My Wedding Journey From The Mother In Law

It seems a bit odd to have a child of mine getting married. I don’t quite feel old enough for this journey.
I still feel like a kid in college myself. Totally in love with my amazing man.
But here we go! My Oldest and only son is getting married!
My Daughter in law to be has been living with us since January.
She is a wonderfully creative, smart and talented, not to mention, a beautiful girl. (They say boys marry women like their Moms) te hehehe!
It has been interesting and fun to watch the relationship between her and I grow.
We knew very little about each other before January, and now I feel like she is one of my own.
It is truly amazing how a relationship can develop so quickly. She has become one of our girls. We have even converted her from Blonde to Brunette!
I feel blessed to be on this new Mother in law journey.
My life has just had more seasoning added to it and it seems to be a perfect blend!
More to Come…. Wedding planning as the mother in law!

Romantic getaway

We have been waiting for so long for a romantic getaway. So for our 21st anniversary Kevin surprised me with a little trip to Mackinaw Island Michigan. I have wanted to go there since I saw the movie Somewhere In Time when I was 14.
So today is the the day we left for our road trip. September 19th 2011.

The drive is 9 hours but we are splitting it up and doing 5 today and 4 tomorrow.
Everything is going along perfectly. The weather couldnt be any better and we are enjoying our car ride chatting and listening to country music.

We stop for a little dinner and quickly get back on the road. Kevin informs me that his friend at work told him to take a different way because the way he was planning to go would take to long.
So our hotel reservation at the Hilton in Green Bay is cancelled to take our new route!! (this would prove to be a mistake!)

Driving along not really thinking that we should reserve a room in Marinette Wisconsin or Menomenee Michigan because it's a Monday in the off season in a small town. How bad could it be?

So we chose not to reserve a room and to play it by ear. ( this would be hilarious later)

Who would have ever thought that either of these towns would only rent out 15 rooms per night due to low volume time of year making it easier to have a smaller staff working.

So 10:30 pm we roll into the Country Inn and Suites only to hear those words Mary and Joseph heard, " there is no room in the inn"

So we leave the nearly empty parking lot wondering how in the world there are no rooms available when the parking lot is nearly empty.
So we drive back to the other side of town to get a room at the AmericInn. ( nice choices eh? )
The girl with crossed yes and missing teeth looks at us, at least I think she did, and says,"do you have a reservation?)
I wanted to say, yes, many but we are desperate for a room!!
She tells us, "sorry, we are booked."

We leave the hotel and enter the, again nearly empty parking lot!!

So we drive to the McDonalds to get free WIFI to look for anything nearby. Comfort Inn - NO ROOM, SUPER 8 -NO ROOM
Totally out of options, type A husband who plans everything,is totally freaking out. Our only other optioi Is, ECONO LODGE with a tanning salon in it as well. Tired from the road trip sitting in the parking lot of McDonalds, we reluctantly book the room!!

Once at the hotel the lady behind the desk asks, do you have a reservation? Kevin says yes we do. Of course knowing she only has 15 rooms available for the night and recognizes that we were not on her initial list. She looks it up and looks at us with a pleasant surprised face and says, someone just cancelled an hour ago and you must have booked that room. Good For you!!

So with the approval of the lady at the front desk of the Econo Lodge, we carry out luggage to the 2nd floor because the elevators are broken!!! AWESOME!

Its a flee bag to say the least. And I am typing this I am smelling plastic burning so I am certain we will be evacuating at some point this evening.
All of this took place with laughter!! It was hilarious to start our romantic getaway in a flee bag motel but hey we are not complaining. It's better than our other option. FINDING A WALMART AND SLEEPING IN THE CAR!!!

911 From Lady Liberty

911 From Lady Liberty
By Jenni Bettelli
The morning of 911 2001

On the morning of 9-11-2001, I sat on my coffee table in my living room, mouth agape with disbelief as to the events my eyes were seeing. As smoke billowed behind Lady Liberty I couldn't help but cry.
I grabbed my notebook and penned these words so quickly it practically spilled onto the page.

Alone she has always stood in the middle of the bay.
Never so alone as she would feel today.

As the sun shone brightly across the morning sky,
The torch of Lady Liberty proudly held high.

The sounds of the city ring clearly in her ears,
The majesty of a nation soon to be seared.

She could never have imagined the travesty to come her way,
As she securely watched from a distance in the bay.

Sounds all around her, so familiar everyday,
Then the roaring of an engine would begin the melee.

Terrified she watches, helpless from where she stands.
Destruction all around her, as fear fills the land.

She, though, untouched, watches with tears,
As the security of a nation we have held dear,
Is now shaken to it’s core by the acts of cowards.
Then it happens again and again in two short hours.

Her feet firmly planted in the waters off the shore,
Would never be moved by these acts of war.

Though shaken as she was
She knows in whom we trust.

For it is written across our nation,
God is our firm foundation.

9-11-2009 Jon leaves for Afghanistan.

