Thoughts, Time, Technology ...... self assessment

This is a shot I took of Daria last weekend. Because I've not been blogging much, you may not be aware that I'm doing photography regularly now.

No I haven't given up on blogging. I have however realized how easy it is to let the busyness of daily life or the easiness of technology overshadow some of the things I enjoy that add sustenance to my day. For the record, I love to blog. I love to read my friends blogs. Period. I just absolutely love reading my close friend's blogs, and I like to blog. I love it more than I will ever even remotely like Facebook. In fact I have a like/hate relationship with Facebook. There are only a handful of reasons I like Facebook. 1. Easy to find and catch up on people or acquaintances that we've lost contact with over the years. 2. Get a message or pictures out to a lot of people quickly. 3. Keep up on events or groups of interest. But let's be honest, how is it possible to maintain over 300 friendships? if all those people were close "friends" would we have had to track them down? Or do we just have a fascination of peaking into someone elses life? The reasons I love to hate Facebook are too many to list here. But it boils down to one thing, it takes a lot more to maintain and fortify a relationship than a comment on Facebook will ever do.

Ok, ok, before anyone becomes offended or feels guilty, I am NOT trying to tell people they shouldn't use Facebook or that it's a bad thing. I mean, quite frankly I use Facebook too. It has its usefulness. But I still love to hate it. But for me personally I would rather pick up the phone and hear my friends voice, go to lunch, or read their blog describing life's ups, downs, joys, sorrows, defeats & victories, than to read a one line comment on Facebook that is nothing more than glorified texting. Both share information but I prefer the blogs. Phone calls, time in person, and blogs make me feel connected with my friends. It's the blogs that make me realize that we are all in the same big boat, good days, bad days, etc. For the record I recognize that blogging is not for everyone. I totally get it. But who can't pick up the phone? There's not one shoe that fits all, and sometimes the only way one may know about what is going on in someone elses life is through Facebook. But as I look back on the previous months where my blogging has slowed and where my "checking" Facebook activity has gone up made me think about how I spend my time. How do I put energy into my friendships? Is it good use of time that strengthens my relationship with that person? It's that "good" "better" "best" scenario that each person needs to decide for themselves what is most important to them. As usual, technology can be a blessing but with it always comes the challenge to maintain real one on one contact with another human being. It also challenges the ability to have a "real" thoughtful long conversation. Gone are the days of letter writing where the deep thoughts of one's heart were penned on pages of paper. I'm a hopeless lover of turn of the century letters where loved ones penned endless pages of their life to each other. E-mails and blogs took their place. But I've noticed another trend. Even e-mail writing has almost diminished and seems to be dominated by forwards or news and no longer the electronic way of sending a letter. I'm guilty of that too. Blogs have slowed. But one thing that has continued to rise is Facebook, yet often it lacks depth, substanance and doesn't really tell someone what is REALLY going on in their life. Like anyone else my challenge is to make more phone calls, spend more time, and write a little bit more.

I read a book years ago, titled "In the Company of Women". I don't remember too much about the book accept that it detailed how women are relationship beings. We are happier and even have better marriages when we have friendships. But it showed the statistics where women are so busy that they really are usually surrounded by endless "close acquaintances" and not "good friends" because they have to many acquaintances and not enough time to develop them into strong friendships. I really believe that is true. I don't ever think I've met a woman who has not said at one time "I wish I had a close friend." Like I said earlier, being a mother is a blessing, being a busy mother has it's blessings, technology has it's blessings...... but as with all things, without moderation, without balance and without nurturing what is important we can miss out on what really IS important.

Again, I did not blog this to make anyone feel bad for not blogging, writing, or calling. Quite the opposite, I wrote it because 1. The original reason I started to blog was to keep my family up to date on the day to day details of my life 2. To journal 3. To "keep it real" inspired by my friend Becky H. (from Utah) who at one time mentioned that she enjoyed blogs that "keep it real". 4. When I print my blog into a Blurb book to read later I want my children to see that even adults struggle with over use of technology and have to re-prioritize. 5. To keep myself accountable to what I think is important in my life.... capturing my personal history, one personal experience and sentence at a time even the relentless boring repetitive routine days.

Years down the road my grandchildren and great grandchildren will be able to get to know me by what I've written about my life. Something that Facebook will never be able to capture.

