he is, please understand, this is MY SON. Please do not tell me we shouldn't be there. We are. Please do not tell me the latest injury reports, the casualties, bombings and shootings. I know this, it is always in the back of my mind.

Please do not tell me the war is because of the President. This is my son's boss. I will not speak ill of him for whatever reason.

Please do not say that's no place to be, my son is there, he's serving our country, he would rather be home safe with his family, but he has a duty.

Please do not say "I'm sorry", I'M NOT, my son volunteered to protect his country. You should say, "You must be very proud of him."

Please do not tell me you know how I feel, unless you are a military parent, spouse, child, or fiancée, you have NO clue what I feel. Please just tell me "Your son is in my prayers." There can never be enough prayers going up for our military or my son or me.

I am the Mother of a Marine, this is my daily routine

Mentally calculating the time difference half way around the world. Accepting that my son is now MY protector. Reaching across the ocean with my love, hoping my son feels the extra boost.

In the dead of night, waking up and saying a prayer for his safety and peace of mind

Never letting my son see the tears in my eyes or hear the catch in my voice whenever he leaves home or ends a phone call.

Enduring those moments when I am not as strong as I think I should be.

Making it through each day by the grace of God.

Opting to work extra hours or volunteer more than I used to trying to keep my mind occupied.

Trying to smile even when I haven't heard from my son for days or weeks on end.

Holding onto the Marine Corps motto of "Semper Fi", hoping I can keep the faith.

Every second of every minute of every hour of every day, praying God is with my son and will bring him home to me safely.

Rejoicing and shouting so all my coworkers know it is my son who is on the telephone.

written by Rhonda Elliott - 05/09/08
PROUD Marine Mom

Poem

I know this poem is a classic, but sometimes at certain times in your life it just helps to reread it. I'm not big into posting religious things, but reading this has helped me through some rough times in my life.

Footprints

One night a man had a dream, and in his dream he reviewed the footsteps he had taken in his life. He looked and noticed that all over the mountains and difficult places that he had traveled there was one set of footprints....but over the plains and down the hills, there were two sets of footprints, as if someone had walked by his side. He turned to Christ and said, "There is something I don't understand. Why is it that down the hills and over the smooth and easy places you have walked by my side; but, here over the tough and difficult places I have walked alone, for I see in those areas there is just one set of footprints." Christ turned to the man and said, "It is that while your life was easy I walked along your side; but here, where the walking was hard and paths were difficult, was the time you needed Me most, and that is why I carried you."

The last couple months have been very hard for Joe and I. Big decisions have been made and some decisions that were made for members of our family were out of our hands. Reading this poem has helped me realize that I'm not alone in dealing with these. I'm not a preachy person, but I just wanted to share this.

I haven't blogged for awhile because things in our lives have been pretty crazy lately. We took a fast trip to California for Thanksgiving and to find a house. Yes, we are moving to the sunshine state. This is a little scary for me because it is a fast decision, but I am excited to get out of Utah. While we were on our trip I was able to go through Boulder City and see some old friends. I saw Becky and the girls, Ladonna, Dr Meeks, Debra and her daughter Jordan. It was great to see everyone and spend time catching up. California was fun. We stayed in Palm Springs while Joe worked. The boys and I just goofed around there and we had Thanksgiving dinner with some of Joe's family. We had a great dinner and a really fun time. This year I was thankful Wyatt didn't crack his head open while he was smashing walnuts with his forehead.....only Wyatt. We drove over to the area we want to move and looked at a couple of houses. I really like the area we are going and it made me more excited to get down there. I have heard from Casey and he is ok. He didn't really say what he was doing. Just asked me to send him somethings and let me know he was there and ok.

Casey

Casey spent six days with us before leaving for Afganistan. It was so nice to be with him. We didn't do much, mostly because there is not much to do in Brigham, but he said it was just nice to relax.

Wyatt's Baptism

Wyatt was baptized today by Joe. Joe has worked really hard this year so he could receive the priesthood and baptize him. He was confirmed by our neighbor and home teacher, Aaron Collett. We had a spaghetti dinner (Wyatt's favorite) with friends and family. I would really like to thank my niece Jacey. She gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost and the bag that Wyatt is holding has things in it to remind him how to listen for help that the Holy Ghost can give. Cami Packer, also a neighbor and member of the Primary Presidency gave the talk on baptism. She did a great job and it is so nice that people like her are willing to do this for Wyatt.

Happy Hallowwen

Happy Halloween! The boys had a fun Halloween season. We went to a corn maze, had a party at Ben and Ang's house, carved pumpkins for the first time and got candy!


The top picture is at the corn maze. Those are our great neighbors Sadie and Kenzie.

