Harvest Party

Yesterday Joshua and I enjoyed a fun Harvest Party at Dalton's house. About 25 children arrived with various items to "sell." Dalton's mom provided everyone with pennies to purchase one of each item. What fun -- cupcakes, cookies, pens, pencils, play dough, popcorn balls, apple cider, little toys and a little bit of candy. We took apples and individual carmel packets. It was all over in a little less than an hour. The kids had a great time buying and selling and everyone went home with a bag full of goodies. Thanks to Mandy for including us in this fun event. Here is Joshua with his friends Dalton and Griffin. Both are in his 1st grade class.

Sheryl

Final Birthday Celebration

Sunday I enjoyed a delicious tea at the Tea House in San Juan Capistrano with my mom, sister and college friend Lauri. Here we are after a very filling meal. It was a gorgeous day and we had a lovely time watching the leaves fall as we lounged on the patio sipping tea and munching many tasty treats.

So many people have helped me celebrate my 45th birthday. Thank you to all of you. Here's to 45 more years.

Sheryl

Another Birthday Celebration

Tonight I enjoyed another birthday celebration. Cathy, Karen, Shirley, Jill and I have been celebrating our birthdays together four times a year for almost four years. It was wonderful to gather tonight at PF Changs and share some great food, excellent conversation and fun gifts.

I am so blessed to have friends who have been in my life for many years and to have so many new friends that the Lord has brought into my life since our move to Southern Orange County.

Sheryl

Thanks for the Memories

Jon has been so blessed this week by gifts and memories. Read on...

"The San Juan Seniors are REALLY taking care of me!! Two days ago I received a great package of goodies, extra crunchy peanut butter, jerky, candy, pretzels, cans of cashews, popcorn, and candy. I immediately ate the whole bag of pretzel-peanut-butter sandwiches—they were so good I couldn’t help myself. THEN, yesterday, I received another package from the San Juan Seniors!! This box had lots MORE stuff in it, in addition to three things that I’ve never had (over here), that I’m looking forward to immensely: Googly Eye Gummy Bears, Cheeze-IT twister crackers, and Nacho Cheese dip. Wow. I am so blessed, and quite overwhelmed. I am very thankful, and very encouraged.

Twenty one years ago I graduated from Marine Security Guard School in class 5-85, one of the largest classes in MSG School history (164 graduates). Over the eight weeks of the school, I survived on potatoes that I bought at Food4Less, which I stored (against regulation) in my room one night. There was a ‘hygiene’ inspection the next day, my potatoes were found, and I ‘fessed up publicly to being the culprit. No big deal. Well, a couple days ago I’m walking past the G4 shop here when a Marine stops me and asks me if I was in MSG School class 5-85. Surprised, I acknowledge that I was, and then he says, “I knew it, you’re the Potato Man.” I couldn’t believe it, more than twenty years have gone by and I’m still notorious! Over the years, I’ve run into six or seven Marines from my MSG School class, and they all remember the incident clearly. It turns out there is another Marine here in the G3 that was also in our class, we’ll have to all go to the DFAC for some potatoes in memory of those days."

Sheryl

Final Celebration Today

Enjoyed an entertaining birthday dinner at Ichibiri -- a Japanese restaurant in San Clemente. The food was prepared in front of us and the boys -- Joshua and his friends Bradley and Justin -- were thrilled. Jilinda and I were even able to carry on a conversation during most of the meal. What a blessing to have such quality friends and to enjoy good food together.

Thanks to all of you who have helped to make my 45th birthday so special. And I still have a couple more celebrations later this week. I usually try to celebrate all month. :)

Sheryl

Mid-life

Today I turn 45 and I figure that's probably about the middle of my life. Both of my grandmothers lived about 90 years, so I'm half way there.

My celebration actually started Sunday evening when our small group had birthday cake after our dinner. Thanks, Cyndi, for the birthday "sand" castle -- very creative.

This morning the first e-mail I opened included a video from Jon singing "Happy Birthday." The second e-mail included a video of Jon's brass quartet playing "Happy Birthday" to me. It was very touching to have those four guys playing for me and wishing me a special day.

Joshua didn't have a card for me, but when I asked about a gift, he ran to his room and found a couple melted bead designs that he made over the weekend and presented them as my present. I suggested that since it was my birthday we could walk to school together. That is my favorite things to do with Joshua in the morning. He didn't complain, rushed to get ready so we could be out the door by 7:15. It was a beautiful California-autumn morning and we had a wonderful conversation as we held hands on our 25 minute walk to school. That has to be one of the best birthday presents ever.