Proof that Parents are SMART

We all know that the older children get the more stupid the parent gets... right? Well, here is proof that as parents we REALLY ARE SMART. I'm blogging this so that it goes on record because one day I'll have to pull it up and show Dustin just to remind him that I AM smart.

Here's the scene.

Dustin brings most prized Lego pieces in the van as we go out as a family. Once back home Dustin realizes he cannot find his most prized Lego pieces. Dustin cries. Dustin searches. Dustin cries some more. Mom tells him to wait until morning to search again because there will be more light making it easier to search. Dustin gives in and waits until the next morning. Dustin searches again, cries again, feels life is over because the little Lego pieces are missing in action. Mom tells him 3 times "why don't you check your pant pockets?" Dustin doesn't listen. Dustin is angry, Dustin looks in the van again. Mom mentions one more time that he should look in his pants. Minutes later Dustin comes running down stairs and in a loud excited voice yells "MOM!!!!! YOU ARE SOOOOO SMART!, the Lego's were in my pocket, HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT???!"

So there you have it folks. Dustin actually admitted that I AM smart. Ahhhhhhh, it's nice to have a mommy payday once in a while.

Huey part 2

The rest of the story... So why was I in a Huey helicopter? as many of you know I've been busy as a bee with photography, and particularly photography of veteran or military events. I was asked to photograph a historical Vietnam reenactment at the Clay Shooting Tournament benefit for "Homes for Our Troops". Homes for Our Troops builds or remodels homes for service members who have been disabled during military service. So here is how the story went.

Karie ... listening to Shawn, President of the 6th Cav Historical Association explain to her where he wants her.

Karie ... nods her head and takes note of his instructions.

Shawn ... pauses.... then says "Hey... maybe we could better use you in the helicopter? go in as a combat photojournalist and be the first one to jump out when we land in the middle of the the action"

Karie ... acting like she does this every day says "sure, of course, that would be great, count me in" while inside she was jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store thinking to herself "Oh yeah, Oh yeah!!! me, me, me, I'll do it, I'll go, I'll be the first to jump out"

Karie ... fast forward a few moments later, now wearing new green clothes and helmet, along with camera and bag, climbs into the Huey. Practices unclamping belt and jumping out a few times to make sure she didn't fall flat on her face. Combat boots are hard to jump and run in (note: I knew it would be muddy out there because it rained for a complete week straight. I don't have any boots, so on a whim I tried on Dustin's desert combat boots. Folks, I actually fit in my 8 year old's boots. Very sad indeed) My seat was the one facing out, doors open during the flight. When the blades start to turn you hear "whoop whoop" as it gets louder and faster. Then we took off and the pilot gave us a great ride. He went all over above the river as he tilted us so far that I could actually look straight down without pointing my head down, I got some fun shots there. I know that all of you are waiting for pictures of me dressed in green clothes in that Huey helicopter but I don't have any yet. Particularly because I was the one taking pictures and it's hard to take pictures of yourself effectively. At any rate, it was a great experience and I was glad to participate. The next great experience will be sifting through the 1500 photos I took. Sigh! taking pictures is the fun part .... sorting and editing is work.

This is one of the shots I took after I jumped out and ran as far as I could to capture the men coming out of the helicopter.

This is not me but some young man who like all the other men there still like to play "little green Army men", but this was the seat I sat in on the first drop. The door is open during the whole flight and is quite an experience.

One thing to check off my list of "One Day I'd Like to Do....."

All of you will be amazed at this post because it will be the shortest post I have EVER written. (who says Karie can't get to the point in less than 10 paragraph's????)

Ok, just a few words...

today I ...... GOT...... TO....... FLY....IN.....A ....... HUEY..... HELICOPTER!!!!! and it was AMAZING!!!!!

I'll blog about why I was in a Huey later, but I'll leave you with two hints. It has to do with photography and military reenactments only this time I wasn't in the WWII nurses dress.... more like Vietnam green. First one to jump off of the helicopter when it landed (camera and all) to photograph the action! Absolutely amazing..... Thank you 6th Cav.!

can you hear the "whoop whoop" of the rotors?

Dustin finally has the courage to take his hands away from his eyes.

