A few Tips

Before I do What I'm Loving Wednesday, let me make a few adjustments and a few tips to Daniel's address!!

Some tips: use a flat rate box to send and you will need to have a customs form filled out as well.  My friend Alison brought over lots of customs forms for me to use when he deployed, so it is nice to have them here at the house (if you intend to send lots of things :))

Make sure to tape and retape each crease and corner on the box and make sure that all baked items and what not are sealed well.  Apparently dust can get into places you wouldn't believe!

I made a mistake on his address: it is APO not ATO on that last line.  The APO stands for Army Post Office.

Now, for the customs form.  I just filled out my first one with the help of my sweet neighbor, whose husband deployed to Iraq.  She showed me some ideas to shorten the address and also explained where to write everything!  So, this is how the address looks on my customs form:

TF 4-23 IN BN B Co. 3rd PLT

FOB Sakari Kariz  (then I put the cop on this line as well, so COP AJK)

*Wherever the box for city is, that is where you write APO (Army post office)

*Wherever the box for state is, you write AE (Army Europe)  Just think state is two letters, AE is two letters

Then the postcode is 09370

The US requires you to have a detailed description too of what is inside the box.  Make sure not to send any pork items (pork is not allowed in the country!), also if you are going to send books, just don't write books on the customs line for they might assume it is Bibles and they will not allow you to send multiple Bibles for fear of distribution.

Hopefully that helps clear any confusion!  For I looked at that forms and had no idea what to make of it!

So. . .

Here is What I'm LOVING Wednesday

LOVING the tips I learned from Melissa

LOVING the peace I have . . .  I knew it would happen at least once over deployment and it happened last night.  I missed a call from him!!  My phone, yes, my new phone died over the night! (Well it was totally my fault.  I thought and rethought about plugging it in but didn't do it.  Have you ever had something like that happen to you?)  And so when I woke this morning I had a message from my Beloved Husband.  I was so thankful to have talked to him just days ago, or else I really would have been in the depths of despair over missing his call!  But he seemed to be doing really well.  He said this was his "surprise" call before they head out to the field for a few days.  So please pray over him as they go out on their patrols.

LOVING that Tirzah has slept past 8 for days now.  And isn't life always in seasons?!  I just need to remember that while she is having an early rising season.  That an 8:00 wake up is still doable for her! What a blessing it is to have that time in the morning.

LOVING these truths from the devotional book I read in the mornings: Walk With God:

There is no way to learn endurance other than simply to endure. . . only pain can teach it to us.  We must be put in a position of having to lean on our God and to learn his ways.  Experience is the only way to know him!  Every fear/tril is followed by blessing. . . He has put us in trials for discover his provision.  There will be a day of deliverance.  It is God who is enthroned forever, not suffering."

"Nothering great was ever down without much enduring"  Catherine of Siena

LOVING the memories on the beach with my daughter and my Mama

LOVING the blessings of yesterday.  Our friends, who are not even in the military, met our needs most perfectly.  Mary, along with her 4 precious children, came and brought a picnic lunch to share.  Mary's bag was truly like that of Mary Poppins!  Delicious treats and fun activities just kept appearing!  It was the most wonderful gift of all.  And then before she left, she left me with several different books and the whole first series of Alias.  What a treat!

LOVING Tirzah's curls

LOVING running and twirling in the grass and in the breeze with my baby girl

Tirzah is LOVING applesauce, blueberries, and Pirate's Booty!

LOVING the arrival of a son, Blake Daniel, for our good friends Joe and Hope

I am LOVING these gifts that are endless, even through this season of deployment:

114.  5:30-hard time of the evening- she was such a joy bug

115.  Evening spent with a new friend: strawberry shortcakes, pizza, and white zin

116.  Our new tradition for Sunday mornings: heading down to the Olympia pier for coffee, treats, park, and the farmer's market

117.  When she started "vacuuming" too

118.  Brunch at Britta's

126.  Wine- blush wine on the front porch on a Sunday evening

128.  Surprising Tirzah with new treats

129.  The cool breeze

130.  Watching the delight on her face as she met a lady bug for the first time

131.  How she sings when she works so diligently now

133.  Hanging white laundry in the morning air while birds sing their morning's praise

134. My baby sleeping while I am baking brownies for my husband afar

135.  Friends bringing lunch

137.  Blankie and her quilt, all clean and fresh

138.  Opening the kitchen window first thing in the morning to let that fresh breeze blow

143.  Baking oatmeal raisin cookies for my husband while sipping a glass of wine

144.  A friend to help me send his first package

And forever and always I am loving my sweet sweet husband, my soldier, and defender of my freedom