Can't Think of a Witty Title for Today's Hodgepodge

Nope... no witty title happening today... so sue me... my body has decided lately that it wants to wake up between 4 and 5 am.  My children do not start rising until 6.  it is still dark outside.  And yet there I am... awake.  And yes, sometimes I do get up, get a cup of coffee, and open my Bible for some bleary-eyed time alone with my Lord.  Which is wonderful.  Other times... not so much.  This is one of those times.  BUT - it is Hodgepodge Time!  So I may not have a witty title this week, but... lets jump in anyway!  And after you have read my bleary-eyed responses and left a sweet comment for me (I'm such a comment whore - oh please please please let me know you stopped by!) hop on over to Joyce's to join in the fun and see her not-so-bleary-eyed answers!

1. What do you do at the first sign of a cold? Will you get a flu shot this year?

First, I panic and go into "But I don't have TIME to be sick!" mode, in which I arm myself with Lysol and Clorox wipes and go around the house disinfecting all door handles, couches, and countertops.  Then I drink lots of water and juice and pop the vitamins that I somehow always forget to take until the minute I start feeling ill.  I do like Airborne - maybe its a placebo, maybe not, but I think it really does work!   And last month right before my Arizona God-wonder-trip I felt myself getting REALLY sick - like, achy killer sore throat sick... and I looked up a home remedy and made a gross-sounding-but-not-that-bad concoction of apple cider vinegar, water, honey, and cayenne pepper... drink one tablespoon every couple of hours... and man-oh-mama, my sore throat and achey-ness was GONE and I felt GREAT!  (Personally I think the cayenne pepper scared the bejeebees out of the germs in my system)

Hey... whatever works, right?  'Cuz like I said, I don't have TIME to be sick... ever!

2. What advice can you give about how to conquer fear?

Recognize what it is you are really afraid of.  More than just "I fear rodents" but more "I fear their diseases and twitchy tails and how they run really fast and what if they run right over me and bite me with their sharp little teeth and I get the bubonic plague and what if they reproduce in my walls and my house is overrun with gutter rats like when I was a kid and our house was being remodeled and that really DID happen to me."

And then, either acknowledge that fear as being rational or irrational, and if it's something you want to conquer, then find someone who is NOT afraid of that thing, and ask them to join you in helping you conquer that fear!  Say - I'm afraid of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane with nothing but a piece of cloth strapped to my back to buffer my fall.  Because I am afraid of plummeting to my death.  But I want to conquer that fear, so I will ask a friend to go skydiving with me.

But the whole rodent thing?  I'm really ok with that fear.  

3. Share two good things about your life right now.

1- We are on the final-ish countdown for my hubby to come home from Afghanistan!!!

2-  See #1!

4. A hot fall fashion trend in 2011 is a return to sixties style...tunics with pants, shift dresses, pencil skirts, cinched waists, bold prints, high necklines and short lengths to name a few. How does this fashion trend fit with your wardrobe and personal sense of style?

Oh good grief... I thought the fashion trend was still going back to the 80s.  No?  I can't keep up.  My wardrobe, sadly, is not so trendy, and more on the "If it fits and is clean, wear it!" motto.  If it's cute and I manage to somehow add accessories that make it look trendy?  A miracle!  Cinched waists and pencil skirts are for 18-year-olds with no hips and shift dresses (I'm thinking mumus?) should all be banned for eternity.  

5. Were you involved in scouting as a kid? How about as an adult?

I was a Brownie and a Girl Scout as a little girl.  Not super great memories of my time in them, unfortunately.  My son is a Boy Scout.  My daughter wants to do Girl Scouts, so I guess I had better start looking into that!  My youngest has the attention span of a gnat right now and I fear would cause the demise of his boy scout leaders, so we are waiting a while on him.

6. Apple, pear, plum, pumpkin...your favorite fall flavor?

Pumpkin!!!  Oh how I can't wait for my annual pilgrimage to Starbucks for my Pumpkin Spice Latte!  Yummers!!

7. What characteristics do you think are essential in a good teacher?

First, never ever ever ever stop delighting in children!  When we send our kids to school, we tell them that when they are in school, their teacher is their parent and so they had better listen.  The same goes for you, teacher - when our kids are in your class, you are their parent.  Please guide them with firmness but love, smile at their antics and comments, and love what you are doing, realizing that you only have them for a very short time in their lives and everything you say and do will make an impact.  If you are no longer loving what you are doing, please reassess why you are in the classroom.  Your negativity will outshine anything else you will ever do in that room.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I've been up since 0-dark-hundred this morning.  I need more coffee.  I need to shower.  TMI?  Sorry.  All of my thoughts are random at the moment... BUT, in my early morning hours so far I have scheduled my hubby's car to be detailed before he gets home, scheduled a massage and pedicure for me (using the gift certificate he got me for our anniversary), bought a new bathing suit online for our trip to Hawaii next month, and caught up on FB and wrote my blog.  Not bad for 0-dark-hundred!  :-)  have a wonderfully blessed day, friends!

When the world stopped turning.

10 years ago today.  9/11/01.  Hugely pregnant with our second child, getting Caleb ready for preschool, I turned on the Today show and watched in disbelief as the second plane hit the World Trade Towers.  The world stood still as Matt Lauer's voice came over the air "I think we can assert that this is no accident - this is a terrorist attack."  My husband called from the base where he was a student, "Hon, we are locked down.  I don't know when I'll be able to get home.  Put the flag out.  I love you."

In our second year of our military career, the shock, disbelief, and indignant outrage overwhelmed me... How could this happen?  How did our intelligence agencies not know this was going to happen and not prevent it?  And how DARE the terrorists attack America?  Do they not KNOW who they are dealing with?  My emotions ranged from a Mama Bear who wanted to rise up and fight the cowards who did this to us, and in the next moment I would want to be like a child and just be told that everything was going to be ok again.  And yet I knew it could never be the same.

 From my journal the week after the attack... "Tonight President Bush declared war.  A lengthy war, not just a couple of military air strikes.  On the news this morning they showed the first troops leaving for the middle east.  Daddies holding their babies, wives wiping away tears.  How long until we are one of those families?  Dear unborn baby, what kind of world are we bringing you into?"

In the days, weeks, months following that horrific attack I saw our country come together in ways unlike anything I had ever seen before.  My grandmother remarked that it reminded her of the nation immediately following the attacks on Pearl Harbor.  Flags flown on all of the houses, attached to cars, memorials everywhere.

And now... here we are... ten years later.  Duane has served one tour in Iraq, and is serving in Afghanistan as we speak.  Our nation pauses to remember... and to maintain the good fight that began when the terrorist cowards took the lives of three million innocent people because they resent America.  We have been hard at work ever since, making our borders more secure, and protecting what we hold most dear:  Freedom for all, justice for all, peace for all.

And I couldn't be prouder.