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Camping in October

Friday night my brothers, their spouses, Joe and I had planned an evening to go to Salt Lake to see Body Worlds. It's an exhibit where they take the skin off dead people, preserve them and then put them on display for public viewing. Doesn't that sound like a fun way to spend a Friday night? Friday the kids were out of school so Joe took the little boys up to Tony's Grove fishing. They had so much fun that Joe called me and said they were going to come back to Brigham, get the camping stuff and head back up. I'm like, IT'S DATE NIGHT!!!! But the little boys really wanted to go so once again, I got stood up on date night. While he was packing I'm reminding him how COLD it is here (see previous post with SNOW) and they will be in the mountains and he just said they would be fine. Ok, whatever, I went to Salt Lake as a fifth wheel. When we got to the place were the skinned bodies were, they wouldn't let us in. We were supposed to buy our tickets before we got there and it was sold out. SOLD OUT?????? It is an exhibit you walk through.....how can that be sold out??? Anyway, we tried to talk to the lady into letting us go, but she was not nice and turned us away. We ended up eating at the Blue Iguana and then went to see "Eagle Eye", which was way good. I had a fun night with my family and since Joe was not with us we got to laugh at all the dumb things he does. Like going camping in October. He got back the next day and said they froze. He had to get up at 3:30 in the morning and build a fire not only to stay warm but to make some hot coals to cook breakfast. He forgot the propane tank for the stove. OOPS. They were all to cold to fish so they finally just headed home around 10:00. Jensen took his good friend Caden Terry and here are pictures from the trip.

Utah - - Gotta love it

Sunday we came out of church and it was so cold, dark and cloudy. I thought, "Oh great, it is going to snow in October." Sure enough, it started to snow and it snowed most of the day. I wanted to scream. After living in the desert with the warm sun, we moved back to Utah last year just in time for one of the worst winters in years. We were traumatized. We had no coats, gloves, boots, NOTHING. And the flashbacks from last winter started with that snow on Sunday. I'm not ready for the cold, snow, ice, dark, cloudy, no sunshine for three months weather. At least this year I don't have to drive in the whiteout storms going back and forth to work. I can just stay in my house with a book, hot chocolate and my fireplace. Needless to stay, my flowers froze and now it it time to pull them all out.

Update on Casey

I finally got a call from Casey. He is in Twentynine Palms CA for some special training before being deployed to Afghanistan. He told me he is being sent to Nuristan. I didn't really understand what he is going to do there except to advise somebody on something. Boy I listen good don't I??? For his pre-deployment leave he will be in Vegas in about a week and then he will be coming up to Utah. He will fly from Salt Lake back to Okinawa and he will be deployed around the end of November from there. Joe and I are very nervous about him going. We've read that the area he is going to a highly active war area. We are so proud of him! In so many ways he is still the same Casey, but there are some signs that he has matured :) (In truth, he has really matured)

Boring Weekend, but Good News

I have to say that this weekend was really boring. First of all it was raining. Ok, I know we need the moisture, but my kids don't play outside and that means they are inside driving me crazy. Second, no church due to General Conference, therefore I had no primary lesson to do and why would I do next weeks lesson a whole week in advance. I would ruin my routine of doing it 12 hours before church starts. Third, there was nothing on TV. However, it was a weekend for good news. My good friend Becky in Boulder City has been trying to adapt three little girls for years now. They had been given the right to adapt two of them previously, but the Dad of the one of them was not getting it that she was better off with Becky and Eric. Finally on Friday, he gave up his rights and they are now ready to go ahead with the adaption of all three. I cried when I got the text because these little girls are meant to be with Becky and Eric. I saw them when they first came to live with them as foster children. Then last year I was in Boulder City and went to visit. Those little girls had just blossomed under the care of Becky and Eric. I am so happy! Then today I got a text from my friend Rachel. She had her first baby. A little girl named Holly and mom and baby are doing good. Hopefully I'll get to see them soon.

This is Becky and the girls at a ward Christmas party. Aren't they cute??!!!

Wyatt's Green Thumb

Last May Wyatt brought home "the end of the year plastic cup with a green weed in it" from school. All my kids have brought these home and they are put on the counter and ignored until someone finally throws them away. This one that Wyatt brought home had a really nasty smell to it so I told him to put it out on the back porch (to be ignored). Towards the end of June I was out in our front yard planting my "MOTO MARINE" garden when Jensen said, "Let's plant Wyatt's plant!" I told him to go ahead because I figured the thing was already dead. Jensen and Wyatt planted the brown, shriveled up weed. Much to my surprise the weed actually started to become green. This made the boys really happy and they started watering it and talking to it. Pretty soon Wyatt's weed was growing more flowers than mine. Now it is October and this is what Wyatt's weed looks like.

This is my "MOTTO MARINE" garden. I'm so proud of Casey that I want everyone to know. And because I have never grown anything in my life. I can't even keep houseplants alive.

Little League Football

This was the our families first year to experience little league football. It is something that Jensen and Wyatt (and Joe) have been looking forward to for a long time. They had wonderful coaches and really learned alot. They only won one game, but they came to love playing the game. Joe was your typical little league dad. I did have to tell him to sit down and shut up a couple of times, but this is also his dream come true. His boys playing football. It consumed alot of our time, but when your watching your boys sack the quarterback or recovering a fumble or knocking a big defensive lineman on his butt, you know it was all worth it. Until next year.....