Is it really possible that I, who is never at a loss for words.... could have neglected my blog for so long? What is the world coming to? Kudos to my friend's who have somehow managed to keep their blogs up to date amid the hustle and bustle of life.....

I ran across these photos of Dustin today and couldn't help blogging about them. For those who know Dustin you know that he is always moving, always talking, always on the go. You've laughed at me when I've said that he is my "introvert/extrovert" child. No one can imagine the happy go lucky bouncing off the walls non stop Dustin is actually a very shy introverted person. So here is the breakdown. When Dustin is in a situation with people he knows, and knows very well like friends. He's a firecracker. Put him in a situation like school or in front of a crowd and Dustin wants to disappear. Every parent teacher conferences I hear the same thing, "Dustin is so well behaved..Dustin sits quietly all day, he never talks out of turn.." I usually sit there and think to myself "Are we talking about the same kid?"

It brings me back to his early days when he was in nursery at church. Terry S. came by the house for something and when I opened the door Dustin was his usual energetic bouncy self. Terry, who happened to be the nursery leader looked at me and said "Uh.... we've never seen that in nursery. Dustin comes in, grabs a toy, and quietly plays by himself and doesn't say a word."

Seriously, true story. Anyway, back to my pictures. Dustin, who has dreamed of being a Cub Scout since he was 4 is finally a Wolf Cub. He busily began working on his Achievements and attended his first Pack Meeting earning his Bobcat patch. This means he is called up to the front to receive the patch. I don't think he was even about to do that. After some coaxing from me and AnnaLisa, Dustin barely made it to the front with his hands over his eyes in the "if I can't see you then you must not be able to see me" response. He was so completely embarrassed that he forgot that he was to escort me so he could pin the mother's wolf pin on. Somehow he made it back to my chair (eyes still covered) and we walked up together minus his arm holding mine because that would mean he would have to take his hands down from his face. The fun part about going up to get your awards is the opportunity to choose a super silly boyish Cheer for the rest of the Pack to perform. Dustin, who was horrified to be up there skipped that part and rushed back to his seat. A priceless moment.

p.s. Thanks Ken for taking the pictures, you are getting better at using my camera!!

When to let our kids quit

Earlier this year I enrolled Daria and Dustin in Taekwondo. It's been a great experience and they've learned a lot. Surprisingly I've learned a lot too, but not about Taekwondo. I've learned some interesting parenting lessons, like it's not always easy to figure out where we end as a parent and where our kids begin, or how important it is to really be in tune with our children's needs or wants, and most importantly to follow those promptings we get in relation to our children.

Dustin was interested in taking martial arts. I knew it would give him a positive outlet for his energy and provide him with structure to build character, integrity, and self control while learning to set goals. Daria wanted to take gymnastics and I thought a summer program would be great. However, I felt a strong prompting that I should enrol her in Taekwondo instead. Daria was supportive of this and had no complaints. From day one she was positive, focused and intensely engaged. Quite frankly she is very good at it.

Then one day while playing with a friend I mentioned that we would need to leave for class in a few minutes. WHAT?!!! interrupt playing with friends to go to Taekwondo? and THAT is when the complaints began.

This caught me off guard. One moment she likes it, the next she doesn't. She would complain but get ready for class anyway. Once in class she was completely engaged in the lesson. For not liking Taekowndo it was surprising that she complained that Dustin was signed up for a year and she was only signed up for the summer (we extended it). During a goal setting class she made a goal to break a board with an axe kick. Dustin said "I thought you didn't like Taekwondo"..... slight pause from Daria as she checks to see if mom is listening "... uuhhmmmm, well I just like the kicks". Sometimes the complaints would cause the historical "how important it is to follow through with a task, give me one good reason why you want to quit, we've signed a contract" parent child discussion. Then one night as Daria was showing some friends of ours some things she learned in class. Our adult friend asked Daria if she liked Taekwondo. There was a lot of noise amid all the guests but I clued into the conversation and about that time saw Daria smile at her and then look at me from the corner of her eye hoping I was not listening. Realizing that I was listening she then answered "well..... sort of" as she tried to hold back the smile.