I got my jog/walk done on the way home and after getting cleaned up met Claire, Nanci and Cyndi for breakfast at Roma's House in San Juan Capistrano -- a quaint little restaurant right next to the train tracks in the old part of town. It was a wonderful way to start my day.

This afternoon I am hosting an after-school play date for Joshua's class. We'll just hang out at the playground on campus. It is a great opportunity for the parents to get to know each other a little bit while the kids play.

This evening will be topped off by dinner with friends, the den Dulks. Enjoying a wonderful celebration of my 45 years of life. I am truly blessed.

Sheryl

Good Friends

My good friend Melissa and her husband Jim (also known as Coach Jim on the soccer field) are keeping Joshua for me this weekend so I can participate in our Y Malawi quarterly meetings. For more information on Y Malawi: http://www.yafrica.net/sites/ymalawi/Homepage.

Here is Joshua (in the shadows) heading off to his soccer game with his friend Noah and my friend Melissa. What a blessing to have friends who help me out with Joshua so I can still participate in various activities. There have been so many friends and family who have stepped in this year to help me as a single mom. THANK YOU ALL!

Sheryl

My bilingual son

I have been a bit slow in posting to the blog recently, but I have to brag a bit about my bilingual son. Last Friday Joshua was preparing to do a book report in class. He had made a model of a horse (cabillo) out of Styrofoam (what a mess) and was going to show it to his class along with the book he had read. Of course the whole presentation needed to be in Spanish. Before we left for school I asked if he would practice his presentation since I wouldn't be able to see it and I wanted to video tape it so Jon could see it. Amazing! Joshua spoke for over 3 minutes in Spanish. He talked about the book and then went into detail about how he made his cabillo. I couldn't understand all of it, because his Spanish has surpassed mine, but I got bits and pieces. It was so awesome to hear Joshua speak so calmly and clearly in another language. And on top of that, he wasn't nervous about getting in front of the other 18 students in his class and his teacher to do his book report. Very cool!

I have the video on my computer, so if you ever want to hear and see Joshua's report on the book "Tres Amigos" (one of the amigos was a cabillo), just stop by the house.

Proud Mama, Sheryl

Connections

Here's an update from Jon.

"I have been blessed and encouraged mightily by a few connections that have taken place in the last month. First, I discovered that a Marine that was the only other PFC with me in Supply School at Camp Johnson, NC (every one else in the class was a private) in 1982 was now on his way to the very same base where I’m serving for a six month tour. I had not seen him since then, did not even know he was still in the Corps, but discovered (in a very roundabout way) that he was still in the Corps, found out his email, and connected with him here a couple days after his feet hit the deck. Andy and I have had the chance to eat a couple of meals together at the chowhall (taxpayer’s treat, thank you very much, y’all), and it has been fun remembering those old times and catching up on the 24 or so intervening years.

Ruth, a classmate of mine from RVA (a missionary school in Kenya where I attended in grade 10) told me of a Marine Lieutenant who was the grandson of the man who was the principal of RVA while I was there (whose uncle was in my sister Linda’s class) who was on his way to this country for a second tour. Some Marines came into my shop prior to heading out to the FOB, and they were from the same unit as Ryan—so they passed on the word to him, and I was able to meet him. We talked for about 20 minutes—and I’ve already sent him a motomail that he should receive shortly after he reaches his bivouac.

I was finally able to connect with Cameron, the grandson of one of folks who support Sheryl and I from the San Juan Seniors—unfortunately, only by email. He was out here for a short time, but I did not have his email address, and the unit he supports is a little distance from where I am. When I finally got his email, he had already been sent back to the States due to an injury. However, it is very cool that I was finally able to touch base with him.

I’ve been getting motomails from lots of folks, Ruth, John, Greg, and others. Thanks so much. Sonny & Sandy (your new picture with both of you is cute J), Helen, and Dad, thanks for posting to Sheryl’s blog. Judy, thanks for your faithful snail mail cards, they are so great! I received some items from the San Juan Seniors, including some hand-knitted caps for wear under our helmets (it gets cold over here in a couple of months), THANKS SO MUCH."

I am very grateful for all of you who are encouraging Jon. We were able to talk on the phone on Sunday morning and I can tell that your notes, cards, packages, motomails, etc. are a blessing to him. Thanks.

Sheryl

Thanks for goodies

Jon sent this note over the weekend, but I didn't get around to posting it till now.