I was thinking about where I was one year ago today.

It was one of those nights that I couldn’t completely wrap my mind around.
Talking to my son the night he was leaving for a warzone.
How surreal.
How do I reconcile that the baby I once held, fed, protected, was now protecting me.

How incredible to contemplate.

Oh how much I have learned through the 7 months of deployment and thereafter.
Prayer works- It’s more than just the answered prayers that make prayer work. It’s the discipline of learning how to really pray. Its hearing God’s voice in the middle of your prayer. Shutting up long enough to hear it.
Its understanding that even if something terrible happens I am held in his hands. It’s knowing that prayers that are not answered to your specifications mean that GODS SPECIFICATIONS ARE BETTER!!!
I learned that God is God no matter what. Daniel 3:17-18 Even in the furnace God can deliver. But if he does not. I will still serve him.
This scripture took me to a place in my spiritual life that has changed me forever. I have always believed it but now I got to actually experience it.

I learned that this deployment was as much for my growth in the Lord as it was for Jon.
I learned to lean on my husband and not others, something that sometimes gets forgotten in 20 years of being together. He was a rock everyday. Days that I thought I couldn’t breathe another breath because fear gripped me, he breathed for me. There were days when the media would attack my mind and my thoughts and sometimes Kevin couldn’t be there,so he called my best friend Laura and she, without hesitation, came to me and prayed peace over me.

Thoughts of that time will always live in my mind. But fear was erased and replaced, with trust.
Trust that I am held in the cleft of the rock. I am safely snug under his mighty wing which is stronger than I will ever understand.

I see where he walked beside me and I see where he carried me. I felt him there everyday. I know my God loves me and I know he loves Jon. I see him walking beside Jon and I see when he’s carrying him.
Oh Gracious God you are not just something I believe in. You are not just in my heart. You are my breath, my heartbeat, my every footstep, my beautiful Savior, you are my life.
What a great year this has been, to have been held in the very palm of my Gods hand. I believe I will stay right there.

Today I sat and thought about where I was one year ago.

Weeks can go by and you hardly notice.
Then the minute someone who can't stay is with you, the time seems to go in fast forward.

It hardly seems possible to be saying good-bye again.
I die a little inside with each good-bye.
So proud, so worried, so happy so discouraged, how can so many emotions be in one place at one time.
I woke up and made cookies and sandwiches for him to take on his road trip back to California in his new Mini Coupe!

My heart is proud that he is grown and working and making a way for himself in this world.
And I worry that he won't make good decisions. I worry that he won't want to serve God. I worry that his heart is not where it should be.
But, then I realize, It's his journey. Its all the bumps in the road that make his way differnent than mine.
I can't walk the journey with him all I can do is wave and pray.
But I want to be the person who goes down the highway and fills in the cracks. you know with that toilet paper stuff? Thats what I want to do for him. Fill in the cracks.
But he doesn't even see the cracks are there!
So I wave and I pray.
God has called him for such a time as this. Let him keep his way pure, Let your face shine upon him. Let your uncommon favor rest on my son.
Phillipians 1:6 FOr I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to comletion until the day of Christ Jesus.

So I wave, and pray.

Happiness and joy overwhelm my soul as I prepared for Jon's first return home since last July and his 7 month deployment to Afghanistan.

I cleaned his room, dusted every nook and cranny, washed the sheets and returned them to his bed. Where very soon he would be resting. There is a very good chance that while he is sleeping I will be standing at the door of his room peeking to see him safe and sound in his bed. It may sound creepy but if your a mom you know you would do it too!!

This day is to be special. Our friends and family are going to be here waiting when we come home, to welcome Jon home!
Cookies are plated water jugs are full. WELCOME HOME JON sign is ready. Neighbors are anxiously waiting.

Proudly Donning our Black,gold and red Marine T shirts with flags and welcome home sign in hand we make our way to the Minneapolis Airport.
Upon our arrival we realize we are at the wrong Airport!!! We need to be at Terminal 2 not Terminal 1. So Laughing we run to the car pay our 3 dollars robbery charge for our 5 minute stay at MSP international! Quickly make our way to the other terminal.
Waiting at the door upstairs with all of our gear on we must have been quite a site for others to observe. Waiting for the sliding door to open and reveal to us our Marine Son. There he is, I see him walking, I can hardly contain myself but I have to because I need a good picture of his sisters jumping on him yelling, "WELCOME HOME JON!!!!!"
It was an amazing thing to hold that man in my arms and look at his face. My son is home.
Turning onto our street was an absolutely amazing sight.
The street was lined with yellow ribbons on every tree. 10 motorcycles lined the street as the Freedom Riders came from our local Legion, to welcome home a fellow soldier!
I see friends and neighbors lining our street clapping and screaming and shouting welcome home!!!!! There must have been 75 people! It was Quite a sight to behold.
Donny is playing The Marine Corp. hymn on his electric guitar as Jon is now hugging friends and family.
We will most certainly be celebrating this homecoming all week!!!!