Busy Week!

Whew!! It's been a busy week and it's not over. Let's see, it's been a week since I last posted. What's happened since then? Well, Saturday, I had Nolly Gibb's farewell tea and we ate dinner over at the Kazors. Grace and Ashleigh play so well together and Jasen and I are quite fond of Katie and Anthony. They have been such good friends to us.

Oh, we had THE BEST time watching Davis with their dog, Quill. Quill is a trained hunting dog and Anthony was "working" him. He would throw this thing up on the hill, then he'd give Quill the command to go get it. Well, the kids were playing on the hill and would have to watch out for Quill coming down with the hunting thing because, believe me, Quill wasn't watching for them!! Davis would stand on the hill and watch Quill go retrieve the hunting thing. Then when Quill started barreling back towards Anthony, Davis would try to get out of his way. Davis always managed to get out of Quill's way, but not without some funny looks and hilarious evasive actions. The adults were getting quite a kick out of Davis avoiding Quill!!

Sunday morning, we had to take snacks for our Sunday school and I sang the offeratory at church. I did very well, if I do say so myself. The song I sang is called "In Better Hands" by Natalie Grant; if you haven't heard it, check into it. When I first heard the song, I fell in love with it and knew I had to sing it the next time I sang at church. With some help from my dear friend, Sarah, who has lots of singing training, I belted it out. I just closed my eyes and let 'er rip! It was awesome. Believe me, the breath of Jesus was right there in that room because I couldn't have done it without His strength! It was awesome. Wait, I think I already said that!

Sunday night, the McCalls came over for dinner. We had steaks and all the trimmings. Good stuff, good food, good friends. We had a great time.

Then, the week really took off. Monday morning, we had Jasen's company awards ceremony. Lots of Bronze Stars, Army Commendations, and Army Achievement medals were awarded, along with three civilian awards. Monday night, we had a Hail and Farewell ceremony for the company (majors and above; we're in that group now!) where we farewelled pretty much everyone in attendance. It was also Cinco de Mayo, so we all went to the bar for some Coronas and margaritas!

Tuesday, PWOC for me, half a day of work for Jasen,then that night, we had the big farewell dinner for COL Gibbs and CSM Champagne. All the battalion commanders were there. Big shindig, lots of gifts given to those two. Real stuffy. Well, not real stuffy. We sat with the "real" people so we had a nice time.

Wednesday, let's see. That day must have been slow. Can't remember what we had that day.

Yesterday was a hum-dinger. Brigade change of command in the morning, division ceremony that afternoon. The change of command was awesome. It was really over done for just a brigade change of command, but it was really neat. The Big Red One band was there, all the battalions and Jasen's company standing out in formation, a passing review (troops marching in front of everyone), and COL Gibb's and General Durbin inspecting troops in an old half-track vehicle from WWII. Again, very ceremonial, but I'd never seen one like that. Jasen's company looked great and it was awesome to watch him out there and go marching by. Really, really neat.

One of the best parts of yesterday was getting to see Greg and Kim Gadson. They were here for all the pomp and circumstance, with Greg standing tall, just like he said he would be. He's walking really well on his "robot legs" as Grace calls them. I don't think I got any pictures of him from yesterday because I didn't want him to feel like he was on display. Jasen and I got great bigs hugs from them both more than once and I can't tell you how good it felt.

We took the kids to the ceremony where COL Gibbs was installed as the division chief of staff and CSM Champagne was made the division sergeant major. Davis wouldn't sit or be nice so Jasen hung out with him around the Victory Park area. Grace sat really still and only asked a few questions during the ceremony. She wanted to see Mrs. Gibbs and the Gadsons. It was neat to have her there. She's such a big girl!

Then we went to the carnival at her school. The thing was advertised as lasting from 5-7, but we didn't know the games only lasted until 5:45. Well, we got there late and Grace didn't get to play any games. I felt really bad for her. One of the teachers gave her some tickets so she could get a prize anyway. Grace was really, really good natured about it. She didn't care, in the end, because she got to eat dinner with Lena and play on the monkey bars before going home.

Tonight, we are hosting a small gathering of the Gadsons' friends here at our house. It's mainly people who came into 2/32FA together, along with one of his West Point classmates. We're just having pizza and cookies/brownies. It's going to be great just to sit down and relax with them. They are such "real" people. I can't wait to visit with them in a more relaxed setting.

I'll be posting/sending out pictures soon!