"I got a package from Scott and Renee [France], it was GREAT! A whole large package of double filled peanut butter Oreo cookies, two books that look like great recreational reading, a 1lb pound bag of peanut butter M&Ms, some Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, a Butterfinger bar, two containers of fru-fru instant specialty coffee, and some Planter’s cashews. This just totally rocks, especially as I’m struggling with the mid-deployment I’ve-still-got-a-long-way-to-go feeling blues."

Obviously he enjoys all the goodies everyone is sending him. Please pray for healing for a "tweaked" muscle on his right side. It has kept him from his morning sit-ups and may keep him from running. With all the goodies people are sending him, he definitely needs to keep up his exercise routine. :) Thanks.

Joshua and I got to enjoy another fun day at Legoland, thanks to the San Juan Seniors who continue to demonstrate their "adoption" of us in generous ways. Joshua didn't have school on Monday so we took his friend Jack with us and met up with a school friend. All three boys played well together for about 5 hours. I think the two moms were much more worn out than the kids.

Sheryl

Quintet Update

Just got an e-mail from Jon with an update on the quintet that he plays in. Thought y'all might be interested.

"Last week, I found out one of the new officers in my shop plays the trumpet. Our 1^st trumpet is away on a trip, so I talked the new guy into coming over and picking up 2^nd trumpet. We found a new guy to play tuba who is fast getting up to speed, so the gap in the quintet is the Freedom (French) Horn. So I started playing Freedom Horn (I had been playing 2^nd Trumpet since we got a good tuba player a while ago), and the Chaplain (trombone player) says I’ve picked it up extremely quickly, and have filled a gap that has been in the quintet (we’ve been a quartet, in essence) four a number of months when our old Freedom Horn player rotated back to the States. When the 1^st trumpet gets back, we’ll have a full quintet for the first time in four months! I’m looking forward to that, it should be fun."

Sheryl

Routine

Joshua and I have settled into the fall routine. School, Tae Kwon Do, Wednesday night church, Friday night soccer practice, Saturday soccer games, Sunday church with homework and lots of play-time sprinkled in. Jon has also gotten back into a routine. Here's his report.

"The discouraging thing about getting back in country is how quickly routine becomes drudgery. This is probably partly due to the fact that my daily work load consistently exceeds my ability to accomplish it; the performance of all daily activity takes place in a setting already extremely familiar to me, or perhaps the starkly monotonous surroundings provide very little in the way of variety; there is little or no interaction with people outside of mission accomplishment; there is little to no awareness of what day of the week it is—every day is a Monday.

The encouraging thing about being back in country is a constant awareness of God’s blessing. Support and encouragement from many people in such a variety of different ways: snail mail, emails, packages, prayers. The predictable nature of each day makes the mental preparation necessary for the next 24 hours a much more sane process. The work load waiting to be done and the lack of diversionary activity both work together to increase productivity. The food is great, I can take a hot shower daily, the laundry is free, my quarters are climate controlled, I’m sleeping well, and I’m actually PTing [working out] more consistently than in the first six months.

I’m sure it seems less than meaningful for those praying for me to keep praying the same prayers, over and over, for going on seven months now. I want to thank you for those prayers, they make such a difference.

(Posted for Jarhedjon by Sheryl)"

We all appreciate your prayers.

Sheryl

First Art Competition

The San Juan Elementary PTA is sponsoring the Reflections Creative Arts Competition. Joshua entered a piece of art work today. One of the moms at our school is a former art teacher and she has been giving after-school art workshops. She also started a class after-school that Joshua was able to get into. He is very excited about doing any kind of art.

The theme for the competition is "My Favorite Place." It only took Joshua a few seconds to figure out that his favorite place is Yosemite. His painting, done in water colors and glitter glue, is of a water fall and the fire falls that used to occur over Curry Village. It was so fun to watch him come up with the idea, try a number of different media and then do his final version. I think he did 6 practice drawings or paintings.

Thanks to my mom for posting a comment to Jon on this blog site. Jon is still able to read the blog and the comments, so if you used to post comments to him, please do so now on my site. He won't be able to post a comment back to you, but I'm sure he'll reference the comments from time to time in his notes to me. I know Jon would really appreciate hearing from you. Thanks.

Sheryl

Thanks from Jon and Back-to-School Night

Jon sends a note of thanks:

“I’d like to thank Marlaine, Joan, Sandy, Jeanne, Arline, Kareline, and Linda of the Military Prayer Group at a church in Patchogue, NY for your prayers, your encouragement, and support. The Scripture verses you sent me were very uplifting. I am so encouraged that folks are praying for me, people that I have never met, even, adding to the blessings I experience daily in what could otherwise be a very unpleasant situation. I do not take such things lightly or for granted. Perhaps, when this tour is over, I’ll get a chance to meet each of you and thank you in person.