Because Daria continued to complain I began to wonder if this was one of those moments that I should allow her to quit. I wasn't about to have this sport make life miserable for Daria or our family. But things just didn't add up. Ken and I discussed it. I noticed several things. The complaints were not like real complaints, they were half heartily spoken. Each of us knows when our children are REALLY complaining about something and when they are just taking us for a ride. I noticed that when I responded to her complaints with validation instead of fighting about it, the complaints almost diminished. One night during class the Grand Master recognized Daria for her precise kicks and control of her body, I thought her head was going to swell so much that we wouldn't get her out the door. For now Ken and I came to the conclusion that Daria does enjoy Taekwondo but doesn't want to admit it because we are the ones who signed her up. For all of her complaints she asks to go to some of the special events, she volunteered herself to be in the parade, and begs me every day to buy her sparring gear now that they've earned their yellow belts, and didn't miss the opportunity to get her picture taken. Does that look like a girl who doesn't like Taekwondo??

So what did I learn? Well, beyond Taekwondo, I learned that I've all of the sudden entered the "I'm not going to like something because my mom does" stage. Regardless if it's clothes, books, music, food, hair, or Taekwondo, Daria does not want to admit that she might agree with me. This is ok, now that I've figured it out for today. I think it's normal. I've learned that we do need to listen to our children but we also need to find out what is motivating them towards or away from something. There will be times when as parents we take our kids out of something for their benefit and leave them in something for their benefit. Lastly, pay attention to those promptings. I may never know why I was prompted to put her in Taekwondo instead of gymnastics but I do know that when I follow the promptings I'm doing the right thing. Although Daria wont admit it, learning Taekwondo has benefited her, I can see it already.

Happy Fall

A bit overdue but Happy Fall to everyone!!!!

As most of you know, the months preceding Halloween around our house tends to be filled with pins, material and sewing machines. As I've said before I really don't care either way about Halloween but I do enjoy making costumes and dressing up. However, this year I had a super hard time motivating myself to sew anything. It's been an unusually busy year for us and my creative drive was limited. Next year I tell myself!

Even without all the oodles of hours sewing we had a fun Halloween, marked by a visit from Aunt Jillynne, a trip to the Air Show, the Trunk 'r Treat at church, Trick 'r Treating around our neighborhood with all of our friends and finalized with all of the kids huddled in one big mass on the driveway digging through their mounds of candy.

As you will notice there are NO pictures of Mr. Ken. If you are wondering why, well he had been suffering from some knotted up muscles and pinched nerve of sorts in his back/neck. This made Ken's interest in the Halloween festivities about a negative 100.

I did sew Daria's costume. She wanted to be a water fairy. Simple, cheap and quick. Dustin went as an Army Special Forces soldier (surprise surprise I bet you would have never guessed) In fact since I didn't spend what I usually do on material this year I put that money into Dustin's costume. He has wanted a Army uniform since he was 3 or 4 years old, and he will definitely get use out of it and already has.

I went as a WWII Red Cross Volunteer Nurse. No I did not make this outfit, and no it is not a store bought replica, in fact this outfit is the REAL DEAL, made and manufactured in the US between WWI and WWII. Now you are probably wondering how in the world I got my hands on this. As I mentioned on Saturday we attended the Air Show. One of the reasons we attended of course was to enjoy the Air Show, but I had also been asked to photograph the WWII Tora Tora reenactment by a friend of ours in the WWII reenactment unit. The only catch... I had to dress up as a WWII nurse in order to be on the field with the guys. I didn't hesitate and jumped at the chance for this opportunity and adventure. It was a blast! The dress belonged to our friend's father's girlfriend during the WWII era (did you catch that), and he allowed me to wear it that evening for Halloween too. How's that for cool!

Karie, Daria, Kat (homecoming Queen)

It's almost impossible to get Dustin to take a serious picture!

Dustin, Aunt Jillynne, and Daria

The following are pictures of Dustin's outfit. His name is actually on his uniform but since I'm posting this to my blog I smudged it out which makes it look a little lame, but I'd rather not have our last name on the world wide web.

Right shoulder: Special Ops Command

Left Shoulder: Special Forces, Airborne (that would be the Green Beret's), master parachutist badge, air assault badge, combat infantry badge, First Class Sergeant, LOL! boys can dream right! In real life those badges are EXTREMELY hard to earn.

We stopped by Brother L.'s house and he let Dustin try on his beret.