Belated What I'm Loving Wednesday

Here is What I'm Loving today in Columbus Georgia:

LOVING having my Mama here with us!  She arrived yesterday afternoon and we have had a wonderful time so far: walking this morning, baking cookies right now to send in Daniel's care package, and packing to leave for Pensacola early morning tomorrow.

LOVING that we walked into the UPS store today, just to weigh Tirzah!!  Weighing in at 17 pounds, our little girl :)

LOVING this song by Matt Redmond.   We have sung it the past 2 Sundays at church and it is my new favorite worship song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jYLTn4fKYQ



LOVING that I have received letters from Daniel 3 days in a row!!!  How incredible!!  Here are some highlights to share:

"I am sitting on a mountain siade, listing to birds chirp and feeling a cool breeze dry my sweat.  A new record! 7 straight days in the same uniform!  I smell awful, but the amazing breakfast are carrying me through...  It is quite beautiful up here.  The forests are beautiful.  Crystal clear creeks run down the mountains everywhere and we add iodine tablets to it and rink it.  Pretty cool.  The mountains are incredibly steep...  


I can't remember if I told you this already, but I am learning that most anything can be endured if you have something to look forward to: FOOD is what I look forward to on a short term basis!


How about 1 Cor 2:9! 'But as it is written eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him'.  This verse jumped out at me because I was really getting caught up in the here and now.  My future focused perspective has diminished..."


LOVING these pictures of Tirzah during her second stay at a hotel

Forever and always LOVING my best friend, my hero, and my husband

Sleep & Skittles!

I received a letter from our Soldier today!  What a thrill it is to hear from him.  Ranger School would not be that bad if we could talk and communicate more but without communication, it is killer!!  I don't know how our Veteran Families did it.  That was true sacrifice...

But all is well for Daniel, Praise the Lord!  He writes:

"Want to hear two great pieces of news?  First, right after you dropped me off they passed out the rest of our mail!  The second piece of good news is they said they would hand out mail every day.  I don't know how true this is, but I am so hopeful.  Please keep writing!"

With that said, here is Daniel's address for Mountain Phase.  He will be leaving the mountains on Sept. 2... just for mailing purposes...

2LT Daniel Shear

5th Ranger Training Battalion

RN # 157, Company A

Camp Frank D Merrill

Dahlonega, GA 35033

He continues:

"I have to tell you two more blessings... Guess who is my Ranger Buddy (they assigned them), Willson! (Meredith's husband!!!  So Mer and I are Ranger Buddies and Daniel and Steve are Ranger Buddies! )  

Second, the food here is amazing!  Through Friday we get three meals a day!  Two are in the dining facility.  They feed us so much food too! Breakfast is hall marked by blueberry pancakes.  Camp Merrill is known for their food and so far they are living up to the hope.  Tonight we had spaghetti with meat sauce, 3 pieces of bread, chocolate cake, salad, powered, carrots, and milk.  Whew!  I am already excited for breakfast tomorrow...

They keep telling us that the first 4 days of Mountains are the best days of Ranger School.  Aside from the 3 awesome meals, we are busy learning military mountaineering and rock climbing.  It is very fun and lots to learn.  I am just hoping for the quick passage of days...

Tonight marks the earlier night of Ranger School yet.  We were released to the barracks at 815!  We don't get up til 4 AM.  My breakfast MRE has skittles too!  Sleep and skittles!  Things are looking up!"

A Soldier's Letter

Here is what I am loving on this Wednesday in Columbus, Georgia

 

LOVING that I received a letter from Daniel yesterday!  It could not have come at a better time, praise the Lord.  Here are some lines from our Soldier:

"Our class size is plummeting... guys are dropping like flies from the heat: 12 in 2 days!  I feel great though.  Do you know too that my knee i doing even better than when I left!  praise the Lord for his goodness.  I know he heard your prayers.  Notable event: I won the 12 mile ruck march last week for the whole Ranger Class!  Praise the Lord oh my soul!  The heat has caused them to feed us more... we eat after missions at 0200, and then we eat again hen we wake up at 0500!  Two MRE's.  Would you guess that the highlight of my day is eating my night MRE?!  I love MREs!  

Would you please pray for the last few days?  I am on edge bout passing and the idea of recycling haunts me.  Our faithful God has a plan, I just need to have faith.  I can't imagine failing, yet it happens to so many good guys.  This school is not difficult.  It takes persistence .  There are no tasks that are insurmountable...  This is truly in God's hands" 

LOVING the 2 weeks we have spent with Auntie Renee and all the ways she has blessed us.  We are so thankful and we miss er after her departure yesterday afternoon.

LOVING that we have 2 more wake ups until we see Daniel!!  His 8 hour pass is on Friday and we can hardly wait to be with him!  

LOVING that Tirzah's new love is... swinging!!  Auntie Renee started the routine of taking her for a swing on her nightly walk.  She loves it now!

 LOVING that Tirzah loves watermelon!  We had some today for the first time and she could not get enough.

LOVING that today is day 17 of 19 for Phase One!  Here is what Daniel's day looks like:
"It is your last day of graded patrols.  This day will end with link-up for transportation back to Camp Darby.  Once you arrive, you will turn in all platoon equipment, clean up the planning bay and weapons.  Next you will fill out your peer evaluations, and will individually meet with the RIs in your platoon and receive your reports from your patrol.  This will be the first time you find out if you passed.  After you receive your report, you will likely have your first Dog-es.  The Dog-ex will cost $5 for four hotdogs, a bag of chips, a snack cake, and a soda."

Have a LOVE filled day!

Just Peachy

What a day it has been!
 

"I will recount of all the wonderful deeds of the Lord."

I received my first letter from Daniel!!  I couldn't believe it!  What joy come from that little mail box of ours.  Here is part of his letter:

"We are only half way through day 1 and our company, which started with 100 people, now sits at 81!  We have a small Ranger Class.  Yesterday we started with 300.  That number has decreased considerably a a result of the PT test this morn.  I got a Major Plus* for my run time!  3 of my good friends are in my Company!"

*In Ranger School you can receive Minuses and Pluses.: "You can get negative spot reports in the form of a minor minus or a major minus.  Two minor minuses count as one major minus.  Over the entire course, you can only get 8 total major minuses, and only 3 major minuses per phase.  However, you can also get positive spot reports in the form of a minor plus or a major plus.  For each major or minor plus that you get, it will cancel out a minus of that same value.  "

Here is Daniel's address during Phase 1 if you would like to write to him:

2LT Daniel Shear

4th Ranger Training Battalion

RN # 157, Company A

10850 Schneider Road

Fort Benning, GA 31905

Next, Renee and I have spent the day canning Peach Jam!  What a fun thing to do with someone, and it is such quality time spent together.  Check it out!

 We also made Tirzah's first fruit puree to freeze.  She has been eating bananas with her rice cereal, and I actually fed her the rice cereal twice today!  It seemed she was ready for that second solid food meal and she did so well.  I am hoping that she will be ready for these peaches when we return from Florida in a week or so!

 

Lastly, look at this delicious Challah bread that Renee made!  It just came out of the oven and my goodness does the house have the most decadent smell in all the world!!  We are planning to bring a loaf to Grandmom, along with a jar of Peach Jam,  as a birthday present.  Nothing like some homemade treats with which to celebrate life!

What are you celebrating today?