I received a snail mail card from Judy—very encouraging, thank you so much, it is great to hear from you. Letters addressed to me with ANY rank in front of the name will get here just fine, even no rank or “Mr.”, all the guys in the mail section know who I am. I appreciate the moto mails I’ve received, as well—thanks, all of you, for taking the time to engage in what you know is one way communication.

Semper Fi (posted on behalf of JarHedJon by Sheryl)”

Last night was Back-to-School Night at Joshua's school. First grade is definitely going to be different from Kindergarten. The students are now required to speak Spanish in class. Mrs. Hamidi told us last night that when the children speak to her in English she tells them in Spanish that she doesn't understand. Of course the kids are too smart for that and they respond with, "Yes, you do." I signed up to be Room Mom and then this morning recruited a bilingual Mom to be Co-Room Mom with me. It is so great to be at San Juan Elementary with the opportunity to interact with people who speak Spanish as well as parents of other ethnic backgrounds.

That's the latest for the "home front."

Sheryl

Still under an avalanch

Jon and I were able to talk on the phone last night for a while, but I had a bad headache and so it wasn't our best conversation. Fortunately I am feeling much better this morning. I think I must have gotten dehydrated, but after a good night's sleep I am feeling fine.

This morning Jon wrote, "[I am] still practically avalanched with work, but I feel positive about being able to eventually get to where I need to be on it. The projects that I’ve been sidetracked on have gone well, too, which has certainly helped me maintain a positive attitude."

Thanks for remembering us.

Sheryl

An Invigorating Saturday

Saturdays in the fall at our house involve a soccer game and whatever else we think of. Joshua is enjoying playing goalie one quarter on his AYSO soccer team. He had a few great saves today and has an excellent kick to clear the ball down the field.

After our game we joined about 50 people who were volunteering for California Coastal Cleanup Day, working to clear garbage from our local San Juan Creek. We only worked about an hour and a half, but found plenty of junk. I thought the most interesting thing we found was the rusted bed springs. Joshua thought the 10 foot-long plastic pipe full of sand was the most interesting. He recruited half a dozen teenagers who were just finishing their work to help us lug the heavy pole back to the park, where the garbage was being collected. Joshua and I talked about the reason we were doing this project -- to follow God's instructions to care for His creation. To top it off, we had fun together, were served hot dogs for lunch and got free T-shirts.

After finishing our Monopoly game, building a fort, and doing a bunch of laundry Joshua and I road our bikes into town to experience the Peoples Festival and Hispanic Heritage Month and Mexican Independence Day Celebration. We enjoyed the native dances and songs, some delicious tacos and Joshua loved the bubble gum sno-cone.

What a day! Hope your Saturday was enjoyable.

Please remember Jon. He is swamped with work and barely has time to send me short e-mails. Tomorrow will be exactly 7 months since Jon left. That means we're close to being able to say "5 months till Jon comes home." Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.

Sheryl

Updates

The second week of school has gone well and Joshua and I are both adjusting to the fall routine. Please keep Jon in your prayers. He and I tried to IM (instant message) the other day and Jon discovered that there wasn't enough bandwidth on his end, so that was disappointing. Here's a note he sent today.

"I’m way behind in my work, as I’m trying to do two jobs this month vice just the one (which was overwhelming enough as it was). The situation that I recently asked prayer for has been generally resolved in a positive way—thank you so much for your prayers. There is always the possibility that though all the ships are back with the flotilla, one of them had a time bomb placed on board that could go off anytime in the future. We’ve done all we can reasonably do to uncover a bomb or minimize its impact—but time and the flotilla must go on. Some continued prayer that the flotilla arrives at its destination safely would be much appreciated (though the destination port is a long way off).

Situation Report: The geese are doing well, the chow is still awesome, there is still not enough time in the day, and every day of the week is a Monday. This is a classic example of the old Air Force acronym, SNAFU (situation normal, all fouled up). If I told you I’d keep you posted if anything changes, you’d never hear from me again…

Semper Fi from JarHedJon (posted by Sheryl)"

Thanks for remembering all of us.

Sheryl

Floating down the Merced River

Just got a bunch of pictures from the friends we ran into at Yosemite. They took pictures of Joshua and me floating down the Merced River. Here's a cute one of Joshua.

Sheryl

Final Trip Pictures

After a week of work I finally have figured out how to post pictures to this blog again. They are "upgrading" the system, but of course that means that somethings don't work quite right for a while. So now I can post a few pictures from our time in Yosemite.

We arrived mid-day on Monday, August 28th. We got settled in our wood cabin in Curry Village, went for a swim in the cold pool and then took a ride around the valley in the free shuttle. We got off and hiked to the foot of Yosemite Falls only to be shocked at the lack of water. We have only been to Yosemite twice and both times were in May when there is water everywhere. There are waterfalls on every cliff in the valley, but at the end of the summer, it is a different story. That evening I got this shot of Half Dome at sunset. That was our view from Curry Village. Pretty awesome, huh?

Tuesday was our day to hike the Mist Trail (without the mist) up to Nevada Falls. Joshua and I have hiked to these falls twice before but always on the John Muir Trail which is longer but not as steep. The Mist Trail has many, many granite steps that seem to go straight up the side of the cliff. But Joshua and I have discovered that if we make up stories together (one of us starts and then we take turns adding to the story), we can distract ourselves into climbing much further than we thought we could. Here we are on that trail half way to Vernal Falls, which are the lower set of falls.

Tuesday evening after the climb the pool at Curry Village felt very refreshing. And amazingly enough we ran into friends from Joshua's school. They had been inner tubing on the Merced River that day and were preparing to hike the Mist Trail on Wednesday. So I gave them a little advice and they loaned us their tubes.

Wednesday Joshua and I started off with a little shopping in the village and then a bike ride. Of course I had to get the shot of him with Half Dome in the background. But the topper for the ride was right at the end. We had about 5 minutes to get our bikes back and as we buzzed past one of the meadows we saw one of the tour groups stopped and everyone pointing to the grass. We screeched our brakes and there were two stags relaxing in the shade. They just sat and allowed us to take our pictures. It was a wonderful treat for us.

I don't have pictures documenting our afternoon float down the Merced, but I promise you we did it. I think the water was just a few degrees above freezing. My legs and hands finally got numb enough to kick and paddle. The river was quite shallow in places and there was a breeze blowing up the valley, so at times we floated up stream. After a couple hours we had floated about half a mile and met our friends who had arrived back from their day of hiking.

All in all, it was a fabulous vacation. Of course we missed Jon a lot, since the outdoors is such a huge part of who he is. But I was proud of myself for taking Joshua on this adventure by myself and for having a great time. Our return trip wasn't nearly as fun as the train ride up the coast. We took a small van ride from Yosemite to Merced, following the river, which was a beautiful ride. Then we caught the train to Bakersfield. But there is no train over the Grapevine, so we got packed into a bus with less leg room than a airline coach seat for a two hour ride to LA Union Station. We had an hour and a half wait at Union Station, which was an interesting experience in itself. Finally caught the Surfliner back to San Juan, where we arrived at about 9:30 p.m. Thanks to our friends Pam and Cory, our car was waiting for us and we were home and in bed at a decent hour.

So now you are all caught up on our trip and I'll go back to posting current news.

Sheryl

Dealing with Frustration

I have been frustrated by my blog service in the past week. For a while I couldn't gain access to post a blog. Then when I final got access yesterday I couldn't post any pictures. But of course that is nothing compared to Jon's frustration right now at not being able to keep up his own blog. He sent me another message to pass on to you who are reading.

"One of the Marine Corps’ 11 Leadership Principles is, “Know yourself and seek self improvement.” This is a lifetime process, of course, and from a Mission Accomplishment perspective, the ease with which one’s self knowledge is increased is inversely proportionate to the number of relationships one has outside of the mission. When attempting to accomplish a series of tasks in the pursuit of a larger goal, relational involvement can consumes energy, distract focus, contribute to indecisiveness, and weaken resolve. Consciously disengaging from or avoiding relationships in the pursuit of self knowledge and self improvement, however, can be proven to be equally ‘crippling.’ We are deprived of the very context that makes self knowledge and self improvement essential to the maturing process. We have no social context in which our own priorities can be reflected, mirrored, or shown in the more universal light of benefiting or detracting from the advancement of our universal physical, mental or spiritual development. This is sometimes how I feel over here: perhaps I am learning more about myself and able to apply this knowledge to more ably accomplish the tasks I’m assigned; however, I feel more and more disconnected from the very persons, community, and culture that give meaning or provide the necessity of accomplishing those tasks. Finding balance is not easy, as the tasks ARE HERE and the contexts that give them meaning ARE NOT. Posted for JarHedJon by Sheryl"

Thank you for praying for Jon and remembering him. If you want to post a comment to my blog, he should be able to read it.

Sheryl